Domaine des Sablonnettes

Quick Facts

  • Location: Rablay-sur-Layon, France (Anjou, Loire Valley)
  • Winemakers: Jérémy Menard took over from his parents Joël and Christine, who retired in 2020. His wife Ambre arrived in 2021.
  • Vineyard area: 7 hectares
  • Age of vines: Range from 20 to 120 years old
  • Main varieties: Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc; Gamay, Grolleau (Groslot), Cabernet Sauvignon
  • Soils: A diverse site-dependent mix of schist, clay, and sand
  • Annual production: 30,000 bottles
  • Vineyard management: Certified Organic, Certified Biodynamic
  • Winemaking: Minimal Intervention

Fun Facts

  • Living at the winery with Jérémy and his wife Ambre are their daughter and two sons — “2009, 2011, and 2013 vintages,” he jokes.
  • Ambre is a lover of running, swimming, and culinary arts. Jérémy is an artist and music lover; you can catch him at local punk music festivals and running the annual Salon de Rablay, a platform to lift up new and small natural winemakers including those in organic conversion.
  • Besides wine, the family is involved in all kinds of ferments, from beer to vinegar. Jérémy and Ambre also make piquette and would like to try out kefir, kombucha, and gin.
  • Continuing the local tradition of using foraged plants as medicine, Jérémy uses local plants and leftover hops from his brother’s brewery to help avoid the use of additives and sulfur in the cellar.
  • One of Jérémy’s most promising parcels wasn’t always that way… against better judgment, his grandfather bought a small parcel on wet, low ground that would freeze every two years. Jérémy always refused to replant it, and now it stays cool amid rising temperatures, making it one of their best plots!

 

Nature-Led Experimentation in the Loire

 

Welcome to Domaine des Sablonnettes, where soil reigns supreme — even in the name itself, a nod to the sandy ground beneath the winemaker village of Bellevigne-en-Layon. Home to vines over 120 years old, the domaine saw its first vintage four generations ago at the hands of August Menard, the great-grandfather of current winemaker Jérémy. A vineyard worker in a time when the selling price of one barrel of wine paid his entire year’s salary, August was the fortunate recipient of a rare offer to purchase one of the winemaker’s parcels for himself. From a makeshift cellar, he sold the small production from his little plot en vrac (bring-your-own-bottle) and by the barrel to local restaurants.

“And that’s why we have Menard le Rouge,” grins Jérémy, pointing to the label’s playful ode to his great-grandfather’s red moustache and advocacy for the laboring class. “August was a negotiator for workers on the vine. He always tried to get a better salary for the employees of rich vineyard owners.” Over the years new plots emerged, some planted by Jérémy’s grandparents in the 1970s and others adopted from neighbors. It was under the care of Jérémy’s parents Joël and Christine that the winery found its identity as Domaine des Sablonnettes, an organic, biodynamic estate with its own bottles. While individual vines are replaced when needed, Jérémy has never ripped out or re-planted a plot.

It was the vines, not the wines, that brought Jérémy back home as an adult. After studying other modes of agriculture with an eye to becoming an arborist or landscaper, he realized that the right path was the one he already knew well. Before returning to Anjou, Jérémy spent years apprenticing around France from the Ardèche to Banyuls. He was awe-stricken by 10,000-liter foudres in Alsace, intrigued by the traditional, back-breaking work of terracing steep slopes in Côte-Rôtie, and horrified by the impacts of chemical sprays in commercial vineyards (“In the winter it looked like the moon,” he recalls, “brown and rocky with no trace of green”). In Chavanay he met his wife Ambre, and their move back to Anjou came with bold intent: to farm with radical techniques that could sustainably withstand the pressures of the environment. After years of gradual experimentation, Jérémy took the official reins from his parents in 2020.

“Resilience” might be used to sum up Jérémy’s farming philosophy, though his real identity is in the nuances, the understanding of an intricate web of tiny organisms. In simplest terms, there should be as much grass as possible, he says, and quality matters: letting the grass mature and turn to a straw yellow creates carbon to feed the soil life. Machines should be used as little as possible; though Jérémy still uses his grandfather’s tractor, his eventual goal is to let it go. When it comes to the grapes, flavor is king. Rather than do any testing or analysis, Jérémy trusts his own palate to taste for acidity and balance, counting himself lucky to have older, low-production vines with direct sun exposure that allows their fruit to fully ripen.

The soil beneath what are now seven hectares of vines is so diverse, “it differs every 100 meters,” says Jérémy. Each plot contains its own mix of schist, sand and clay. But he’s adamant: “I don’t want to do wines of specific terroir. It would be like making a wine berry-by-berry; they are all so different on the vine.” Instead, he uses stylistic techniques like millefeuille (layering grapes) and trempette (“dipping” or soaking whole clusters in direct pressed juice of another variety) to blend his plots together, shifting the focus to vintage variation. “The blend is very different each year,” he says, “because we’re adaptable. Some years we direct-press red grapes for white wine. It’s like cooking with a recipe, and replacing ingredients with what you have on hand.”

A lover of intuitive experimentation, Jérémy allows himself to be guided by his respect for natural processes and resources. Because filtering the wine takes raw materials away from more critical uses — he explains that the same shell calcium found in the cellar is used in hospitals to filter blood — he’s replaced this step with two rounds of soutirage. Organic materials come to the rescue in the cellar so that Jérémy can avoid sulfur and other chemical interventions: local nettle and yarrow add natural nitrogen to help finish fermentation, and leftover hops from his brother and sister-in-law’s beer brewery mitigates volatile acidity. To solve other fermentation issues, he focuses on cycling nitrogen in the soil using his trademark technique (“more of a sense than a science!”) that makes use of nitrogen-producing groundcovers and tree-derived compost. All in the name of preserving flavor — which Jérémy has seen sacrificed elsewhere in the Loire, as winemakers seeking lower alcohol content resort to harvesting early.

In the community, Jérémy doesn’t keep his unconventional ideas to himself. “We have lots of small winemakers in the region now, and we help each other,” he says — and most growers around him are organic, quite a change from the Anjou that his grandfather knew. Jérémy rents out strong, healthy parcels to friends with climate-related fermentation challenges of their own, and slowly, he’s passing his farming philosophy hand-to-hand to those with an open mind.

lessablonnettes.free.fr

P’tit Blanc — Back to the top

“The first white wine in the range — unassuming and ready to drink on all occasions.”

Pruning Method: Cordon

Soil and Vineyard: Schist soil. A blend of several plots based on ripeness levels, planted by Jérémy’s parents and grandparents.

Age of vines: 20 to 60 years

Varieties (2025): 75% Chenin Blanc, 20% Gamay, 5% Cabernet Sauvign0n

Vinification: Grapes are harvested by hand and left whole-cluster, with 10-20% of grapes macerated on skins and the majority direct-pressed. Co-fermented in stainless steel tanks, then aged 6 months in steel and resin vessels before being racked and bottled unfiltered. Small amount of SO2 added.

Tasting Note: Fresh nose with notes of white flowers, almonds, and subtle pear, and a finish with hints of honey.

Pairing: Good with cold appetizers, vegetables, patés, young goat cheese, shellfish, sushi, or a chicken dish.

Les Copains d’Abord VdT (in Anjou area) : — Back to the top

Age of Vines: 50 years

Yields: 30 hl/ha 5,000 bottles

Pruning Method: Guyot de Loire & Gobelet

Soil: Schist

Varieties 2024: 80% Grolleau, 20% Gamay

2023 was a blend of Grolleau, Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Gamay

Vinification Method (2024): Grapes are harvested by hand and macerated whole-cluster for four weeks in resin-lined concrete tanks; no pumpovers or punch-downs. Indigenous yeasts only. The wine is then pressed, blended, and aged in concrete tanks for six months before it is blended and bottled unfined/unfiltered, with a small amount of sulfur added at bottling.

Tasting Note: A cloudy ruby in the glass with layers of cherry pit and plum. The palate has loads of dark red fruit flavors boosted by scintillating minerality and silken folds of acidity. This is a complex, glouglou and vibrant red, that once tasted will never be forgotten!

Pairing: Grilled chicken, braised rabbit, braised pork loin, hearty vegetarian dishes, savory casseroles, and creamy cheeses.

Les Copines Aussi: — Back to the top

Age of Vines: 50 years

Yields: 40 hl/ha 4,000 bottles

Pruning Method: Cordon

Soil: Schist

Varieties:

2024: 80% Gamay, 20% Grolleau

2023: Chenin, Gamay, Groslot, Cabernet Sauvignon

2021: Gamay, blended with some Chenin 

Vinification Method (2024): Grapes are harvested by hand and macerated whole-cluster for 3 weeks in resin-lined concrete tanks; no pumpovers or punch-downs. Indigenous yeasts only. The wine is then pressed, blended, and aged in concrete tanks for six months before it is blended and bottled unfined/unfiltered, with a small amount of sulfur added at bottling.

Tasting Note: Garnet and cloudy in the glass with pretty scents of black cherry pit, apple core and limestone. This is a buoyant and delightfully fruity expression of Loire Valley Gamay with zesty minerality and vibrant acidity.

Pairing: Grilled chicken, braised rabbit, braised pork loin, hearty vegetarian dishes, savory casseroles, and creamy cheeses.

Le Bon Petit Diable — Back to the top

Age of Vines: 20 years

Yields: 40 hl/ha 4,000 bottles

Pruning Method: Cordon

Soil: Schist

Varieties: Cabernet Franc

Vinification: Grapes are harvested by hand and destemmed before maceration, which lasts for five days. The wine rests in tank for six months before it is bottled with 2-3gr/hl sulfites.

Tasting Note: A lighter and brighter style Cabernet franc filled with raspberry and strawberry aromas, making it easy to drink. Round, fresh, with a balance between the nice ripeness of the grapes and a pretty acidity.

Pairing: Serve with grilled pork, beef, veal or creamy cheeses.

Fleur d’Erables — Back to the top

Pruning Method: Cordon

Soil: Schist

Varieties: Chenin Blanc

Vinification: Harvested at 15-16% potential alcohol, 70 grams residual sugar. These grapes  are harvested from several parcels in Rablay that are showing the beginning signs of Botrytis. Vinified in tank and bottled in the spring with a dose of 40mg/liter of sulfur to prevent refermenation in bottle.

 

 

Ceci n’est pas un Rosé— Back to the top

Pruning Method: Cordon

Soil: Schist

Varieties: Chenin, Cabernet Sauvignon

Vinification: Grapes are hand harvested and a mixture of half free run juice and half direct press juice is fermented to create a dark-colored rosé. 

Menard le Rouge— Back to the top

“This cuvée is a tribute to the family—specifically to grandfather Auguste (nicknamed “Ménard Le Rouge”), whose red mustache appears on the label.
The color red, the hammer, and the pruning shears all nod to Auguste’s personality and his activism; he was a vineyard laborer who was among the first to demand fair pay for that work.”

Pruning Method: Cordon

Age of vines: 30 to 50 years

Soil and Vineyard: Schist soil; a blend of several plots based on ripeness levels, planted by Jérémy’s parents and grandparents.

Varieties:

2024: 50% Chenin Blanc, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon 15% Gamay, 10% Groslot

2023: Gamay, Chenin, Cabernet Sauvignon, Groslot

2022: Cabernet Sauvignon, Groslot, Cabernet Franc, Gamay

2021: Chenin, Gamay, Cabernet Sauvignon

Vinification (2024): Grapes are hand-harvested. Cabernet Sauvignon, Groslot, and Gamay are left whole-cluster; some of the varieties are separated while others are co-fermented. Chenin is direct-pressed, with some of the juice co-fermenting with the reds. After a 3 week fermentation in steel, resin, and concrete vessels, everything is blended together. Aged in tanks for 6 months before being bottled unfined, lightly filtered by gravity, with a small addition of SO2.

Personality (winemaker’s note): Airy and indulgent, very easy-drinking! Perfect for a barbecue.

Du Vin dans les Voiles— Back to the top

Pruning Method: Cordon

Soil: Schist

Varieties: Chenin Blanc

Vinification: Grapes are hand harvested and ferment to less than 2 grams per liter of residual sugar. The wine ages in barrel for 4 years, under a vail of yeast (voile) without being topped up, resulting in an oxidative style of wine. The wine is unfiltered and bottled with a small addition of sulfur.

 

 

 

 

Auguste— Back to the top

Pruning Method: Cordon

Soil: Schist

Varieties: Chenin Blanc

Vinification: Harvested at 17-18% potential alcohol, 120 grams residual sugar per liter. These grapes harvested from several parcels in Rablay with advanced botrytis in the vines. The wine is unfiltered and receives a dose of 40mg/liter of sulfur to prevent refermenation in bottle.

 

 

Zeste— Back to the top

Pruning Method: Cordon

Soil: Schist

Age of vines: 30 years

Varieties: Chenin Blanc

Vinification: Grapes are hand harvested and macerated as whole bunches for 1 month in tank. The finished wine is lightly filtered and sulfured and bottled in the spring.

Un Brin de Causette— Back to the top

Pruning Method: Cordon

Soil: Schist and Gravel

Age of Vines: 45 years

Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon

Vinification: Grapes are harvested by hand and ferment carbonically as whole bunches for about 3 weeks. The wine rests in tank for six months before it is bottled with a light filtration and light addition of sulfur.

 

Trempette

Trempette, French for “dip,” references the technique of macerating whole clusters together with direct-pressed juice. The unique method is also given a nod on the label, drawn by Joél and Christine’s son Jérémy.

Grapes: 45% Chardonnay; 40% Chenin; 15% Sauvignon Blanc

Vineyard: Rablay sur Layon, flat vineyards on schiste soil. The climate is coastal and windy with mild and rainy winters, pleasantly warm summers.

Vines are 35 years old, planted by Joél and Christine Ménard and by their parents, Raymond and Marie Madeleine Ménard. The Chardonnay is planted by the Billot family of Rablay-sur-Layon.

Making of:

Grapes are hand-harvested and sorted in the vineyard. All are kept whole-cluster except for part of the Chenin that gets direct-pressed. Everything goes into an epoxy tank, including the direct-pressed juice, to ferment and macerate for one month (malolactic occurring) without pump-overs or punch-downs. The wine is then pressed for free-run juice and just the start of the pressed-off juice. Lightly filtered (only the last 10 percent of the tank to remove lees sediment). 

Wine is aged 6 months in epoxy tanks, with a small amount of sulfur added at bottling.

Personality: Citrus, fresh and tannic! Pair with cheese, mushrooms, fish and spicy dishes.