Benjamin Serer Vouvray La Tradition Methode Traditionnelle

Regular price $29.98

Quantity

Benjamin Serer originally wanted to be a chef. He got as far up the ladder as opening a restaurant in Switzerland for the Alain Ducasse Group and then cooking at Ducasse’s Le Louis XV in Monaco for a year. The latter was an intensely competitive experience: when he wasn’t sleeping, he was in that kitchen, and at some point, the joy just went out of it.

Returning to his home region, in 2019 he took a leap of faith and rented 1.6 hectares of vines. These averaged 50-years of age and grew on what’s known as the première côte (the first south-facing hillside rising above the Loire) in the commune of Vouvray. He made one wine in that vintage, labeling it simply as Le Sec.

In the same year he took a job managing 18 hectares of vines on the plateau of Vernou-sur-Brenne for a friend who had just bought them from a retiring vigneron. The understanding was that Benjamin would come to know the vines while at the same time putting together finances in order to buy what most appealed. In November of 2022 he did just that, choosing several choice parcels—one a stone’s throw from Hüet’s famous Clos du Bourg parcel—totaling 5.4 hectares. The following year he quit the viticultural gig (his friend sold the remaining parcels to others) and went full time on his own domaine, which now came to 7 hectares or 17.29 acres in Vouvray and Vernou-sur-Brenne.

Ben’s vintage méthode champenoise. Ferments are native yeast, and three-quarters of the wine is raised in steel over winter and one-fourth in older 400L barrels. The wine is bottled en tirage in March and left to rest on its lees for 12 months before disgorgement. No dosage. A clean, crisp and very toothsome wine that speaks of its chalk and stones as much as it does of its fruit.

Shipping Policy

Open tab

Unless your delivery address is on the West Coast, we strongly discourage you from selecting “Ground Service” as your shipping method. During the winter and summer months, weather conditions (temperature) and longer delivery times can often result in the spoilage of your order. It doesn’t make sense to invest in fine wines and then take the chance of ruining them due environmental factors during transit (faster and safer delivery generally isn’t much more expensive). We don’t make an additional profit on accelerated delivery, but we frequently recommend faster shipping options to our customers outside the West Coast.
You must be 21 years of age to order or receive alcoholic beverages. Any shipments containing alcoholic beverages are sent with an “Adult Signature Required” sticker, and the common carrier that delivers our merchandise is required to ask and check for identification upon delivery. This means that an adult will have to be present at the time of delivery. Please consider shipping to an office address.
During periods of extreme weather, we attempt to ship wines at the beginning of each week in order to get shipments to you before the weekend. This is because we have no control over the temperature conditions at our freight carriers’ warehouses. The result may be that your shipment doesn’t go out the day that you place an order.
We ship by Fedex or Fedex Ground. Our prices include packaging materials. Insurance may be available for an additional charge.
Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. will arrange for shipment on behalf of the buyer, to an address specified by the buyer, provided that Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. in its sole judgment believes that such shipment will not subject Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. to the risk of any sort of legal action or other harm. If a buyer lives in a state where the direct shipment of wine by Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. violates the law, we suggest that the buyer provide an alternative address in another state or have their wine shipped to a third-party storage facility in a direct shipping-friendly state.
Various states impose limitations on the quantity of alcoholic beverages that may be purchased and brought into their jurisdiction by a purchaser from another state without requiring the purchaser, a seller or shipper to possess certain licenses or permits. Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. does not, as a condition of sale, assume any obligation nor bear any responsibility whatsoever for applying or obtaining any permits or licenses. Therefore, we recommend that you investigate the possibility of such limitations, and determine the manner in which alcoholic beverages shall be brought into your state from California, so as to comply with all of your state’s requirements.
Wine shipping rules in the United States are controlled by the state you live in. We do not ship wine to the following states at this time: