Bouvet Ladubay

Bouvet Ladubay is a sparkling wine producer from Saumur in the Loire Valley. After an interlude with the big champagne house Taittinger, the company is now family-run again. Besides wine, Bouvet Ladubay is a place for art, which is impressively reflected in the cellar, which is built in the style of a sunken cathedral. 

Bouvet Ladubay Winery - A long cellar under Saint-Hilaire

Étienne Bouvet was only 23 years old when he bought a cellar on the Loire in 1851 in Saint-Hilaire-Saint-Florent, an incredible eight kilometres long, and founded the Maison Bouvet Ladubay together with his wife Celestine Ladubay.

More than 16 eventful decades followed in which Bouvet Ladubay achieved the title of "Official Supplier to the British Parliament". After several proud owners, including the Taittinger Champagne House, Bouvet Ladubay has been fully owner-managed again since last year and continues on its way to the top of the French sparkling wine producers.

The Cremant de Loire - a secret tip

The crucial question asked by the rise of Bouvet Ladubay and other great crémant producers is: What is the secret? How do houses like Bouvet Ladubay manage to offer first-class bottle-fermented sparkling wine at a fraction of the price of champagne?

On the one hand, there is good business behind it, on the other hand, it seems that it is still not generally known how good Crémant de Loire is. Saumur Brut, for example, was exported all over the world by the Dutch at an early date and was very popular with kings and great French statesmen. 

Classic sparkling wine production at Bouvet Ladubay

The basis for the cuvées of Bouvet Ladubay are the grapes of about 100 winegrowers, who are newly selected by the company every year. The delivery and pressing of the grapes takes place under the supervision of Bouvet Ladubay's oenologists. The following steps are:

• First fermentation for 8-10 days
• Resting for 4 months
• Assemblage of the cuvées

Passion of the manager

Patrice Monmousseau, the managing director, intervenes here personally in the assemblage to produce individual wines with the best characteristics. After aging in stainless steel or, in the case of higher quality wines, in wood, the second fermentation in the bottle follows, which is initiated with yeast and added sugar to produce the sparkling wine.

With regular shaking, the lees are separated, the wines are disgorged and the dosage is added, so the Brut de Loire does not differ in any way from the production of champagne.