Maison Jaune

Jean-Claude Taddei created Maison Jaune, "The Yellow House" in 2013, naming the estate after the old farmhouse overlooking vineyards of abandoned Pineau d'aunts and Chenin Blanc. It had long been the aspiration for Jean-Claude and his wife, Lorine, to grow grapes and make wine, but as professors in Angers, they had little time to pursue such a dream. Then in 2013 at a dinner at one of their friends, destiny presented itself when Jean-Claude met a winegrower from Rochefort-sur-Loire who was retiring and looking for a buyer for a small parcel. This micro estate thus became Maison Jaune, comprised of 1.5 hectares of Pineau d'aunts and Chenin on grey and green schists. The 1.2 hectares of Chenin is bottled simply as Vin de France.

Jean-Claude and Lorine adopted organic farming and biodynamic principles from the very beginning, eschewing all synthetic herbicides, fungicides, pesticides. Further inspired by the late Japanese farmer, Masanobu Fukuoka, whose minimal-intervention approach to viticulture has been embraced by vignerons from Eric Texier to Frank Cornelissen, Jean-Claude opts against plowing his vineyards to preserve the mycelium grid, the network of fungal hyphae critical to optimal soil health and nutrient absorption by the vines. Jean-Claude works his land like a vegetable garden - maintaining a diverse crop of weeds, herbs, flowers and legumes. The only "weed-control" is done magnanimously by dozen of sheep left to graze the vineyards year round. The sheep's natural fertilization is also the only allowed on the soil, again following the footsteps of Fukuoka who contended that the more we act, the more we disrupt. The only organic treatment used is copper and sulfer to combat mildew, however in quantities are kept below 1/3 of what the is allowed within the organic certification. Green harvest is performed to concentrate the grapes' energy and increase complexity, resulting in a yield of around 25HL/hectare, despite the appellation regulations allowing up to 50HL/hectare.