Sylvain Dittière trained in viticulture and oenology before working at a series of estates: the Gauby family in Roussillon, Marc Tempé in Alsace, Thierry Germain's Domaine des Roches Neuves, Château Yvonne, and Clos Rougeard, where he became close to the Foucault family. He later married Pauline Foucault, daughter of the late Charly Foucault of Clos Rougeard and sister of Antoine Foucault of Domaine du Collier. Dittière set up his own domaine in Montreuil-Bellay, taking its name from a stone gateway that leads to the property.

The domaine farms about 8 hectares on organic principles, without certification, avoiding soil compaction and relying on Bordeaux mixture, sulfur and herbal decoctions such as horsetail, comfrey, nettle and willow bark rather than chemical treatments. Grapes are picked by hand and sorted hard in the cellar, then fermented with native yeasts and little added sulfur. Reds macerate for around six weeks without intervention before ageing, and the wines are moved by gravity throughout. The cellars themselves are cut into the rock, in caves dating to the 13th century, which keep a steady, cool temperature for the long ageing that marks the wines.

At Dynamic Cellars, the range from La Porte Saint-Jean includes the reds Les Pouches Rouge, from 2017 to 2023, and Saumur-Champigny Les Cormiers 2019 and 2021, alongside Les Corbiers 2023 and several vintages of the Vin de France cuvées La Perlée and La Berlée. Find them among our Loire Valley wines, red wines and natural wines, or in our recent vintages.