Vigneron Philippe Brisebarre started working with his father at the age of 16. The cellar is above the town of Vouvray and all but 7 of the domaine's 25 hectares lie just adjacent. His cellar, like many others in the region, is a stone cave cut straight into a cliff of tuffeau, the soft yellow sandstone famous in the Loire Valley. The cave dates back to the 1500s, when it was originally a quarry then becoming a storage facility for ice, before the days of electricity.  storing ice for refrigeration More recently it has been  the cellar for the Brisebarre family domaine for several generations, from which he offers a wonderful array of older vintages in immaculate condition.

The distinctive local yellow tuffeau limestone and moderate climate provides the perfect environment for growing Chenin Blanc. Philippe works on a lutte raisonée basis in the vineyards, making treatments only when absolutely necessary. He prefers to harvest by machine, as this gives him the opportunity to pick his grapes rapidly at the optimum moment of ripeness without any loss of quality.

The grapes are gently pressed  pneumatically and the must settled few hours before an initial filtration off gross lees, followed by a slow fermentation in old oak barrels of up to 20 years old. The fermentation can take as long as 5 months to complete, the wine remaining in barrel for a year in total before bottling.

Grape: 100% Chenin

Tasting Note: A white of great complexity with notes of ripe apple, a touch of quince and a delicate nutty finish. A Medium-bodied dry white of great character and depth which offers incredible value after a decade in bottle.

Food Match: Ideal with pork belly or a smoked salmon and lemon risotto.

Farming Practices: Vegan - Contains Sulfites

Closure: Natural Cork

Vintage: 2006