Just a few years ago Benoit Viot was working overseas as a pharmacist, when he and his wife decided to return to France, to buy some vines and to become vignerons. Their dreams lead them to a small village just north of Montpellier where they found what they were looking for – some established vines that needed some care and attention, and yes, the name of the path through one of the vineyards really is “le Chemin des Reves” (the Road of Dreams)!

The vines are in several parcels on a diverse range of terroir in two the two neighbouring appellations of Pic-Saint-Loup and Gres de Montpellier. The vineyards diverse soils are complemented by generally south facing slopes and benefit from cool night time breezes coming from the mountains to the north. With a good range of vines the Chemin des Reves has all that is needed to make some interesting wines.

Benoit is originally from the Loire and his love of the red wines from that region has strongly influenced his winemaking, with all the domain’s wines having a lovely freshness and the reds having lower more supple tannins than might be expected.