Le Sot de l’Ange

Quentin Bourse and his wife, Angélique, jointly own the domaine Le Sot de l’Ange. Quentin, with energy for more than two, is the mastermind behind the wines. In 2013 he took over the winery in Azay-le-Rideau from a friend. With several internships in viticulture, both conventional and natural, such as at the well-known winery Domaine Huet in Vouvray, he got an idea about how he wanted to make his own wines.

Innovative and perfectionist as he is, he works completely biodynamically. To strengthen and protect the vines, essential oils, biodynamic preparations such as herbal teas and decoctions of dandelion, horsetail and nettle are used.

According to him, minimal intervention is required by this approach and by working accurately in both the vineyard and the cellar. This results in pure wines that show the terroir.

He does everything by hand. Picked grape by grape to ensure maximum ripeness of the harvest. Quentin cultivates chenin blanc, grolleau, côt, gamay and cabernet franc on 12 hectares. The wines in his “Parcellaires” line are made from grapes from a single plot, one grape, in its own cellar. With these wines, Quentin wants to show the beautiful minerality and complexity of the local wines.

In addition, he also makes wines under the line “Les Canons”. These wines are made from 50% of his own grapes, supplemented with grapes that he buys from friends in the south of France, between Limoux and Carcassonne. As a result, they have sufficient volumes that keep production costs and final prices reasonable.

And then there are also the ‘pop up cuvees’, wines that he makes with other winemakers from France and Germany. These “La Ligue” wines, also known as microcuvées, are only made once to try out new things. All wines are produced with the same philosophy, namely flawless natural wines with minimal intervention.

They are destemmed by hand and the fermentation does not require any aids thanks to the naturally present yeasts on the grapes and in the cellar. In the cellar he has amphorae and wooden barrels that he had made according to his own design.

The precision, purity and balance at Sot de l’Ange results in clean, super drinkable, exciting wines.