Raphaël Midoir

The house is in Chémery, in Loir-et-Cher, near Romorantin and in the heart of the Sologne wine country. Raphaël Midoir is the fifth generation and took over from his father in 1997.

There are thirty hectares, twenty-one of white and nine of red, on clay subsoil and siliceous soil with flint, with vines ranging from five to fifty years. Sauvignon accounts for 70% of the plantings; the rest is split between Chenin, Côt, Chardonnay and Gamay.

They bottle under Touraine, Touraine-Oisly, Crémant de Loire and IGP Val de Loire. The estate holds High Environmental Value certification, with four hectares certified organic and another four in conversion.

The one red the house has given a name of its own is a Gamay, and it is called Jean after Raphaël's grandfather, who was devoted to the variety. It comes from a three-hectare plot of vines around forty years old and is bottled with no sulphur added at any stage. Which is something, in a house where seven vines out of ten are Sauvignon.