Château la FRANCHAIE

Chateau la Franchaie is located in Anjou, in La Possonnière not far from Angers. Eric Dubois moved there with his wife, Alex, in 2017 and took over the existing vineyard.

Eric Dubois is an old hand at natural, biodynamic wines: from 1995 to 2016, he worked as an employee at Clos Cristal in Saumur. We were not the last to offer his wines back then!

A perfect Winery for natural wine

After Clos Cristal, Eric and his wife set out to find vineyards without any real geographical constraints, based on a few criteria that Eric discusses here: “

• no vineyard inserted in a huge massif of monoculture, like many appellations,
• vineyard grouped together, because we are not mechanized,
• with as many grape varieties as possible,
• "The presence of water—whether from the sea or a river—was also an important factor."

After a few months of wandering around France and elsewhere, Eric came to visit Loïc Mahé, with a friend who was looking for vineyards, and it was there that he found his wishes gathered: Château la Franchaie in La Possonnière, a village near Savennières.

On this new Winery, Eric and Alex Dubois rent the vines and the winery. A Winery of 5.5 ha of vines (converted to organic since 2011 by Loïc Mahé) which is organised into 2 large plots: the first one gathered around the chai and the second one a few kilometres away, facing south along the Loire.

The Winery primarily Winery on schist soil in the western extension of Savennières and on clay soil.
Eric Dubois describes this Winery “complex cultivation, low yields, but strong character.”

A spirited organic red wine

It is a pleasure for us to offer the new organic wines of Eric Dubois, natural wines, full of character and identity.

We’ll let Eric have the last word as he talks about his first vintage at La Franchaie :
“The first harvest in 2018 was a godsend—a harvest that spanned over a month, allowing us to achieve optimal ripeness.”

Very good tasting!