Nicolas Réau, "Attention Chenin Méchant" 2019

Like another of our favorite winemakers (François Grinand of “La Vigne du Perron”), Nicolas Reau found his way to the vineyard through the arc of a music career, one sat in front of a piano. Having pursued the life of a Jazz and Blues pianist until the age of 22, Nicolas Reau, one day in 1994, was able to shift the path of his career to his other passion: wine. He fell for the proverbial grape at the ripe old age of eight years old – his grandfather would give him a sip of red wine every now and then unbeknownst to his grandmother! For a long time he was of the belief that he could never have a life as a winemaker due to the twin conundrum of not being from a family of vignernons nor seeing any financial viability down the vineyard road. Well, in 1994 he came across an advert for a professional degree in viticulture and oenology – the rest, as they say, is history. He took over a Domaine in 1998 in the Anjou in the western Loire Valley and, immediately to ensure quality over quantity, reduced the 28 hectareage of the estate to five. A telling decision, for even though he didn’t know it he was well on his way to becoming a leading figure in natural wine in the Loire. In 2005, he met who would become his wife, the famous natural wine-writer, winegrower, and organizer of the Loire’s famed La Dive Bouteille natural wine fest, Sylvie Augereau. There is a reason these wines – of Reau and Augereau – are so highly sought after these days: they are pure originals, in every sense of the word.