Domaine de l’Estang

Although he has not yet sought certification, Bertrand has worked organically since the beginning. He harvests primarily by hand, and is moving toward 100% manual harvesting. With its naturally stable temperature and an underground water source running through its center, the circa-1850 cellar at Domaine de l’Estang allows Bertrand to work with very little intervention, as he prefers to do. Fermentations occur spontaneously here, and malolactic fermentation is never blocked—a double-flouting of Central Loire Sauvignon Blanc orthodoxy. But Bertrand is uninterested in caricature wines; a relatively late picker, he revels in Loire Sauvignon Blanc’s ability to deliver its penetrating minerality on a frame more ample, more texturally compelling, and less one-dimensionally crisp.

On that front, Bertrand also takes his time with elevage, in some instances allowing the wines years on their fine lees to come together and to settle so that he doesn’t need to excessively fine and filter them. He loves, in his words, “tender wines”—not a typical descriptor for the often unrelentingly linear Sauvignon Blancs of the region. Still, the wines of Domaine de l’Estang are deeply expressive of their place of origin, delivering telltale calcareous heft and drive. Furthermore, they age beautifully, given their inherent concentration and ample stuffing.