About

Claude Branger is a tall, soft-spoken gentleman with silver hair. He dresses neatly and modestly, and there is about him, as there is about his wines, a clear sense of refinement. His grandfather developed the wine domain of Haute Févrie during the First World War. Today his wife Thérèse continues to manage the home office in Maison-sur-Sèvre (as well as an eye-popping vegetable garden), while his son Sébastien is taking the lead on the affairs of the domain. They farm close to 70 acres in two parishes in the heart of the Muscadet Sèvre et Maine appellation. Among the small cadre of committed growers—and it remains a small cadre—the father and son team of Claude and Sébastien rank among the top. Claude was an early member of Terra Vitis, an organization that sets guidelines for sustainable farming and monitors its members’ practices to ensure compliance. Subsequently, Sébastien embarked the domain on the road to full-fledged organic farming. The first parcels received certification in 2016 and by vintage 2019 all of the domain’s parcels will be fully certified.