Noëlla Morantin started her own 20-acre domaine in 2008 after working for other Loire domaines since 2001. Originally from Brittany, she grew up with a father who made wine for the family from a small family vineyard. Morantin worked for a while as a marketing director in a business unrelated to wines. But a chance meeting with a professor of viticulture inspired her to learn more about wine, and she interned at several domaines before eventually earning a degree in oenology and agriculture in 2004. For four years she worked as estate manager at Les Bois Lucas. Morantin dreamed of her own estate, however, and in 2008 Catherine Roussel and Didier Barrouillet of Clos Roche Blanche agreed to lease her some of their domaine. She has since purchased vineyards of her own and farms organically. Morantin produces Sauvignon Blanc, Gamay, Malbec, Côt, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. Morantin’s domaine is in the Loir-et-Cher department (or district) of the Loire Valley, near the Cher river. Morantin’s Gamay is a play on words since her Gamay plot is very near the banks of the Cher River. She is considered one of the rising stars of the Loire Valley.