Hervé Villemade

Hervé Villemade is a natural winemaker situated within the Cheverny appellation. Less of a media darling than his famous neighbour Thierry Puzelat, Hervé and his 25-hectare estate nonetheless have nothing to be shy about. You might say there’s a gentle and productive form of competition between them, a source of motivation perhaps... When the family estate was handed over to him in 1995, Hervé went into wine asking the right questions, and after his encounter with Marcel Lapierre, he would decide to adopt the path of natural winemaking. This lover of old local grape varieties has now been producing natural wines since the last millennium. His careful work in the vineyard (tilling the soil, vine treatments exclusively from natural products) is followed up by gentle vinifications and zero additives, with the exception of a tiny dose of sulphur at bottling. You might call it sensible sulphites. A family affair, and one unblemished by chemicals... Villemade, what else!