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Ackerman Remy Pannier History

In the 18th century, Louis Rémy, a vassal of the "Seigneurerie de Milly" in Anjou, decided to leave for Chênehutte, situated on the banks of the Loire. There he was employed as a bargee working between Saumur and Nantes. He sailed the large flat bottomed barges, well adapted to the difficulties of navigating on the Loire at the time. Wine, transported in barrels, made up the major portion of the cargo...

It was in 1885 that François Rémy, son of the last bargee in the family and apprentice cooper, took over a small vineyard left to him by the widow of his boss on the death of the latter. Louis, his son developed the business, particularly the transport sector which quickly spread to the west and east and included both the muscadet and pouilly regions. He associated his wife's name to his and the company name became Rémy Pannier.

Thereafter Maurice Rémy, his son, both passionate and with a strong desire to develop the company, propelled Rémy Pannier to the top of the list of Wine Merchants in the Loire Valley.

Anticipating future trends, he guided the company from the trading of wine in barrels into the business of bottling and trading. During several long trips to the USA and Japan in the 50's he helped establish an international reputation for the name Rémy Pannier.

He also improved and then spectacularly grew the sales of the wine merchants progressively consolidated since 1956; Ackerman-Laurance company, the oldest traditional sparkling wine merchant; then in 1978, De Neuville company.

In the 90's, under his guidance, Rémy Pannier integrated the vinification and maturing of the wines and built modern facilities. This enabled them to produce high quality, expressive wines and develop the activity of the barrel merchant company to include the vinification and maturing of the wines.

At the end of 2001 the company was taken over by the major cooperatives of the Loire valley, cementing the relationships with the winegrowers and helping promote their wines within the context of increased international competition.

Wine Making at Ackerman Remy-Pannier

Aiming at mastering the whole chain: from the top, with the development of partnerships with winegrowers, to the selling of the wines. From quality grapes carefully selected, Ackerman Remy Pannier aim at producing pure, authentic and high quality wines according to our

« Charte Raisons et Terroirs »

established in close collaboration with the winegrowers. This charter takes into account all the practical aspects of vine culture:

- Pruning of the vines
- Fertilisation adapted to the needs of the vines
- Rigorous maintenance of the soil (planting grass, turning the soil)
- Fighting the pests and diseases that attack the vines

In this way we ensure the purity, the quality and the authenticity of the wines.

Pure wines made with the utmost respect for both nature and the consumer providing the possibility of tracing the product from the bottle back to the vine and thereby providing a certain guarantee of the product;

Wines of high quality through controlling the yields, protection of the vines (using natural products as far as possible), controlling the vines and ensuring the quality of the harvesting procedures. Authentic wines, coming from our vineyards or from our vinification, the wines reflect the richness and diversity of the "terroirs".

As an example for the range "Dames de la Vallée", the vineyards and the grape varieties are scrupulously selected. Only the best grapes are used and harvested at the optimal maturity under the control of the Oenologists. In addition, only the finest of the juices are selected

Wine making equipment

In order to obtain quality wines, Ackerman Remy Pannier have at their disposal production equipment that is modern and performing and several vinification centres, such as the site in Puy Notre Dame, owned directly by Ackerman Rémy Pannier or their shareholders.

This facility, with a potential of 80.000 hl is our biggest one, with sophisticated technological equipment (to receive and press the grapes, and for the fermentation process), notably:

- hermetically sealed stainless steel bins for transferring the harvest which protect the grapes from the problems of oxidation which are detrimental to the quality;

- an inclined slide to supply the destemming machine, avoiding the transfer by conveyor belt ;

- a modern destemming machine which ensures the grapes remain intact and a rotor pump that supplies the presses;

- pneumatic presses to carefully extract the best quality juices using a very low pressure;

- inerting systems along the whole chain of production to protect the grapes primary aromas and avoid oxidation;

- a system of refrigeration for the vinification process


See full listing of wines by Ackerman Remy Pannier, Loire