Domaine Sérol: Tasting & Drinking
I was first drawn to the wines of Domaine Sérol because of their distinctive, perhaps idiosyncratic nature. The Côte Roannaise, after all, is a far-flung corner of the Loire Valley, hundreds of kilometres distant from more famous names such as Vouvray, Chinon or Muscadet. The vineyards of Beaujolais lie much closer, not to mention the Côte d’Or, the Mâconnais and the northern Rhône appellations of Hermitage, Côte-Rôtie and the like. Of course, this is nothing new in the Loire Valley; as you sit sipping Sauvignon Blanc in a café in the hilltop town of Sancerre, you are in fact much closer to Chablis (a short drive to the east) than you are to Vouvray (a long way downstream). The Loire is a huge river that snakes its way across France, brushing alongside a number of other wine regions as it does so.
On tasting them, however, I realised that these wines are no mere curiosities. The combination of Gamay (not an unusual variety for the Loire Valley) with acidic volcanic soils atop bedrocks of granite and basalt (very unusual for the region – the rocks across which the Loire flows are otherwise exclusively limestone until it reaches the western stretches of Anjou and the Pays Nantais) gives us a new, distinctive and also entirely delicious style. The result is very different to Gamay grown on the gravelly, flinty, limestone soils found in Touraine. They have much more in common with Beaujolais, but not the sweet, supple, confected Beaujolais Nouveau of our youth. They call to mind much more serious styles, from renowned growers in top crus. They have form, structure, energy, minerality and more.
There are too many cuvées here to recount my thoughts on every one, but a few words on vintages seems appropriate. In recent years I have been impressed by the wines of 2022, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2014 more than any others. I was particularly taken by the 2018 vintage and committed some bottles to the cellar, to see how they show at ten years or older. The domaine does well in weaker years, testament to the standards of viticulture, selection and winemaking, and so the wines still have merit when the growing season is more challenging, in years such as 2024 and 2021. This is a domaine worth following, and this is advice I follow myself, with many bottles enjoyed at home alongside those I have tasted with Stéphane Sérol over the years. (5/1/16, updated 10/8/26)
