The Chillable Collection
Chilled, colorful and ready to serve. Our summer collection of orange, rosé and light red favorites goes straight from the fridge to the table—perfect for picnics, patios and warm-weather gatherings
Featured Orange Wines
Location: France, Burgundy
Winemaker: François Grangé
Grapes: Aligoté
Winemaking: Certified organic, practicing biodynamic. Hand harvest. Native yeast fermentation. 18 days on skins (20% whole cluster). Aged in old barrel. Light and bright skin contact with firm mineral presence.
From us at M&L: François Grangé has spent 15 years working at the iconic biodynamic estate Chandon de Brialles, while recently starting his own small family mangalitza pig farm, where he lives. His neighbors here offered François six hectares which he immediately started converting to organics in 2021. In 2022 he sold all of the grapes, just making a few experimental vinifications for himself - 2023 is his first proper vintage. The vines are plowed by horse, and in addition to organic treatment, François uses skim milk to fight against powdery mildew (instead of copper or sulfur) in the vines.
The soil is mainly clay, with very little limestone, and some plots have a little sand. Plant cover, such as fava, grow in tandem to increase the microbiology of the vineyards.
Blessed with some beautiful soils planted with Aligote, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Gamay & a tiny plot of Pinot Blanc there is a lot of beautiful wine being created here and a bright future ahead. The vinification, aging and bottling of the 2023 wines are completely without inputs, but the wines share the poise and precision of classic Burgundy while starting a new chapter with pure, appetizing wines
Location: France, Languedoc-Roussillon
Winemaker: Laura Lees & Arthur Joly
Grapes: Viognier
Soil: Clay and limestone
Winemaking: Organic farming. Hand harvest. Wild yeast fermentation. A part in barrels for the structure, a part in sandstone amphora for minerality, a part in exotic tanks, a part in maceration for the material: an elegant and powerful combo. Aromatic, structured, fresh and elegant! No additions.
From the Producers: The adventure began 6 years ago with the idea of saving a vineyard on two schist hills on the confines of the Corbières. Abandoned for 6 years and exposed to the south, they had suffered a lot.
Given the amount of work, no one wanted to get them back. So we decided to restore this vineyard and learned, on the job, both of us, to prune, clear, bring life back to life and make wine.
Our first goal is to find a coherent and respectful human/nature relationship.
These 8-hectare vineyards have been cleared with a pickaxe! We have organized large collective construction sites and today we can say that 50% of the vines will start again. Our first vintage l'Ecume des schistes took place in 2017. After two years of hard work, we produced 1112 bottles. Suffice it to say that we are talking about nectar... This is how, throughout history, we have become winemakers
Since then we have recovered other vines, for their grape variety, their terroir, the opportunities.. We are now working on about ten hectares scattered over Villeneuve, almost all on slopes (except one), and have largely abandoned the abandoned vineyards from the start for which the efforts made were not enough.
Location: Italy, Sicily
Winemaker: Eduardo Torres Acosta
Grapes: Minella, Carricante, Catarratto, Grecanico, Inzolia
Soil: Volcanic
Winemaking: Versante Nord Bianco and Rosso comes from six parcelstotalling less than two hectares on the cooler, north-facing side of Mt. Etna(hence the wine's name) at elevations ranging from 750 to 950 meters. Each parcel is a traditional field blend of red and white grapes.
The pruning is mainly alberello, in some cases growing as bushes and in some trained on wires.
Organic farming. The bunches are hand-harvested, destemmed, co-fermentedspontaneously in concrete tank without temperature control; maceration varies from two to five days. Aging takes place in a combination of Slavonian oak botti, tonneau and barrique for six to eight months. Based on the sanitary state of the harvest, one to two grams of S02per will be added on the grapes with an additional one to two grams at bottling.
From the Importer Louis/Dressner: Eduardo Torres Acosta, a young winemaker from the Canary Islands, first began working with vines in Tenerifewhere his father (a local postman) had a small plot of land. In 2012 Eduardo moved to Sicily, where he interned at Azienda Arianna Occhipinti (you may have heard of her). Soon thereafter he got a job as the enologistat Passopisciaro, one of the pioneers of Etna's new wave of producers. Eduardo eventually decided to start his own project, and despite his "outsider" status, managed to rent several fine parcels on Etna from locals. Up until the 2017 vintage, the grapes were harvested and then trucked to Arianna Occhipinti’s estate in Vittoria. Since the winemaking facility was not on Etna, the wines were not allowed DOC status and simply carry the IGT Terre Siciliane designation. In 2018, Eduardo was able to convert a small Etna garage into a winery but has decided to keep the wines IGT.
Today Eduardo works eight small parcels totaling 4.5 hectares. The main production is a wine called "Versante Nord", produced in both white and red. Both wines are sources from six parcels totalling less than two hectareson the cooler, north-facing side of Mt. Etna (hence the name) at elevationsranging from 750 to 950 meters. In traditional style, he vineyards are mixed plantings of various local varieties. The red grapes include a majority of Nerello Mascalese with Nerello Cappuccio, Alicante, Garnachaand others; the whites include Minella, Catarratto, Grecanico, Carricante and Inzolia. The training is mainly alberello,in some cases growing as bushes and in some trained on wires.
Two single vineyards are produced, "Pirrera" and "Quota N", the latter from a vineyard called Germana. "Pirrera" comes from a single contrada located at 850 meters in altitude. The name of the vineyard, Pirrera, stems from the presence of volcanic stones which were extracted from a quarry during a lava flow in 1614. The vineyard had been largely abandoned and is slowly being restored by Eduardo. Lighter and fresher than the "Versante Nord" due to the higher altitude, this is a blend of 90% Nerello Mascalese and 10% local varieties from vines of 50 plus years.
"Quota N" was first bottled in the 2018 vintage. Eduardo acquired this flat, half - hectare, west -exposedparcel of ungrafted (hence piedi franco on label), 80-100-year-old, co-planted bush vines. It is surrounded by stone walls on very rocky, sandy volcanic soils at the high elevation of 1070 meters in the contrada. The parcel is named Germana for its historical family owner, but Eduardo was not allowed to use this and was also not premitted to use the Nave contrada name because the site is too high to fall within DOC Etna Rosso rules. The local road is called strada quota nave and from this phrase, Eduardo pulled the "Quota N" name for the wine. The production is unavoidably miniscule, smaller even than the parcel size would suggest, due to the naturally low yieldsof these old-timers as well as to holes where they have died or stopped producing.
Location: France, Roussillon
Winemaker: Tom Lubbe
Grapes: Muscat Petits Grains
Soil: Schist
Winemaking: Organic farming. The wine comes from a single vineyard composed of red schist soils that has some of Tom's earliest ripened grapes. Whole-cluster, three week maceration. The wine is then pressed and racked into demi-muid or foudre for fermentationand aging.
From the Importer Louis/Dressner Selections: How does a New Zealander who grew up in South Africa end up starting an iconoclastic estate in the Roussillon? This isn't exactly an everyday occurrence, but so it goes for Tom Lubbe of Domaine Matassa. In the late 90's, Tom was working at the only estate in South Africa using indigenous yeasts and lower yields. Interested in working with Mediterranean varietals, Tom managed to score a three month internship at the legendary Domaine Gauby in the village of Calce. Gérard Gauby quickly befriended Tom and asked him to come back for three consecutive vintages as a cellar hand. During that time, Tom met his wife Nathalie, who just so happens to be Gérard's sister.
The birth of their first child made Tom reconsider moving back to South Africa, opting instead to stay in Calce to start his own estate. Matassa was founded in 2003, with the first vintage entirely produced in the recently married couple's living room. Gérard felt so bad about this that he gave Tom the old Gauby cellar in 2004!
Tom works with many of the traditional Catalan varieties: Carignan, Mourvèdre, Grenache (mostly Lladonner Pelut, the ancient Catalan strain of Grenache), Grenache Gris, Muscat d'Alexandrie and Muscat Petits-Grains. These grapes are often co-planted together, particularly in the very old vines. In total, 20 hectares are cultivated on lime, clay, schist, marl, black slate and black marl soils. While Tom still farms some of the very low yielding old vines around the village of Calce, he has vastly expanded to different areas where yields are more generous, typically in the 25/30 hl/ha range (still relatively low for the region). These include the lieu-dit Coume de l'Olla as well as a 2019 acquisition of eight hectares planted above his new farmhouse (read more about this in our 2019 visit).
The vineyards are worked naturally without any chemical aids and Tom is certified organic by Ecocert. And while he does occasionally use biodynamic techniques to activate and nourish his soils, over the years this has become less of a priority. Instead, an adamant dedication to cover crops has completely transformed his soils and in turn the wines. Tom is convinced that the increased insect life within the soils, particularly worms, has changed the flavors of his wines. Another shocking effect: a drastic drop in alcohol. Tom has always harvested much earlier than most, usually starting with the Muscat in early August. In 2005, they would typically reach a potential of 13.5% alcohol. In 2018, they came in around 10.5%.
Much has also changed in the cellar over the years. All the wines have now intentionally been declassified to Vin de France. As mentioned above, the alcohol is much lower, rarely more than 12%. The white wines are all macerated on their skins, a choice that goes back to "Alexandria" 2008, the first Matassa wine of its kind. For the reds, whole-cluster infusions take precedent to maceration and extraction, with white grapes often co-fermented. If oak is used, it is not to bring structure to the wine but rather oxygen. Longer élevages have been abandoned to bottle wines much earlier. Everything is bottled without filtration or fining. Sulfur, which Tom had used judiciously in the past, has not been added to any of the production since the 2015 vintage.
Location: France, Rhône
Winemaker: Thomas & Jean-Daniel Ozil
Grapes: 70% Marsanne, 30% Sauvignon Blanc
Soil: Clay, limestone
Winemaking: Organic farming. Syrah is 10 days whole cluster maceration. Marsanne macerated on the skins for 10 days. Wine is made with native yeasts, unfined, unfiltered, zero sulfites added.
From the Producer: The Ozil estate is established at Mas de Bourret, a typical Ardèche dwelling located not far from Vallon Pont d'Arc, a few steps from the Gorges de l'Ardèche and the Grotte Chauvet 2. The cellar dug into the rock, next to the bread oven, the office installed in the old pigsty, the hay loft which has given way to housing…all testify to a peasant history, in communion with nature. Brothers and winegrowers, Thomas and Jean-Daniel offer you natural and organic wines.
Location: Spain, Catalunya, Penedès
Winemaker: Joan & Joan Manel Vendrell
Grapes: Xarel·lo
Soil: limestone, clay
Winemaking: Organic farming. Hand harvest. 30% skin contact for 40 days and 70% of direct press. Indigenous yeast fermentation. After blending it got Velo flor. No sulphites added.
From the Importer Selection Massale: The Mas Gomà estate consists of a main farmhouse, founded in 1724, and a small and charming Romanesque church called Sant Valentí, built in 1135. The estate is located in Les Cabanyes, in the heart of the Penedès, a historic and traditional area of the viticulture. The property has been owned by the Vendrell family since 1918 and has been growing grapes and producing wine on and off since then. The new era started in 2009 when Joan Vendrell (the son), who handles the business side of things, and Joan Manel Vendrell (the father), who has 30 years of winemaking experience took control.According to the two Joans, the estate has unique characteristics to be able to make long-aged cavas due to the high calcareous component of its terroirs, its orientation and the old vineyards - over 60 years old - which provide high quality grapes with low yields. Only the oldest vines are used to make wine on the estate, and they currently sell grapes from younger vines to other producers in the area. In the cellar everything is fermented with native yeasts, little to no sulfur is added depending on the cuvée, and everything is unfined and unfiltered.
Location: France, Alsace
Winemaker: Jean-Pierre Rietsch
Grapes: Savagnin Rose
Winemaking: Organic farming, hand harvest, Half wine is direct press, Half is macerated on the skins for 15 days. Aged 8 months. Indigenous yeast fermentation. Unfined and lightly filtered. This wine is Rosé in appearance.
Location: France, Alsace
Winemaker: Dietrich Family
Grapes: 70% Gewürztraminer, 30% Pinot Gris
Winemaking: Organic and biodynamic farming. Hand harvest. 10 days of maceration in whole clusters on 50% of the volume. Indigenous yeast Fermentation. A one-year breeding in foudre for the Gewürztraminer to bring structure and an aging in stainless steel for the Pinot Gris to bring freshness.
From the Producer: Our vision of biodynamic viticulture— Boldness and authenticity are at the heart of our winemaking approach. We craft wines without compromise, true to our convictions, for your pleasure as well as ours.
The vine is at the center of all our attention. Our approach naturally favors low yields to promote optimal grape quality, in perfect harmony with nature's cycles.
The Dietrich family has anchored its ecological convictions at the very heart of its winemaking. Our objective is simple: minimize our environmental impact while revealing the essence of our terroir. Passionate about our grape varieties and deeply committed to respecting all living things, we invite you to discover a different vision of viticulture.
From Vine to Wine: Our Natural Approach— Jean is the guardian of our precious nectars within the family estate. In his underground realm, each vat is cherished like a treasure, playing an essential role in creating our distinctive wines. Between stainless steel tanks, majestic oak casks, and intimate barrels, each vessel brings its unique signature to our wines, offering a palette of expressions to satisfy every palate.
Innovation Serving Tradition: Our cellar naturally maintains a constant temperature of 14 degrees throughout the year, without heating or air conditioning. These optimal conditions ensure ideal preservation of our wines, with the utmost respect for the environment.
Our minimalist approach favors authenticity. Fermentations occur spontaneously thanks to our house-made starters, crafted exclusively from our grapes. True to our minimal intervention philosophy, we limit sulfite use to homeopathic doses, only when necessary during bottling
Location: France, Alsace
Winemaker: Dietrich Family
Grapes: 70% Gewürztraminer, 30% Pinot Gris
Winemaking: Organic and biodynamic farming. Hand harvest. 10 days of maceration in whole clusters on 50% of the volume. Indigenous yeast Fermentation. A one-year breeding in foudre for the Gewürztraminer to bring structure and an aging in stainless steel for the Pinot Gris to bring freshness.
From the Producer: Our vision of biodynamic viticulture— Boldness and authenticity are at the heart of our winemaking approach. We craft wines without compromise, true to our convictions, for your pleasure as well as ours.
The vine is at the center of all our attention. Our approach naturally favors low yields to promote optimal grape quality, in perfect harmony with nature's cycles.
The Dietrich family has anchored its ecological convictions at the very heart of its winemaking. Our objective is simple: minimize our environmental impact while revealing the essence of our terroir. Passionate about our grape varieties and deeply committed to respecting all living things, we invite you to discover a different vision of viticulture.
From Vine to Wine: Our Natural Approach— Jean is the guardian of our precious nectars within the family estate. In his underground realm, each vat is cherished like a treasure, playing an essential role in creating our distinctive wines. Between stainless steel tanks, majestic oak casks, and intimate barrels, each vessel brings its unique signature to our wines, offering a palette of expressions to satisfy every palate.
Innovation Serving Tradition: Our cellar naturally maintains a constant temperature of 14 degrees throughout the year, without heating or air conditioning. These optimal conditions ensure ideal preservation of our wines, with the utmost respect for the environment.
Our minimalist approach favors authenticity. Fermentations occur spontaneously thanks to our house-made starters, crafted exclusively from our grapes. True to our minimal intervention philosophy, we limit sulfite use to homeopathic doses, only when necessary during bottling
Location: United States, Oregon, Willamette Valley
Winemaker: Brianne Day
Grapes: 46% Viognier, 44% Pinot Gris, 10% Muscat
From the Producer: Founded by winemaker and owner Brianne Day in the 2012 vintage, Day Wines is a producer of boutique, artisanal bottlings made from fruit sourced exclusively from a small group of Oregon growers who utilize Biodynamic, Organic and/or Sustainable vineyard practices. To create distinct expressions of our corner of the world, we focus on fruit harvested from the esteemed Willamette Valley to exotic varietals found in Southern Oregon’s Applegate Valley AVA.
Location: Italy, Lazio
Winemaker: Gianmarco Antonuzzi & Clémentine Bouveron
Grapes: Moscato Giallo
Soil: Volcanic, rich in iron
Winemaking: Organically and biodynamically managed vineyards. The winemaking process involves spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts, fermented on the skins and the wine is aged in a combination of stainless steel and old oak barrels.
This wine is intended to ‘illustrate the beauty of nature and remind us of its fragility if exploited’. It is being sold to raise awareness for and support local farmers and residents that have come together to protest against plans to build an industrial geothermal electricity plant on the banks of Lago di Bolsena.
From us at M&L: Gianmarco Antonuzzi and Clémentine Bouveron tend around 14 hectares of land, with vineyards amongst olive groves, chestnut trees, shrubs and oaks. Sat around Lago di Bolsena near Gianmarco’s childhood town of Gradoli in Lazio’s north, the soils are volcanic, rich in iron and minerals.
Vines are planted at a density of up to 10,000 plants per hectare, from a mix of massale selections and ungrafted vines. Everything is done by hand, with careful attention to the needs of each plant and while biodynamic principles are employed, the approach here goes above and beyond.
Each year they produce a dizzying number of different wines which are vinified in an ancient cellar in the village’s centre where nothing is added at any stage. To taste here is a real treat, Gianmarco is a master of élevage and a real patience in this respect results in some of the purest, most delicious wines we have tried. This is a fascinating project, where the passion and dedication of two people is single handedly putting one of Italy’s lesser known villages firmly on the map.
Location: Chile, Itata/Bío Bío
Winemaker: Roberto Henríquez
Grapes: (Skin Contact) Semillón
From us at M&L: 1 single block of vines producing around 3000kg of fruit per vintage. The wine is herbaceous with aromatic notes of apricot, Medjool date and fresh cucumber.
From the Importer T. Edward: Roberto Henríquez studied agronomy and enology at the University of Concepción. From there, he travelled and worked with winemakers in Canada, South Africa and finally in the Loire Valley with Rene Mosse. Rene had a profound effect on Roberto’s perspective on winemaking and his progression into organic and biodynamic farming.
Roberto, originally from Concepción, returned home after his time in abroad to begin making his own wine. Returning to the traditional Pipeño methods of the original winemakers of Chile felt intuitive to the winemaking style he had adopted. The rest of his story to present is pure progression to the pursuit of the most pure wines in a true Chilean context.
His vineyards were personally and carefully selected. Working with long term fermage agreements, he farms all the land himself (with the help of farming animals). To the north, in Itata, he is working with a vineyard of old vine Semillon and blends that with Corinto (aka Chasselas) and Muscat d’Alejandria producing an orange style wine. A little further south, in Bío Bío, he is farming Pais, from which he makes the Pipeño and the Santa Cruz de Coya.
He works with carbonic macerations and ages in old Rauli wood barrels. His wines are light-bodied, translucent, refined, and full of character!
Location: France, Franche-Comté
Winemaker: Hugo Courvoisier
Grapes: Pinot Auxerrois
Soil: From a south exposed 2.8 ha parcel with a 35% slope and soils of limestone scree
Winemaking: Organic farming. Hand harvest. Fermentation began spontaneously using only the naturally occurring indigenous yeasts. 2day skin maceration. No sulfur additions were made during the vinification of this wine.
From the Importer Terres Blanches:
An hour northwest of Arbois, the village of Vuillafans sits tucked into the heart of the Vallée de la Loue, where steep, limestone slopes rise dramatically above the Loue river. Here, Hugo Courvoisier farms just over 3 hectares of Chardonnay, Auxerrois, Pinot Noir, and Gamay, crafting crystalline, terroir-driven wines from this isolated Jura satellite.
Hugo grew up in northern Jura, a place where the raising of cattle for Comté production is more common than vineyards. Both of his grandfathers farmed cattle for cheesemaking—one also distilled spirits, while the other tended a small parcel of vines in the lower Jura and made a little wine. Some of his earliest childhood memories are of harvesting grapes and tending cattle. However, his early path seemed far removed from wine—he initially studied computer science—yet the pull of the land and the region’s agricultural traditions kept calling him back. Determined to change course, he enrolled in viticulture and enology school in Burgundy, where he immersed himself in both the technical foundations of winemaking and the philosophy of terroir expression. Reflecting on his abrupt career shift, Hugo explains: “I have always loved wine and the agricultural world—free, independent—a job where you start with cultivating the vines and follow through to creating the wine. Superb.”
At the completion of his studies, Hugo apprenticed in the Côtes de Nuits before returning to the Jura to work with Stéphane TISSOT to learn the intricacies of biodynamic farming. He then moved to Beaujolais to work with Clément David-Beaupère in the village of Julienas. At each stop Hugo learned the importance of good farming, meticulous cellar work, and the patience required to craft low-intervention wines of place. In 2017 Hugo moved to the “other side” of the business and took up a position with a wine merchant and wholesaler in Lyon, before returning home to become an agent for Jura vignerons. It was during this time that Hugo discovered the picturesque Vallée de la Loue, eventually purchasing a home in the village of Vuillafans.
Still longing to farm and produce his own wines, in 2021 Hugo jumped at the opportunity to purchase a small vineyard just outside of Vuillifans. Planted in 1990, the steep 2.8-hectare vineyard is exposed full south on soils of limestone scree overlooking the Loue river. The long rows of 100m increase in altitude from 1,150 to 1,475 feet (350-450m) as you go up the 35% slope. In 2022 Hugo added small parcels of Pinot Noir (.3ha) and Gamay (.1ha). From the outset, Hugo converted the vineyards to organic farming (certification expected in 2025) and began working with low-input, regenerative methods.
Setting up a cellar in the heart of Vuillafans, which he shares with Les Vignes à FanFan, Hugo produced his first vintage in 2022 . His winemaking is uncompromisingly natural: spontaneous fermentations with native yeasts, no fining or filtration, and no additions. To date Hugo has not used sulfur in the vinification process, but he is not opposed to it if he thinks it necessary. The wines are bright and pure, marked by tension and minerality, with a precision that belies the domaine’s youth. His inaugural 2022s immediately impressed us for their clarity, energy, and depth—a thrilling debut from a producer poised to shine the spotlight on what is possible in this emerging viticultural region.
Location: France, South West, Gaillac
Winemaker: Plageoles family — Florent and Romain
Grapes: 40% Muscadelle, 40% Ondenc, 5% Mauzac, 5% Verdanel, 5% Loin de l’œil, 5% Sauvignon Blanc
Soil: Bush vines on clay-limestone
Winemaking: Estate-owned, certified organic, farmed by the Plageoles family themselves. Hand harvest. The Muscadelle is whole-bunch macerated for 11 days, pressed and then aged in demi-muids for 9 months, the remaining varieties are direct-pressed and aged in tanks. Both spontaneous and ML fermentation happen spontaneously. The two parts are blended at the end of elevage. Bottled unfined, unfiltered, with a tiny bit of sulfur (20ppm total).
The Terroirists wines come from the Plageoles family’s own impressive bush vines; unlike their other wines that are single-varietal, this range is based on blends (or field-blends) of multiple indigenous varieties.
From the Importer Jenny & Francois: The wines of Gaillac as a whole are on the map today as wines of quality due to the hard work and adventurous spirit of the Plageoles family. It all started with Robert Plageoles, who took great pride in bringing back the lost indigenous varieties of the area. He researched and replanted over a dozen varieties (7 in the Mauzac family alone) indigenous to Gaillac that had all but vanished. Robert did painstaking work, often going in to the forest to find wild vines growing, and going to seed banks to resurrect these grapes. Robert’s son Bernard continued this work, and now his sons Florent and Romain have taken up the cause of natural wines in Gaillac.
The terroir in Gaillac is made up of clay, limestone, sand and silex soils. Gaillac receives more sunshine than Bordeaux and is graced by a cool maritime climate. Between the historic family vineyard of Très Cantous and the Roucou-Cantemerle vineyard totaling 20-hectares, they farm Mauzac Vert, Mauzac Noir, Ondenc, Duras, Muscadelle, and Prunelart. To drink the wines from Plageoles is to experience the fruit and terroir of living history.
The Plageoles are one of the oldest winemaking families in the AOC, and they are thoroughly invested in retaining the traditions and quality for the AOC that had been often overlooked, that however, have now been receiving well-deserved praise.
Location: France, South West, Cahors
Winemaker: Fabien Jouves
Grapes: Chenin Blanc
Soil: Kimmeridgien limestone
Winemaking: Hand harvest. Native yeast fermentation. Grapes fermented on the skins. Apricot, pineapple, bergamot tea, fine filigreed tannins.
From the Importer Zev Rovine Selections: Fabien Jouves is from an old farming family in Causse and became a winemaker in 2006 when he created his first cuvée, “Mas del Périé”, on the highest slopes of Cahors.
Jouves’ estate, 21 hectares in the junction of Quercy and Cahors, was selected to highlight the many expression of Côt. Reinforcing this is Fabien’s commitment to biodynamic viticulture that respects “life, plant, man, and the environment.” Following biodynamic agriculture adds strength to his terroir by supporting the whole environment from the vines to the animals.
The vinification is completely natural without any oenological inputs. His wines are then aged in concrete vats, barrels, or casks, according to its characteristics and personality.
Featured Rosé
Location: France, Provence
Winemaker: Jean-Christophe Comor
Grapes: 34% Grenache, 33% Mourvèdre, 33% Cinsault
Soil: Clay-limestone
Winemaking: Organic farming. Single parcel located in Castellet. Wine is hand harvested, made with native yeasts, unfined and lightly filtered.
From us at M&L: The location and terrain of Jean-Christophe Comor‘s estate is so perfect to him that he named it Domaine des Terres Promises (the Promised Land!).
Perched 400 meters above and 30km back from the Mediterranean this is a site that, since antiquity, has proven ideal. The whole estate is over clay/limestone and the altitude allows the 20+ indigenous varieties (!) to ripen slowly, while they retain all the freshness of acidity Jean-Christophe (and we) crave. He is so enamored with his terroir that he refers to working here as “a privilege”.
Since his debut vintage in 2004 Jean-Christophe has consistently produced exceptional, polished, totally natural wines that drink with such pleasant texture that we think of them as perfect introductions to the cornucopia of wines from Provence that exist outside of the famous, fabled Bandol with its sun-tan-lotion rosés and cut-with-a-knife reds.
From the Producers: We settled in 2004 in the foothills of Sainte-Baume to create a wine estate which now covers 15 hectares. We decided to work our vines according to the principles of organic farming, to vinify and age our wines in a natural way (without addition or input).
Our task is to accompany the vine so that the wine expresses, in the most beautiful way possible, all the identity of its land. Each plot has its own personality that can be found in each of our cuvées.
At an altitude of 400 meters, on a Jurassic dolomitic limestone terroir more than thirty kilometers from the Mediterranean, our land has benefited, since antiquity, from privileged conditions for working the vines. We cultivate a dozen red and white grape varieties in organic farming on fairly homogeneous clay-limestone soil.
The altitude of the estate allows us to pick our grapes later while preserving the freshness we value. In respect of nature and the grapes, our harvests are done manually.
Location: France, Provence
Winemaker: Jean-Christophe Comor
Grapes: 45% Grenache, 30% Carignan, 25% Cinsault
Soil: Clay-limestone
Winemaking: Organic farming. The grapes are hand harvested, gently pressed and vinified with indigenous yeasts. High elevation rosé at 1300 feet above sea level.
From us at M&L: The location and terrain of Jean-Christophe Comor‘s estate is so perfect to him that he named it Domaine les Terres Promises (the Promised Land!).
Perched 400 meters above and 30km back from the Mediterranean this is a site that, since antiquity, has proven ideal. The whole estate is over clay/limestone and the altitude allows the 20+ indigenous varieties (!) to ripen slowly, while they retain all the freshness of acidity Jean-Christophe (and we) crave. He is so enamored with his terroir that he refers to working here as “a privilege”.
Since his debut vintage in 2004 Jean-Christophe has consistently produced exceptional, polished, totally natural wines that drink with such pleasant texture that we think of them as perfect introductions to the cornucopia of wines from Provence that exist outside of the famous, fabled Bandol with its sun-tan-lotion rosés and cut-with-a-knife reds.
From the Producers: We settled in 2004 in the foothills of Sainte-Baume to create a wine estate which now covers 15 hectares. We decided to work our vines according to the principles of organic farming, to vinify and age our wines in a natural way (without addition or input).
Our task is to accompany the vine so that the wine expresses, in the most beautiful way possible, all the identity of its land. Each plot has its own personality that can be found in each of our cuvées.
At an altitude of 400 meters, on a Jurassic dolomitic limestone terroir more than thirty kilometers from the Mediterranean, our land has benefited, since antiquity, from privileged conditions for working the vines. We cultivate a dozen red and white grape varieties in organic farming on fairly homogeneous clay-limestone soil.
The altitude of the estate allows us to pick our grapes later while preserving the freshness we value. In respect of nature and the grapes, our harvests are done manually.
Location: France, Provence
Winemaker: Jean-Christophe Comor
Grapes: 90% Cinsault, 10% Carignan
Soil: Clay-limestone
Winemaking: Organic farming. Grapes are hand harvested ripe, wholecluster Carbonic macération. Pressed after 12 days, fermentation finishes in Demi-muid in an underground stone cellar. The wines goes 6 months without racking.
From us at M&L: The location and terrain of Jean-Christophe Comor‘s estate is so perfect to him that he named it Domaine les Terres Promises (the Promised Land!).
Perched 400 meters above and 30km back from the Mediterranean this is a site that, since antiquity, has proven ideal. The whole estate is over clay/limestone and the altitude allows the 20+ indigenous varieties (!) to ripen slowly, while they retain all the freshness of acidity Jean-Christophe (and we) crave. He is so enamored with his terroir that he refers to working here as “a privilege”.
Since his debut vintage in 2004 Jean-Christophe has consistently produced exceptional, polished, totally natural wines that drink with such pleasant texture that we think of them as perfect introductions to the cornucopia of wines from Provence that exist outside of the famous, fabled Bandol with its sun-tan-lotion rosés and cut-with-a-knife reds.
From the Producers: We settled in 2004 in the foothills of Sainte-Baume to create a wine estate which now covers 15 hectares. We decided to work our vines according to the principles of organic farming, to vinify and age our wines in a natural way (without addition or input).
Our task is to accompany the vine so that the wine expresses, in the most beautiful way possible, all the identity of its land. Each plot has its own personality that can be found in each of our cuvées.
At an altitude of 400 meters, on a Jurassic dolomitic limestone terroir more than thirty kilometers from the Mediterranean, our land has benefited, since antiquity, from privileged conditions for working the vines. We cultivate a dozen red and white grape varieties in organic farming on fairly homogeneous clay-limestone soil.
The altitude of the estate allows us to pick our grapes later while preserving the freshness we value. In respect of nature and the grapes, our harvests are done manually.
Location: Austria, Burgenland
Winemaker: Eduard and Stephanie Tscheppe
Grapes: Blaufrankish and Zweigelt
Soil: Gravel
Winemaking: Organic farming. Grapes are hand harvested and destemmed. This vineyard is used just to make a rose, so there is no saignee from a red wine. Fermentation takes place in used 500, 1000 and 1500-liter barrels. The wine goes through elevage in 500-liter barrels for about 8 months, with no batonnage. The wine is bottled unfined, unfiltered, and with zero addition of sulfur.
The daughter from Timotheus’s first marriage, which ended suddenly when his wife disappeared mysteriously over night. Just like her cousins, Winifred has a winning and open personality, is sociable, and of a cheerful disposition. Upon a first encounter she can appear to be somewhat shy and reticent, but those that make her acquaintance remember her as a unique, refreshing and charming young lady with an inquisitive mind.
From the Importer Jenny & Francois: Gut Oggau is a project in the small town of Oggau in Burgenland, Austria, started by Eduard and Stephanie Tscheppe in 2007. Before starting the winery, Eduard made conventional wine with his father in Styria, and Stephanie’s family owned and operated the Michelin starred restaurant Taubenkobel. They painstakingly restored the 17th century winery that had been abandoned for 20 years, including its 200-year-old screw press. The vines’ 20-year period of neglect was fortunate, as this allowed for all pesticide and chemical treatments to be washed away. This let them begin working immediately on vines biodynamically, where they are now fully Demeter certified.
When they began to work with the wines in the cellar, they noticed that each wine seemed so alive with its own personality, that they decided to craft labels centered around the personality inside each bottle. Thus they created a family of wines: each wine is given a name of one family member and the artist Jung von Matt draws a face for each label. The children, Atanasius, Theodora, and Winifred, are wines that are more forthright, light, bold and energetic. The parents, Joschuari, Emmeram, Timotheus, and Josephine, come from vineyards with a little more direct sun exposure and therefore more ripeness producing wines with more body and power. And finally the grandparents, Mechtild and Bertholdi, are from two single vineyards of older vines that produce the most traditional wines from their lineup. Most of the vineyards are field blended, and therefore there is little mention of grape varieties here, but they do work with 6 main grape varieties– Blaufrankish, Zweigelt Grüner Veltliner, Welchriesling, Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), and Gewurtzraminer.
Location: France, South West, Aveyron
Winemaker: Nicolas Carmarans
Grapes: Fer Servadou, Gamay, Jurançon rosé
Winemaking: Organic, Biodynamic. Hand picked. Indigenous yeast fermentation. One week maceration with whole bunches, gentle pressing, blending of free-run and press juices, and elevage in old barrique. Not fined nor filtered.
From the Importer Steven Graf Wine: For a long time, Nicolas ran a natural wine bar in Paris. From 2002 to 2007 he dabbled in winemaking in the same appellation where his great-grandfather made wine. Then, after purchasing his prized "Le Mauvais Temps" site, he was all in. He's worked tirelessly to restore the natural terroir of this beautiful site, surrounded by forests and all the biodiversity responsible for the unique character of his unique wines. Never any chemicals or pesticide, minimal sulphur, and truly authentic.
There are some bottles we wait for all year, and there's no better example than a wine like Fer de Sang, iron from blood, a completely peerless wine. These are grapes from a vineyard in Marcillac that Nicolas has been working with for years. It's a vineyard of clay (hence the iron) that makes for the most powerful and expressive wine in Carmaran's lineup. Its’ counterpart, Maximus, comes from granite, and the difference makes the case for the importance of terroir. Far lighter, sharper, full of its own idiosyncrasies. Another white wine as well, Entre les Eaux, a blend of Nicolas's Chenin and Aligoté from Burgundy.
Location: France, Provence
Winemaker: Théophile Milan
Grapes: Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault
From the Importer Avant Garde: Nestled at the foothills of Les Alpilles the story of Domaine Milan started in 1955. In 1986, Henri Milan took over with the ambition of making the best possible wine with respect to the environment. The Domain includes 10 ha planted with Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Cinsault, Grenache Blanc, Chardonnay, Roussanne, Rolle, Muscat.
In the mid 90’s his encounter with Claude Bourguignon (famous microbiologist) and Claude Courtois (Domaine Les Cailloux du Paradis) helped and convinced him to further enhance the identity of his great terroir and ameliorate his winemaking.
Since 2000, Henri has made wine based on their origins blue marl on limestone and yellow sandstone. The reds such Le Papillon or Le CLOS have gained in elegance and freshness thanks to shorter macerations with whole clusters and natural vinification. The famous cuvee Grand Blanc, his blend of all his white grapes, shows more tension and salinity.
Location: Austria, Burgenland, Illmitz
Winemaker: Christian Tschida
Grapes: Blaufränkisch
Soil: Limestone soil, with islands of high content of active chalk
Winemaking: Organic farming, grapes are hand harvested and gently pressed, no maceration. The pure juice ferments in large barrels with indigenous yeast and no racking. It ages in the same vessel until bottling without fining or filtering and no addition of sulfur.
Winemaker’s note: “Rosé à la Christian Tschida – the direct 1:1 expression of unique terroir from the highest and coolest parts of the hill. Blaufränkisch from the chalkiest and limestone-rich plots, picked on 5 different harvest days in order to depict the whole aromatic spectrum, creates a rosé as the purest expression of this ultimate soil type. As straight forward and clear as it can be from red grapes. The result: a wine, as sharp as an arrow-straight laser with plenty of floral spice and the grace of a pink-hued white. Precise and with great finesse and grandezza. This is a concept Christian wants to deepen in the future.”
From the Importer Jenny & Francois: In the Austrian town of Illmitz, on the eastern side of the huge, shallow and sun-reflecting Lake Neusiedl, lies an inconspicuous white house. At first glance, its high curvaceous gable, typical for the area, doesn’t strike you as much different from the other buildings in the street row; but, take a closer look and you’ll realize that there is something deliberately minimalist, elegant and actually slightly uncommon about the whole structure. Enter through the simple white door with a laconic initial on it, and a carefully curated, thought-through-to-a-T singular space full of works of art starts to unfurl before your very eyes. Yep, Christian Tschida’s house is a perfect metaphor for his wines: the seemingly minimalist facade shelters an intriguing, thoughtfully structured personal universe that offers little details to indulge in and marvel at every turn.
This almost obsessive level of attention to detail, aimed at achieving the desired (=best possible) result, manifests itself in all parts of Christian’s work. No expense is spared in his vineyards if it makes sense–during one of our visits, he was just about to spread huge stacks of straw over the surface of the vineyards in order to protect them from summer drought, so that the wine doesn’t develop “stressed” aromas; vine shoots are tucked in rather than cut, as “each cut is only an impulse for more growth”; the plants are protected and nurtured with natural tisanes or his own compost mix. All this hand-work, performed by Christian himself, his father Fritz, and their small crew, has a simple aim–to keep the vineyards in balance so that they yield little grapes but with maximum energy and potential.
“It’s important not to be afraid to go the extra mile,” he shrugs as we walk through his vineyards. “My wine tastes the way it does because I care about every detail. Like here at the Edelgraben vineyard, the vines are planted in rows in alternating distances from each other, in a special way I invented to get more shade for the grapes. I don’t want my wine to taste like alcohol, and the sun is becoming more and more of a problem.” Another of Tschida’s close-to-heart plots, the more than 60-year-old Eisner, is planted in the traditional doppelstock system with two vines planted right next to each other, thus pushing them to compete for nutrition deeper than usual. “It gives the wine extra cojones,” Tschida grins with satisfaction; his “Himmel auf Erden” red gets extra sap from these old vines, otherwise used for higher-end bottles or special cuvées, like Engel auf Erden.
After several years of efforts, Christian managed to secure ownership of all the new plots he wanted to work with–he now farms 14 hectares in total with the land that’s been in the family since the 19th century–a huge accomplishment on his journey as a winemaker, he says. “I didn’t want to have any more stupid discussions with people who didn’t understand my approach,” his expression darkens, “Imagine doing all this work just to hear that the owners want the vineyard back because, to them, it’s a wild mess, not the paradise I see. I wasn’t having any of that, and now I don’t have to,” he continues, explaining how important the cover crop is for the mycorrhiza, an essential roots-funghi communications system living in the healthy soil and showing in the wine.
Given his uncompromising nature, you won’t be surprised that Tschida has used the same vintage crew for ages, allowing for no interns. “It’s the everything-or-nothing moment in the grower’s year, so I take harvest extremely seriously. You see, a lot of the guys that would like to work with me are friends, and maybe they wouldn’t be anymore after this,” he self-reflectively admits in a Pipette interview, referring to his impatience. “So I prefer my harvest crew. And to keep my friends as my friends.”
Once the precious little grapes arrive at the cellar, the thoughtful treatment continues–Tschida describes himself as a “transformer”, not a maker of the wine, and he indeed does very little in the minimalist winery adjacent to his house. He prides himself in extremely gentle pressing, using a top-notch Bucher-Vaslin basket press (“the Rolls Royce of presses”), and a pneumatic press that was tailor-made for him in Germany, both exerting the “pressure of a handshake” and yielding only the best juice. (The must and remaining juice then return to the vines in a special mixture he makes to strengthen the vineyard’s health.) The wines spontaneously ferment and then rest undisturbed in big vats custom-made by Stockinger, a renowned and highly coveted Austrian cooper whose big vats can be found in the cellars of natural growers around Central Europe (e.g. Gut Oggau or Nestarec). No racking is performed, as Christian believes that every pump-over takes energy and freshness out of the wine.
“I want to make wine that says ‘Please drink me, I love you, hug me’,” he explains while proudly showing us the new vintage of Engel auf Erden (“Angels on Earth”) on his stylish patio. This vivacious, gourmandCabernet Franc is indeed a perfect example of “huggable” wine: it’s made with “pink maceration”, a gentle extraction method that Christian has invented just to get maximum fruitiness from the skins while keeping the tannins tame. Experiments like this are an important part of Tschida’s practice, and about 10% of each harvest is dedicated to playing with new methods and approaches in the cellar so he can keep on discovering new paths.
Since 2013, the wines have been made completely without any sulfur, although Christian considers this topic to be way less important than it used to be. As he explains in Pipette: “If you have good grapes, they taste nice and have the same performance with or without sulfur; what comes out is just a different style. […] It’s the same with barrels–if you use a new oak barrel on wine, it will heavily influence it. The purity is on a different level than grapes that haven’t been in touch with new oak.”
Purity is indeed the cornerstone of Tschida’s efforts. And probably also one of the reasons for his now cultish status, which is well-deserved for his hard work and visionary approach against the odds. (When Christian took the winery over in 2003, he recalls having “below zero customers”, alienating his father’s previous clients with his then-unheard-of vision of fruit-driven reds with low alcohol.) Whether he likes it or not (being too starstruck in his presence is rather advised-against), Tschida now firmly sits in the natural wine pantheon along with people like his “Brutal” fellows and best mates Tom Lubbe of Matassa or Joan Ramon Escoda. Given he’s only in his early forties, enjoys this enormous vineyard and cellar potential, and has all the experience and dedication to go the extra mile, this status is likely to be re-confirmed with every new vintage and every new savvily minimalist Tschida bottle full of intriguing twists and turns.
Location: France, Loire, Loir-et-Cher
Winemaker: Jean Quastana
Grapes: Pinot Noir, Gamay
Soil: Clay over broken-down limestone
From the Importer Selection Massale: We were introduced to Jeremy by our good friend Olivier Lemasson. Jeremy worked with Olivier for a few years and managed to grab a couple hectares of land not far from Olivier's main plot in the Loir et Cher, not far from Cheverny. Before that, Jeremy learned the trade at Marcel Lapierre's winery and did a six-month internship at Clos Ouvert in Chile. In four vintages, he has shown that he can make clean, highly drinkable wines with very little sulphur dioxide. Jeremy is still a young vigneron and, in our opinion, he gets better every year.
The vineyard is one plot composed of young vine Gamay, middle-aged Cot, and old vine Gamay on a gentle slope of clay over Silex.
Location: France, South West, Cahors
Winemaker: Fabien Jouves
Grapes: Malbec, Tannat, Merlot
Soil: clay, limestone
Winemaking: saignée method; long maceration, bottled young
‘À Table!!!’: Brash and full of life, this rosé is dreamy and decadent when paired with a banh mi, any charcuterie, and spicy foods. Thirst-quenching and herbacious and fun!
From the importer Zev Rovine Selections: Fabien Jouves is from an old farming family in Causse and became a winemaker in 2006 when he created his first cuvée, “Mas del Périé”, on the highest slopes of Cahors.
Jouves’ estate, 21 hectares in the junction of Quercy and Cahors, was selected to highlight the many expression of Côt. Reinforcing this is Fabien’s commitment to biodynamic viticulture that respects “life, plant, man, and the environment.” Following biodynamic agriculture adds strength to his terroir by supporting the whole environment from the vines to the animals.
The vinification is completely natural without any oenological inputs. His wines are then aged in concrete vats, barrels, or casks, according to its characteristics and personality.
Location: France, Côtes de Provence
Winemaker: Olivier Deforge
Grapes: Tibouren
Winemaking: After a manual harvest, the grapes are destemmed and directly pressed. The must goes into temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. After fermentation with native yeasts, the wine is racked into 100-year-old foudres, where it ages biologically on the fine lees for one year sous-voile, under a thin veil of fleurette.
From the Importer De Maison Selections: Clos Cibonne is not only an incredibly original property in Provence, ensconced by the natural beauty of their landscape, producing wines which always transcend the rosé category, but they are also an anomaly within France in general. For centuries, Clos Cibonne has bravely forged their own distinct path. They have held true to a tradition of making age-worthy fine wines which happen to be rosé, in the midst of an appellation which rewards fitting in and churning out the same-but-different rosé wines which are ubiquitous throughout Côtes de Provence. It is this independence and originality that has made Clos Cibonne one of the most sought after cult wineries in France, with demand greatly outpacing their artisan-scale production.
The modern era at Clos Cibonne property began in 1793 when the Roux family purchased it from Jean-Baptiste de Cibon, a captain in the royal marines of Louis XVI. Jean-Baptiste de Cibon served under the command of Lafayette in the American Revolutionary War against the British, playing an instrumental role in that history. Jean-Baptiste moved his family to Gibraltar at the outset of the French Revolutionary War, transferring ownership to the families who had traditionally farmed the estate; the Roux family was one of those farmers. Some bottles still survive at the estate from Marius Roux, who made wines under the Château Cibon label in the late 1800’s at the property.
In 1930, André Roux (son of Marius) was the great architect of the modern winery, in order to pursue his goal of producing top-quality wines at the estate. It was André Roux who planted the estate exclusively to the rare tibouren grape, creating the iconic labels which remain unchanged to this day. This revival ignited an era of fame for the rosés of Clos Cibonne, which led to their inclusion in a 1950’s classification of 18 Cru Classés in Côtes de Provence. André Roux was also instrumental in the creation of the Côtes de Provence appellation in 1973 and responsible for the inclusion of his beloved tibouren grape into the region’s list of accepted grape varieties.
In the 1980s, hard times fell upon the estate and it drifted without clear direction until Brigitte, André Roux’s granddaughter, and her husband, Claude Deforges, took over the family property in 1993. Their immediate goal was to bring the estate back to its former grandeur. By renovating the cellars while preserving the tradition of aging in their large old foudres which are more than 100 years old at this point, the family began to reestablish the vaunted reputation of the domaine. Fifth-generation winemaker Olivier Deforges has taken over as both vineyard manager and winemaker (the winery currently has only one other employee, otherwise the family still does all of the work themselves). Olivier has focused his energy on impeccable viticulture, after transitioning to organic viticulture for the last decade, they are now certified organic since the 2019 vintage. Thanks to Olivier and his family efforts, Clos Cibonne once again occupies one of the most respected positions in Provence.
The heart of the estate is their traditional, goblet-trained tibouren, which is believed to be a very old grape variety, originally grown in Mesopotamia, propagated by the Greeks, before being transported by the Romans to Italy in the Liguria region, where it is known as rossese. Tibouren is a very fine, thin-skinned grape which requires a lot of ventilation to be successful and needs to grow close to the ocean, with lots of ventilation to be successful and avoid issues with rot. All of these requirements make Clos Cibonne the perfect terroir for tibouren, as they are walking distance to the ocean and constantly blasted with the drying winds from the mistral. André Roux was a great fan of this native variety and understood its potential to be the ideal grape for the region. As part of his revitalization, he replaced all of the estate’s mourvèdre with tibouren. Clos Cibonne soon became synonymous with tibouren and received special permission from the A.O.C. to list the grape on its labels.
The estate’s 15 hectares of vineyards are located a mere 800 meters from the coast and are surrounded by hillsides in the base of a bowl that faces the sea. This topography creates air circulation which allows for ideal maturation of the grapes. After harvesting by hand, the wines are directly pressed and fermented in stainless steel. The wine is then aged under fleurette (a thin veil of yeast, similar to the process in Sherry or Jura wines) in 120-year-old, 5,000L foudres for one year. Clos Cibonne crafts a wine that is completely its own through combining a rare grape with a unique aging process. The resulting wines have impeccable balance & freshness, with incredible structure and superb drinkability over many years.
Location: Chile, Itata/Bío Bío
Winemaker: Roberto Henríquez
Grapes: Moscatel Rosado
Soil: Granite
Winemaking: Organic farming. Fermented with native yeasts with skin contact until full dryness (3 weeks maceration in total). Still a pink color as the Moscatel is not a red grape, in the style of a ramato wine ultimately. Bottled without filtering, naturally hazy with sediment. Nothing added except a tiny degree of sulfites at bottling. Only released in magnum bottles, a mere 400 made.
From the Importer T. Edward: Roberto Henríquez studied agronomy and enology at the University of Concepción. From there, he travelled and worked with winemakers in Canada, South Africa and finally in the Loire Valley with Rene Mosse. Rene had a profound effect on Roberto’s perspective on winemaking and his progression into organic and biodynamic farming.
Roberto, originally from Concepción, returned home after his time in abroad to begin making his own wine. Returning to the traditional Pipeño methods of the original winemakers of Chile felt intuitive to the winemaking style he had adopted. The rest of his story to present is pure progression to the pursuit of the most pure wines in a true Chilean context.
His vineyards were personally and carefully selected. Working with long term fermage agreements, he farms all the land himself (with the help of farming animals). To the north, in Itata, he is working with a vineyard of old vine Semillon and blends that with Corinto (aka Chasselas) and Muscat d’Alejandria producing an orange style wine. A little further south, in Bío Bío, he is farming Pais, from which he makes the Pipeño and the Santa Cruz de Coya.
He works with carbonic macerations and ages in old Rauli wood barrels. His wines are light-bodied, translucent, refined, and full of character!
Location: France, Provence
Winemaker: Dominique Hauvette
Grapes: Cinsault, Grenache, Syrah
From the Importer Kermit Lynch: Not far from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, a tourist town known for Roman ruins and as the place where Van Gogh painted “The Starry Night,” you’ll find Domaine Hauvette. Nestled among the foothills of Les Alpilles, the vines are surrounded by a rocky and wild landscape—the clay and limestone soil retains moisture for the arid summer months, the Mistral blows half the year, and garrigue is seemingly everywhere. It is here that in the early 1980s Dominique Hauvette, seeking more sunshine, left her job as a lawyer in the Savoie, re-discovered her passion for raising horses, and began studying oenology. Thirty-some years later and Dominique now has 17 hectares of vines and an international reputation for making benchmark natural wines. When striving to make wine as naturally as possible, a focus on growing the healthiest and most perfect grapes is an absolute necessity. Dominique’s conversion to biodynamics starting in 2000 added rigor to her intuitive organic practices, and coupled with her magical terroir she has found an exciting recipe for success. In the cellar, she takes a decisively non-interventionist stance and is very low-tech, yet she is not afraid to experiment as is evidenced by her being one of the first winemakers to use concrete fermentation eggs. Like Didier Barral and Catherine and Pierre Breton, Dominique is a trailblazer in the natural wine movement, each year pushing the quality of her wines higher and higher with uncompromising standards. Bienvenue Dominique.
‘Petra’ is a blend of Cinsault, Grenache and Syrah from vines averaging 15 years old, fermented in cement eggs on the lees. Savory pomegranate, dried red apple, fresh sage and thyme—drink with Thanksgiving leftovers and/or bright and early in winter sunshine.
Location: Austria, Burgenland, Illmitz
Winemaker: Christian Tschida
Grapes: Blaufränkisch
Soil: Limestone soil, with islands of high content of active chalk
Winemaking: Organic farming, grapes are hand harvested and gently pressed, no maceration. The pure juice ferments in large barrels with indigenous yeast and no racking. It ages in the same vessel until bottling without fining or filtering and no addition of sulfur.
Winemaker’s note: “Rosé à la Christian Tschida – the direct 1:1 expression of unique terroir from the highest and coolest parts of the hill. Blaufränkisch from the chalkiest and limestone-rich plots, picked on 5 different harvest days in order to depict the whole aromatic spectrum, creates a rosé as the purest expression of this ultimate soil type. As straight forward and clear as it can be from red grapes. The result: a wine, as sharp as an arrow-straight laser with plenty of floral spice and the grace of a pink-hued white. Precise and with great finesse and grandezza. This is a concept Christian wants to deepen in the future.”
From the Importer Jenny & Francois: In the Austrian town of Illmitz, on the eastern side of the huge, shallow and sun-reflecting Lake Neusiedl, lies an inconspicuous white house. At first glance, its high curvaceous gable, typical for the area, doesn’t strike you as much different from the other buildings in the street row; but, take a closer look and you’ll realize that there is something deliberately minimalist, elegant and actually slightly uncommon about the whole structure. Enter through the simple white door with a laconic initial on it, and a carefully curated, thought-through-to-a-T singular space full of works of art starts to unfurl before your very eyes. Yep, Christian Tschida’s house is a perfect metaphor for his wines: the seemingly minimalist facade shelters an intriguing, thoughtfully structured personal universe that offers little details to indulge in and marvel at every turn.
This almost obsessive level of attention to detail, aimed at achieving the desired (=best possible) result, manifests itself in all parts of Christian’s work. No expense is spared in his vineyards if it makes sense–during one of our visits, he was just about to spread huge stacks of straw over the surface of the vineyards in order to protect them from summer drought, so that the wine doesn’t develop “stressed” aromas; vine shoots are tucked in rather than cut, as “each cut is only an impulse for more growth”; the plants are protected and nurtured with natural tisanes or his own compost mix. All this hand-work, performed by Christian himself, his father Fritz, and their small crew, has a simple aim–to keep the vineyards in balance so that they yield little grapes but with maximum energy and potential.
“It’s important not to be afraid to go the extra mile,” he shrugs as we walk through his vineyards. “My wine tastes the way it does because I care about every detail. Like here at the Edelgraben vineyard, the vines are planted in rows in alternating distances from each other, in a special way I invented to get more shade for the grapes. I don’t want my wine to taste like alcohol, and the sun is becoming more and more of a problem.” Another of Tschida’s close-to-heart plots, the more than 60-year-old Eisner, is planted in the traditional doppelstock system with two vines planted right next to each other, thus pushing them to compete for nutrition deeper than usual. “It gives the wine extra cojones,” Tschida grins with satisfaction; his “Himmel auf Erden” red gets extra sap from these old vines, otherwise used for higher-end bottles or special cuvées, like Engel auf Erden.
After several years of efforts, Christian managed to secure ownership of all the new plots he wanted to work with–he now farms 14 hectares in total with the land that’s been in the family since the 19th century–a huge accomplishment on his journey as a winemaker, he says. “I didn’t want to have any more stupid discussions with people who didn’t understand my approach,” his expression darkens, “Imagine doing all this work just to hear that the owners want the vineyard back because, to them, it’s a wild mess, not the paradise I see. I wasn’t having any of that, and now I don’t have to,” he continues, explaining how important the cover crop is for the mycorrhiza, an essential roots-funghi communications system living in the healthy soil and showing in the wine.
Given his uncompromising nature, you won’t be surprised that Tschida has used the same vintage crew for ages, allowing for no interns. “It’s the everything-or-nothing moment in the grower’s year, so I take harvest extremely seriously. You see, a lot of the guys that would like to work with me are friends, and maybe they wouldn’t be anymore after this,” he self-reflectively admits in a Pipette interview, referring to his impatience. “So I prefer my harvest crew. And to keep my friends as my friends.”
Once the precious little grapes arrive at the cellar, the thoughtful treatment continues–Tschida describes himself as a “transformer”, not a maker of the wine, and he indeed does very little in the minimalist winery adjacent to his house. He prides himself in extremely gentle pressing, using a top-notch Bucher-Vaslin basket press (“the Rolls Royce of presses”), and a pneumatic press that was tailor-made for him in Germany, both exerting the “pressure of a handshake” and yielding only the best juice. (The must and remaining juice then return to the vines in a special mixture he makes to strengthen the vineyard’s health.) The wines spontaneously ferment and then rest undisturbed in big vats custom-made by Stockinger, a renowned and highly coveted Austrian cooper whose big vats can be found in the cellars of natural growers around Central Europe (e.g. Gut Oggau or Nestarec). No racking is performed, as Christian believes that every pump-over takes energy and freshness out of the wine.
“I want to make wine that says ‘Please drink me, I love you, hug me’,” he explains while proudly showing us the new vintage of Engel auf Erden (“Angels on Earth”) on his stylish patio. This vivacious, gourmandCabernet Franc is indeed a perfect example of “huggable” wine: it’s made with “pink maceration”, a gentle extraction method that Christian has invented just to get maximum fruitiness from the skins while keeping the tannins tame. Experiments like this are an important part of Tschida’s practice, and about 10% of each harvest is dedicated to playing with new methods and approaches in the cellar so he can keep on discovering new paths.
Since 2013, the wines have been made completely without any sulfur, although Christian considers this topic to be way less important than it used to be. As he explains in Pipette: “If you have good grapes, they taste nice and have the same performance with or without sulfur; what comes out is just a different style. […] It’s the same with barrels–if you use a new oak barrel on wine, it will heavily influence it. The purity is on a different level than grapes that haven’t been in touch with new oak.”
Purity is indeed the cornerstone of Tschida’s efforts. And probably also one of the reasons for his now cultish status, which is well-deserved for his hard work and visionary approach against the odds. (When Christian took the winery over in 2003, he recalls having “below zero customers”, alienating his father’s previous clients with his then-unheard-of vision of fruit-driven reds with low alcohol.) Whether he likes it or not (being too starstruck in his presence is rather advised-against), Tschida now firmly sits in the natural wine pantheon along with people like his “Brutal” fellows and best mates Tom Lubbe of Matassa or Joan Ramon Escoda. Given he’s only in his early forties, enjoys this enormous vineyard and cellar potential, and has all the experience and dedication to go the extra mile, this status is likely to be re-confirmed with every new vintage and every new savvily minimalist Tschida bottle full of intriguing twists and turns.
Location: France, Loire, Loir-et-Cher
Winemaker: Jean Quastana
Grapes: Pinot Noir, Gamay
Soil: Clay over broken-down limestone
From the Importer Selection Massale: We were introduced to Jeremy by our good friend Olivier Lemasson. Jeremy worked with Olivier for a few years and managed to grab a couple hectares of land not far from Olivier's main plot in the Loir et Cher, not far from Cheverny. Before that, Jeremy learned the trade at Marcel Lapierre's winery and did a six-month internship at Clos Ouvert in Chile. In four vintages, he has shown that he can make clean, highly drinkable wines with very little sulphur dioxide. Jeremy is still a young vigneron and, in our opinion, he gets better every year.
The vineyard is one plot composed of young vine Gamay, middle-aged Cot, and old vine Gamay on a gentle slope of clay over Silex.
Location: France, South West, Cahors
Winemaker: Fabien Jouves
Grapes: Malbec, Tannat, Merlot
Soil: clay, limestone
Winemaking: saignée method; long maceration, bottled young
‘À Table!!!’: Brash and full of life, this rosé is dreamy and decadent when paired with a banh mi, any charcuterie, and spicy foods. Thirst-quenching and herbacious and fun!
From the importer Zev Rovine Selections: Fabien Jouves is from an old farming family in Causse and became a winemaker in 2006 when he created his first cuvée, “Mas del Périé”, on the highest slopes of Cahors.
Jouves’ estate, 21 hectares in the junction of Quercy and Cahors, was selected to highlight the many expression of Côt. Reinforcing this is Fabien’s commitment to biodynamic viticulture that respects “life, plant, man, and the environment.” Following biodynamic agriculture adds strength to his terroir by supporting the whole environment from the vines to the animals.
The vinification is completely natural without any oenological inputs. His wines are then aged in concrete vats, barrels, or casks, according to its characteristics and personality.
Featured Light Reds
Location: France, Loire, Bellevigne-en-Layon
Winemaker: Jean-François Vaillant
Grapes: Grolleau, Cabernet Franc
Soil: Clay, silt, some shells
Winemaking: De-stemmed with a short maceration and aged in ceramic underground vat. Little/no addition of SO2, no filtering or fining.
From us at M&L: ‘Le P’tit Vaillant’ is a blend of Grolleau and Cabernet Franc, all hand-harvested. Fresh and earthy with a lovely play between the rosehip/petal qualities of Grolleau and the green peppery spice of Cabernet Franc. Can handle a chill.
From the Importer Avant Garde: Since the XVII century, located in the village of Thouarce in Anjou, the Vaillant family has passed on farmland from generations to generations. For the last ten years, sister and brothers have cultivated the estate using the biodynamic principles. The goal is to express the personality of each wines.
55ha of vines of Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Franc, Grolleau and Pineau d’Aunis are planted. The diversity of their cuvees is due to the different type of soils and exposure found: schist sandstone, quartz, gravel, and clay.
Location: France, Loire, Anjou
Winemaker: Didier Chaffardon
Grapes: Grolleau
Winemaking: Organic farming, hand harvest, 3 days maceration, indigenous yeast fermentation
Location: France, Roussillon
Winemakers: François-Xavier Dauré
Grapes: 50% Grenache Noir, 25% Carignan Noir, 25% Mourvèdre
Soil: The Carignan Noir and Mourvèdre are planted on schist soils, and the Grenache Noir is planted on clay-limestone soils
Winemaking: Organic farming. The Carignan Noir and Mourvèdre are directly pressed upon arrival in the cellar and co-fermented in a large stainless-steel tank. The Grenache Noir undergoes a 7-day whole bunch maceration in fiber tanks. On the 8th day the Grenache Noir is pressed and transferred back to fiber tanks to complete fermentation. Only the naturally occurring indigenous yeasts were used for fermentation. The components were blended after the completion of malolactic fermentation.
Maturation: Aged 8 months in stainless-steel tanks. Prior to bottling a low dose of sulfur is added to the wine. The wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered.
From the Importer Terres Blanches: The village of Espira de L’Agly is located at the very eastern end of the Agly Valley, just 20km from the Mediterranean Sea and 3km northwest of Rivesaltes. Rivesaltes, along with the villages of Banyuls and Maury, is famous for the production of sweet Vin Doux Naturel. A once popular aperitif wine, Vin Doux Naturel was in high demand during the first half of the 20th century. For Rivesaltes alone, the annual production during the 1950’s and 1960’s was upwards of 70 million bottles a year. Today, fewer than 3 million bottles are sold each year. With such a dramatic fall in public demand, many farmers in Espira de L’Agly and the surrounding areas ripped out their vines and converted to orchards. Those who did keep their vines became almost completely reliant on négociants and cooperatives to purchase their annual production. The Daurés are one the brave families who held onto their vines. For that we should all be very grateful, as the current generation is making what we consider to be some of the most innovative and focused wines we have tasted from Roussillon.
If you ask François-Xavier Dauré, F.X. for short, he will tell you he was destined to become a vigneron. Indeed, he is the 4th generation of Dauré to grow grapes in and around the village of Espira de L’Agly. Jokingly he claims to have been born on a tractor, and that is not far from the truth. Many of his earliest memories take place on a tractor with his father. From a young age F.X. worked in the vineyards with his family. However, with the entire production being sold to the cooperative, F.X. needed to look elsewhere to gain experience making wine.
Starting in 2008 F.X. began working with different vignerons in the Roussillon. Intrigued by Organic farming and minimal intervention in the cellar, F.X. joined Tom Lubbe at Matassa in 2015. In July of that same year F.X. took over full control of his family’s Domaine and began the conversion to Organic farming. For the next 5 vintages he worked with Tom in the vines and the cellar at Matassa, while also farming 16 hectares of his own vines. F.X. continued to sell the production of the family Domaine to the cooperative. To be full time at Matassa and farm an additional 16 hectares organically, was a monumental task. For over 4 years (5 vintages) F.X. was in the vineyards hours before sunrise using a headlamp to see his work. People would joke that he looked like a lampyre, which is firefly in French. Searching for a name for his new venture, the proverbial light came on! Domaine Lampyres was born.
2016 was the inaugural vintage of Domaine Lampyres with just 600 bottles of cuvée Anima and cuvée Luminescence produced in F.X.’s garage. This was followed by another garage production in 2017 that saw the introduction of his Contre-Attaque bottling. 2018 was a watershed year for the young vigneron. Encouraged by the results in his first two vintages F.X. converted a small barn into a cellar and decreased the amount being sold to the cooperative. Along with the introduction of cuvées Point Triple and Des Sens in 2018, F.X. created a Rosé bottling that he named for his beautiful daughter Margot who arrived earlier in the year. 2019 was F.X.’s last vintage at Matassa, and a difficult year for all of the growers in the eastern half of the Roussillon. At the end of June temperatures skyrocketed to 118°F (48°C) causing sunburn that destroyed over 50% of the potential crop for the vintage. A difficult year yes, but the wines F.X. produced in 2019 are remarkable. When we stumbled upon F.X. in January of 2020 at a tasting in Montpellier, the character, balance, and tension of his 2019’s was undeniable. To say this is a Domaine to watch is an understatement. Now fully focused on Domaine des Lampyres, we are certain that F.X.’s best vintages are ahead of him.
Location: France, Anjou
Winemakers: Tommy Vernon
Grapes: Grolleau
Winemaking: Organic farming. Hand harvest. 1.5 weeks maceration whole cluster. Native yeast fermentation. Unfined, unfiltered and no added sulfites
From us at M&L: We love reds that put pep in our step. Light and crunchy, this Grolleau has a lot of energy, but it also shows a welcome, salt-and-peppery savoriness. We recently drank it (slightly chilled) alongside Flageolet beans with leeks and seared hake and it was perfect.
Location: France, Corsica
Winemaker: Julie & Mathieu Marfisi
Grapes: Niellucciu
Soil: Silt, Clay on limestone
From us at M&L: A keen sense of place - its history and its landscape - and a clever, intrepid touch in the cellar make the wines of Corsica’s Clos Marfisi something we always look forward to.
Mathieu and Julie, brother and sister team, are fifth generation growers in Patrimonio. Wine is grown in different sites across the island, but Patrimonio is special: an amphitheater of limestone jutting right out of the sea. In some cases there is virtually no topsoil, just bald beautiful stones. This gift makes for appetizingly fresh wines that can also be quite long lived.
Here, Julie and Mathieu only work with native varieties (one way that they stay connected to the area’s venerable history), and they focus on three remarkable vineyards, Grotta di Sole, Gritole, and Ravagnola.
Today we are celebrating the arrival of three gorgeous wines, all from the stunning Ravagnola site. Silt and clay barely cover the west-facing limestone hills here, and the site is planted to a special array of local grapes: Niellucciu, Minustellu, and Carcaghjolu Neru.
Each wine is an ingenious look at how to treat a single parcel. There is a classic Patrimonio of Niellucciu offering deep aromas and deep poise, a field blend showcasing the balance of shrubby herbs and fresh coastal fruits, and an inspired blanc de noir of gravity-pulled free run Niellucciu owing to the fact that there was no white wine made in ‘22.
From the Importer Selection Massale: If you aren’t familiar with Corsica, the main event is Patrimonio. This AOC covers 400ha with half of them being owned by the two largest producers, and the other half split up amongst 30 smaller growers. If you haven’t already guessed, Clos Marfisi is part of the latter. Brother and sister, Mathieu and Julie are fifth generation at the helm of this estate, having taken over from their father, Touissant, when Julie returned in 2001, and her brother in 2012, from having careers elsewhere in France (including the venerable Chateau Pibarnon in Provence).
Now, we thought that we had seen it all in terms of limestone, but Corsica takes the cake. Clos Marfisi’s vineyards (which Touissant planted about 40-50 years ago) rise up from the Mediterranean with southern and western exposures on steep slopes that are practically white with large chunks of broken up limestone. Seriously impressive. Equally impressive is the fact that they never gave into outside pressure and the entirety of the estate is planted to local varieties, so you won’t find any Grenache here. Their father is still very active in the vineyards, and is the main reason that this estate has never been touched by pesticides or herbicides, which were shunned for one reason or another by previous generations of vignerons on the island. This commitment to organics continues and the estate will be certified Bio by the 2018 vintage. Vestiges of the old guard remain in the cellar as well where native yeasts have always been used for fermentations, and sulfur levels are kept to a minimum.
As president of the Patrimonio AOC, Mathieu has a clear vision for where the estate is headed, and we like what we are seeing. Their commitment to honoring the past while shaping their own future is incredibly exciting to us.
In 2020 Mathieu injured his back and couldn't get on a tractor for months, so all his friends — Thomas Santamaria, Nicolas Mariotti Bindi, and Jean-Baptiste Arena took care of working the vineyards for him, so he decided to make a wine called ‘Patrimonio Mon Amour’ as a thank you. It’s a friendly glou glou with very little extraction and no SO2 added during vinification. Four days maceration whole cluster with first-harvest Niellucciu from the Grotta di Sole and Ravagnola parcels. Fresh, not overly complex, and highly drinkable.
Location: France, Alsace
Winemaker: Jean-Pierre Rietsch
Grapes: Pinot Noir
Winemaking: Organic farming, hand harvest, 20 year old vines planted by Jean-Pierre. Unfined and lightly filtered, no addition of sulfites.
Location: France, Rhône
Winemaker: Martin Texier
Grapes: 75% Cinsault, 25% Grenache
Soil: Granite
Winemaking: The grapes are pressed and fermented separately in concrete tanks and blended before bottling.
‘Le Preyna’ is the name of an old parcel planted with 75% Cinsault and 25% Grenache in deep granitic soils. This is a typical, light-bodied, everyday wine local to the region.
From the importer Selection Massale: Martin Texier (you may have heard of his father, Eric, the now famous northern Rhône natural wine producer) began making wine in 2014 after a previous life studying economics. After leaving university, he ventured into music (he is an accomplished DJ) and also spent time in New York City learning about the wine trade here (he held internships at both Uva Wines in Brooklyn and Flatiron Wines in Manhattan, as well as the greatest record store in the world, A1 Records). It was after this that he realized that his calling was to follow in his father’s footsteps and return to the vines.
He now has five hectares in and around St.-Julien-en-St.-Alban, planted to classic Rhône varieties, both red and white. There are many different soil types here: clay, limestone, gneiss, schist and granite, making for a wide range of different styles of wine to be made. Martin’s passion is to revive the local traditions of working the natural way, both in the vines and in the cellar (native yeast fermentations, no sulfur). The results he has been getting this early in his career are a clear testament to his skills.
Location: France, Loire, Loir-et-Cher
Winemaker: Jeremy Quastana
Grapes: Pinot Noir, Gamay
Soil: Clay over broken-down limestone
Winemaking: Organic farming. Hand harvest, Semi-carbonic maceration; no SO2
From the Importer Selection Massale: A light-bodied Syrah with that lively fruit and acid seen in all of Jeremy's wines.
We were introduced to Jeremy by our good friend Olivier Lemasson. Jeremy worked with Olivier for a few years and managed to grab a couple hectares of land not far from Olivier's main plot in the Loir et Cher, not far from Cheverny. Before that, Jeremy learned the trade at Marcel Lapierre's winery and did a six-month internship at Clos Ouvert in Chile. In four vintages, he has shown that he can make clean, highly drinkable wines with very little sulphur dioxide.
Jeremy is still a young vigneron and, in our opinion, he gets better every year. The vineyard is one plot composed of young vine Gamay, middle-aged Cot, and old vine Gamay on a gentle slope of clay over Silex.
Location: Italy, Lazio
Winemaker:Gianmarco Antonuzzi & Clémentine Bouveron
Grapes: Sangiovese, Montepulciano and Merlot
Soil: Volcanic, rich in iron
From us at M&L: Gianmarco Antonuzzi and Clémentine Bouveron tend around 14 hectares of land, with vineyards amongst olive groves, chestnut trees, shrubs and oaks. Sat around Lago di Bolsena near Gianmarco’s childhood town of Gradoli in Lazio’s north, the soils are volcanic, rich in iron and minerals.
Vines are planted at a density of up to 10,000 plants per hectare, from a mix of massale selections and ungrafted vines. Everything is done by hand, with careful attention to the needs of each plant and while biodynamic principles are employed, the approach here goes above and beyond.
Each year they produce a dizzying number of different wines which are vinified in an ancient cellar in the village’s centre where nothing is added at any stage. To taste here is a real treat, Gianmarco is a master of élevage and a real patience in this respect results in some of the purest, most delicious wines we have tried. This is a fascinating project, where the passion and dedication of two people is single handedly putting one of Italy’s lesser known villages firmly on the map.
Location: France, Rhône
Winemaker: Florence and Olivier Leriche
Grapes: Grenache
Soil: Limestone and clay
Winemaking: Organic & biodynamic farming. Hand harvest. Indigenous yeast fermentation with a short maceration of 6 days followed by aging in vats. Not filtered, not fined.
Location: France, Languedoc-Roussillon
Winemaker: Jean François (Jeff) Coutelou
Grapes: Cinsault
Soil: variations of clay/limestone
Winemaking: Organic farming, hand harvested fruit, fermented with indigenous yeast. No fining/filtering/SO2
From the Producer: Puimisson is a Languedoc village situated a few kilometres from Béziers, with a Mediterranean climate. From the south, the sea brings wind and humidity... From the north the mountains bring freshness...The domaine has been certified organic since 1987, when we decided that we wanted to show the possibilities of growing vines without chemicals. In 1987, nobody was speaking of Mad Cow Disease, care for the environment was scarce and it required an act of great courage to follow the organic route. 30 years ago the Domaine was made up of more than 20ha and produced an average of 1800hl each year. Today it only has 13 ha under vine producing an average of 500hl.
Our vineyard extends over a dozen hectares of a variety of terroirs. Puimisson is made up of a mosaic of soils and subsoils. The majority are clay-limestone with more or less clay, some veins of villafranchien gravel, marl ... All of our vines have been cultivated organically since 1987, long before it was fashionable to do so. We can guarantee that all the soils of the domaine have seen no chemical fertilisers, nor any synthetic products for more than 28 years. The management of the vineyard is rigorous whilst fully respecting the plants and the soils. Ploughing, necessary for clay soils, is limited to ensure that the soil does not become compacted. In Spring, every vine stock is hoed manually. We cut back the vines only when we consider it necessary and after they have finished budding. As regards treatments, we limit any interventions whilst not hesitating to use plant based composts and preparations as well as other natural products.
We tend the vines throughout the year so that they give the very best grapes. At the moment of harvest, our work is confined to creating the best conditions to allow them to express themselves. There does not exist one single recipe, the making of the wine is adapted to the grape variety and to the vintage (short or long maceration, destemming or whole bunch, punching the cap or pumping over) many, varied methods can be used according to inspiration and the grapes themselves... In the cellar it is nature which decides... The choice of 'natural' winemaking is the end result of the work carried out in the vines. The choice is to limit external elements to allow the grapes to give the best of themselves. No adding of SO 2, no adding yeasts, no adding enzymes, ... in a phrase, leave nature alone whilst maintaining an eye for observation, a palate for tasting, a hand for helping and nurturing and a heart for sharing... Wine is a drink which creates conversation and conviviality... Bottling is done at the domaine, with no filtering whilst respecting the lunar calendar ... All our wines are made without any added SO 2 , including at bottling.
Location: France, Roussillon
Winemaker: Cyril Fhal & Alice Gendron
Grapes: 85% Mourvèdre, 10% Muscat Petits Grains, 5% Macabeu
Winemaking: Organic farming. Hand harvest. 8-day maceration of whole cluster with indigenous yeasts. No fining, filtering or additions.
Location: France, Loire, Anjou
Winemaker: Didier Chaffardon
Grapes: 90% Cabernet Franc, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon
Winemaking: Organic farming, hand harvest, 10 days maceration, indigenous yeast fermentation, unfined and unfiltered.
Location: France, Savoie
Winemaker: Marie & Florian Curtet
Grapes: Mondeuse, Gamay and field blend of red and white varieties
Soil: Sand, sandstone, schist
Winemaking: Organic and biodynamic practices, hand harvest, indigenous yeast fermentation.
From the Importer Steven Graf: Marie and Florian met one summer by chance. Florian was working for Jacques Maillet, the previous owner of their estate, and Marie was working for Gilles Berlioz, one of the most renowned growers of the Savoie. Marie was giving Jacques Maillet an extra hand during harvest one year, met “Flo,” as she affectionately calls him, and the rest was history.
Jacques Maillet contracted cancer in the early 1990s, which was attributed to the various chemicals he had been handling at the estate where he worked at the time. He fought back from the disease and was given a second shot at life, and as such was determined to find a way to work that did not involve chemicals. This led him to discover biodynamics, and thus his estate was managed “Autrement” (French for “a different way”). This remains the name of two of the Curtets’ cuvées, as a nod to the history of the estate and to the shared notion of working in this way.
In 2016, it was time for Jacques to retire, and so the duo decided to pour their life savings into the estate to take it over as their own.
In the two vineyard plots that he works, Curtet has planted or grafted a massale selection of Jacquere that he has gathered from what he considers all the best sites in the Savoie, along with a number of other white varieties including Gringet, Altesse, Mondeuse Blanche, Molette, and Savagnin, many of which will be harvested for the first time in 2021. These are all planted in a 7.4-acre vineyard named Le Cellier des Pauvres (The Cellar of the Poor). In a 4.9 acre vineyard named Les Vignes de Seigneur (The Vineyard of the Lord), he also has some very old Mondeuse (a number of vines more than 100 years old) as well as Gamay and Pinot Noir.
From Marie and Florian:
”Over the past few years, we have initiated changes towards a wilder, freer and more diversified “culture”. Here is a small anthology of our personal satisfactions for the past year and our current and future projects.
Our interactions with crops are now limited to pruning, sowing, planting, picking and harvesting. We had the intuition to be sometimes in the interference with the plant, in the dirigisme, and that did not seem to us completely founded but rather inherited from a questionable cultural baggage. Little by little we learn to refrain from acting. What freedom found for the plants, but also for us!
We lived as a contradiction in the fact of seeking purity in the cellar but still using the tractor (therefore oil) and treatments (certainly organic) in the vineyards. We have significantly reduced our dependence on a system that does not suit us. Not a liter of fuel, not a gram of treatment and fertilizer used to cultivate this year. We are immensely satisfied to have experienced this possibility. Our 2022 vintage will therefore be our first pure vintage, from the vine to the cellar. A small harvest but what satisfaction! We have thus implemented our deep convictions: the vine does not need to suffer or be treated to water us. It now seems unthinkable to us to backtrack. Trees are taking up more and more space in our cultures. Whether it is fruit, fodder, shade or support for a vine, tomorrow it will mainly be a food crop. From the vine to the olive tree, from the apple tree to the cereals, the plots where we only grew grapes yesterday, tomorrow we will also provide oil, flour, juice, ciders...
We continue to diversify beyond the tree and have grown different cereals: Chautagne rye, ancient wheat, millets from peasant seeds. Our challenge is to self-produce our cereals between friends and neighbors, to cultivate them, harvest them, transform them manually without oil or electricity. A bread oven is planned near the cellar to combine food autonomy and conviviality.
Between the urgency of finding solutions for tomorrow and the acceptance of the slowness of living processes, all these small steps allow us to feel in our rightful place. A place where man is part of nature and his main concern is to do no harm.
Location: France, Rhône
Winemaker: Nicolas Renaud
Grapes: Mourvèdre
Soil: Loam, decomposed granite and clay bedrock
Winemaking: Organic and biodynamic. Hand picked. Macerated Mouvèdre direct press into stainless steel. Wild yeast fermentation.
From the Importer Steven Graf: Nicolas Renaud is a geologist born and raised in the Rhône. For many years, he taught the geology at university, tending vines on the side. In 2005, he began renting his own vines, and in the meantime has cultivated a mosaic of parcels – in and around Rochefort du Gard – with unique bedrocks, soils and long forgotten vines. His wines are the perfect physical analog to the breadth of knowledge he brings to the vineyard. Working organically, Nicolas shows what the magnificent terroir of the Rhône has to offer.
It's impossible not to be charmed by Mr. Renaud. There's a comical element at his core that endears you to him and to his project. Nicolas's great gift and great weakness is that he simply cannot help himself. Every year, every visit, there's a story about a new little parcel that charmed him and demanded its own fermentation. He's fascinated. He is madly in love with his work and his terroir. He's a winemaker of such experience and prowess, and yet I think his name falls to the wayside because of the scope and breadth of his endeavor. One year he introduces a wine from pure limestone, then a wine from some purchased Picpoul, then a small but interesting plot of old vine Syrah, all with new names and labels that make the domaine a bit of a puzzle, if a happy one. There's always more to explore, and always new ways to be excited.