Domain Les Fosses Rouges
Benoit Savigny
It is on the road to Sougé, in the village of Trôo, that Benoît Savigny has chosen to build his winery on the former brickworks “Les Fosses Rouges”. As a tribute, he will keep this name for his estate. Little predestined him for the profession: originally from the Loire region, from a tiny “lost” village, he went to Paris to study architecture, then set up as a freelance graphic designer in this field. Gradually, the “isolated” aspect of his status nourished the desire to “see people again”. It is then the memory of youth, of family pilgrimages to the cellars of Burgundy and the distant desire to integrate this universe where landscape, history and gastronomy are articulated, which pushes Benoît to a reconversion in the wine trade.
A succession of encounters, including Philippe Chigard (Domaine de la Table Rouge) at the Amboise viticultural college, and a first internship in wine-making gradually led to the evolution of his project from “selling” to “making”. After a year’s experience as an employee, he planned to set up on 3.5 hectares of land and replant vines in this former wine-producing village where cereals now dominate. It was finally with a 1.5 ha plot of Pinot d’Aunis on lease that Benoît started his activity in 2013. A compromise that finally allowed him to get the hang of it while he saw the vines planted in the wake, on a major part of the 5 ha that he cultivates today. Although Benoît started out in the conventional sector for economic reasons, he switched to organic production in 2015, realising the danger he was facing.
In his agricultural thinking, he seeks to eliminate as many inputs and interventions as possible, in particular through the establishment of a vegetation cover to replace the current tillage. Benoît does not have an ideal model. He listens carefully to other winegrowers who are friends and observers of what is being done elsewhere, but he is keen to make his own way. A true jack-of-all-trades, he appreciates the multi-tasking aspect of the profession and the constant experimentation that the vine and wine offer. The “human” aspect, all these meetings and exchanges that wine calls for, reinforces his choice. As the only winegrower in the village, Benoit can count on the support of his friends and family, who do not hesitate to help out, and on the support of his winegrower friends.
Today, he is proud of his vintages, of his lively red Pineau d’Aunis and is delighted to vinify the Chenins and Pinot Noirs that he planted himself.
Laurie Wendenbaum
