les athlètes du vin
loire valley - France
story…
Les Athlètes du Vin is a négociant label established in 2016 by a group of like minded producers in the Loire Valley. This large and diverse group are part of a collective that labels themselves “Vini be Good”. The group is made up of some of the most highly regarded producers across the entirety of the Loire Valley, including: Dominique Joseph of Les Petit Saint Vincent, Catherine et Pierre Breton of Domaine Breton, Thierry Germain of Domaine de Roches Neuves, Fred Niger of Domaine de l’Écu, Evelyne de Pontbriand of Domaine de Closel, Matthieu Vallée of Château Yvonne, & a whole host of other excellent producers dedicated to sustainable & organic farming practices and minimal intervention production methods.
The idea behind creating the Les Athlètes du Vin label was to create a value line of wines all under one moniker that showcases the diversity and beauty of Loire Valley and the wines produced there. Each wine is created by a single producer in their own facility and from either their own vineyards or sourced fruit from their friends, family, &/or neighbors. Together they share logistics and sales of the individual bottlings.
Being that the group are all champions of the “natural” wine movement it only makes sense that when it came time to come up with label designs they would tap the unofficial godfather of natural wine labels, Michel Tolmer. Michel is a cartoon creator and has been the go-to man for label creation within the natural wine community in France since the early 90’s. The name Les Athlètes du Vin started as a bit of joke, stating that winemaking & wine drinking are kind of like a sport or exercise with all the lifting of the glass to drink more. The Vini be Good group’s founder & managers, Fabrice Gendrot & Francis del Tedesco kept falling back on this joke so much that the name stuck and became the official name of the project.
philosophy…
Although the project is made up of a collective of producers across the Loire Valley they all work in very similar ways. Each producer has their own specific philosophy when it comes to farming and productions but overall they hit on several key points. All of the farming is done with sustainable methods, most of which falls under organic practices and several of the producers also apply biodynamics to their farming regime. Nearly all of the fruit is hand harvested, in some cases the fruit may have been machine harvested with delicate machinery built to harvest in the most gentle and efficient way.
Production wise, the wines are produced with minimal intervention techniques. This means there are never any additives outside of small doses of SO2 and all of the fermentations take place on native/ambient yeasts. The fermentation and aging vessels vary from producer to producer and wine to wine; but most common vessels include; stainless steel, concrete, and larger, older wooden vats. Many of the wines are unfined and unfiltered but when they are fined and filtered it is done in a gentle and minimal maner.
Vineyards…
The vineyard sources for the wines are spread out just like the producers who make them. A large majority of the bottlings come from vineyards that fall under Vin de France or IGP Val de Loire. They do however have a few bottlings that have AOC status including Cabernet Franc from Chinon, Saint Nicolas de Bourgueil, & Saumur-Champigny; Sauvignon Blanc from Pouilly-Fumé and Chenin from Coteaux du Layon.
