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2021 Vin de France Blanche
Domaine Michel Brégeon
If you’re not familiar with Folle Blanche, don’t fret. This typically lean, bright variety is most notable for its use in the making of spirits such as Armangac and Cognac. Here, however, the grapes are macerated for three weeks. The resulting skin-contact wine is redolent of blood orange and hyssop—a perfect apéritif for olives and anchovies.
—Allyson Noman
Wine Type: | white |
Vintage: | 2021 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Folle Blanche |
Appellation: | Vin de France |
Country: | France |
Region: | Loire |
Producer: | André-Michel Brégeon |
Winemaker: | Fred Lailler |
Vineyard: | 40 years average, 10 ha total |
Soil: | Gabbro |
Farming: | Organic (certified) |
Alcohol: | 11% |
More from this Producer or Region

2018 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine “Gorges”
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Gorges boasts an incredible texture and tension imparted by decomposed, blue-green igneous rock, seventy-year-old vines, and years-long aging on the lees.

2023 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie
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It fills the mouth with suspicions of honeysuckle and pulpy stone fruits, all while maintaining classic notes of iodine and sea breeze that make this the vinous equivalent of tidepooling.

2019 Vin de France Rouge Grolleau/Cabernet Franc “Clandestine”
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A lovely combination of Grolleau Noir and Cabernet Franc, there seems to be a synergistic effect elevating both grapes to create a juicy, spicy, refreshing whole.

2022 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine “Réserve”
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When you smell it, keep in mind that no other wine, besides a Melon de Bourgogne grown in the gabbro soil of Gorges, could possibly smell like this one does.

2020 Vin de France Blanche
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This lithe and expressive “orange” wine is an ideal palate-opener with a dry, cleansing finish and a fresh, cooling effect like coastal sage and seaspray.

2020 Vin de France Rosé Grolleau/Cabernet Franc “Les Arceaux”
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Intensely dry and mineral, the structured Les Arceaux is a bottle to pair with a meal rather than to drink as an apéritif.

2023 Cheverny
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Sauvignon and a splash of Chardonnay: the epitome of minerally Loire refreshment

2022 Chinon Blanc
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Ultra fresh and brimming with citrus blossom and orchard fruit notes, it has a saline, mineral finish that leaves my palate begging for more.

2023 Gros-Plant du Pays Nantais
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This racy wine is a perfect match for all types of crustaceans as well all by itself on a sunny afternoon.

2022 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie
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It fills the mouth with suspicions of honeysuckle and pulpy stone fruits, all while maintaining classic notes of iodine and sea breeze that make this the vinous equivalent of tidepooling.
About The Producer
André-Michel Brégeon
Michel Brégeon is part renegade, part crusader, and full-blown terroirist, ardently defending the Muscadet-Sèvre-et-Maine terroir. Thanks to his deep understanding of the land, he plays the game much differently than the region’s caves cooperatives and negociants, who produce en masse and lose the subtlety of the appellation. He worked for his family’s domaine before setting out on his own in 1975. When his father retired in 1989, he gave his remaining vineyard land to Michel. Today, Michel farms seven hectares of vineyards in clay, silica, and gabbro soils. Gabbro is old, blue-green, volcanic rock, rarely found in vineyard land. Formed by magma eruptions under the ocean floor, it imparts intense complexity to Michel’s wines.
About The Region
Loire
The defining feature of the Loire Valley, not surprisingly, is the Loire River. As the longest river in France, spanning more than 600 miles, this river connects seemingly disparate wine regions. Why else would Sancerre, with its Kimmeridgian limestone terroir be connected to Muscadet, an appellation that is 250 miles away?
Secondary in relevance to the historical, climatic, environmental, and cultural importance of the river are the wines and châteaux of the Jardin de la France. The kings and nobility of France built many hundreds of châteaux in the Loire but wine preceded the arrival of the noblesse and has since out-lived them as well.
Diversity abounds in the Loire. The aforementioned Kimmderidgian limestone of Sancerre is also found in Chablis. Chinon, Bourgueil, and Saumur boast the presence of tuffeau, a type of limestone unique to the Loire that has a yellowish tinge and a chalky texture. Savennières has schist, while Muscadet has volcanic, granite, and serpentinite based soils. In addition to geologic diversity, many, grape varieties are grown there too: Cabernet Franc, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and Melon de Bourgogne are most prevalent, but (to name a few) Pinot Gris, Grolleau, Pinot Noir, Pineau d’Aunis, and Folle Blanche are also planted. These myriad of viticultural influences leads to the high quality production of every type of wine: red, white, rosé, sparkling, and dessert.
Like the Rhône and Provence, some of Kermit’s first imports came from the Loire, most notably the wines of Charles Joguet and Château d’Epiré—two producers who are featured in Kermit’s book Adventures on the Wine Route and with whom we still work today.
More from Loire or France
2023 Chinon “Les Granges”
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2022 Bourgueil Clairet “Avis de Vin Fort”
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2021 Vin de France Rosé Grolleau/Cabernet Franc “Les Arceaux”
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2023 Reuilly “Les Pierres Plates”
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2018 Saumur Blanc “Le Clos du Moulin”
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2020 Vin de France Blanche
Domaine Michel Brégeon France | Loire
2021 Chinon “Les Petites Roches”
Charles Joguet France | Loire
2021 Chinon Blanc “Les Charmes”
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2023 Bourgueil “Trinch!”
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2021 Bourgueil “La Dilettante”
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2024 Bourgueil Rosé “La Ritournelle”
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2023 Chinon “Les Granges”
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2021 Saumur-Champigny “Les Mémoires”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2022 Bourgueil Clairet “Avis de Vin Fort”
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2021 Vin de France Rosé Grolleau/Cabernet Franc “Les Arceaux”
Grange Saint-Sauveur France | Loire
2023 Reuilly “Les Pierres Plates”
Domaine de Reuilly France | Loire
2018 Saumur Blanc “Le Clos du Moulin”
Thierry Germain France | Loire
2020 Vin de France Blanche
Domaine Michel Brégeon France | Loire
2021 Chinon “Les Petites Roches”
Charles Joguet France | Loire
2021 Chinon Blanc “Les Charmes”
Charles Joguet France | Loire
2023 Bourgueil “Trinch!”
Catherine & Pierre Breton France | Loire
2021 Bourgueil “La Dilettante”
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2024 Bourgueil Rosé “La Ritournelle”
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Where the newsletter started

Where the newsletter started
Every three or four months I would send my clients a cheaply made list of my inventory, but it began to dawn on me that business did not pick up afterwards. It occurred to me that my clientele might not know what Château Grillet is, either. One month in 1974 I had an especially esoteric collection of wines arriving, so I decided to put a short explanation about each wine into my price list, to try and let my clients know what to expect when they uncorked a bottle. The day after I mailed that brochure, people showed up at the shop, and that is how these little propaganda pieces for fine wine were born.—Kermit Lynch