Les Canonniers – Introduction

We first met Karim and Sandrine Hadjadj a couple of years after we started importing natural wines from France. We met Karim in Hong Kong where he was a pilot for Cathay Pacific and was just in the process of setting up an importing business and a wine shop in Hollywood Road.

We met him in the wine shop where we were also introduced to the other founder apart from his partner Sandrine namely Cristobal Huneeus. We had a great discussion about our shared interest in natural wines and have remained in close contact ever since.

More recently Karim and Sandrine have moved back to their native France and Cristobal has taken over the reins in Hong Kong.

Karim and Sandrine have moved to the city of Rennes and opened a wine shop and epicerie called Le Canonniers which sells natural wines and high quality canned foods and vinegars.

Their selection of wines is not one to be ignored. If you are in the area and want to look for an interesting natural wine then this is the place to head for.

We shall just talk about three examples of wines that are available here at the time of writing this story. We have chosen these three wines because there is something interesting about each over and above the fact that they are made naturally.

The first we noticed at Les Canonniers is a wine from Olivier Horiot who is a Champagne producer, but he also produces still wines from grapes grown within the Champagne area. These qualify for the appellation Côteaux Champenois which is able to be applied to red, rosés and white wines made from the same 7 grape varieties as Champagne (although last time we looked the new Champagne variety, Voltis, was not listed for the still wines).

The second wine that caught our attention was a Brouilly from Beaujolais. Brouilly is one of the ten areas set aside for “cru” wines as they are regarded as the best for growing Gamay. This wine is from young producer Alex Foillard who is a major new talent – if you see one of his wines grab it, you wont be disappointed.

The third wine at Les Canonniers is from one of our producers, namely Herve Villemade from the Loire Valley not to far east of Tours. He has some vines in an appellation called Cour-Cheverny where the only grape variety allowed is Romorantin. This is a very interesting white grape that can be enhanced through oxidation. It is well worth a try.

You can find out more about this interesting venue here.