Patrice Moreux

About

Our philosophy is simple: the vine is our church. Our environmental charter is to respect nature and the vines, which are the foundation of our passion. This belief means we limit our intervention in the vines, reinforced by our understanding of the terroir. We observe the roots of our vines in the earth, understand the subtleties of the terroir, measure is capacity to nourish, evaluate the health of the vines, and take care of them.

Location Description

Nestled in the heart of the Loire Valley

Additional Information

  • Meeting / Conference Facilities:
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History

The origins of our Domaine go back to 1677 when Edme Corty laid the foundations of a small Domaine in Pouilly. André Moreux bought his first vines in 1702, but on the other side of the Loire, in Sancerre. It is incredible to think that their love of wine and the land would straddle 300 years of history and descend done through 12 generations!

These origins explain today our presence in the appellation of Pouilly-Fumé, and more exactly les loges, and in Sancerre at Chavignol. These two regal appellations of Sauvignon Blanc were united in 1955 by the marriage of Jeannine Corty and Raymond Moreaux, direct descendants of Edme and André. As a wedding present their parents gave them a 4.5 hectares parcel of vineyards on a hillside – the ‘Loge Aux Moines’.

This parcel is part of the original vineyard of Pouilly, and was in fact the first cultivated one in the appellation by the Benedictine monks of the 11th century. They were the winemakers of their age, great herbalists, and had a direct link to nature, and they quickly understood that this place was ideal for growing vines.

Facing due South, overlooking the Loire, it benefits from the first rays of sunlight, more warmth throughout the day, and also an exceptional terroir, 100% kimmeridgian marl, with poor fertility, where the concentration of limestone is the highest in Pouilly. Thus in their eyes it was a natural place to plant vines.

Practices & Techniques

In our Domaines, treatments are kept to the minimum, the rational nutrition of the soil (no chemical fertilizers, ploughing several times a year), allow us to exacerbate the plants physiology and its natural resilience.

We voluntarily prune short, and our vines are manually de-budded, whilst observing and respecting the flow of the sap, in order to obtain the optimum durability of our vines and thus a higher concentration of grapes.

This trend of limited intervention, leading to lower yields, allows us to obtain healthy grapes, balanced, and capable of producing wines of great quality.

Our yields on the Loire valley and in Provence are respectively an average of 55 and 35 hectolitres per hectare, and they are 35 hectolitres per hectare for 65 allowed hectoliters.

Our only aim is to respect the natural will of the grapes. This means combing ancestral knowledge with modern techniques, without excess. There are many positive aspects to progress, everything depends on what one does with them. For example we can speak about the use of a pneumatic press, thermoregulation in our cellars, or the addition of oxygen at various stages in the vinification. However the older methods are upheld when vinifiying on fine lees, or only allowing spontaneous fermentations.

All stages of vinification are carried out following the lunar cycle, the influence of the moon is crucial in the vinifying of our wines.

Finally, indigenous yeasts play a primordial role in our cellars. All of our ferments, without exception, are spontaneous. The indigenous microflora present on our grapes are the cradle of the yeasts. Each parcel is vinified separately, in thermos-regulated Inox tanks, having long and slow natural ferments. Thus the wines conserve their unique character, and under these conditions the terroir can speak freely.

We avoid uniformity, the standardization of our wines, and do not subdue our varieties with the use of aromatic or pre-selected yeasts.

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Address

1, Chemin des Vallées
Pouilly-sur-Loire, Nièvre 58150
France

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