My story with wine began with my family roots in Burgundy. My first professional experiences equally involved oenologists and wine-growers who passed on their expertise and got me interested in the notion of terroir. This unique initiation incited me to map out my career path like a journey of life and learning, a bit like the French guild system including a tour of France. So I decided to follow my very own wine route. I started first of all in Bordeaux, where I worked and I learnt a lot, thanks to a highly regarded consultant, who took me under his wing. Thanks to his strong personality, Bordeaux counterculture and involvement with Grand Cru Classé estates and little known producers, I understood that consulting could be a job about both total freedom and great mastery alike. Afterwards, I pursued my apprenticeship in the Rhone Valley at a major long-standing house in Tain l’Hemitage, which equally owned vineyards from Cote-Rotie through to Chateauneuf-du-Pape, as well as in Roussillon, Alsace and Australia. In charge of all the vineyards, I fully experienced the company’s motto – do and never give up.
And then the time came to return to my roots in Burgundy, in Chablis where I joined a historic estate.
Through my technical and consulting work, I was able to fine-tune my knowledge about the upstream and downstream aspects to wine, from vine-growing and winemaking through to prescribing and sales in France and abroad.
At the same time, my wife and I founded our very own wine house dedicated to Irancy and northern Burgundy wines. Making wine for myself and not only for others, plunged me into the reality of a different field.
Alongside my work and during my spare time, I kept my consultancy flame burning, assisting family estates notably in Champagne and Portugal.
At present, mentoring and maturity have strengthened my commitment to fully passing on know-how meeting the highest expectations of quality, learnt from my role models. By deciding to combine my work as winegrower with that of consultant, I’m continuing to relay my expertise with other vintners, that I know really well and may I say, with whom, I share common experiences. We identify with each other as we’re fellow craftsmen. We’re united by all sorts of questions and challenges associated with our work: good practices, difficulties, doubts, vigilance, adaptation and success.
Hence, I work closely with each estate, thereby providing a thorough and substantiated analysis about a location, specific know-how and market issues: from production through to prescribing, from the culture of taste to the art of appealing to consumers.
Between the sense of the real and the quest for an ideal, my approach to vine-growing is that of living nature made up of diversity and complexity. My vine-growing measures are based first of all on harmony, with the principles of respect, balance and virtue. This is the very basis to agroecology, taking into account all of the available resources, from water to energy supplies, from human to economic dimensions. In addition, my approach to vine-growing draws from various schools of thought (biological, biodynamics, phyto-therapy), as well as good common sense farming, that comes from doing and observing.
This is why a location’s specificity calls for specific growing measures, without dogmas.
Consulting is not limited to handing out recipes about how to elaborate and market wine… By making wines with and for others, I became convinced that a distinct wine is always the combination of two things. The first one is the liberty to do so, according to your own inspiration. The second one is the certainty of never compromising the standard of quality or precision, as there are basic rules and principles. This combination of protocol, intuition, and sensibility produces a wine that will never resemble another, that will strongly mark the consumer’s memory and desire to purchase.
Being a vintner is an occupation involving several jobs at the same time and mastering many skills. It involves asking oneself lots of questions about one’s production, signature, business, marketing, communication strategy…
To better serve your individuality, I therefore exercise caution with regard to indiscriminately applied models or an approach resembling a catalogue of mandatory rules or other methods that “have demonstrated success”. As Project Manager with a wide range of technical expertise, and heaps of vine-growing and winemaking knowledge, I have constantly juggled between a global vision and a careful attention to details, stories, terroir identities and styles. As a result, diagnostics and tailored solutions arise from this flexible and clear-sighted approach.
As there are no ready-made answers, each case is going to be a challenge. As a result, support isn’t limited to a supervising or forecasting role. Accompanying focuses on building a distinct pathway. With its steps, forbearance and audacity. As I never apply major general principles, I will be at your side, but much more importantly, I will listen to your needs, by equally being attentive to what may go unmentioned. This job entails keeping one’s ears open as well as following one’s nose! Listening fosters constant and stimulating discussion. The exchange of viewpoints brings us together, thereby sharing the same pace, combining at once vigilance and patience. This attention is paid each and every day in the vineyard, during each winemaking stage and of course more than ever, with respecting the environment in mind. Without forgetting a thorough understanding of the economic, commercial and prescription mechanisms. Hence, in addition to purely winegrowing questions, we can move forward together based on realistic resources, without hindering a vision’s impetus. And if I owe you the means to match your ambitions, this approach will also offer us the possibility of continuing to make progress together, the amount of time it will take.
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