On the hunt for an organic Sancerre producer that could offer us just a little more volume than Domaine Paul Cherrier, we stumbled upon Renaissance Fleuriet Freres.....
The Fleuriet family have a long history of farming in the region since the 18th century, first as cattle and grain farmers and cheese makers, and more recently as vignerons, with their first vines planted in '91. But Renaissance Fleuriet Freres is a younger story only launched in 2014, when a close friend of the Fleuriet brothers Benoit and Matthieu reached out to them to take on his vineyard. He was no longer able to maintain it, and with 7 ha of vineyards spread across 5 different terroirs, it was too good an opportunity to miss. They invested heavily to restore the vineyards to their former glory and thus launched a new label in partnership with their friend Stephane, naming it Renaissance Fleuriet Freres, so as to honour the revival ofand renaissance of the vineyards.
Since day one, the preservation of the ecoysystem and biodiversity in the vineyards has been imperative. They swiftly transitioned to organic farming and from the 2021 vintage, will also be certified biodynamic. Really, they're taking more of a regenerative approach and always striving to do better, whether it's to minimise the use of copper in the vineyard or the disturbance of soil. Similarly, in the winery, great care is taken to protect against oxidation whilst using minimal SO2. No pumps here - all work is done by gravity, and nitrogen gas is used to protect the fruit when in the press and before going to tank or barrel.
The 7ha of restored vines sit across 5 terroirs: 4.5 ha of Caillottes with stony limestone soils, 1 ha in Menetou-Salon and 0.75 ha in Cote de L'Epee, a soil rich in flint. More recently, they've added 34 ha on a fabulous clay bed called Les Marnes in Touraine. The wines have a brilliant freshness, marked idendity of their site and with superb purity.