Autour de l'Anne Winery
After working as a roadie in the UK for ’90s bands like The Verve, Blur, and Radiohead, Anne Paillet settled into corporate life in the financial district of La Défense in Paris. However, a serious car accident made her realize that the corporate world was not for her. In search of a new reality, she left her job in 2010 to join her husband Gregory Leclerc, a natural winemaker from the Loire.
Always up for a challenge, Anne wanted to produce wines different from those of her husband, with different grapes and on a different terroir. She also realized that she needed her own vineyards to create the style of wine she felt inspired to make. Anne’s friend, Christophe Beau, a biodynamic producer (Nature et Progrès since 1985 and Demeter for about fifteen years), in the Coteaux du Languedoc, offered her a collaboration on his 6-hectare estate (comprising old vines from 40 to 100 years old and younger vines of 20 years), renting her 2.5 hectares of his land.
In 2011, Autour de l’Anne was created with the help of Christophe and his son Victor. Anne manually harvests the grapes, and fermentation occurs naturally with wild yeast in concrete tanks without the use of sulfur dioxide (SO2). The unique aspect of the company is that, after fermentation, Anne takes the wine to the Loire to complete its aging in Gregory’s cellar. Anne describes her wine style as closer to the wines of the Loire Valley than the Languedoc, meaning they are light, fruity, and easy to drink. Affectionately, Anne calls them “Loiredoc” wines.
After working as a roadie in the UK for ’90s bands like The Verve, Blur, and Radiohead, Anne Paillet settled into corporate life in the financial district of La Défense in Paris. However, a serious car accident made her realize that the corporate world was not for her. In search of a new reality, she left her job in 2010 to join her husband Gregory Leclerc, a natural winemaker from the Loire.
Always up for a challenge, Anne wanted to produce wines different from those of her husband, with different grapes and on a different terroir. She also realized that she needed her own vineyards to create the style of wine she felt inspired to make. Anne’s friend, Christophe Beau, a biodynamic producer (Nature et Progrès since 1985 and Demeter for about fifteen years), in the Coteaux du Languedoc, offered her a collaboration on his 6-hectare estate (comprising old vines from 40 to 100 years old and younger vines of 20 years), renting her 2.5 hectares of his land.
In 2011, Autour de l’Anne was created with the help of Christophe and his son Victor. Anne manually harvests the grapes, and fermentation occurs naturally with wild yeast in concrete tanks without the use of sulfur dioxide (SO2). The unique aspect of the company is that, after fermentation, Anne takes the wine to the Loire to complete its aging in Gregory’s cellar. Anne describes her wine style as closer to the wines of the Loire Valley than the Languedoc, meaning they are light, fruity, and easy to drink. Affectionately, Anne calls them “Loiredoc” wines.
