Domaine des Frères

It is obvious that Henri and Valentin are brothers by blood and passion. After spending their youth in the picturesque region of Chinon, they both embraced office careers. However, a few years behind computer screens were enough to saturate them. They decided, each in turn, to enroll in BTS Viti-Œno, gaining experience with various winegrowers to build their expertise. Henry notably concluded his training with Patrick Corbineau, whom he considers his mentor, near Saumur. Valentin, for his part, enriched his experience with Yvon Métras in Beaujolais, Philippe Chigard in Tours, and Bernard Baudry in Chinon
After several years of learning, the two brothers made the big decision. Together, they decided to create their own family wine estate, with the aim of producing natural, healthy and precise wines from exceptional terroirs. The choice of region didn't matter, as long as they could find good plots of land.
The research began in 2017, and the Bruneau brothers undertook numerous visits and made numerous phone calls. Their quest was intense, and they refused to buy by default. Two years later, the return home was finally here. They had discovered an 11-hectare estate in their native region, in Beaumont-en-Véron, in the Chinon appellation. Domaine Des Frères is made up of 10 hectares of red vines (mainly Cabernet Franc) and 1 hectare of white vines (Chenin), spread over six distinct terroirs. The vines are on average 40 to 45 years old and are located on hillsides and plateaus. Most of them come from mass selection. Domaine Des Frères has opted for organic cultivation and they only use sulfur and copper as treatments. To preserve living and aerated soil, they limit tractor use to once a year and favor quad bikes for treatments when necessary. The vines are lightly pruned to maximize the preservation of the leaves and promote photosynthesis, thus reinforcing the aromatic complexity of the fruits. The harvest, of course, is manual and begins early in the day to maintain the freshness of the grapes. The vinifications are carried out in a piecemeal manner, without adding any inputs, with fermentations triggered by native yeasts. The juices are regularly analyzed by the brothers to monitor the optimal progress of the fermentations. Some of the wines are aged in concrete vats, while the other rests in barrels that have already been used several times and have never seen sulfur.