OUR STORY
The origins of Ampelidæ is a story of three parts : Frederic Brochet the founder, the Meuli family who joined him to support the development of the domaine, and a group of winegrowers from the Vienne who share the same vision.
the early years
Frédéric Brochet created Ampelidæ in 1995 in his family's winery in Marigny-Brizay. The journey begain with a half a hectare plot of pinot noir vines. The plot's cadastral number was 1328 which would give its name to our "Grand Vin" P.N 1328.
Right from the beginnings, the desire was there to join to combine organic viticulutre with cutting edge science in the wine-making process. This ambition continues to form the backbone of Ampelidæ : the mastery of natural methods combined with new technologies for the utmost precision winemaking.
the haut poitou cave cooperative
The Haut Potou Cave Cooperative was established in 1948 by Jean Raffarin. It fell on hard times during the 90's and early 2000's and was eventually taken over by Ampelidæ in 2014. From then on, we have continued to work with the local viticulteurs and and helped them to convert to organic farming. We have also maintained the cooperative spirit by creating a "CUMA" (a pooling of communal material and equipment), which allows all winegrowers, irrelevant of the size of operation, to benefit from all the modern material and equipment necessary to work the soil or treat the vines organically.
present day
Frederic Brochet left the management of Ampelidæ in 2020 and the mantle was taken up by the Meuli family, who together with a young and talented team continue to strive to make Ampelidæ a major player in the world of organic wine in France and internationally.
1995 : ampelidae is created....
The first plot of vines belonging to Ampelidæ, a half hectare plot of pinot noir with a cadastral number of 1328, gives its name to the first "Grand Vin" of Ampelidae : P.N 1328.
2000 : first wine certified organic
Being organic is in Ampelidae's DNA, and has been from the start. And so an important step was for our wines to become certified organic. The P.N 1328 was the first wine to obtain this certification in 2000.
2004 : the first wine harvest at chateau des roches
The harvest and winemaking has been made at the winery at Chateau des Roches since 2004. The winery was completely renovated in 2005 to modernise it and bring it back to its former glory. The winery currently has the capacity to hold fourteen thousand hectolitres of wine (that's one million four hundred thousand litres of wine!)
2005 : the gem blanc d'hiver was first discovered...
Creation of our little gem: Le Blanc d'Hiver.
The best new discoveries corne from mistakes ... or so was the case for our Blanc d'Hiver! Du ring the early 2000s a tank of Sauvignon Blanc was mistakenly cooled down to such an extent that the fermentation stopped before the tank was dry. Fate would have it that the fermation stopped with an equisite balance of sweetnes, freshness and aromatics. Every year the new vintage is ready in mid October making it one of the first wines of the year to be enjoyed all winter.
2012 : our first cuvée with no added sulfites
Now a relatively common winemaking technique, no added sulfite wine was incredibly rare in 2012. We mastered the art of vinifying red wines without the additon of sulfites in 2012 and continued the mastery with a Sauvignon Blanc cuvée a couple of years later.
2022 : our first zero alcohol wine is launched...
Brochet Zéro our first zero alcohol wine was born. A tank destined for the Brochet Reserve range is selected for its underlying structure and dealcoholised in a pressure column leaving 0.0% alcohol. This exciting new zero alcohol wine is made to the same high standards as the rest. Our signature freshness remains to be enjoyed, this time without moderation !