Domaines Vinet

The story of Gérard and Laurence Vinet begins with horses, in the rural farming community outside the port city of Nantes, nine miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Both Gérard and Laurence grew up in the vineyards, in their respective towns, and found each other through their love of horseback riding and began to build a life together starting in the 1970s.
Gustave Vinet, Gérard’s father, acquired the family’s first four hectares in 1948, in the village of La Haye-Fouassière, after World War II. He called the property Domaine de la Quilla, after a local tree, used for medicinal tea. In 1980, his son, Gérard, officially took over the Domaine. Today Laurence and Gérard cultivate 55 hectares with 4 distinct properties using sustainable agriculture (certified HVE and Terra Vitis) in the heart of the Muscadet Sèvre et Maine appellation. The village of La Haye-Fouassière is the genesis of the appellation. In 1926, at the beginning of the French AOC system, eight winegrowers from the village presented their case for a classified region under the “Muscadet Grand Cru de Sèvre et Maine” with the vineyard “Clos de la Houssaie” as the lead example. The region was established officially in 1936, without Grand Cru distinction, with the Melon de Bourgogne grape as its unique variety. Melon de Bourgogne (Fruit of Burgundy) was planted in the Nantais region in 1709 after a devastating frost. The Melon grape was believed to be a better alternative and a more frost-resistant variety. Gérard started his own project with his brother in the early 1970s, before taking over his father’s property. Together with Laurence’s family’s property in Château-Thébaud, and the inclusion of the prestigious “Clos de la Houssaie” vineyard, their holdings consist of 4 distinct properties. Vinifying the properties separately maintains the integrity of the microclimates and soils of each location. The region’s terroir is characterized by siliceous, sedimentary rock, with thin topsoil. Rocky siliceous soils have good drainage but poor fertility. Vines planted in this type of soil must penetrate deeply to find nutrients in the subsoil. The silica rock consists of schists, michaschists, amphibolites, gneiss and orthogneiss, on gentle slopes along the Sèvre river. Today, along with their son Matthew, the Vinet family maintain a philosophy that starts with the quality of the soil. They adapt their work to the land according to the differences in the microclimate and the density of the soil. Each of their wines develop a unique character with extended lees aging. The average “Sur Lee” wine is bottled in April of the following year. At Vinet, they begin bottling in late July allowing for longer lees exposure, developing texture and complexity. All the wines are harvested, vinified, and bottled with respect to both tradition and the environment. The “Clos de la Houssaie” vineyard is the jewel of the estate sourced from an enclosed 0.7-hectare vineyard. The most historic vineyard in the appellation, this wine is aged for two years on the lees before bottling and aged a minimum of 5 years before release. The magic of this unassuming grape, Melon de Bourgogne, is that it can age a very long time and continue to improve for decades in a great vintage. Even the Domaine de la Quilla bottling can show deeper complexities with several years in the bottle.