Joost and Miguela de Villebois
France
Joost and Miguela's Wines
- France
- 13Â wines
- 5Â styles
A labour of love... for a love-struck Dutch duo!
- Joost started his career miles from the vineyard. In fact, he was the Chairman of the Dutch Stock Exchange... But all it took was one fateful holiday to the Loire Valley for Joost's whole world to be turned upside down. Here began his love story with winemaking - he threw in his stable city job, upped-sticks and moved his whole life to the Loire to try his hand at winemaking.
- Since then, with his wife Miguela and their highly dedicated team, Joost has gone wild with the Sauvignon Blanc grape. Vintage after vintage their ultra premium range has been swept off the shelves by Angels, receiving sky scraping ratings, and turning the heads of critics.
- Now that they've cracked the code to top-drawer Loire Valley classics, their focus has turned to keeping things green and making wines that are just as kind on the planet as they are on the palate. They've introduced beehives and bat hotels to their vineyards, and put in hours of work to achieve the huge green landmark of certified sustainability!
Vineyard Location
Joost and Miguela de Villebois's Story
"I grew up with wine and wine was very much a part of my household. I decided at the very young age of 18 that not only did I want to drink wine, but I wanted to make it myself too. Miguela and I had this great passion to make authentic Loire wines. Cherishing and exploring these abundant and historic soils along the Loire and Cher river.
I went on to study at the wine faculty at the University of Bordeaux, where I started to learn the tricks of the trade. We bought a little farmhouse in the middle of the Touraine vineyards in 1996 and we fell in love. Our wine business started in earnest in 2004 when we started to make two barrels of wine a year. We were excited. We learned together with Thierry Merlet , oenologist and specialist in sauvignon blanc wines.
Keeping our practice as green as possible in our vineyards is very important to us, and is becoming more and more so day by day. We use a very limited number of 'products' in the fields, and we also green harvest in order to optimise the quality of the grapes and minimise production per hectare. Finally, we use a technique called 'effeuillage' , the reduction of leaves to increase the sun and light exposure of the grapes. Year in and year out we adapt ourselves according to natural circumstances."
- Joost & Miguela deVillebois, Winemaker
Our proudest moment as winemakers
We're very lucky to have a fantastic team of oenologists, all of whom are dedicated to the 'vine', working together and having smiles on everyone's faces all day long. Smiling every day most certainly keeps the doctor away!
