Alexandre Bain
We are here in Tracy-sur-Loire, a small village in front of the town of Sancerre just on the other side of the Loire. The town is Pouilly Fumé, an important country for the denominations of the Loire. The Sauvignon is the most cultivated variety, while in the past the Gamay assumed a more important role. There are over 70 companies that produce wines with this appellation, but the philosophy and work of Alexandre stands out from all. He started in 2007, but he came from a family of wine merchants with properties of grapes in the area.
The hectares of vineyards are 9 and at the first beginning they were grown conventionally. Alexandre immediately applied an organic management of the soil. In the vineyard it works according to the cycle of the seasons. The plants are followed throughout the whole year: pruning (late - January to April - and performed manually), suckering, topping, system break, hoeing and manual harvest.
The only treatments based on copper, sulfur, clay and plant extracts, are designed to defend the plant from the presence of cryptogamic fungi. He tries to minimize the use of the tractor, which crushes the soil, pollutes the air and burns the branches; He uses most often the horse and the first stripping are manual. The main objective is the expression of the terroir; Bain does not add any product to the must. He doesn't correct the acidity of the wine, he does not add yeast. If necessary, he applies a light sulfidation during the bottling. This way of working the land, the grapes and the wine is based on respect for nature and has as objectives ecological sustainability and the greatest pleasure of those who taste the wine.