Notes from Becky Wasserman & Co.:

"Patrick Baudouin took a circuitous route from city life to his final destination in the Côteaux du Layon. It was only in 1990, after twelve years of factory work and a stint selling books in Paris, that he decided to take over the estate his great-grandparents founded in the 1920s. Today, Patrick is shaking things up, where he is fighting to outlaw chaptalization for sweet wines. In collaboration with some of France's greatest wineries – he is working to promote a return to the founding values of the AOC system. The goal is to establish a trustworthy seal of origin and quality, rather than a mere guarantee of geographical origin with a bar set low enough for production requirements as to let pretty much everyone in."

Zersilles lieu-dit, thin/poor soil of shale and sandstone on Carboniferous-era bedrock, facing southeast.