Antoine Sanzay is the seventh generation of his family to farm vines in the village of Varrains. For much of the history of the family, they sold their grapes to large cooperatives. Antoine joined the domaine in 1999 with the dream to see the wines bottled under the domaine’s own label. He began ending the contracts with the co-ops. 2013 was the first year that they were able to vinify the total of their fruit. Today the estate comprises 11 hectares of prime vineyards in the Saumur-Champigny, including 4 hectares in the famed lieu-dit Les Poyeux. The vines have been certified organic since 2014 and Antoine’s farming has grown famous in the surrounding village, and now the world. The cellar work is traditional, using indigenous yeasts for fermentations and aging in cement and neutral foudre and barrels for elevage. The cabernet francs and chenin blancs that result are some of the most balanced and finessed from the Loire. 

Les Essarts comes from a tiny .25 hectare parcel of chenin blanc on clay and limestone in the village of Brézé. The wine is hand-harvested and ferments on indigenous yeasts before maturing for 18 months on the lees in half new oak demi-muids.