The 9th Generation and the History of Domaine de la Chopinière du Roy!
A big year is coming in 2025, we're announcing that Tom and Camille ORY, the sons of Sophie and Christophe ORY, are joining the estate, forming the 9th generation.
So, we're taking this opportunity to revisit the history of Domaine de la Chopinière du Roy with archive photos.
The History of Domaine de la Chopinière du Roy:
In the 19th century, the estate was a peasant farm, with polyculture, market gardening, livestock, and a few acres of vines…
“Hens, rabbits, and cows coexisted with dogs and cats”;
“Pompom, our draft horse, plowed our plots of land…”
In 1937, Adrien Ory (our ancestor) was the Mayor of the Commune of Saint Nicolas de Bourgueil. At the time, he fought, with his municipal council, for Saint Nicolas de Bourgueil to have its own communal appellation. He was the first president of the wine growers' syndicate of Saint Nicolas de Bourgueil and Bourgueil.
Uncle Roger and Raymonde ORY, the 6th generation of farmer-winemakers, were joined by Michel, born in 1947! A beautiful vintage, 1947…
The estate also grew, here is an aerial view of Domaine de la Chopinière du Roy in the 1960s:
We continue the historical journey from the same period, with a photo of Michel ORY, Christophe ORY's father (in the foreground) and Roger ORY (Christophe ORY's great-uncle and Michel ORY's uncle) at the hand press:
We continue our adventure in the early 1970s, with a photo of the grape harvest. We see Roger ORY with the basket in the middle of the image, just behind him is Raymonde (Christophe ORY's grandmother and Michel ORY's mother). In front of her is Marie-Louise, a close family friend, proudly holding her harvest. In her yellow dress is Denise, Christophe ORY's mother. In the foreground, in his clogs, is Christophe ORY's great-grandfather. The other people in the photo are also close family friends:
Michel and his wife Denise developed hospitality and tastings at the estate. They were the first to organize Open Days in 1979!
In 1983, Roger ORY noted in his notebook what was happening in the vineyards, he wrote about his work days:
In 1984, the estate was named "Domaine de la Chopinière du Roy"!
Christophe, 8th generation, a passionate winemaker, as a child, was already working in the vineyards and driving tractors. In 1999, he took over the management of the estate.
Sophie joined Christophe in 2001, initially as an employee, they married, and she became farm manager in December 2019.
Previous generations like Roger and Michel ORY make way for new generations: 
Roger ORY during the harvest
Michel ORY during the harvest
Sophie and Christophe ORY together perpetuate the family know-how and modernize the estate by investing and developing the clientele…
Tom and Camille, the 9th Generation!
TOM, born in 2001, chose a commercial path in 2019 and is pursuing a Master's degree in business in LYON!
CAMILLE, our future winemaker born in 2003, obtained his viticulture-oenology baccalaureate with honors and is continuing with a work-study BTS at La Tour Blanche in the Bordeaux region! He wants to discover and bring other working methods to the estate…
His project afterwards is to take over the family estate, but before that, he admitted to us that he wants to do a Tour de France of the wine regions!!
Today, at 23, Tom manages the website and social networks; at 21, Camille, a passionate winemaker, is in production!
