Domaine Fabrice Gasnier
The little hamlet of Chezelet, situated downstream of L’Île Bouchard, just a few hundred metres from the waters of the Vienne, is a fairly sleepy settlement. Built around a collection of winery buildings and barrel cellars, with less than a handful of residential properties, it is immediately clear this is a hamlet which owes its existence to the vine.
The resident vignerons are small in number, although to their credit that hasn’t prevented them creating their own confrérie, the Chevaliers de Chezelet. For many years this rather Rabelaisian society was headed up by Jacky Gasnier, doyen of what is surely one of the hamlet’s best-known domaines (I should think his only contender in this regard would be Charles Pain, although he does have other winemaking neighbours, including Fabien Demois). The family maintain a presence in the hamlet today, principally through Jacky’s son Fabrice, and more recently his grandson Valentin. Organic and now biodynamic, and with a vineyard which is expanding from red to white, from right bank to left, this is a domaine worth getting to know.
Origins
The domaine has been in the hands of the Gasnier family, across five generations, since at least 1870. At this early stage this was a polycultural smallholding, as was the norm for many domaines during the 19th and early-20th centuries.
Please log in to continue reading: