Les Jardins de Theseiis
REGION
Loire Valley
Anouk Lavoie-Lamoureux and her husband Paul-André Risse are one of the couples who have taken over a portion of Bruno Allion’s Domaine (he has now retired). Paul is from France, but Anouk is from Canada, and it is there where they met and fell in love. Both were training biologists and researchers in the field of respiratory diseases, but left the research after becoming disappointed with the system that governed the research, which was not in-line with their values. They both had a passion in wine, and decided to follow their dreams to become vignerons.
They studied winemaking in France, and then Italy, specialising in vine physiology and microbiology of indigenous yeasts in alcoholic fermentation. Throughout their studies, they learnt about biodynamics and the importance of soil life, and the promotion of biodiversity.
Back to France, and they spent time working at Château Palmer in Bordeaux, and then with Mark Angeli in Anjou. It was then they decided that they wanted to settle in the Loire, and make the wines they wanted to drink. By good fortune, after tasting a bottle of Bruno n 'Côt by chance, they were introduced to Bruno Allion in 2016. They fell in love with his vineyards, farmed biodynamically since 1997, laden with fruit trees and small vegetable gardens. They loved the winery, the underground cellar, and most importantly, his magical wines. An agreement was reached, where they would take 4.9ha of vines, and 1.6ha of land to plant their own vines too.
Bruno worked with Anouk and Paul during the 2017 harvest, guiding and teaching them everything he knew. He was still ‘on call’ for the 2018 vintage, but this was the first real vintage completed by themselves. They continue to work as Bruno did, with a deep respect for what he has created over the years.
The 2016’s made by Bruno were purchased as part of the deal, while still in barrel – and Anouk and Paul have bottled these wines, and kept his labels out of respect too. For the 2017 wines they have designed new labels, noting the specific parcels that the fruit came from. These are wines with depth, mineral detail, heaps of flavour, incredible aromas, and are bursting with life. I encourage you to try them, they will put a smile on anyone's face!