Brendan Stater-West

Brendan Stater-West hails from Oregon but this double French major graduate has lived in France for a long time now while pursuing his winemaking and viticulture dream. As luck would have it, the famous Romain Guiberteau (also a friend of ours, whose wines we represent in Singapore) of Saumur took him under his wing in 2012 and mentored this fine young man into a rising star winemaker whose wines can now rival those of his mentor!  

We first met Brendan at one of our yearly gatherings at Romain's house for dinner, and we were immediately smitten by his infectious smile, boyish charm and his easy-going, down-to-earth personality with a quiet confidence. It was nothing short of amazing to hear his winemaking journey - as someone without any notable wine experience or winemaking family background, he had turned into Romain's most trusted right-hand man at Domaine Guiberteau in a very short period of time, much to the envy of a lot of the young winemakers of his generation. And to do all that as a foreigner, his dedication, humility, commitment and hard work deserve the utmost praise. 

Brendan's inaugural vintage of 2015 was a Chenin Blanc planted on a single hectare of land called Les Chapaudaises in Bizay (leased to him by Romain) right next to his mentor's famous plot of Clos de Guichaux. This is a parcel that is a stone's throw away from the now-famous hill of Brézé, and the soil is completely composed of tuffeau limestone with calcium-rich clay and sand with a plentiful supply of seashell fossils. There are also a few selected old-vine parcels in Brézé that Brendan turns into Chenin Blanc, and La Ripaille for Cabernet Franc. His most recent undertaking is taking over an ancient tuffeau cellar in Chacé, a town in the appellation of Saumur-Champigny, where renovations have just been completed to turn it into his brand-new cellar and winery.