Domaine Belargus: Les Treilles, exceptional single-vineyard Chenin

Domaine Belargus was created by Ivan Massonnat in 2018. Born in Savoie, Massonnat spent his childhood in his grandfather’s vineyards developing a passion for wine.

‘Initially I concentrated on Burgundy, which was then still affordable,’ he says, ‘chasing the dream of one day becoming a wine producer making cool-climate wines from a single varietal. My aim was to be an active winemaker – this was not to be a retirement project.’

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for nine vintages of Les Treilles plus nine more Belargus wines

Massonnat’s focus switched to the Loire when he and his wife bought a holiday home near Chinon and he became fascinated by the region’s wines, especially unfashionable Anjou and Chenin Blanc.

‘I started looking for a vineyard in 2016,’ says Massonnat, ‘As sweet wines were out of fashion, I had the luxury of choice and was offered lots of opportunities.’

‘On 6 February 2018 I met Jo Pithon, who was retiring and wanting to sell his Les Treilles vineyard,’ he says. This is now the estate’s top-tier vineyard, and the domaine is named after the blue Belargus butterfly found within it.

Les Treilles overlooks the River Layon and is remarkably steep and south facing.

The early days of Les Treilles

Although always passionate about making great wines, Pithon has unfortunately had a rollercoaster career.

From his plot of vines in the renowned Les Bonnes Blanches vineyard on the south side of the Layon in the commune of Saint-Lambert-du-Lattay, Pithon saw the potential of the very steep slopes of the Coteau des Treilles on the other side. After seeing a postcard from the 1920s showing vineyards along the steep south-facing hillsides of the Layon Valley, which had long been abandoned, Pithon and his wife Isabelle decided to undertake the massive task of clearing the scrub on this seven-hectare plot and resurrecting a vineyard, whose slopes range from 30 to 70 degrees, dedicated to Chenin Blanc.

Starting in the mid-1990s, it took 10 years to transform the steep scrubland into a vineyard. The first three years were spent buying 70 plots from 25 different owners. Two American admirers of Pithon’s wines financed the project and formed a company. This was fortunate as Pithon’s then partnership with Philippe Fournier, a local telecommunications tycoon and owner of Domaine FL, fell apart in early 2008, resulting in the loss of some of his vineyards, but thankfully not Les Treilles.

It took five years just to clear the hillside, and only 2.7ha could then be planted as the remainder is sheer cliff face. Planting started in 2000 and was completed in 2002 using massal-selected vines closely spaced and planted at a high density (7000 vines per hectare).

Les Treilles at a glance

The soils are a complex geological mix of schist, volcanic spilites, puddingstones and Devonian limestone. As this site had long been abandoned, no chemicals have ever been used here. It is already organic and now in conversion to biodynamics.

Very well protected from the cool of the north, Les Treilles has a unique Mediterranean-style microclimate due to the Foehn effect, whereby cool air travelling up one side of a hillside creates a warmer climate on the other side.

Annual temperatures in Les Treilles are on average 2˚C higher due to its steep south-facing slopes, boosted further by the many rocks. Since the 18th century botanists have identified plants here that are normally only found 400km further south.

2005 was the first vintage, of which there are few bottles left, but ones tasted in April 2019 and February 2020 were still good.

Les Treilles under Ivan Massonnat

Massonnat was immediately captivated by Les Treilles and the deal was completed on 5 September 2018. The harvest started just five days later.

At the same time he bought a large 10-hectare plot in Quarts de Chaume Grand Cru, as well as vines in Savennières (in particular the Clos des Ruchères vineyard that adjoins the lower part of the Roche-aux-Moines).

At the beginning of 2023 Massonnat gave up his Parisian life in finance to become a full-time vigneron, and the domaine now has 22ha of Chenin planted, with a further 7ha of land providing biodiversity in the form of trees, medicinal plants, animals and birds.

It is very rare in Anjou to concentrate on one sole grape variety, with most producers making a bewildering number of wines from a range of varieties.

Adrien Moreau, a young winemaker, joined the Belargus project at the start, and Augustin Fromageot, who was appointed in July 2022, is responsible for managing the estate’s biodiversity initiatives.

In October 2021 Massonnat bought Domaine de Beauséjour in Panzoult – potentially one of the top properties in the Chinon appellation. However, Beauséjour remains separate from Belargus, with its own team.

Although Massonnat is not interested in expanding Belargus, he has recently taken on two small parcels: Grand Beaupréau (0.33ha in Savennières) and the Pierre Couverte vineyard in Beaulieu-sur-Layon (Anjou – 0.8ha).

The latter is a parcel of land which features a dolmen – a neolithic stone monument – at its centre. Here Massonat has planted Chenin vines en échalas, an old way of growing Chenin in Anjou whereby a bush vine is grown against a wooden stake upon which the shoots are tied during the summer.

The ground is littered with stones, and ‘we discovered a subsoil of spilites – basaltic lavas which are very common in Beaulieu,’ says Massonnat. ‘They promise tense, chiselled and powerful wines.’

Massonnat’s work with this particular site reflects the Belargus philosophy overall:

‘We wanted to highlight the attractive wooded area around the parcel, which leads to a stream at the bottom, so we cleared some of the vegetation and were surprised to discover a dry-stone surrounding wall, right up to the edge of the stream. While preserving the trees and hedges that adorned this place, we planted three small plots of Chenin, leaving enough areas of brush for the many surrounding birds.’

Discover 18 incredible Chenin Blanc wines

Wines are listed in the following order: Les Treilles by vintage, then other Belargus wines by style then score.

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