Jonathan Pabiot, 2018 Update
In my continued explorations of the Loire Valley I have discovered many domaines new to me, and met many young vignerons. Among all of them, I rate few as highly as I would rate Jonathan Pabiot, in the Pouilly-Fumé appellation.
Unlike some of the Loire Valley’s most famous vignerons, such as Richard Leroy or Eric Nicolas, Jonathan (pictured below) is not a newcomer to wine, nor to the region itself. The son of a local winemaking family he left home to study wine, but he threw in the towel on his wine studies early – “I wanted more practical, hands-on work” – and instead went to work in the Languedoc. He eventually returned home in 2006. His father Didier Pabiot and his grandfather each handed over a small section of vines so he could try his hand, and Jonathan immediately turned them over to exclusively organic viticulture. His wines were convincing from the outset, and within a few years father and son reunited their two parts of the domaine, the father switching to his son’s organic methods. Today the entire domaine is in the hands of Jonathan and his partner, while his father helps out as required.
And the wines? They are frequently stunning, in a quite different style to that of his peer Louis-Benjamin Dagueneau, but made with similar conviction. These are wines for people who seek out quality, for drinking, rather than just the most famous names.
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