Charles Joguet

In order to continue his first love of art he joined up with Jacques Genet in 1985. Charles had no family so passed the estate on to the Genet family when he retired in 1997 to dedicate more time to painting and sculpture, and he is still painting today. Since 2006 the estate has been run by Jacques' daughter, Anne-Charlotte Genet, with the help of winemaker Kevin Fontaine. They have 36 ha of Cabernet planted as well as 3 ha of Chenin Blanc. The soils are mostly the classic limestone Tuf soils of the region but they have a portion grown on sandy soils at the confluence of the rivers Vienne and Loire, which goes in to the Silènes cuvée. The vineyards have been certified organic since 2016 but the organic philosophy has been practiced since 2006. The vineyards are grassed through and they also restrict yields by late pruning, de-budding, de-leafing and doing a green harvest. All the harvesting is by hand with many plots picked successively to ensure the grapes are picked at optimum ripeness. They ferment in temperature controlled stainless steel vats and age their single vineyard cuvées in 400L barrels as well as using microoxygenation to give smoother tannins in the wines.