Domaine Payen

France

Oct 27

In 2023, Ludovic Payen took over a 28-hectare estate in Anjou Noir, by Chaudefonds-sur-Layon. Before buying the domaine, he trained in viticulture at Coulée de Serrant in Loire and at Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair in Burgundy. With the geological history of the Loire, the soil is quite rugged, with shales, volcanic rocks and rhyolites. The estate sits on the hillsides of green and purple schist. When Ludovic bought the estate, he began its conversion to organic farming, focusing on fermentation with indigenous yeasts. The most popular grapes of the region — Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Franc, Grolleau, Cabernet Sauvignon — are all worked in the domaine with minimal intervention, expressing the salinity and brightness of the terroir.