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2020 Vin de France Blanche
Domaine Michel Brégeon
If you’re not familiar with Folle Blanche, don’t fret. This typically lean, bright variety is most notable for its use in the making of spirits such as Armangac and Cognac. Here, however, the grapes are macerated for three weeks. The resulting skin-contact wine is redolent of blood orange and hyssop—a perfect apéritif for olives and anchovies.
—Allyson Noman
Wine Type: | white |
Vintage: | 2020 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Folle Blanche |
Appellation: | Vin de France |
Country: | France |
Region: | Loire |
Producer: | André-Michel Brégeon |
Winemaker: | Fred Lailler |
Vineyard: | 40 years average, 10 ha total |
Soil: | Gabbro |
Farming: | Organic (certified) |
Alcohol: | 9% |
More from this Producer or Region

2018 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine “Gorges”
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2021 Vin de France Blanche
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This skin-contact wine is redolent of blood orange and hyssop—a perfect apéritif for olives and anchovies.

2022 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine “Réserve”
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When you smell it, keep in mind that no other wine, besides a Melon de Bourgogne grown in the gabbro soil of Gorges, could possibly smell like this one does.

2021 Vin de France Blanc “Chenin Centenaire”
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2023 Reuilly “Les Pierres Plates”
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2022 Chinon “Les Grézeaux”
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2015 Chinon “Les Petites Roches” MAGNUM
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2023 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie
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About The Producer
André-Michel Brégeon
Michel Brégeon is part renegade, part crusader, and full-blown terroirist, ardently defending the Muscadet-Sèvre-et-Maine terroir. Thanks to his deep understanding of the land, he plays the game much differently than the region’s caves cooperatives and negociants, who produce en masse and lose the subtlety of the appellation. He worked for his family’s domaine before setting out on his own in 1975. When his father retired in 1989, he gave his remaining vineyard land to Michel. Today, Michel farms seven hectares of vineyards in clay, silica, and gabbro soils. Gabbro is old, blue-green, volcanic rock, rarely found in vineyard land. Formed by magma eruptions under the ocean floor, it imparts intense complexity to Michel’s wines.
About The Region
Loire
The defining feature of the Loire Valley, not surprisingly, is the Loire River. As the longest river in France, spanning more than 600 miles, this river connects seemingly disparate wine regions. Why else would Sancerre, with its Kimmeridgian limestone terroir be connected to Muscadet, an appellation that is 250 miles away?
Secondary in relevance to the historical, climatic, environmental, and cultural importance of the river are the wines and châteaux of the Jardin de la France. The kings and nobility of France built many hundreds of châteaux in the Loire but wine preceded the arrival of the noblesse and has since out-lived them as well.
Diversity abounds in the Loire. The aforementioned Kimmderidgian limestone of Sancerre is also found in Chablis. Chinon, Bourgueil, and Saumur boast the presence of tuffeau, a type of limestone unique to the Loire that has a yellowish tinge and a chalky texture. Savennières has schist, while Muscadet has volcanic, granite, and serpentinite based soils. In addition to geologic diversity, many, grape varieties are grown there too: Cabernet Franc, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and Melon de Bourgogne are most prevalent, but (to name a few) Pinot Gris, Grolleau, Pinot Noir, Pineau d’Aunis, and Folle Blanche are also planted. These myriad of viticultural influences leads to the high quality production of every type of wine: red, white, rosé, sparkling, and dessert.
Like the Rhône and Provence, some of Kermit’s first imports came from the Loire, most notably the wines of Charles Joguet and Château d’Epiré—two producers who are featured in Kermit’s book Adventures on the Wine Route and with whom we still work today.
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2017 Jasnières “Chant de Vigne”
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Loire Valley Wine Route Sampler
12-Bottle Sampler France | Loire
Sampler Includes:
2023 Vin de France Brut “Elle est pas bulle, la vie?” • Catherine & Pierre Breton $25.00
2023 Muscadet “Le Clos de la Butte” • Eric Chevalier $22.00
2023 Quincy • Domaine Trotereau $27.00
2023 Vouvray • Champalou $28.00
2023 Pouilly-Fumé “Vieilles Vignes” • Régis Minet $34.00
2023 Reuilly Pinot Gris Rosé • Domaine de Reuilly $24.00
2023 Bourgueil “Cuvée Alouettes” • Domaine de la Chanteleuserie $18.00
2023 Chinon “Les Granges” • Bernard Baudry $27.00
2023 Val de Loire Rouge Grolleau • Catherine & Pierre Breton $29.00
2023 Sancerre Rouge • Daniel Chotard $40.00
2022 Saumur Champigny “Terres Chaudes” • Domaine des Roches Neuves $42.00
2022 Vin de France Rouge “Le Martray” • Grange Saint Sauveur $49.00
Normally $363.00
SPECIAL SAMPLER PRICE $269.00
(a 25% discount)
Vouvray Brut “La Dilettante”
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2020 Saumur Champigny “La Marginale”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2022 Sancerre “Les Coutones”
Daniel Chotard France | Loire
2023 Muscadet Côtes de Grand Lieu sur lie “La Nöe”
Eric Chevalier France | Loire
2021 Chinon “La Croix Boissée”
Bernard Baudry France | Loire
2023 Chinon Rosé
Bernard Baudry France | Loire
2023 Pouilly-Fumé “Vieilles Vignes”
Régis Minet France | Loire
2023 Savennières “Cuvée Spéciale”
Château d’Epiré France | Loire
2018 Saumur Blanc “L’Échelier”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2023 Val de Loire Rouge Grolleau
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2017 Jasnières “Chant de Vigne”
Christine de Mianville France | Loire
Loire Valley Wine Route Sampler
A glimpse into the quintessential vigneron lifestyle of the Loire
Vouvray Brut “La Dilettante”
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2020 Saumur Champigny “La Marginale”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2022 Sancerre “Les Coutones”
Daniel Chotard France | Loire
Where the newsletter started

Where the newsletter started
Every three or four months I would send my clients a cheaply made list of my inventory, but it began to dawn on me that business did not pick up afterwards. It occurred to me that my clientele might not know what Château Grillet is, either. One month in 1974 I had an especially esoteric collection of wines arriving, so I decided to put a short explanation about each wine into my price list, to try and let my clients know what to expect when they uncorked a bottle. The day after I mailed that brochure, people showed up at the shop, and that is how these little propaganda pieces for fine wine were born.—Kermit Lynch