WINES WITH A STORY

 

​Here's an overview of the wines I have available (catalogue only available in French for the time being). For tastings, courses and events, a customized selection is possible, also with other wines. As you will see, the offer is focused on southern Europe. This does not imply that all the wines are powerful, rich and concentrated. In warm climates as well, it is possible to make wines that have playfulness and freshness to them. In this respect, the idea is to offer as broad a diversity as possible in wine styles.

 

But the main part of the story is about the women and men behind the wine. Despite all the high-brow rhetoric about the unique characteristics of a certain vineyard or region, wine is first and foremost a cultural product, a work of mankind, which has learned how to cultivate the wild climbing plant vitis vinifera over thousands of years, and has harvested its fruits. This human factor is much more significant in my view than a plot of land on which the vines grow (whose importance, to be sure, should not be minimised either).

 

Often, the personality of a winemaker says a great deal about his or her wines, and vice versa. The wines with which I work are made by stubborn people, aiming at nothing less than perfection and always looking to innovate. But also balanced and steady people, calmly accepting the twists of nature and of winemaking, so as to translate the variation of the seasons into the wine. Without exception, they are hopelessly in love with their vines.

 

The size of an estate is less important than the attitude of the winemaker. Some are barely a few hectares in size, others own multiple dozens of hectares, but none of them takes a purely industrial and market-driven approach to wine.

 

Respect for the environment is crucial, especially in these times of increasing awareness of the limits to what our planet can take. Many estates are certified organic, but this is by no means an obsession: it is possible to produce wine in a sustainable way without having the bio label. Furthermore, all wines are European. I do not wish to imply that no good wine is being made in the "new world", of course, but the offer in Europe is so vast and so diverse as to satisfy even the most demanding of wine lovers for a whole lifetime. As an additional advantage, the bottles have to travel less far.

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Happy discovery!