FOUCHER-LEBRUN

Loire, France

Foucher-Lebrun is a small négociant specializing in wines from the Loire Valley. The company's mission is to convey as accurately as possible the expression of the appellations in the Loire region by careful selection, vinification, and aging of its wines.

Foucher-Lebrun was founded in 1921 by Paulin Lebrun, a cooper by trade, who developed the company by servicing a clientele made up of restaurants and cafes. During the 1950s, his son-in-law, Raymond Foucher, began bottling the company's wines and in 1985 handed over the management to his son, Jacky Foucher.

In late 2009, Jean Mounard, a Parisian fine wine merchant, joined Foucher-Lebrun with the goal of raising its image and developing business overseas. Today, Mounard is now overseeing the selection process for the wines of the company. Given his deep experience tasting the great wines of the world (he deals regularly in such luminaries as DRC, Mouton, Domaine Leflaive, etc), as well as his contacts among top producers in the Loire, he has been able to significantly raise the bar in terms of the quality of these wines.

Nowadays the oenologist Marc Vappereau has succeeded Jean, who is still overseeing all export activities, winemaking, and selections. The current offerings offer a truly remarkable price/quality ratio. Also, by tapping his connections at some better quality cellars in the region, the wines display a real sense of their underlying appellations and are made with a balance and delineation usually found in much more expensive wines.

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