Château de la Ragotière

The Couillaud brothers (Bernard, François, and Michel) took over Château de la Ragotière in the 1970s and grew it through the 1980s and 1990s into one of the larger family estates in Sèvre et Maine. The 16th-century château building, set in the village of La Regrippière, serves as the estate cellar and tasting room. The brothers shared the work across viticulture, vinification, and commercial functions, and the estate's bottlings reflect a consistent house style across the decades: long sur lie aging in underground glass-lined vats, hand-harvested fruit from old-vine schist parcels, and a willingness to release library bottlings with significant bottle age.

• Couillaud brothers (Bernard, François, Michel) took over the estate in the 1970s
• Grew the estate to approximately 80 hectares through the 1980s and 1990s
• 16th-century château in La Regrippière serves as the estate cellar and tasting room
• House style consistent across decades: long sur lie, hand-harvest, library releases

The estate's vineyards sit on mica-schist bedrock, one of the principal soil types of the Armorican Massif that forms the geological backbone of Sèvre et Maine. Many of the parcels carry vines aged 30 to 60 years, with the oldest blocks reserved for the Sélection Vieilles Vignes bottling. The mica-schist gives Ragotière wines a recognizable signature: greater mid-palate density than the lighter granite soils around Le Pallet, with a saline finish and a subtle smoky note that develops with cellar age. The estate's old-vine work has been a counterweight to the appellation-wide trend of cooperative-driven young-vine production.

• Vineyards on mica-schist bedrock from the Armorican Massif
• Many parcels with vines aged 30 to 60 years; oldest blocks reserved for Sélection Vieilles Vignes
• Mica-schist gives mid-palate density and a subtle smoky note that develops with age
• Old-vine work counterweights the cooperative-driven young-vine production model

The estate's flagship Sélection Vieilles Vignes Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie rests up to 44 months on the lees in underground glass-lined vats before bottling, one of the longest sur lie élevages in the appellation. The wine is bottled directly off the lees without racking, preserving full autolytic complexity and the saline mineral spine of the schist parcels. The Cuvée Réserve sits roughly 18 months on the lees and serves as the estate's middle-tier bottling, while the classic Muscadet Sèvre et Maine spends the standard seven to twelve months. The long-aged bottlings are a clear argument for Muscadet's cellar potential and routinely outlast a decade in good vintages.

• Sélection Vieilles Vignes rests up to 44 months on the lees in underground glass-lined vats
• Bottled directly off the lees without racking to preserve autolytic complexity
• Cuvée Réserve sits roughly 18 months on the lees as the middle-tier bottling
• Long-aged bottlings routinely outlast a decade in good vintages

Unusually for Sèvre et Maine, Ragotière also produces an extended range of IGP Val de Loire varietals: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon. These bottlings allow the estate to use parcels that fall outside the Melon de Bourgogne AOC requirement and to engage commercial markets that want broader varietal labels. The IGP wines are vinified to a different stylistic register than the Muscadet bottlings, with fresh fruit-forward profiles aimed at early consumption rather than long aging. They sit alongside the core Sèvre et Maine line rather than competing with it, and the estate is among the most prominent producers of IGP varietal wine in the western Loire.

• IGP Val de Loire range: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon
• Uses parcels outside the Melon de Bourgogne AOC requirement
• IGP wines vinified to a fresh fruit-forward register for early consumption
• Estate is among the most prominent IGP varietal producers in the western Loire

Ragotière is the family-scale, generationally consistent face of long-aged Sèvre et Maine. Where the smaller estates (Bregeon, Pépière) led on natural-wine sensibility and the parcellary thesis, the Couillaud brothers ran a larger commercial operation that nonetheless committed to extended sur lie aging on mica-schist old vines. The 44-month Sélection Vieilles Vignes is widely cited as an accessible illustration of what extended élevage can do to Melon de Bourgogne, and the estate's IGP varietal range demonstrates that a single producer can serve both classical Muscadet markets and broader Loire varietal categories without sacrificing either.

• Family-scale, generationally consistent face of long-aged Sèvre et Maine
• Larger commercial scale than the small natural-wine peers, but with comparable sur lie discipline
• 44-month Sélection Vieilles Vignes is an accessible illustration of extended élevage on Melon
• IGP varietal range serves broader Loire markets alongside the classical Muscadet line