Sebastien Brunet “Arpent” Vouvray 2018 (750ml)

Domaine from Michel, Sébastien renamed his family’s vineyard “Domaine Sébastien Brunet,” and began a new era on the estate. Since then, he has practiced organic farming on his fifteen hectares of Chenin Blanc vines, using only natural vine and soil treatments on his sometimes pebbly and often silex-rich tuffeau and clay soils. Yields are kept low, averaging about 40 hL/ha for the still whites and 50 hL/ha for sparkling whites.

The vines on the estate are, on average, 45 years old, and grapes are hand-harvested selectively, and fermented without the addition of industrial yeast, with no chaptalization, and with low amounts of sulfur. The cellar, too, reflects this organically-centric approach to wine and has been carved into limestone. But the biggest telling sign of Sébastien’s ingenuity in the cellar and the vineyard is, of course, his finished product: refreshing both for the palate and for the discouraged Chenin Blanc enthusiast.