France - Loire

Almost nobody knows Agisson, but the whole world knows the wines he makes for Domaine Didier Dagueneau. That's right, Jean-Philippe is Dagueneau's «winemaker», Louis-Benjamin's right-hand man. His own vineyard is tiny and the vines, the main protagonists, are tended devotedly, naturally in an organic, sometimes even biodynamic manner. The cellar is small, but big enough and everything you need to make great wines is there. Passion, that's right, there's a lot of it at the Agissons. Directly pressed, mostly aged in aroma-neutral barrels and increasingly also in chrome steel on the lees, Jean-Philippe's goal is to bring his terroirs to the bottle as unadulterated as possible. His wines should have energy, structure and, yes, even rough edges - personality.

If you do something with passion, you will never settle for mediocrity, never. Free from any traditions, it is easier to work purposefully without having to hurt the people you love. This allows you to live the dream of developing, perfecting and ultimately enjoying it. Thibaud seized his opportunity and, after a few flying visits to the wine industry, including some well-known names, set up shop in Savennières. Not for the love of a woman, but for Chenin Blanc. Here he had the opportunity to painstakingly select the best genetic material from the vineyards of winegrower friends and use it to plant his own vineyards more densely than is usual in the region, sometimes even dispensing with the rootstock. Boudignon, you must remember this name!

Foucault ... does this name make the hairs on the back of your neck curl? Antoine is Charly Foucault's son and Charly (1947-2015) was the winemaking part of the legendary Clos Rougeard - the other is Charly's brother Nady. However, Antoine and his great love Caroline set up their own Domaine du Collier in Chacé back in 1999. This was a good thing, because it was here that Charly's spirit - passed on to Antoine, so to speak - found room to develop. Antoine's wines are honest, direct and straightforward, multi-layered and are characterized by transparency, finesse and elegance, an indescribable lightness and enormous presence. These are unimaginable wines, and yes, I mean GREAT wines!

In an unassuming, modest cellar with old barrels, Pascal Cotat conjures up great wines from the Sauvignon grape, which grows on the almost white soils of Chavignol, and proves once again that truly great wines are made in the vineyard and not in the cellar. Monts Damnes and Le Grand Côte exude complex aromas and are both highly mineral, the former well-proportioned and with a silky texture, the latter full of power and monumental.

I was as happy as a little child receiving his first bicycle when Benjamin invited us to visit him - thanks to you, my dear friend, Antoine! By the way, we have known and loved Dagueneau's wines since the 1990s. Whenever we had one of these rare opportunities, we savored it and treated ourselves to one of these mythical wines. Didier Dagueneau stands for Pouilly, even if he left the appellation in protest; he stands for Sauvignon Blanc, for expressive fruit (but not only), also for spice, for a tireless interplay of aromas. The wines are clear as glass, dense as platinum, light as a feather, mineral, as if you had liquid soil in your glass, and their finish is so seductive, so incredibly fascinating, that you simply have to take another scrutinizing sip and realize: Indeed, this is all real, not fiction!

Thibauld Denizot is a young, dedicated winemaker who took over his parents' business with his wife in 2016. The two of them produce wines on great terroir that are just as mineral and express the chalky soils from which they originate with verve, in a beautiful way, unadorned and crystal clear, so that you can almost hear the stones cracking. At Thibauld Denizot, there is dynamism in the business and in the wines, which, incidentally, are grown organically. Antoine Petrus MOF, recently twice GM of the Taillevent in Paris, drew my attention to this small winery. Merci beaucoup à mon copain Antoine!

Romain Guiberteau is the king of Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc in Saumur! The lawyer learned his trade from none other than the Foucault brothers at the legendary Clos Rougeard. Just like Nady Foucault, Romain is a great guy who knows how to let his wines grow and simply doesn't make any mistakes in the cellar. Of course, Romain Guiberteau cultivates his wines biodynamically, no question about it. What can you expect from Guiberteau wines, you ask? Nothing less than delicate, unique wine beauties! Take heart! These elegant wines will blow you away. I promise!

They are cult, the wines of Richard Leroy! Proof that it is technically possible to stabilize great wines that are not even a shade of orange without adding sulphur. However, the wines are not really completely sulphur-free, as sulphur is a by-product of alcoholic fermentation. It was Laurent Charvin (Châteauneuf-du-Pape), that rascal, who led us up the garden path in January 2010 when he poured us a Roulier that had certainly been open for ten days without showing the slightest hint of oxidation. We were blown away! Since Etienne Davodeau's book "The Ignoramuses" was published, Richard Leroy has become a household name to a whole new group of connoisseurs and it has become even more difficult to get hold of his wines. I hope your luck is in!

Personality and a vision led Eric Morgat to turn his back on a family dynasty with two centuries of history at the age of 25. He may have looked back, but he has never regretted this step. He combines in-depth knowledge and empathy with hard work to save ancient Chenin Blanc vineyards, exclusively Chenin Blanc, which form the basis for his wonderfully clear and focused wines, strongly reminiscent of Burgundy. It goes without saying that Eric Morgat works strictly according to Rudolf Steiner, i.e. biodynamically. It was in 2019 that he was able to inaugurate his futuristic-looking cellar for the region, which was designed in such a way that he can move his wines almost exclusively by gravity. Eric Morgat stands for seductive, energetic wines of rare precision.

We are always lucky and our friend Antoine Petrus is often involved. Why else would Anne Vatan, the icon of the Sancerre appellation, have welcomed us if Antoine hadn't recommended us? So, merci beaucoup, cher ami!  If you are not yet familiar with the wines of father Edmond and daughter Anne Vatan, that's no problem, because who knows a winegrower who produces just two or three thousand bottles? But they do so at a level that no one else can match. However, Anne Vatan's wine is only for the patient. First you have to get hold of a bottle and then you have to put it away, at least until the label starts to shrivel, i.e. around eight years or so. Good luck - and patience!