Domaine FL’s new winery in Rochfort-sur-Loire

Driving through the Layon hills yesterday we passed by what will be Domaine FL’s new winery. Domaine FL was founded in 2007 by Philip Fournier, entrepreneur, who having made his fortune in telecommunications, decided to venture into the world of wine.  After an unsuccessful alliance with Jo Pithon (who now makes a range of great wines with his step-son Joseph under Pithon-Paillé) he is now aided by his son Julien, Stéphane Derenoncourt (wine consultant) and Hugues Daubercles (cellar master).  For more information as to the history see Jim Budd’s posts on his blog here Philip Fournier has an uncanny resemblance to Lily Savage (Paul O’Grady).

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According to the website the winery will be up and running and open to the public this summer. There is some work to be done if this is the case.  It’s a huge, swanky building, not very French in style and will apparently have a restaurant on the top floor with panaramic views over the countryside (this is true, it’s in a fabulous spot). We’ll be tasting the wines at this year’s Salon in Angers so will post a report on that mid February.