Ackerman

Ackerman wine takes its name from Jean-Baptiste Ackerman, a Belgian-born entrepreneur who settled in Saumur in 1811 and founded the Loire Valley's first house of fine sparkling wine. Working with the region's chalky tuffeau soils, he spent years perfecting a bottle-fermentation method suited to Loire grapes, and in 1838 an independent tasting panel in Angers recognised his wines as the first in the valley made using the traditional method. The House still operates from Saint-Hilaire-Saint-Florent, its cellars carved into rock above the Thouet river.

Ackerman's wines are made in Saumur, in the heart of the Loire Valley, where cool, river-moderated vineyards and mineral-rich soils favour bright, structured base wines suited to sparkling wine production. The House works with Loire varieties such as Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc, made using the traditional method and aged in the same tuffeau cellars that have sheltered it since the nineteenth century.