Domaine François Chidaine

The Free Bacchus Story

From the 2014 vintage, Vouvray fruit produced and bottled outside the village may no longer carry the appellation name. François Chidaine’s cellar is in Montlouis, across the river and within sight of the vines. His Vouvray is therefore sold as Vin de France, the lowest designation the country has.

That is a rule about the address of the press, not about how anything was grown. The vines are the same vines they were in 2013, in the same Vouvray soil, farmed the same way. Nothing changed except which side of a river the wine was made on — and the label now says the wine is barely French rather than one of the Loire’s benchmark appellations.

He built the domaine from nothing: four hectares in 1989, around forty now, about thirty of them Chenin Blanc across Montlouis, Vouvray and Touraine. His parents retired in 1999 and handed him thirteen hectares, and he converted to biodynamics that same year, early for the Loire. He credits Didier Dagueneau and Nady Foucault of Clos Rougeard with persuading him. Certification is Demeter, with Biodyvin membership audited by Ecocert.

Montlouis sits on the opposite bank on similar tuffeau limestone, growing the same grape, and has never carried Vouvray’s name recognition. It sells for about a third of the price.

Both facts point the same way. Appellation is a rule about geography and paperwork, and it was never a measure of quality — which is exactly why this site scores certificates and farming rather than names.