Château Soucherie: Pierre-Yves Tijou
It was the Tijou family, a well-established viticultural dynasty in Anjou, who acquired Château Soucherie from the widowed proprietor in 1952. At first they continued in much the same way that their noble predecessors had done, farming the land and selling the fruit to the négociants. As is sometimes the case it was not until the responsibility for the family business shifted from one generation to the next that there was enthusiasm for a new way of working.
It was in 1968 that control passed to Pierre-Yves Tijou, when he took the reins handed him by his father. At that time the estate boasted more than 30 hectares of vines, predominantly surrounding the château in a large block stretching right down to the waters of the Layon, which runs barely a few hundred metres from the château, as well as a parcel in Chaume, the Coteaux du Layon Chaume and Quarts de Chaume vineyards being situated just beyond a copse of trees to the west. Pierre-Yves began, little-by-little, to steer away from selling to négociants and bottling the wines himself. In doing so the domaine soon built up a strong following, akin to that enjoyed by Château Pierre-Bise or Domaine des Baumard today. Pierre-Yves also expanded, looking north across the river, following Jean Baumard’s example (although admittedly many decades later) in acquiring vines in Savennières, starting with the Clos des Perrières in 1991 and following up with the purchase of a plot in La Croix Picot in 2002.
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