schiller-wine: Tasting from Tank and from Bottle at Domaine Régis Minet in Pouilly-sur-Loire/ Sancerre, with Régis Minet, Nathalie Minet and Bruno Mineur

The Loire Tour 2025 by ombiasy WineTours took place from Sunday, October 5 to Thursday, October 16, 2025. The tour started in Nantes and ended in Sancerre, with a bus transfer and lunch in Paris. There were 9 of us including Annette and myself.

Following:

Extensive Cellar Tour and Extensive Tasting at Domaine Alphonse Mellot in Sancerre, with Alphonse Mellot - Loire Valley 2025 by ombiasy WineTours

Tasting and Cellar Tour at Domaine Delaporte in Chavignol with Matthieu Delaporte - Loire Valley 2025 by ombiasy WineTours

Lunch at Restaurant Au p`tit Gouter, a Simple Restaurant at the Main Square of Chavignol (Sancerre), Owned and Run by Jérémy and Jérôme, not to Forget their Dog Tuscany - Loire Valley 2025 by ombiasy WineTour

we drove to Pouilly-sur-Loire for a visit of Domaine Régis Minet. In In 2021, Régis handed the reigns of the domaine to his stepdaughter, Lucia Mineur-Billet, who was out of town. Our hosts were Régis Minet, Nathalie Minet, the mother of Lucia, and Bruno Mineur, the father of Lucia. We started in the tank cellar with a tasting from tank, followed by a tasting from bottle in the tasting room.

Nathalie Minet

plays a crucial, behind-the-scenes role at Domaine Régis Minet, handling various administrative, communication, and commercial tasks. She was also a significant factor in her daughter Lucia Mineur-Billet's decision to return to the domaine to take over management. Her first husband and father of Lucia, Bruno Mineur, helps his daughter occasionally.

Domaine Régis Minet is represented in the USA by Kermit Lynch.

Loire 2025 by ombiasy WineTours led by Annette Schiller

Annette Schiller in her announcement: What comes to your mind when you hear ‘Loire Valley’? Of course images of glorious Châteaux pop up in your mind. Yes that is true and we will visit some iconic château and dig deep into France’s history. However, during this wine tour we also discover a magnificent, but often overlooked French wine region and one of the most exciting best kept secrets of excellent, high quality wines at very reasonable prices. The Loire Valley wine region is a vast area and consists of several distinct wine regions, each with its own characteristic grapes, appellations, and wine style. We take you on a journey from the Atlantic Ocean to the Auvergne mountains to explore this unique region. We learn to appreciate “Sancerre”, "Pouilly-Fumé", “Vouvray", “Chinon”, as well as many other not so familiar appellations.

Domaine Régis Minet - Kermit Lynch

One could easily consider Régis Minet the Loire Valley’s answer to an action hero. He may play it cool on the outside, but at closer look, one sees a man of brooding intensity on an insatiable quest for adventure. It may just be in the blood. His grandfather, Robert Minet, was an artisan tonnelier, or barrel-maker. At the beginning of the last century, Robert kept a mere three hectares of vines in the eastern Loire town of Pouilly-sur-Loire—just enough to make the family’s wine. He, too, was very independent, living autonomously off his own livestock and fresh vegetables from his farm. When he passed away in 1976, Régis left his studies to continue the work of the domaine without giving it a second thought. Since then, he has made this tiny farm a full-time domaine, and has succeeded in adding an additional eight hectares of vineyards to the holdings. It is certain that his love of his native terroir translates into his wines, although one sees it in many other aspects of his character as well. Watching him fervently serve a plate of crottins de chevre to guests, seeing his latest fossilized finds after a day of diving into the bottom of the Loire River, or watching him tinker with his motorcycle after an epic ride is proof enough that Régis shares both his grandfather’s rogue-ishness and love of the land.

Pouilly-sur-Loire produces one of the greatest Sauvignon Blancs in the world. Régis’ vineyards sit at 750 feet, surrounded by hills on the far east of the Loire River, and centered proudly on the prized limestone and clay of the Kimmeridgian chain. The scattered flint in these vineyards imbues the wines with a character quite distinctive from the neighboring village of Sancerre. In the eloquent words of KLWM Store Manager, Steve Waters, “You couldn’t ask for a cleaner, fresher, flintier, or truer expression of Sauvignon Blanc. Its mouth-watering acidity, depth of flavor, and fleshy texture will have you racing back for more.”

In 2021 Régis handed the reigns of the domaine to his stepdaughter, Lucia Mineur-Billet. Régis and Lucia are both ready and excited for this new chapter in the estate's history!

Arriving