Dom. du Moulin

Cheverny, Loire Valley, France Domaine du Moulin has always been a family estate. The grandparents of the current generation’s producer, Hervé Villemade founded the modes estate and he took over in 1995. The domain used to be a polyculture farm and in the spirit of the age, the old vines of the 1960s were pulled up and replaced in the 1970s. Hervé made some changes when he took over: he replanted 5 hectares and bought more land. Hervé became interested in the work of Marcel La Pierre in Beaujolais and realized to produce the most natural wine, you must start with clean grapes. He converted the vineyards to organic in 1995 and hasn’t looked back. This natural wine focused domaine is situated at the heat of the Cheverny appellation, in the Touraine region of the Loire Valley. The domaine is made up of 25 hectares of rather young vines (15 - 20 years) split amongst three communes: Cellettes, Chitenay and Fougères St. Bièvre. Hervé focuses his work on the soils and uses only naturally based treatments. Following tradition of his region, he allows for a slow, cool vinification with no additions, except a miniscule dose of sulfur at bottling.