Spotlight on Touraine, featuring Philippe and Simon Tessier, and More!
3/19/2025
Cheverny, Cour-Cheverny and Vins de France from Philippe and Simon Tessier!
Quality at this dynamic estate seems to improve every year and we are happily taking whatever we can get our hands on, but sadly, that's only 6 to 24 btls of each wine. These will sell-out quickly so don't delay!
These are superb, soulful and refreshing wines that we love to drink - enjoy the reds and the Cheverny Blanc this spring and summer, nicely chilled, but please cellar the Romorantins if you can!!
The Tessier’s estate covers 26 hectares split between main islands of 5 ha or so each, nothing being more than 1 ½ miles away from the cellar. They have three main soils: a very draining terroir of sand and faluns (a young limestone rich in fossils), easy to work, sensitive to hydric stress, giving the lighter, more fruit-forward wines; some terroir with sands and a different proportion of clay and silt; and a few plots where the Cretaceous limestone is very close to the top soils, giving deeper wines. All are organically farmed, certified, since 1998 and minimal or zero SO2 is used. The surface is roughly split 50/50 between the white and the red grapes: 6.5 ha of Romorantin, 5 of Sauvignon, 1 of Chardonnay and some Menu Pineau For the red they grow 6 ha of Pinot Noir, 4.5 of Gamay, .3 ha of Pineau d’Aunis they planted 10 years ago and some Côt.
Simon Tessier, in charge since 2019 (with help from Philippe!)
The eastern Touraine, and more specifically a golden triangle between Cheverny, Mareuil-sur-Cher and Les Montils, as well as both banks of the Cher, have become one of the most important active centers in France for the rebirth of true, living wines, with the likes of Puzelat, Bonhomme, Clos Roche Blanche (with their successors Julien Pineau, Laurent Saillard, Noëlla Morantin, etc.), Les Capriades, Bruno Allion, Christophe Foucher and Hervé Villemade. When you think about the concentration of talent in this little corner of Loir-et-Cher, it is just incredible! Philippe and Simon have been a force in this movement, as well as one of the main players in the recognition of Cour-Cheverny and the preservation of Romorantin since 1981.
We've added a few of our very favorite wines from Touraine to today's offer, from Hervè Villemade, Pierre-O Bonhomme, Noella Morantin and Christophe Foucher!
Enjoy!
