Les Maisons Rouges - Julien Peltier, Elisabeth and Benoît Jardin

Our estate, Les Maisons Rouges, covers 11 hectares. Using organic farming methods (AB, Ecocert) and biodynamic methods (Biodyvin label), we cultivate our vines naturally without insecticides or synthetic products, using plant-based preparations and significantly limiting the use of copper.

Our goal is therefore to promote the natural ecosystem, in order to ensure the long-term health of the plant as well as the animal and plant species. The soil is then cultivated and sown with our preparations and composts.

We have chosen to delve deeper into soil cultivation, revitalizing the vines. From the outset, we have been driven by a desire to allow the terroir to express itself fully. We practice short pruning to obtain small, high-quality yields (an average of 25 hl/ha on the estate), strongly expressing the mineral character of our terroir. We carry out meticulous shoot thinning in May and June to obtain well-formed, well-ventilated bunches thanks to the optimal trellising height.

We apply the same natural approach to our winemaking: respecting the harvested material. No yeast or oenological products are added, and nothing is removed. A minimal dose of sulfur is introduced to protect the wines, generally only after fermentation or at bottling. Vinification is carried out by plot for the white wines and by vine age for the red Coteaux du Loir de Pineau d'Aunis. The grapes are hand-harvested into crates during October. This allows us to wait until the grapes reach maximum ripeness, and even until over-ripeness in favorable years. We can then perform successive sorting within the same plots to obtain white wines ranging from dry to sweet.