The Jolivet family’s history in wine production dates back to 1926, when Louis Jolivet and his son Lucien established the Jolivet and Son company. Louis and Lucien, both former cellar masters at Chateau de Tracy, founded their new enterprise as wine merchants in order to sell wines across the Sancerre region.
Following Louis and Lucien’s success, Lucien’s son Jacques started his own wine distribution company, Les Grands Vins du Val de Loire, in 1982. Jacques encouraged his son Pascal to find work as a sales agent at the Maison Pommery, which he did successfully. In the same year, Jacques handed over control of his distribution company to Pascal.
In 1986, a friend of Pascal’s, the three-star chef Gerard Boyer of les Crayeres, encouraged Pascal to follow his passion for wine distribution and production and found his own wine production company. Pascal followed his friend’s advice, and a year later, the Domaine Pascal Jolivet was born.
In 1990, Pascal built a whole new winery in order to facilitate the growth of his new business, however, he still did not own any vines of his own. His father Jacques encouraged him to purchase a six-hectare vineyard in Sancerre from a cousin in 1993, and with that, Domaine Pascal Jolivet was truly on its way.
Pascal acquired his first vineyard in Pouilly Fume in 1995, and in 2000, he had a new wine cellar built to help encourage efficiency in harvesting the grapes.
Domaine Pascal Jolivet continues to expand, and in 2016, they partnered with the Dauny family. The Dauny family is known as pioneers of organic viticulture, and today they oversee 50 hectares of the Jolivet family’s vines, helping them to become organic producers in their own right.
Since founding his own vineyard, Pascal Jolivet has truly found his own style of wine making and has become known for being an ambitious producer whose goal is to refocus the Loire Valley as the true home of Sauvignon Blanc wines.
