Domaine du Mortier
The story of Domaine du Mortier really only begins in 1990, with the arrival of the Boisard family in La Gardière, a small hamlet sitting well up the slope above the town of St-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil. Boisard mère and père acquired a small farmhouse, with just a few rows of vines, and capacious cellars. They had no interest in wine, having sought out the house as an attractive rural retreat, but it was clear that the domaine had an unappreciated viticultural history. It wasn’t long before most of the family had turned their minds and hands to tending their vines, and a new domaine was born.
In this profile I present the short history of this domaine, as well as exploring the Boisard family’s approach to viticulture and winemaking today. First, though, I couldn’t resist exploring a little of this hamlet’s history, to see if any clues about the origins of this domaine could be found.
Origins
The hamlet of La Gardière has long been home to a small community of vignerons. Writing in Les Vins de Loire (Parisienne d’Editions Techniques et Commerciales,1956), Pierre Bréjoux included the lieu-dit of Le Clos de la Gardière as among the best terroirs of St-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil. A few decades later Suzanne Blanchet, writing in Les Vins du Val de Loire (Éditions Jema SA, 1982), noted the presence of a handful of vignerons residing in the hamlet, although most of these are clearly ancestors of younger generations still resident in the village today. There was, however, a vigneron named Pierre Couineau, resident at nearby Le Grand Mortier. Could he be relevant to the early story of Domaine du Mortier? Possibly, but I have to admit that the evidence is far from conclusive, and I am resigned to taking up the tale during the 1990s.
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