Castel rebrands Roches-Linières Loire wines Plessis-Duval

hen gradual decline turns into inevitable demise... Dedicated to three Loire appellations, Castel-Frères’s Roches-Linières brand disappeared completely from supermarket shelves in 2025. It was originally used for Muscadet (launched in 2008), then Touraine Sauvignon (2011) followed by a Rosé d’Anjou (2012) and saw sales reach the equivalent of 2.6 million 75cl bottles. When volumes dropped to a mere 400,000 bottles in 2023, Castel decided to stop production and after two years with no supplies, the brand disappeared completely.

“We have made the strategic decision to label our Loire wines with a single brand”, explains brand manager Clémence Chatellier. A year before Roches-Linières was launched, the Bordeaux-based group developed another label for the Loire: Plessis-Duval. The first wine to join the stable was a Cabernet d’Anjou, which currently accounts for over 75% of sales totalling 5.8 million 75-cl equivalent bottles. The Anjou rosé is complemented by a Saumur-Champigny, a Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine sur Lie, the three former Roches-Linières listings and since 2025 a Crémant de Loire and two PGIs (white and rosé). For 2026, the group has announced the release of two additional Crémants de Loire – a medium-dry white and a rosé – along with 3-litre PGI bag-in-boxes.