Their story goes back 30 years and their friendship, as well as their shared love of wine, food, and travel, culminates with this joint venture, Domaine des Gâtz.

Alexis and Maxime have known each other since they were very young. Their Mothers were good friends living in a small village just a half hour’s drive from Paris. Alexis’ family moved to Brittany when he was six years old but the distance didn’t dampen their friendship and they continued to spend the infamously long French school holidays together. The years progressed and they chose different career paths, with Alexis studying for a career in hospitality and sommelerie, while Maxime studied international logistics. Alexis worked in restaurants and wine shops both in France and further afield on the island of La Réunion in the Indian ocean. As well as working around France, Maxime’s career took him to South America and Australia, but then around 2018 an idea began to brew for the old friends to somehow work together … but the question was, doing what?

The first idea was a wine bar along the theme of travel and so in 2018 they headed off on a quest to discover wines and learn about winemaking to the birthplace of wine, Georgia, and its neighbor with an equally impressive wine curriculum vitae, Armenia. Following a brief return to France, they set off once more but with France, Spain and Portugal as the next objective and by what better means to do that than by bicycle! They documented their travels through the winemaking regions and the curious among you can read of their adventures at Cyclovino, but somewhere along the route, the wine bar idea morphed into making their own wines. In 2019, they studied for the BTS Viti-Oeno diploma and then began looking for somewhere, ideally between Paris and Brittany, where they could apply what they had learnt in a more natural and sustainable enviroment.

Cue the Coteaux d’Ancenis! It’s a unique and tiny organic pocket in the Loire valley, 35 miles from Angers and 25 miles from Nantes where almost all the 15 winemakers are practicing sustainable and conscientious farming methods, and perhaps one of the winemakers at the forefront of that movement is Jacques Carroget at Domaine de la Paonnerie. With wine diplomas in hand, the two friends began learning the ropes with Jacques and his daughter, Marie but as their time at Paonnerie approached its end, a deal was struck for Alexis and Max to take four hectares of vines plus adjacent farm buildings just a stone’s throw from Paonnerie to start their own project and so Domaine des Gatz, named after one of the parcels of gamay, was born. Their joint project, after thousands of kilometers and some major tweaks, was finally up and running and they made their first wine, Paillette, in 2020 from the same gamay parcel. Now, thirty years after growing up in the same village, they are living close by once again, each one with his own farm building that they call home. For the moment, they are making their wines just across the road at Paonnerie but they are in the process of building a new cellar, ironically between the two buildings where they live. Their vines are certified Agriculture Biologique, biodynamic (Demeter), and Vin Méthode Nature, which is one of the newest attempts at defining natural wine and, whether you agree in principle or not with certification, it’s perhaps the most detailed definition with a 12-point charter that officially passed the French Government in 2020. It’s interesting to note that after years of officially refusing any mention of naturelle on French wine labels, things are edging in a certain direction with the acceptance of the word nature. The times, they are a-changin?

They have four wines for now - Melon de Bourgogne in two guises, appearing as a crisp white in Strass and a spice-laden, 10-day skin contact in Molen, plus two expressions of Gamay, with the fruity, light Paillette and longer maceration Antipode. All new, all fun, and all tasty.