Anjou Brissac wine: all you need to know about the appellation's terroir and history
February 17, 1998 saw the birth of the anjou villages brissac appellation, whose area, bounded by the courses of the Aubance and Loire rivers, covers seven communes in the Anjou noir region. To reinforce its own identity and distinguish it more clearly from the neighboring appellation anjou villages, the winegrowers obtained a change in the name of their appellation in August 2025. Don't say vin d'anjou villages brissac, but vin d'anjou brissac.
Micro-terroir
to the south-west of Angers, not far from the majestic Château de Brissac, nestled between the Loire and Aubance rivers, only 60 hectares are affected by this appellation name change, as requested by the by the 30 winegrowers in the communes of Brissac Loire Aubance, Denée, Les Garennes-sur-Loire, Mozé-sur-Louet, Mûrs-Érigné, Saint-Melaine-sur-Aubance and Soulaines-sur-Aubance. Historically, wine has been produced on these lands since the late XIXᵉ century, but it was essentially a "rouget", a local name to characterize a light wine consumed in cafés. Over the decades, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon have made their mark on these schist and clay soils, giving rise to structured, powerful red wines with good ageing potential, in the Anjou Villages appellation, which came into being in 1991.
Conviction and self-sacrifice
Convinced that they had a special territory at their disposal, the professionals of the Brissac region initially distanced themselves from the Anjou Villages appellation to apply for recognition of their vines as appellation d'origine contrôlée Anjou Villages Brissac, which they obtained in 1998. The second phase began in 2025, with the declared desire "to gain in clarity with a name that expresses both our belonging to the great vineyards ofAnjou and our location in the heart of Anjou noir", as Boris Brault, winemaker and president of the new Anjou Brissac appellation, points out.
This article is taken from the guide Centre-Val de Loire et Pays de la Loire 2026. It is available in bookshops and on the Gault&Millau e-shop.
