The Berrye Vineyard:

Officially certified organic since 2024, the Berrye Fortress estate is rich in great biodiversity. Gilles, a trained agronomist and agricultural engineer, strives to make life a priority within the vineyard. Permaculture, agroforestry, eco-grazing, and beekeeping are at the heart of the estate’s initiatives and philosophies.

To date, the estate has a flock of eight Ouessant sheep, a dozen beehives, and over 1500 trees and shrubs planted in agroforestry (walnut, almond trees, etc.). In addition, the site and its troglodyte galleries provide a wonderful natural habitat for fauna and flora. One can notably see numerous colonies of bats that have taken up residence in the underground passages, as well as a great diversity of birds nesting among the old stones of the building.

Preserving biodiversity also means preserving the place and its identity. Nestled on a hill, the Berrye Fortress estate has a unique terroir. Its plots, mostly on south/south-west facing hillsides, expose the Turonian tuffeau bedrock. The surface alteration of the chalk has resulted in light, clay-sandy soils, known as “terres blanches” (white lands), typical of Anjou blanc. There are also pockets of clay with flint, siliceous residues from the erosion of the tuffeau, which mix with the sands and clays, enriching the diversity of the soils. The limestone slopes of Berrie, crowned with woods and dotted with caves in the hillside, offer a characteristic wine landscape. The “tuffeau-chalk,” a porous stone historically used for the construction of Loire châteaux and monuments, provides excellent soil drainage and gives the wine great depth and verticality.