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Domaine de la Bergerie
I was first introduced to the wines of Yves Guégniard in London, tasting his most recent release from the Clos le Grand Beaupréau, a Savennières lieu-dit, alongside parallel interpretations of this terroir from Château Pierre-Bise and Domaine Ogereau. Although I was familiar with these latter two names, having met Claude Papin on several occasions, and having tasted his wines and those of Vincent Ogereau many times before, the names of Yves Guégniard, and of Domaine de la Bergerie, were entirely new to me. But that is the joy (or, from an alternative viewpoint, the tragedy) of the Loire; here is a man running a long-established domaine, the most recent of several generations of his family to do so, a vigneron clearly committed to his vines and who turns out an exemplary range of wines. And yet he and his domaine remains under the radar of even a Loire-o-phile such as myself. I need to explore more!
Tasting the wines at that initial meeting I was struck by the high quality of his two Savennières cuvées, wines that, in my mind at least, immediately catapulted the very modest Yves Guégniard into the upper tiers of Savennières winemakers, his wines more than a match for those of his peers and friends Claude and Vincent. His Anjou-Villages cuvée Evanescence was also extraordinarily impressive, and these two appellations clearly form the quality cornerstone of the Domaine de la Bergerie range, amongst the dry wines at least; having met up with Yves again since, and having thus tasted many more of his wines, there are sweet delights here two, from the Coteaux du Layon, Chaume and Quarts de Chaume appellations. During the course of my meetings with Yves Guégniard I realised I was dealing with one of the top domaines of Anjou, home to a man producing elegant and composed wines with a modern but not overdone polish and, in many cases, a seductive edge.
Looking beyond these exalted cuvées Yves produces the traditional range of Anjou wines, from Rosé de Loire to Anjou Gamay. In that respect he can perhaps be aligned with similar domaines, like Pierre-Bise and Domaine des Baumard; long established family-run businesses where the current incumbents Claude Papin and Florent Baumard turn out a similarly broad portfolio of wines. And yet whilst both Claude and Florent seem to have firmly established international reputations for their domaines and their wines, this doesn't seem to be the case with Yves Guégniard, despite his prodigious output and the particularly high quality of some of the aforementioned cuvées. This is one of the failings of the Loire; such a discovery in Burgundy, Champagne and perhaps even Bordeaux would be hailed from the rooftops. Here, though, it is down to the Loire-curious to make these discoveries. For that reason, despite the evident quality I found on tasting his wines, Yves Guégniard and the Domaine de la Bergerie remain little-known outside the inner circle of true Loire-o-philes, his wines maintaining their mysterious allure to all but a lucky few who discover them by chance, perhaps because they one day opened a restaurant list on the Loire, rather than Bordeaux, Burgundy or Tuscany. If this profile can help to turn this situation around, even if in some miniscule way, then it has been worthwhile.
Domaine de la Bergerie: A Brief History
Although Yves is a seventh-generation vigneron, it was only in the latter half of the 20th century that his family acquired Domaine de la Bergerie. It was his grandmother that made the purchase in 1961, adding the newly acquired Bergerie vineyards to those she had already inherited. This matriarchal ancestor bequeathed the vineyards to her own daughter, Marie-Agnes, in 1964, and it was through this line that the Bergerie estate, like a vinous piece of mitochondrial DNA, eventually found its way to Yves. He began work on the estate in 1979, and today he, together with his wife Marie-Annick (the two are pictured together, above), have full responsibility.
Their daughter and son-in-law, Anne and David Guitton, have now joined them in their endeavours. Whereas Anne is concerned with viticulture, and now assists her father in the running of the domaine, David has put his experience working in the kitchens of Alain Ducasse, Joël Robuchon and others to good use in opening a vineyard restaurant, La Table de la Bergerie. Despite France's long epicurean heritage, a culture which has always associated wine and food especially in a regional context, the direct association between dining and vineyards - a commonplace arrangement in the New World, especially Australia and California - is not something that has ever really taken off here. In that respect the arrival of Guitton and La Table at the Bergerie domaine is a novel and very welcome development. (29/3/11, updated 15/5/12)/span>
