Domaine de la Bergerie, 2016 Update
Drinking and understanding wine is a journey. This is just as true for those of us who spend our entire lives in wine as it is for those who just dip in and out, now and again. No matter how often you taste, even if you are a regular visitor to a region (or maybe you are fortunate enough to live in a wine region, your daily commute to work passing through the vineyards), there are always new wines, new domaines and new discoveries that patiently await your attention.
I am always reminded of this when I come to Domaine de la Bergerie. Proprietor Yves Guégniard (pictured below) is good friends with Claude Papin of Château Pierre-Bise and Vincent Ogereau of Domaine Ogereau, two domaines that I knew well. Indeed, I have been familiar with Claude’s and Vincent’s wines for a long time, both being early Anjou discoveries. It has got to the point now, with domaines such as these (and this is true of early discoveries in Bordeaux as well) that I simply can’t remember when and where I first tasted the wines. My drinking for each domaine stretches back to wine pre-history, at the very least prior to my awareness of the need to write tasting notes.
Domaine de la Bergerie, however, was a much more recent discovery, and indeed it was only when I began visiting the Salon des Vins de Loire eight or nine years ago that I first tasted the wines. I was immediately reminded of one of wine’s great paradoxes, that wines and domaines of great quality can be so easily overlooked. I quickly realised that this domaine was a source not only of the Anjou staples, but also top-quality Savennières, esoteric and schisty Anjou-Villages made purely with Cabernet Sauvignon and a fine array of sweet wines from entry-level Coteaux du Layon all the way up to Quarts de Chaume. In other words, all the things I love about Anjou, and all of tip-top quality too. Unsurprisingly, I have returned to taste the wines of Domaine de la Bergerie with great regularity ever since.
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