Domaine Philippe Delesvaux
About This Vineyard
Delesvaux, a Parisian by birth, came to the Loire to pursue his agricultural studies. His work on a farm in Anjou provided exposure not only to the management of cereal crops and animal husbandry, but also to a little viticulture. It was this latter element that clearly interested Philippe the most; he ultimately settled in the region, and 1978 is the year he really started out, a new beginning which he commemorated in 1998 with the release of Le 20, a special cuvée of Coteaux du Layon to celebrate his personal achievement of 20 years of viticulture.
He didn’t acquire his own vineyard until 1983, and his first vintages were vinified in little more than a shed. Nevertheless, it was not long before he was turning out benchmark wines comparable to the very best of the appellation. By the time Jacqueline Friedrich’s A Wine & Food Guide to the Loire was published in 1996 she was content to rank Delesvaux at the very highest level for his Coteaux du Layons, alongside the likes of Claude Papin and Vincent Ogereau.
