OUR MISSION
We are a small family company that wants to convey
the best of what we have received from our elders
and share it with others.
Our Story
Our story begins in 1950, when my parents made their first batch of nut wine. I was the the youngest of 10 children and then sadly lost my father when I was one year old (in 1951). I fondly remember making our family nut wine with my mother and my siblings. It connected me to my late-father. When I was 10 years old, I lost my dear mother in an accident. Making nut wine became more than the convivial pass-times and delicious drink, it united me to both my late-parents. My loving sisters carried on mom and dad's tradition with me so that we would continue to have these memories... and a stocked wine cellar!
With my children, I wanted to give everything to them that I had received: our faith...and the nut wine! I continued on this summer tradition with my beautiful wife and six children... following our family recipe, of course!
When I retired, I wanted to make more… but alcohol is reserved to professionals in France. In 2013, we simply created a business so we could carry on this tradition from our family to yours! Cheers!
- Bernard Largillier
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Sante!
OUR NAME is a French Pun:
Sante! = Cheers to your good health! + Centenaire = to live a 100 years
Santenaire : Centenaire
Cheers to your good health,
may you live a 100 years!
Family Recipe
Our family recipe is the “Pelican” recipe. “Pelican” was the name of my parents’ home (left photo), where this nut wine was made each year since 1950, and where it was passed from one generation to the next.
In the 1980s, our family recipe was enriched by the experience of Aunt Marie-Thérèse and Aunt Marie-Anne (right photo), who knew how to perpetuate the tradition; master the know-how and the art of wine-aging (élevage). Le Santenaire now has over half a century of experience to offer you the best selections of nuts and natural components.
We add to this heritage a research and development program started in 1999, with an oenological laboratory since 2014, and with our family and shareholders to refine the recipe, especially towards a range of less sweet walnut wines, and towards new products and derivatives. Since 2016, we produce two different wines, the traditional and a semi-dry vintage that will be less sweet.
Our research and innovation work leads us to propose a range of nut wines that plays on the terroir of the nut, the variety of the nut, the origin and the grape variety of the wine used, the sugar level, the conditions breeding, and of course the vintage.
RESEARCH
Our History
2013 Le Santenaire is created
1957 Nut Wine family tradition begins
1886 Our family wine heritage begins
