The name of the domain is a testimony of the time when the wolf was a stray animal in the countryside. Nerleux means "black wolves" in old French. On the Domaine de Nerleux, the wolves have long since given way to the vines and the sound of the secateurs has replaced the howling. The nobility of the wolves as well as of the men has left a lasting impression on the estate, its terroir and its wines. The Neau family took over the estate in 1870. Since then, nine generations of winegrowers have succeeded one another until Amélie, the first woman in this line, took over.
Amélie did not wait long before putting her mark on the Domaine de Nerleux, starting the conversion to organic viticulture. This change was made little by little, starting with the working of the soil. Hectare by hectare, chemical weeding has been replaced by mechanical weeding and even manual weeding in some parcels.
The Domaine de Nerleux covers 30 hectares of vines planted mainly with Cabernet Franc and Chenin, the two flagship grape varieties of the Saumur region. Other grape varieties have been planted recently to diversify the production of the estate: Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Grolleau. These 30 hectares are cultivated in organic agriculture and vinified according to the rules of the art in the domain in appellation Saumur-Champigny, Saumur White, Saumur Rosé, Crémant de Loire and Coteaux de Saumur.
The land on which the estate is located is made of "tuffeau", a typical limestone of the Saumur-Champigny appellation. This beautiful stone gives the wines of Domaine de Nerleux their typicality. Its porosity allows it to retain water and give it back to the vines later when they need it most. On the vines, the leaves remain green even in times of drought, a major asset in this era of global warming. These remarkable characteristics combined with the Chenin for the Saumur Blanc and the Cabernet Franc for the Saumur-Champigny give a lot of freshness to the wines of the family domain.