Vignobles Berthier: Vineyards
Vignobles Berthier is based in St-Gemme-en-Sancerrois, at the northern limit of the Sancerre appellation. This places it about 10 kilometres north of the town on its hill of flint, and just across the river from Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire. This location gives the Berthier family good access to all their vineyards, as those of the Coteaux du Giennois appellation are located just to the northeast and north, on the other side of the Loire, running up towards the town of Gien.
All in all the Berthier family have 26 hectares of vines in Sancerre and Coteaux du Giennois, 10 hectares in the former and 16 hectares in the latter. As noted in my introduction to the domaine, the former vineyards Clément and Florian took from their father, while the latter came from their mother. The vines are planted on a variety of typical Central Vineyard terroirs, including Kimmeridgian marl, Oxfordian caillottes, flint and clay. As I have already indicated in my introduction, the two brothers also produce wines in the Menetou-Salon and Pouilly-Fumé appellations, but these are made using purchased fruit, the family working with a select number of growers in each of these appellations.
