Les Capriades
Faverolles-sur-Cher - Loire
For a long time Pascal Potaire made wine for other growers (Nicolas Renard, Noella Morentin, etc...). After a while he decided to start out on his own and founded Les Capriades, at first alone and then eventually joined by his friend Moses Gadouche.
Pascal and Moses are based in Faverolles on the southern bank of the Cher river. Here they make what we consider as the best and most refreshing Pet Nats in the Loire Valley (and beyond). Pétillants Naturels (Methode Ancestrale) are made without dosage and in this case no SO2. The juice is simply bottled before the fermentation is finished so the CO2 from the end of the process is trapped in the bottle. Though this is the simplest and oldest way of making sparkling wine it can be tricky and often results with either too much residual sugar or not enough fizz. Pascal and Moses always get it right!
They mostly work as negociants, buying Chenin, Chardonnay, Menu Pineau, Grolleau, Cot and a panoply of Gamays from organic growers based locally but they make a couple of wines using their own old vines too. Their cellar is dug into the Tuffeau where every single bottle waits lying sur latte until Pascal decides it's ready for disgorgement.
