Producer: Domaine Pic Epeiche

Where?

If you've been following our wines and winemakers for some time, the name Champs-sur-Layon will ring a bell. It's in this village in Haut-Layon (Anjou, Pays de la Loire) that Jean-Baptiste Peltier cultivates and vinifies his grapes naturally at his Pic-Épeiche estate, like his friend Jérôme Lambert.

Jean-Baptiste divides his time between his job as a police officer and his winemaking. This has been his lifelong companion: in his region, wine is part of daily life. He has been based at his estate since 2019, but he began viticulture long before that. He trained with his friends and mentors Patrick Desplats and Jérôme Lambert, and starting in 2015, he produced a few vintages by purchasing the harvest from Sébastien Gandubert of the Closerie de Belle Poule in Bellevigne-en-Layon. Later, he decided to purchase vines near his home. His estate was built up through successive purchases of plots. Since the 2020 vintage, he has been a full-fledged winegrower and winemaker, while maintaining his other activity. We are pleased to present the vintages of this entirely natural estate, designed with respect for the land and the environment in mind.

Terroir, plots, and grape varieties

Domaine Pic-Épeiche covers one and a half hectares in Champs-sur-Layon and Rablay-sur-Layon: all the plots are within a four-kilometer radius. In the commune of Champs are the Cabernets: Cabernet Franc (80%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (20%), all planted together, "as in the old days," says Jean-Baptiste. "The blends were made in the vineyard itself." The Grolleau and Chenin plots, acquired more recently, are located in the commune of Rablay-sur-Layon. The soils are clay-limestone with a little flint, and planted with old vines. The Chenins are over fifty years old, and the Cabernets are around forty.

Growing Methods

"I don't add anything." The Pic-Épeiche estate is entirely natural. Certified organic? "Not for the moment," says Jean-Baptiste, "we'll see." He works the old-fashioned way, without chemical additives and using biodynamic techniques from time to time. He avoids treatments, except for a little Bordeaux mixture when mildew threatens. "I scratch the soil a little: a 5-centimeter deep rotary harrow, a plow twice a year, a mow, and that's it." The pomace from the pressings is dried and spread among the vines as fertilizer. "The vine gives me, I give back what it has given me."

Vinification

"The less I touch it, the better. As long as we harvest a healthy harvest... We just care for the grapes." Jean-Baptiste practices non-interventionism without exception. Maceration for red wines is relatively short—between thirteen and twenty days depending on the vintage—with very little punching down, but aging is long, from late September-early October to August of the following year. All fermentation is done using indigenous yeasts, and no sulfites are added during vinification or bottling. Never wood! The grapes go from the vat (made of fiberglass) to the vertical press, where the only filtration is done through a kitchen strainer attached to the mouth, and return to the vat for aging entirely on lees. “You have to keep the substance of the wine, otherwise it doesn’t nourish itself! It has to nourish itself with everything it has given. If everything goes well, I do nothing. If I have a problem, I rack it.” »

The Wines

Thanks to the winemaker's non-interventionism (which, as we know, is accompanied by great vigilance), the wines of the Pic-Épeiche estate accurately reflect their clay-limestone terroir, its depth and salinity. The Chenin whites are a brilliant testament to this; as for the reds, first known for the Cabernet Lune Rayée cuvée (link when it's online), they evolve from vintage to vintage along a long, fresh, and flavorful path. From 2020 to 2022, they are denser and more colorful. As these lines are being written, we can't wait to taste the Grolleau...