Franck Breton
Montlouis
http://www.franckbreton-vin-montlouis.com/
It doesn't take long after spending a little time with the humble Franck Breton before one starts to get the understanding that he has the ability to figure out and master the unknown with seeming ease. He's the kind of guy who can take apart a car engine and put it back together in perfect form despite never having done it before. Franck's first job was as a pastry chef in Amboise for three years. His fine work earned him the award of best apprentice in Indre-et-Loire. After this he went to the Air Force for his military conscription. For the following ten years Franck drove trucks hauling logs. In 2001 he decided to switch gears and started to learn about growing grapes and making wine. This shift in career direction isn't quite as radical as it may sound considering Franck has been interested in fine wine since his youth in the Loire Valley and the fact that his wife's father just happened to have some very fine old vineyards where Franck could learn a new trade.
From 2001-2008 Franck trained in the fields and cellar of his father-in-law, Claude Boureau. Claude was known for being an artisanal grower doing things the old-fashioned way like working the soils by hand. In 2007 Franck vinified his first vintage still under the guiding hand of Claude. In 2008 Franck took over all of Claude's seven hectares of vines and made his first vintage completely on his own. Not surprisingly the French press took notice right away and the Guide Hachette awarded several of the wines with star ratings.
Working with over a dozen small plots making up a total of nearly seven hectares of land under vine, Franck farms everything without the use of synthetic pesticides or herbicides. All tilling of the land and all harvesting is done by hand. All of the vineyards are within two miles of the winery. It's clear Breton takes pride in all of his different wines but he admits he has a soft spot in his heart for the sweet ones.
Above all else, Franck Breton is aiming for quality and the wines show it with their incredible precision and purity. Ambient yeasts are solely responsible for fermentations. A variety of fermenation and aging vessels ranging from stainless tanks to demi-muid barrels used for the various cuvees but none of them are of new wood. 10 years is about the average age of the demi-muids. In order to maintain freshness in the wines, none of them go through malolactic fermentation.
