South West - Le Clos du Breil

Le Clos du Breil is a family vineyard in southwest France near the medieval village of Issigeac in Périgord. The estate in conversion to organic farming comprises sixteen hectares of vines in the communes of Boisse, Faurilles and Saint Léon d’Issigeac. Red grape varieties (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Sapéravi, Marselan) are grown over 13.5 hectares and white grape varieties (Sauvignon,Sémillon, Muscadelle) on 2.5 hectares. 

At Clos du Breil working the vines and vinifications are dictated by our principles: patience, humility and sharing. Tasting our wines is a journey, the fruit of encounters and experiences that always ends in a moment of sharing and discovery. When Yann Vergniaud joined the vineyard in 2009 we embarked on an ambitious new venture, the aim being to restructure Clos du Breil’s old vines by planting plots with a density of 5,000 vines per hectare (instead of 3,500) to create more complex and harmonious wines. Greater attention is paid to working the vines (cultivating beneath the row with an inter-cep, no chemical weed control) to enhance the expression of the local bedrock, a mixture of Issigeac limestones and flints. Le Clos du Breil regularly innovates and in 2016 we were the only vineyard in southwest of France to plant a Georgian red grape variety: Saperavi.