Domaine de la Sénéchalière La Bohème

If Marc Pesnot, winemaker at Domaine de la Sénéchalière, is known for one thing, it is his constant struggle to reduce the acidity that characterises the wines of Muscadet (Loire). To do this, his wines undergo malolactic fermentation, which is not part of the INAO charter, and all his wines are classified as Vin de France. Established in the 1980s in the Nantes region, in Saint Julien de Concelles, his cuvées have been natural since 2001 and, by not using any chemical treatments, he achieves wines that are so smooth, fresh and fruity that many are already reserved before they are released, especially in the USA and Japan.

In the 13 hectares of vineyards, the vines are grown without chemical treatments and organic and biodynamic practices are carried out using copper, essential oils and herbal teas. This is where Domaine de la Sénéchalière La Bohème starts life, a single-variety white wine made from Melon de Bourgogne where the grapes are gently pressed and the must ferments slowly for more than 4 months with native yeasts. In this quest for maximum purity, it is vinified without captalisation, acidification, clarification or sulphites. Only a minimum of SO2 is added at bottling (approximately 20mg/l).

So, Domaine de la Sénéchalière La Bohème is a beautifully smooth, fresh and saline cuvée that has nothing to envy in the denomination’s best wines. A wine with no chemicals or complications that, as the winemaker likes to say on the label, “is dry, but not acidic”.