Aunis Etoilé VdF, Deboutbertin 2020

Stéphanie Debout and Vincent Bertin fell in love with the Anjou biking through the region and drinking wine at Angers’ best bistrots. Not satisfied by their Parisian lives, despite their thriving careers as engineers, they felt the urge for a ‘retour à la terre’.

Attracted by the free spirit of the Anjou Noir they first harvested at Cyril Le Moing, before doing stages at Les Roches Sèches (Julien Delrieu), Olivier Cousin (where Vincent was introduced to working with horses), Jean-Francois Chené (La Coulée d’Ambrosia), and with the ubiquitous Mark Angéli. It was Mark who helped the couple setting up in 2012, into a barn adjacent to the Ferme du Mont Benault.

Stéphanie and Vincent’s wines are vibrant as well as characterful, there is a clear margin of progression for this young domaine, and we are convinced their enthusiasm and sheer passion will take them far.

Pineau d’aunis (aka chenin noir) is one of the unsung heroes of the region, an underrated grape greatly appreciated by Stéphanie and Vincent. Whole bunches are crushed by foot in an open vat and macerate 8 to 15 days, the juice is slowly and gently extracted using a manual basket press and the wine ages for a shade longer than a year on its lees. The wine offers a floral and fresh nose, a round mouthfeel with ripe strawberries and pink peppercorn flavours, and is a characterful pineau d’aunis with depth and grip.

Producer  Deboutbertin (Stéphanie Debout and Vincent Bertin)

Origin Faye d’Anjou, Maine-et-Loire, France

Grapes Pineau d'Aunis

Vintage 2020

Alcohol  12.5% ABV

Style Light body red (glug glug)

Bottle size 750ml

Winemaking Manual harvest, whole bunch macerated in open vats for 8-15days, slowly pressed, then aged for about 1year on lees. Bottled without fining, filtration or sulphur.

Notes Organic, Natural, No So2