Eric Santier: a former salesman in Dubai becomes a winemaker in the Loire Valley

How about a little return to your roots? Today, Eric Santier tells us about his career change to winemaking and how he took over Domaine Dozon : 14 hectares of history in his native Loire.

Confessions of Eric Santier, winemaker at Domaine Dozon (Loire): "Wine was not an obvious career choice"

I'm originally from Chinon , but wine wasn't an obvious career path for me. My childhood friends came from winemaking families, so that was my only connection to the industry. I took my first steps in the grape harvest… and from harvest to harvest, the world of wine definitely captivated me! Yet, I chose the path of business studies, pursuing a career in the agri-food sector and working, among other places, for the Sopexa agency in Dubai for eight years. That was enough time for my youthful aspirations to resurface, take shape, and for me to decide in 2011 to return to France and the vineyards. A change of direction: I went back to school, this time focusing on viticulture and oenology at Bordeaux Sciences Agro. After internships in the Bordeaux region , I made my grand return to Chinon, in the Loire Valley , to work for Bernard and Mathieu Baudry.

Eric Santier's Domaine Dozon : a new approach to terroir in the Loire Valley

It was pure chance that led me to the Dozon estate: in 2013, I was offered the opportunity to take over the property, which had been in the family for five generations. Eager for new adventures, I jumped at the chance! To develop the takeover project and, above all, to finance it, three friends joined me as partners. In terms of staff, I chose to retain the existing employees, but also hired two workers who assist me on a daily basis. While the terroir remains the same—clay-siliceous soils at the top of the slopes and clay-limestone at the bottom—I have chosen to cultivate the vines with a new approach. Composed of 97% Cabernet Franc and 3% Chenin Blanc, I am working to produce wines that are less full-bodied, with softer tannins than before, and that are more supple and fresh. Thus, harvest dates are delayed to allow for better ripeness, maceration times are shorter, and extractions are more intense. Ultimately, our approach is adjusted based on tasting impressions.

Technique, ethics and passion for the vine in the Chinon AOC

My favorite moment is definitely the start of the winemaking process, and then when the harvest finally arrives! And the two years I spent with Bernard and Mathieu Baudry certainly played a part in that. They instilled in me not only a genuine passion for their approach to the vine, but also humility, despite their considerable renown in Chinon . This constant questioning seems essential in our profession today; there are always improvements to be made. This is also true in terms of marketing. Currently, I'm still in the setup phase at the estate, but I want to work with new distributors and innovative channels, like Les Grappes, which is a great example! I'm not focused on volume, but rather on continuously improving our techniques to move upmarket. It was with this approach that the Le Petit Chemin cuvée was produced: a new 2014 vintage for which we selected specific plots and established a meticulous, well-thought-out winemaking process to obtain a wonderfully easy-drinking wine.

Ariane (The Grapes)