Born in 1980 in Angers, Thomas Batardière was bitten by the wine bug in 2008 after graduating in anthropology and working as a cinematographer.
Thomas is a man of action, he does not sit still, fickle and passionate, he worked as a sommelier and then, feeling the need to get closer to wine, he joined the Château Yvonne in Saumur, quickly becoming the right-hand man of Mathieu Vallée, while studying agriculture in Beaune.
Alternating from white to red Anjou (limestone to shale), he finally set up his own business in Rablay-sur-Layon in 2012, purchasing 2 hectares of his beloved Chenin but without any equipment or cellar. He built his winery and home right next to Richard Leroy, with whom he formed a good friendship.
Applying biodynamic principles from the beginning, Thomas has continued to plant and purchase up to 4 hectares (currently 3.3 hectares in production), enough to be independent and express himself. Most of its vineyards are located south of the Layon River, in Rablay, on sandy and stony soils with clay on shale: Chenin and Cabernet Franc (Clos des Noëls planted in 1932) are grown here, as well as Grolleau, a very suitable for the area. His best plots of Chenin, including the Clos des Cocus planted in 1968, are found in the impressive Faye d'Anjou coteau (north of the Layon) clinging to shale bedrock.
Thomas has a very individual take on Chenin, loving its finesse, acidity and ability to reflect terroirs, harvesting it early, and fermenting and aging in small stainless steel vats to preserve purity. His aim is to produce sulphur-free wines, rarely decanting and working reductively on the lees, a complicated exercise and a topic often debated with Richard.
“I'm pragmatic, not dogmatic, so if I have to add sulfur to save my wine I will,” says Thomas, a confident and brilliant vigneron for whom we predict a great future.
