Francois and famille Lieubeau
France
Francois and famille's Wines
- France
- 3Â wines
- 2Â styles
Voyage into the unknown with our brand-spanking-new Muscadet
- Nantes is best known as the birthplace of sci-fi legend Jules Verne, but thanks to the Lieubeau family, it’s now on the winemaking map. In fact, their wine-loving ancestors arrived there before Verne was even born.
- Now Francois and co. have decided to combine the Loire’s claims to fame, and we think they’ve come up trumps with this magnificent Muscadet. Decadently dry with citrus aplenty, this is your perfect summer sipper.
The label is based on one of Verne’s most famous stories, a journey into the unknown. Take your own “voyage extraordinaire” with this unusual wine made of pure Melon de Bourgogne, only grown in Muscadet. The label even makes food pairing simple - it’s a classic match with seafood!
Francois and famille Lieubeau's Story
Francois & famille Lieubeau's Story
"Welcome to Famille LIEUBEAU. For six generations our family have been growers and winemakers in Muscadet in the Loire Valley. Our story begins in 1816 with Joseph Gregoire, a orphan abandonned in the porch of Nantes hospital. This place gave him his name LIEU-BEAU. Today the story continues in the village of Château-Thebaud with Pierre, Chantal, and their children Francois (35), Vincent (33) and Marie (30). We believe in diversity: nature, rocks, grapes, women and men from our team. Our Muscadets are grown under Organic or Terra Vitis Sustainable Growing certification.
All three children(Francois, Vincent and Marie) have spent a couple of years studying and working away from the winery gaining experience and learing new skills. However we have all stayed in contact with the winery,dealing with day to day issues and organising regular workshops and helping out whenever necessary. In the end our passion for wine and the family heritage entived us all back full time to work on the winery project. Within the team, Francois is in charge of commercial and marketing, Vincent is responsible for vineyard management and winemaking and Marie looks after administration and oenotourism. To us, being a winemaker is living the dream. It's all about nature, culture and history, gastronomy, sharing and interacting with others. It's not only a professional career but also our family's destiny.
The family have been making wine for the last 6 generations. Our grandfather only had a couple of hectares, our grandmother was a hairdresser, and the winery provided just enough for a family to live on. Our parents Pierre and Chantal really grew the fortunes of the winery by specializing in wine, increasing the hectarage of vineyards and investing in the quality. Vincent, the winemaker, has degrees both as an agricultural engineer and qualified oenologist. He has been making wine since the age of 25, working initially as a consultant for a South of France based consultancy group. During this time, he took this opportunity to travel, and experiment with winemaking in all major wine countries and regions such as Champagne, Burgundy, Argentina, Chile and the US... Rejoining the winery and the Muscadet region, he brought back a huge amount of experience and very specific technical skills and processes which has established him as one of the great winemakers of the region.
We are responsible for every step of the wine from the vineyard to the bottle and that’s what we love. Our total involvement goes from planting, pruning, taking great care and harvesting at the vineyard, winemaking and ageing at the winery to direct sales in bottles to our customers around the world. We take a huge amount of pride in producing a local, natural, delicious, family-made, handcrafted wine and having the closest possible relationship with our customers. Also, we hope you will have as much fun tasting the wine as we had producing it!
Intense fruit has always characterized our wines. Our objective is the absolute respect for the fruit (short pruning, tillage, grass cover, trellising, de-leafing, harvest sorting...) and technical investments at the winery (press fractioning, skin contact, temperature control, bottling) - with the aim of producing the ultimate expression of Muscadet.
Our Muscadet is made from 100% Melon de Bourgogne and only our region grows this varietal (with the exception of a couple of hectares in native Burgundy and Oregon). It is therefore unique! As a consequence, we see it as our mission to spread the story of our wines and the singularity of our varietal to our customers around the world. That’s why “Voyage Extraordinaire” Muscadet was created - to stand as an introduction and an ambassador for Muscadet and the city of Nantes, through the books of its famous resident Jules Verne, author and the father of science-fiction.
Our Atlantic Loire region is one of the greatest for white wine production as it offers the best balance between cool temperatures and the perfect level of yearly rainfalls. But due to its Northern and Western position, it is also very susceptible to both spring frosts and mildew. Producing high quality wines with sufficient volumes is here always a challenge. Once again in late April 2017, we were hit by frost and seriously damage was done to the vines. In one night, we lost a significant part of our yearly production. This teaches you humility and resistance. On the other hand, every success is yours and all Lieubeau bottles shared with your friends and paired with a great food makes us happy and gives purpose to our lives.
Of course harvest is always the key point and the most demanding moment in the winemaker’s year. Every year for one day, we welcome 100 of our customers to explore and harvest at the winery in aid of the French national association “AFM Telethon” who support patients and their families who are affected by rare genetic and progressive diseases. The family harvest of 2015 will stay forever as a memorable moment - under a dazzling sun, on the slopes of our Chateau-Thebaud vineyard, with perfect ripeness and sanitary state, and the best spirit within the harvest team. Unforgettable!
Right from the outset we knew we wanted to be part of the “Naked experience” and join the portfolio. As young and independent growers and winemakers, we always want to have the closest possible relationship with our customers - and this appears to be the Naked DNA. Today, we are very happy to supply Naked with Voyage Extraordinaire Muscadet and we will pay great attention to share our passion with the Angels and meet their expectations.
In today’s world of wine, there are many offers, wines, distributors and plenty of options both as a producer or a customer. As family growers and winemakers, we aim to produce Muscadet at its very best - showing respect for nature, producing consistent quality, a wonderful tasting experience and personal interactions. This can only be explained and spread through a direct relationship with customers, shared values and a strong long-term commitment to build a community of wine enthusiasts or 'amateurs de vin'."
