Domaine Chéreau Carré occupies one of the most privileged positions in the Loire-Atlantique department of France, in the heart of the Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine appellation, directly at the confluence of the two rivers. This family-owned winery has been an innovator since the 1960s by focusing on the advancement of the Sèvre-et-Maine appellation through their exploration of their numerous single vineyards. They have assembled some of the most prized old vineyards in the region, and are a terroir-first domaine, with two generations working closely together, striving for the clearest expression of each of their old single vineyards.

*Several of their sites are part of a new system called Crus Communaux, used to geographically classify distinct villages. Consisting of ten separate villages and microclimates, Crus Communaux represent the best that the Nantes wine region has to offer, with wines of great complexity and exceptional aging potential:

Clisson, which lies a little southeast of Nantes, was first recognized as a Cru in 2011. The coarse topsoils of sand and pebbles offer excellent drainage and low fertility, while the subsoil is mostly composed of “Clisson granite.” The fractured granitic mother rock allows roots to run deep.

Château-Thébaud, a little south of Nantes, has old vines that overlook the Maine river, planted on a unique subsoil of granodiorite and gneiss. Château-Thébaud is the smallest of the Muscadet Crus Communaux. It encompasses an area on both sides of the river Maine up to the confluence with the river Sèvre. 

Le Clos du Château L’Oiselinière is included in the Cru Communal du Muscadet La Haye Fouassière, the westernmost Cru of the Muscadet Sèvre et Maine appellation. Gneiss is a metamorphic rock rich in minerals such as quartz and mica, forming a sandy loam soil with a high capacity for heating and mineralization. The Cru occupies a privileged location, literally directly between the two rivers, Sèvre and Maine, occupying a central position among the Crus of Muscadet.

Monnières-Saint Fiacre, which lies a little southeast of Nantes, has a succession of hills rising along the left bank of the Sèvre and a series of knolls rising along its tributaries, and is located at the heart of the region’s Crus Communaux. The silty, sandy soils on these steep slopes are fine in texture and moderately deep, with a higher concentration of clay and decomposed gneiss.