"The artisanal approach, viticultural sustainability, the rejection of oenological interventionism: all to enhance the terroir".
This is the motto of Domaine Bertin-Delatte, a company located in Rablay-sur-Layon, in the district of Anjou, in the western Loire Valley.
A generation of young producers fascinated by the myth of Richard Leroy has settled in this area where the terroir is exceptional: Geneviève Delatte and Nicolas Bertin are among them.
After various experiences, the two decided in 2008 to buy a 1.5-hectare plot on the lieu dit L'Échalier, and in 2012 they built a house and cellar among the vines. Also in 2012, they managed to buy two other small plots totalling one hectare, which they vinify separately from the main cuvée.
They follow organic and biodynamic farming principles applied both in the vineyard and in the cellar: after pressing and the start of fermentation of the must and marc, part of it ends up in barriques, and the rest in fibreglass, where the wine stays for at least a year. Fermentation is spontaneous, no filtration or racking is carried out during ageing, and no sulphur is added.
Domaine Bertin-Delatte thus gives life to highly expressive, mineral and textural Chenin, which reflect the terroir in an exemplary manner and faithfully recount its potential.
