Domaine Ogereau
There are many ways in which the vineyards of Anjou could be likened to those of Burgundy, or other favoured wine regions, but one obvious common theme is that it is perhaps to the grower we should turn first when choosing what to drink. Appellation, terroir, vintage too, all these are of course important, but here as anywhere else good wines come from the cellars of good growers. Dedicated growers, who work hard in the vines, often in a very sustainable fashion, employing environmentally friendly or perhaps even organic practices, although many don’t bang the drum as loudly as those who like to make this a defining feature of their work. No, because for these vignerons, it is the quality, purity and honesty of what goes into the bottle and then the glass that matters most.
One name in Anjou who obviously matches this description is Domaine Ogereau. Based in Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay, on the banks of the Layon, this domaine turns out a great array of wines, from simple thirst-quenching rosé to serious Savennières, from tannin-rich and cellar-worthy Anjou-Villages to the very sweetest cuvées, his vines in Bonnes Blanches, in the Coteaux du Layon appellation, and in the Quarts de Chaume appellation, being two distinctive jewels in his crown. For many years this was principally down to the work of Vincent Ogereau, a vigneron whose wines picked up one award after another, and so this profile looks in detail at Vincent, the man and the domaine. In more recent times, however, the running of the domaine is increasingly the responsibility of his son Emmanuel, who returned from studies in far-flung foreign vineyards (which these days means New Zealand, not Beaulieu-sur-Layon or Rochefort-sur-Loire) to join Vincent in his work.
