Wine for sale: Domaine de la Chapelle

Domaine de la Chapelle

Laurent Dumas, head of a major French real estate group, has invested in a Loire estate where precise biodynamic practices are the rule. Bridging art and wine, each bottle tells its own story, with Chenin and Cabernet Franc taking centre stage.

In 1983, Philippe Pichard set his sights on Cravant-les-Côteaux, taking over his grandparents’ vineyard. Bordering the Vienne, in the continuation of Chinon, the estate’s 17 hectares have thrived on these soils for nearly half a century.
Today, the estate is run by Laurent Dumas, CEO of Emerige and a passionate collector of contemporary art. The vineyard covers 17 hectares, with 15.5 planted to Cabernet Franc and 1.5 to Chenin. The rows are farmed with full respect for the environment, drawing on organic and biodynamic principles. The owners’ goal is to revitalise the ecosystem at the heart of the vineyard. The vines benefit from a temperate oceanic climate and soils composed of clay, limestone and gravel.
In the winery, Laurent Dumas’s team champions a low-intervention approach that lets the fruit shine. After manual harvesting, the grapes are vinified in stainless-steel vats. Ageing takes place in the same vessels, allowing the fruit to speak for itself.
Each vintage is dressed in a different label created by artists from Laurent Dumas’s incubator. The 2023 vintage features artwork by Nantes-based painter David Festoc.