The Nièvre department lies along the right bank of the Loire River, approximately 120 miles southeast of Paris. The vineyards along the Loire riverbank stretch 670 miles across France, yet Pouilly-sur-Loire, near the river's mid-point, is the first region where the wines are entitled to appellation contrôlée status. The Pouilly-Fumé appellation covers roughly 2,250 acres in seven communes, the most important of which are Pouilly-sur-Loire, Saint-Andelin and Tracy. Opposite and just north of Pouilly-sur-Loire is the Sancerre appellation, in the Cher department. Its gently sloping vineyards cover 700 acres over thirteen communes, the best-known of which are Chavignol, Bué and Champtin.

Little known outside their own locale before World War II, the wines of Pouilly-Fumé and Sancerre began to gain a foothold in the post-war years and early 1950s in the bistros of Paris. The proximity of these two districts to the capital, the exceptional affinity of Sauvignon Blanc for food, and the evolution in tastes toward dry, nervy, vibrant wines concurrent with a trend toward lighter cuisines, created a perfect market niche for Pouilly-Fumé and Sancerre. For quite some time, most of the small production was absorbed domestically, and mostly through restaurants, specialty wine and food shops and direct purchases by individual consumers at the producers' properties. The phenomenal volume of the 1960 harvest proved to be the turning point when efforts to court the export market were seriously undertaken. Over the two decades between 1960 and 1980, vineyard plantings were gradually expanded. The area under the two appellations, though by no means large, was prior to this considerably under-planted, and today the growers of Pouilly-Fumé and Sancerre, with a combined potential vineyard zone of 3,000 acres, are approaching the limits of response to an export market demand verging on seventy percent of total production.

Michel Redde and his son, Thierry, are the fifth and sixth generations of a family which has since early in the last century been grower-producers in this beautiful corner of the Loire Valley. The Redde estate of "La Moynerie" covers 85 acres just north of the town of Pouilly-sur-Loire, which has been extended piece by piece over the past few decades from the original 15 acres owned when Michel Redde took control of the property. The estate's vineyards are situated in the heart of the appellation on the crest of a hillside overlooking the Loire River exposed directly to the south. The soils supporting the Sauvignon Blanc vines in which the vineyard is planted vary, checkerboard fashion, between two types: chalky clay soils, which yield wines of elegance, harmony, concentration and longevity; and clay and silica soils, tending in color from red to blue- black, which produce nervy, vibrant wines with the "gunflint" character typical of Pouilly-Fumé. A portion of the vineyard planted in vines 80 years of age is the source of the estate's special cuvée, "Cuvée Majorum," an extraordinary example of a Pouilly-Fumé of complexity, depth and longevity. Michel Redde's Pouilly-Fumé "La Moynerie" is produced from the estate's younger vines, which, benefitting from the vineyard's southern exposure, yield a ripe, intensely perfumed wine of quintessential typicity. His Sancerre, "Les Tuilières," is produced from grapes and musts purchased from numerous growers with whom Michel Redde has done business for years. The resolute insistence on absolute quality has earned Michel Redde a place among the top five or six producers in the Pouilly and Sancerre regions, with a reputation for excellence and consistency second to none.