DOMAINE BOURILLON-DORLEANS

The Bourillon family have been making wine at Rochecorbon, in the Vouvray appellation of the Loire Valley, for generations. The estate was founded as far back as 1875, but it was not until 1921 that it was organised as it is today by Gaston Dorléans.

Still very much a family concern, the domaine is run by Gaston’s great grandson, Frédéric Bourillon, who has consolidated the family’s 26.5 hectares of vineyards and constructed a modern winery complex to service them. The Bourillon’s continue to make their wines using fiercely traditional winemaking principles, with the immaculate Rochecorbon vineyards sustainably managed and the Chenin Blanc fruit for their highly characteristic Vouvray wines hand harvested and matured in the medieval caves alongside the winery.

With an average vine age of 35 years, the wines are headily aromatic, deeply flavoured and lusciously textured, the sec (dry) style, in particular, showing a flintiness and minerality that is unique to the terroir of the Loire.