Mark Angeli (Ferme de la Sansonnière)

Mark Angeli's path to Ferme de la Sansonnière is one of the more unusual in modern Loire wine. Originally trained as a chemistry student, he became a stonemason before turning to wine, training at La Tour Blanche in Bordeaux to gain formal viticultural and oenological education. He came to Anjou in 1989 and purchased Ferme de la Sansonnière in 1990, beginning a project that would become one of the foundational references for both Loire biodynamic farming and dry Anjou Chenin Blanc. The farm was converted to biodynamics from the inception of his ownership in 1990, an unusually early date for biodynamic farming in the Loire, and the practice has remained continuous for more than three decades.

• Mark Angeli originally trained as a chemistry student, then became a stonemason
• Trained at La Tour Blanche in Bordeaux to gain formal viticultural and oenological education
• Came to Anjou in 1989; purchased Ferme de la Sansonnière in 1990
• Estate farmed biodynamically continuously since 1990, an early date for biodynamic conversion in the Loire

The 7-hectare Ferme de la Sansonnière estate is composed of plots in Anjou, Coteaux-du-Layon, and Bonnezeaux appellations, an unusually broad single-estate footprint for the area. Anjou parcels supply the estate's flagship dry Chenin Blanc work, while the Coteaux-du-Layon and Bonnezeaux holdings give Angeli access to the historic sweet-wine zones of the area. The cross-appellation structure allows the estate to express the full range of Anjou's Chenin Blanc possibilities, though the focus has remained primarily on the dry wines that helped redefine the area in the 1990s. Soils across the parcels are typical of the Loire's Massif Armoricain ('Anjou Noir'): schist, slate, and volcanic-rock-derived materials that distinguish the region from the limestone-based 'Anjou Blanc' to the east.

• 7-hectare estate with plots across Anjou, Coteaux-du-Layon, and Bonnezeaux
• Anjou parcels supply the flagship dry Chenin Blanc work
• Coteaux-du-Layon and Bonnezeaux give access to the historic sweet-wine zones
• Soils typical of Anjou Noir: schist, slate, and volcanic-rock-derived materials

When Mark Angeli purchased Ferme de la Sansonnière in 1990, the area surrounding the estate was best known for sweet Chenin Blanc wines from the Coteaux-du-Layon, Bonnezeaux, and Quarts-de-Chaume appellations. Angeli began making serious dry Chenin Blanc here in the 1990s, helping define a category that has since expanded dramatically across the area under the broader Anjou appellation umbrella. La Lune, the estate's flagship dry Chenin Blanc, has become a reference for what dry Loire Chenin can deliver under biodynamic farming and lower-intervention winemaking. The cellar work emphasizes natural fermentation and minimal sulfur, with the SO2 used at the estate sourced as natural sulfur mined from an active volcano, an unusual specification that reflects the broader natural-wine commitments of the project.

• Pioneer of serious dry Anjou Chenin Blanc in the 1990s, when the area was almost entirely associated with sweet wines
• La Lune is the flagship dry Chenin Blanc and a definitive modern Anjou reference
• Vieilles Vignes des Blanderies is another notable cuvée in the dry range
• SO2 used at the estate is natural sulfur mined from an active volcano

Mark Angeli is one of the foundational figures in modern Loire biodynamic farming and serious dry Anjou Chenin Blanc, with reach extending across both natural wine and Loire white wine conversations. The 1990 biodynamic conversion at a time when biodynamics was barely on the Loire radar helped establish the practice's credibility in the region, and the work on dry Chenin Blanc through the 1990s helped reposition Anjou from a sweet-wine-dominated area to one of France's most exciting contemporary dry-white regions. For drinkers tracking the Loire's modern Chenin Blanc work, alongside Richard Leroy and Catherine et Pierre Breton in particular, Mark Angeli is one of the foundational references.

• Foundational figure in modern Loire biodynamic farming
• 1990 biodynamic conversion among the earliest in the Loire
• Pioneer of serious dry Anjou Chenin Blanc in the 1990s
• Reference for both natural wine and Loire Chenin Blanc conversations alongside Richard Leroy