Domaine Fournier Père & Fils

From rows to cellar

From the rows to the cellar, the same address has shaped Damien Laurent, winemaker at Domaine Fournier Père & Fils in Verdigny. He arrived in 2012 after training at Bordeaux University, first as a vineyard hand, then as winemaker, and now as oenologist responsible for quality and the cellar. That sequence matters here because the domaine asks for both kinds of reading: the physical pace of the vines and the closer judgment of wines as they move through the chai. Founded in 1926 by Hélène and Léon Fournier, the estate began with 0.2 hectares of vines in a mixed farm economy. It now works 39 hectares across Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, and Menetou-Salon, with Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir carrying most of the conversation. Laurent’s work sits inside that expansion without losing the discipline of one roofline. He is not presented as a visiting hand brought in to change the house’s accent. His path has been steadier than that, built by returning to the same parcels, the same cellar decisions, and the same Centre-Loire weather.

Three appellations under one cellar hand

The program at Domaine Fournier Père & Fils depends on separation before it depends on blending. The estate works across three appellations, and its cuvées follow village, soil, and parcel logic rather than a single broad house style. Sancerre gives Sauvignon Blanc its principal frame, while Pinot Noir carries the still red and rosé work. The vineyard soils named by the domaine, argilo-calcaire, silex, and caillottes, give Laurent different edges to hold in balance: clay-limestone, flint, and stony limestone each ask for a slightly different hand in the cellar. The house farms under a sustainable philosophy, with HVE certification since 2021 and Vignerons Engagés from the 2022 vintage. Its stated approach forbids synthetic chemical products and leans on agrobiological technique. For red Pinot Noir, the grapes are hand-harvested at dawn and ferment for three weeks in truncated cone-shaped vats, a shape chosen for gentle extraction. The average yield is 60 hl/ha. Those figures are not decoration. They show the scale at which the domaine works, large enough to need clear systems, close enough for the cellar to keep its memory.

The contemporary chai and the old village

The tasting room and cellar sit within the quiet atmosphere of a Loire family estate, with a contemporary chai set against the older grain of Verdigny and Chaudoux. This is not a theatrical cellar. The place reads through function: tanks, barrels for the red cuvées, glass, stone, and the movement between a tasting pour and a working cellar decision. Outside, the Sancerre landscape does much of the speaking. The vines spread beyond one commune, yet the village remains the point of return. Inside, the mood stays measured, fitting a house where hospitality and production share the same ground. A guided tasting here is tied less to spectacle than to the differences between appellations, soils, and cuvées. The cellar keeps that order visible.

Les Belles Vignes in the line of work

Laurent’s name is attached to Les Belles Vignes 2025, a rosé cuvée, and to Pouilly-Fumé Saint Andelain, part of the way the domaine presents its work beyond a single bottle. The wine still moves through that line of responsibility at Les Belles Vignes 2025.