The Château de Fontenay, one of the pioneers of the Chenonceau appellation

When Nathalie and Philippe decided to settle in Touraine with their family, they fell under the spell of the Château de Fontenay. Thus began a wonderful winemaking adventure for the entrepreneurs. Partnering with Didier Corby, the château's winemaker, the trio was destined for a bright future in the world of wine.

Fontenay Castle: the result of a beautiful encounter

“We had a long-standing passion for wine which led us to Château de Fontenay. Being both entrepreneurs, we wanted to get involved in the wine and vineyard business. Didier was the winemaker for the estate belonging to the château. So we decided to join forces and develop the wine estate together,” explains Philippe Carli, owner of the château.

The roles naturally fall into place among the three partners. Didier handles the winemaking and technical aspects of the craft, while Nathalie and Philippe take care of marketing (revamping the product range, modernizing the labels), sales, and business management. "Château de Fontenay is an ideal setting that allows us to support and welcome our clients in an environment befitting the quality of the wines we aim to produce," affirms Philippe.

"We all decided together to invest in the wine-growing activity of the Château de Fontenay: new vats, equipment to switch to sustainable agriculture, planting of vines. We went from 6 to 15 hectares," says the owner of the château.

The Château de Fontenay is a pioneer of the Touraine Chenonceau appellation

This investment quickly materialized with the creation of the Touraine Chenonceau appellation. "We launched the new appellation in 2011. To be able to claim the appellation, you have to have vines on the slopes of the Cher less than 10 km from the famous Château de Chenonceau and respect a strict set of specifications," explains Philippe.

“We have gently sloping land, made up of a mixture of clay, limestone and sand which is well suited to white and red wines made from grape varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc, but also Cabernet Franc and Côt (Malbec) . This terroir allows us to create wines that have great aromatic richness and at the same time that have body and a very nice balance between minerality and fruit.”

"The key to producing high-quality wines is the work in the vineyards," Philippe Carli

“The more time we dedicate to the vineyards beforehand, the higher the quality of our grapes,” asserts Philippe. “We try to avoid treatments as much as possible. Our priority is grape quality, not yield. We devote a lot of time to the vineyard to harvest beautiful grapes, which we can then use to make wine in the most natural way possible.”

“We are fortunate to have other grape varieties: Chardonnay, Gamay, Grolleau, which allows us to make more original wines outside the framework of the appellation. I like to see us as artisans and creators of wines.”

Fontenay Castle is expecting a beautiful 2019 vintage.

As the 2019 harvest approaches, how are the grapes at Château de Fontenay faring? "We have beautiful grapes, although there is less quantity than last year because we lack water. That being said, the weather has been very good, so the health situation is good, and the vintage should be promising. We will be able to make wines with a beautiful aromatic variety," anticipates Philippe.

With this shift in his life towards the world of wine, Philippe has found an invaluable living environment at Château de Fontenay. "I love the proximity to nature, which humbles us. Every year is different; we feel closer to the people in the region and more connected to real life. You have to take risks on the future; it's a profession of passion and sharing."

A future focused on ecology

“We have several projects underway. One is a new, more environmentally friendly winery. To achieve this, we are working with an architect to eliminate the need for air conditioning by designing a thick, semi-underground concrete structure that will naturally maintain a cool temperature. We will also take this opportunity to implement gravity-flow winemaking, which involves placing the different stages of wine production at different heights to avoid using pumps.”

In the vineyards, the next step is High Environmental Value certification , before going even further.