Last Chance

i Vicini Barbera Reserve Rouge 2017,

Jean-Yves Peron
Jean-Yves Péron began his career studying biochemistry, but he quickly became drawn to the vine and trained as an oenologist in Bordeaux. Near Lake Annecy, Jean-Yves Péron skillfully combines committed viticulture and merchant winemaking, both with a focus on nature. His Mondeuse reds are magnificent, as are his whites made from ancient local grape varieties—Jacquère, Altesse, Bergeron, and Persan—no less so. He lives in Chevaline, but his current vineyard, three hectares of which have been biodynamic since the beginning, is divided between Conflans, near Albertville, and Fréterive, a little further downstream in the Isère valley.
Jean-Yves learned his trade as a winemaker with Thierry Allemand in Cornas, then with Bruno Schueller in Alsace, before spending some time in New Zealand and the United States. His trading business, which he began in 2011, allows him to buy the harvest from organic winemakers close to home, but also in Northern Italy: for him, it is a new dimension to his work as a winemaker, allowing him to multiply the terroirs and deepen his experiences in winemaking and aging.
Jean-Yves Péron's winemaking follows the principles of minimal intervention. On narrow and steep surfaces, his mountain vines receive no synthetic products, Jean-Yves preferring horsetail and nettle manure. The surrounding vegetation is very rich: it protects the vines and helps to strengthen them. The soils are grassed, mown and reworked with a pickaxe and winch. The harvest is entirely manual. Once vatted in whole bunches, the grapes, both red and white, undergo a semi-carbonic maceration which allows the extraction of fresh fruit aromas. This maceration time varies between five days and nine weeks depending on the vintage. The day before or two days before pressing, Jean-Yves performs foot-treading directly in the vat. After this fermentation, the musts are sent to barrels for aging on lees for twelve months in five hundred liter barrels of two or three wines (to limit the woody sensation), followed by blending and resting in vats. No sulfites are added, or as little as possible, and the wines are not fined or filtered. Savoyard wine has long suffered from a somewhat flimsy image, not taken seriously enough. Yet, what treasures its varied soils and numerous ancient grape varieties produce! Jean-Yves Péron embodies the rebirth of this beautiful vineyard. In 2017, Jean-Yves Péron decided to expand his range by harvesting organic grapes in the heart of the Italian Piedmont. This resulted in several vintages, including this 100% Barbera red. The second most widely used red grape variety in Italy after Sangiovese, Barbera produces full-bodied, colorful wines with notes of red fruits. The "reserve" qualification indicates that this Barbera has been macerated for longer than Jean-Yves' classic Barbera: fermentation with long and patient punching down is followed by three years of aging. It is therefore more structured, more powerful, deeper, offering evolving notes (chocolate, cocoa, etc.), more in the style of Pas de l'Ours. It therefore presents a fairly classic style for a Barbera. A wine that is both serious and joyful.

La Tour Sarazine Blanc 2019,

Jean-Yves Peron
Savoyard wine has long suffered from a somewhat flimsy image, not taken seriously enough. Yet, what treasures its varied soils and numerous ancient grape varieties produce! Jean-Yves Péron embodies the renaissance of this beautiful vineyard. In Chevaline, in Savoie, near Lake Annecy, he skillfully combines committed viticulture and merchant winemaking, both with a focus on nature. His Mondeuse reds are magnificent, as are his whites made from ancient local grape varieties—Jacquère, Altesse, Bergeron, and Persan—no less so.
Initially destined for a career in biochemistry, he quickly became drawn to the vine and trained as an oenologist in Bordeaux. His current vineyard, three hectares of which have been biodynamic since the beginning, is divided between Conflans, near Albertville, and Fréterive, a little further down in the Isère Valley. He learned his trade as a winemaker with Thierry Allemand in Cornas, then with Bruno Schueller in Alsace, before spending some time in New Zealand and the United States. His trading business, which he began in 2011, allows him to buy the harvest from organic winemakers near his home, but also in Northern Italy: for him, it is a new dimension to his work as a winemaker, allowing him to multiply the terroirs and deepen his experiences in winemaking and aging.
On narrow and steep surfaces, his mountain vines receive no synthetic products, Jean-Yves preferring horsetail and nettle manure. The surrounding vegetation is very rich: it protects the vines and helps to strengthen them. The soils are grassed, mown, and reworked with a pickaxe and winch. The harvest is entirely manual. Jean-Yves Péron's winemaking adheres to the principles of minimal intervention. On narrow, steep surfaces, his mountain vines are not treated with any synthetic products; Jean-Yves prefers horsetail and nettle manure. The surrounding vegetation is very rich: it protects the vines and helps strengthen them. The soils are grassed, mown, and reworked with a pickaxe and winch. The harvest is entirely manual. Once vatted in whole bunches, the grapes, both red and white, undergo a semi-carbonic maceration process that extracts fresh fruit aromas. This maceration time varies between five days and nine weeks, depending on the vintage. The day before or two days before pressing, Jean-Yves performs foot-treading directly in the vat. After this fermentation, the musts are transferred to barrels for aging on lees for twelve months in five hundred liter barrels of two or three wines (to limit the oaky sensation), followed by blending and resting in the vat. No sulfites are added, or as little as possible, and the wines are not fined or filtered.
This Tour Sarazine is a wine from a schistose micro-plot planted with Muscat à petits grains. Jean-Yves sometimes blends it with Jacquère when the vintage is low-yielding. In 2017, for example, the Muscat produced one bunch every three vines... Maceration varies depending on the vintage: between three weeks and two months. Aging is one year in barrels. The wine has an obviously very Muscat profile – musky, floral, aromatic, exotic – reinforced by the mineral clarity of the schist. For the pairings, it’s a call to the imagination, between cheeses and cuisines from elsewhere.

Cotillon des Dames Amphore Blanc 2018,

Jean-Yves Peron
Initially destined for a career in biochemistry, Jean-Yves Péron quickly fell in love with the vine and trained as an oenologist in Bordeaux. He lives in Chevaline, in Savoie, near Lake Annecy, skillfully combining committed viticulture and merchant winemaking, both with a focus on nature. His Mondeuse reds are magnificent, as are his whites made from ancient local grape varieties—Jacquère, Altesse, Bergeron, and Persan—no less so.
His current vineyard, three hectares biodynamic since its inception, is divided between Conflans, near Albertville, and Fréterive, a little further downstream in the Isère Valley. He learned his trade as a winemaker with Thierry Allemand in Cornas, then with Bruno Schueller in Alsace, before spending some time in New Zealand and the United States. His trading business, which he began in 2011, allows him to buy the harvest from organic winemakers close to home, but also in Northern Italy: for him, it is a new dimension given to his work as a winemaker, allowing him to multiply the terroirs and to deepen his experiences in winemaking and aging.
On narrow and steep surfaces, his mountain vines receive no synthetic products, Jean-Yves preferring horsetail and nettle manure. The surrounding vegetation is very rich: it protects the vines and helps to strengthen them. The soils are grassed, mown and reworked with a pickaxe and winch. The harvest is entirely manual. Jean-Yves Péron's winemaking adheres to the principles of minimal intervention. On narrow, steep slopes, his mountain vines are not treated with any synthetic products, Jean-Yves preferring horsetail and nettle manure. The surrounding vegetation is extremely rich: it protects the vines and helps strengthen them. The soils are grassed, mown, and reworked with a pickaxe and winch. The harvest is entirely manual. Once vatted in whole bunches, the grapes, both red and white, undergo a semi-carbonic maceration process that extracts fresh fruit aromas. This maceration time varies between five days and nine weeks depending on the vintage. The day before or two days before pressing, Jean-Yves performs foot-treading directly in the vat. After this fermentation, the musts are sent to barrels for aging on lees for twelve months in five hundred liter barrels of two or three wines (to limit the woody sensation), followed by blending and resting in vats. No sulfites are added, or as little as possible, and the wines are not fined or filtered. Savoyard wine has long suffered from a somewhat flimsy image, not taken seriously enough. Yet, what treasures its soils with varied pedology and its many ancient grape varieties produce! Jean-Yves Péron embodies the renaissance of this beautiful vineyard. This cuvée is built around Jacquère grown on limestone soils, with the addition of Altesse from schistose terrain. The winemaker sometimes adds Roussanne and Mondeuse through direct pressing. The idea is to be able to precisely control the evolution of the juice and balance the wine according to the behavior of each grape variety. The grapes are vinified separately and aged in terracotta before bottling. This is a complex, elegant, velvety, and fruity white wine—a terracotta-aged variation of one of the winemaker's flagship vintages.

Magnum Vamos Vamos Blanc 2011, Joan Ramon Escada and Laureano Serres
Natural wine without added sulphites.

Les Œillets Blanc 2022

Jean-Yves Péron
Vinified in Savoie, Les Œillets is a dry macerated white wine made by Jean-Yves Péron. Organic, biodynamic, and natural, it is a 100% Jacquère white, with no additives or added sulfites, classified as a Vin de France.

Vinification
Les Œillets comes from the same terroir as La Petite Robe (the clay-limestone soils of the lieu-dit Les Marches, at the foot of Mont Granier), but it is harvested later to achieve greater phenolic maturity and a higher tannin concentration. Carbonic maceration for four or five days is followed by a month of punching down in vats. At least one year of aging in 300-liter barrels.

Tasting
Woody, with explosive minerality and beautiful tension, Les Œillets by Jean-Yves Péron is an atypical white wine with powerful aromatic notes. Lots of fruit and candied citrus. Superbly structured, Les Œillets has chewiness, texture, a tannic mouthfeel and a note of controlled oxidation. The tension is strong, balanced by a note of apricot. This is a wine for roasted poultry and high-end cured meats, but its pairings are broad.

Learn more about Jean-Yves Péron
Jean-Yves Péron skillfully embodies the organic, biodynamic, and natural renaissance of the Savoyard vineyard, which is based on varied soils and numerous indigenous grape varieties (Jacquère, Altesse, Mondeuse, etc.). At his Chevaline winery in the Bauges region, he vinifies the grapes from his plots in Conflans, near Albertville, and Fréterive, in the Isère valley.

High-altitude biodynamics
Jean-Yves Péron's work follows the principles of minimal intervention. On narrow, steep surfaces, his mountain vines in micro-plots, worked by hand, receive no synthetic products, Jean-Yves preferring horsetail and nettle manure. All of Jean-Yves Péron's wines are sulfite-free, made from hand-harvested grapes, vinified in whole bunches and foot-trodden in the vat. For all vintages, the free-run and press are blended, then aged on lees for at least one year, in two- or three-wine barrels, amphorae or tuns, before final blending. They must be stored at a temperature below 18°C. No sulfites are added, or as little as possible, and the wines are not fined or filtered.

Italian-Savoyard trade
Since 2011, a trading activity has allowed Jean-Yves Péron to buy the harvest from neighboring organic winegrowers and to collaborate with winegrowers in Northern Italy: this is the I Vicini series, which allows him to diversify the terroirs and deepen his winemaking and aging experiences.

Casa Rossa Rouge 2020

Jean Yves Peron
Casa Rossa, a red or rather rosé wine leaning towards red, is none other than the Italian version of Vers laMaison rouge. This is an organic, biodynamic, and natural wine made from three grape varieties: Grignolino, Freisa, and Barbera.

Vinification
The organic grapes that make up Casa Rossa are harvested in Casale Monferrato, in Piedmont. Grignolino and Freisa are directly pressed, and Barbera undergoes carbonic maceration. The three grape varieties are blended before a year of aging in 300-liter barrels. This period is followed by a year of bottle aging.

Tasting
Casa Rossa is a rosé that is not far from a red. The tangy Barbera grape brings liveliness; Grignolino and Freisa (so named for its strong strawberry aromas) give a vinous side that makes Casa Rossa a beautiful winter wine, not a summer rosé. The wine is fruity, vinous, tangy, aromatic and very tasty. It's delicious on its own, but let's also make sure it doesn't go badly with a good dish of Italian pasta with a nice tomato or Bolognese sauce, a delicious charcuterie from the Ferme de Mayrinhac or even a rabbit stew.

In learn more about Jean-Yves Péron
Jean-Yves Péron is a talented embodiment of the organic, biodynamic, and natural renaissance of the Savoyard vineyard, which is based on varied soils and numerous indigenous grape varieties (Jacquère, Altesse, Mondeuse, etc.). At his winery in Chevaline, in the Bauges region, he vinifies the grapes from his plots in Conflans, near Albertville, and Fréterive, in the Isère valley.

High-altitude biodynamics
Jean-Yves Péron's work follows the principles of minimal intervention. On narrow, steep surfaces, his mountain vines in micro-plots, worked by hand, receive no synthetic products, Jean-Yves preferring horsetail and nettle manure. The grapes are vatted in whole bunches and undergo semi-carbonic maceration. Shortly before pressing, they are foot-trodden in the vat, then sent to barrels of two or three wines for aging for twelve months on lees, before blending and resting in the vat. No sulfites are added, or as little as possible, and the wines are not fined or filtered.

Italian-Savoyard trade
Since 2011, a trading activity has allowed Jean-Yves Péron to buy the harvest from neighboring organic winegrowers and to collaborate with winegrowers from Northern Italy: this is the I Vicini series, which allows him to diversify the terroirs and deepen his experiences in winemaking and aging.

Magnum La Petite Robe Blanc 2020,

Jean-Yves Péron


There are actually two different vintages of La Petite Robe in one: the character will vary depending on the choice of container, magnum or bottle. Jean-Yves likes to call this a stylistic exercise. Let's focus here on the 150 cl magnum. The Jacquère grape here lends its mineral and floral character with a slight oxidative note, in addition to its richness and volume on the palate. The wine offers notes of charcoal and white fruits, a beautiful balance, and great intensity. La Petite Robe is an ideal maceration white wine for raw or cooked seafood, which it will highlight with its mineral purity. Wonderfully sweet and crisp, this is yet another great success from Jean-Yves Péron, who crafts this typically Savoyard white grape variety with the precision afforded by limestone soils. The grapes come from Adrien Dacquin's plots, on calcareous-granite soil near Chambéry. The vines are around fifty years old. The harvest is directly pressed, and after fermentation, the wine is aged for a year in barrels previously used for several wines. No filtration, fining, or addition of sulfites.

To find out more

Jean-Yves Péron embodies the natural renaissance of the beautiful Savoyard vineyard, which has long suffered from a somewhat flimsy image, not taken seriously enough. Yet, what treasures are produced by its varied soils and its many ancient grape varieties! Near Conflans, in Albertville (Savoie), Jean-Yves Péron skillfully combines committed viticulture and merchant winemaking, both under the banner of nature and high-altitude organic vines. Initially destined for a career in biochemistry, he quickly became drawn to the vine and trained as an oenologist in Bordeaux. He learned his trade as a winemaker with Thierry Allemand in Cornas, then with Bruno Schueller in Alsace, before spending some time in New Zealand and the United States. Jean-Yves' current vineyard, one and a half hectares of biodynamic farming from the start, is divided between Conflans, near Albertville, and Fréterive, a little further downstream in the Isère valley. Composed of micro-plots of vines, it is staggered between 350 m and 550 m above sea level and is entirely worked by hand. His trading activity, which began in 2011, allows him to buy the harvest from organic winegrowers close to his home (such as Raphaël Marin and Adrien Dacquin). Also, the construction of a new winery in 2017 allows him to increase production and collaborate with winegrowers from Northern Italy: Paolo Angelino in Casale Monferrato (Turin), Giorgio Barbero in Asti. This is a new dimension given to his work as a winemaker, allowing him to diversify the terroirs and deepen his experiences in winemaking and aging.
Jean-Yves Péron's winemaking follows the principles of minimal intervention. On narrow and steep surfaces, his mountain vines receive no synthetic products, Jean-Yves preferring horsetail and nettle manure. The surrounding vegetation is very rich: it protects the vines and helps to strengthen them. The soils are grassed, mown and reworked with a pickaxe and winch. The harvest is entirely manual. Once vatted in whole bunches, the grapes, both red and white, undergo a semi-carbonic maceration which allows the extraction of fresh fruit aromas. This maceration time varies between five days and nine weeks depending on the vintage. The day before or two days before pressing, Jean-Yves performs foot-treading directly in the vat. After this fermentation, the musts are sent to barrels for aging on lees for twelve months in five hundred liter barrels of two or three wines (to limit the woody sensation), followed by blending and resting in vats. No sulfites are added, or as little as possible, and the wines are not fined or filtered.

Les Œillets Blanc 2020,

Jean-Yves Péron


Superbly structured, Les Œillets offers chewiness, texture, a tannic mouthfeel, and a more pronounced, controlled oxidative note. The tension is strong, balanced by a hint of apricot. Woody, with explosive minerality and beautiful tension, this is a very atypical maceration white with powerful aromatic notes. There are plenty of fruit and candied citrus notes. This is a 100% Jacquère white, whose vines grow on limestone soil. It's roughly the same terroir as for La Petite Robe, but Jean-Yves expects this vintage to reach a higher phenolic maturity in order to obtain a greater tannic concentration. The plots are therefore harvested later. The maceration is also more thorough: four or five days of carbonic maceration followed by ten days of punching down the cap. After racking and pressing, the wine is sent to 225-liter barrels where it will mature for at least a year.

To find out more
Jean-Yves Péron embodies the natural renaissance of the beautiful Savoyard vineyard, which has long suffered from a somewhat flimsy image, not taken seriously enough. Yet, what treasures are produced by its varied soils and its many ancient grape varieties! Near Conflans, in Albertville (Savoie), Jean-Yves Péron skillfully combines committed viticulture and merchant winemaking, both under the banner of nature and high-altitude organic vines. Initially destined for a career in biochemistry, he quickly became drawn to the vine and trained as an oenologist in Bordeaux. He learned his trade as a winemaker with Thierry Allemand in Cornas, then with Bruno Schueller in Alsace, before spending some time in New Zealand and the United States. Jean-Yves' current vineyard, one and a half hectares of biodynamic farming from the start, is divided between Conflans, near Albertville, and Fréterive, a little further downstream in the Isère valley. Composed of micro-plots of vines, it is staggered between 350 m and 550 m above sea level and is entirely worked by hand. His trading activity, which began in 2011, allows him to buy the harvest from organic winegrowers close to his home (such as Raphaël Marin and Adrien Dacquin). Also, the construction of a new winery in 2017 allows him to increase production and collaborate with winegrowers from Northern Italy: Paolo Angelino in Casale Monferrato (Turin), Giorgio Barbero in Asti. This is a new dimension given to his work as a winemaker, allowing him to diversify the terroirs and deepen his experiences in winemaking and aging.
Jean-Yves Péron's winemaking follows the principles of minimal intervention. On narrow and steep surfaces, his mountain vines receive no synthetic products, Jean-Yves preferring horsetail and nettle manure. The surrounding vegetation is very rich: it protects the vines and helps to strengthen them. The soils are grassed, mown and reworked with a pickaxe and winch. The harvest is entirely manual. Once vatted in whole bunches, the grapes, both red and white, undergo a semi-carbonic maceration which allows the extraction of fresh fruit aromas. This maceration time varies between five days and nine weeks depending on the vintage. The day before or two days before pressing, Jean-Yves performs foot-treading directly in the vat. After this fermentation, the musts are sent to barrels for aging on lees for twelve months in five hundred liter barrels of two or three wines (to limit the woody sensation), followed by blending and resting in vats. No sulfites are added, or as little as possible, and the wines are not fined or filtered.

Juliette Blanc 2015,

Jean-Pierre Robinot
One hundred percent Chenin, Juliette (named after Juliette Robinot, the winemaker's daughter) is dry and beautifully fresh. It is a remarkable expression of the grape variety, produced from vines that are over a hundred years old. The harvest is late, marked by botrytis (noble rot). After direct pressing into barrels, the wine ferments and ages for over six years in the same container. A rare wine to cherish.

To find out more
Anyone interested in natural wine in France has inevitably come across Jean-Pierre Robinot at some point and has never forgotten this smiling, bouncy figure. It is clear that while it has not yet been proven that all wines resemble their winemaker (a study to be undertaken), the vintages produced by Jean-Pierre, warm, friendly, and luminous, are in the image of their creator. After running the wine bar L’Ange Vin on rue Richard-Lenoir in the 11th arrondissement of Paris for nearly fifteen years, Jean-Pierre returned to his native Chahaignes, a small village in the south of Sarthe, on the borders of Anjou and Touraine. His dream is to acquire his own vineyard and make sulfur-free wines. He reclaims uncultivated hillside land on great terroirs, as well as troglodyte cellars dug into the tuffeau. 2002 will be his first vintage. At the same time, under the brand L’Opéra du vin, he vinifies grapes purchased from local winegrowers. Jean-Pierre Robinot practices demanding organic viticulture, without chemical weed control. The soil is worked and amended using natural composts. All harvests, carried out at maturity on healthy grapes, are done by hand. The location and climate favor noble rot.

Juliette Blanc 2018,

Jean-Pierre Robinot
One hundred percent Chenin, Juliette (named after Juliette Robinot, the winemaker's daughter) is dry and beautifully fresh. It is a remarkable expression of the grape variety, produced from vines that are over a hundred years old. The harvest is late, marked by botrytis (noble rot). After direct pressing into barrels, the wine ferments and ages for over six years in the same container. A rare wine to cherish.

To find out more
Anyone interested in natural wine in France has inevitably come across Jean-Pierre Robinot at some point and has never forgotten this smiling, bouncy figure. It is clear that while it has not yet been proven that all wines resemble their winemaker (a study to be undertaken), the vintages produced by Jean-Pierre, warm, friendly, and luminous, are in the image of their creator. After running the wine bar L’Ange Vin on rue Richard-Lenoir in the 11th arrondissement of Paris for nearly fifteen years, Jean-Pierre returned to his native Chahaignes, a small village in the south of Sarthe, on the borders of Anjou and Touraine. His dream is to acquire his own vineyard and make sulfur-free wines. He reclaims uncultivated hillside land on great terroirs, as well as troglodyte cellars dug into the tuffeau. 2002 will be his first vintage. At the same time, under the brand L’Opéra du vin, he vinifies grapes purchased from local winegrowers. Jean-Pierre Robinot practices demanding organic viticulture, without chemical weed control. The soil is worked and amended using natural composts. All harvests, carried out at maturity on healthy grapes, are done by hand. The location and climate favor noble rot.

Juliette Robinot white 2008, Jean-Pierre Robinot
100% Chenin

Natural wine with no added sulfites.

Pinot Gris Origin Blanc 2021

Jean-Marc Dreyer
Dense, taut, dry, and aromatic, Jean-Marc Dreyer's Pinot Gris Origin expresses structure and integrity here. Jean-Marc Dreyer's Origin range is dedicated to single-varietal cuvées based on Alsatian varieties, here the classic Pinot Gris grape variety, formerly called Tokay in Alsace, macerated in whole bunches. Pinot Gris Origin is a true redefinition of this world-famous grape variety, whose name has been somewhat misused by the American market in its Italian form (Pinot Grigio) in recent years, which makes this Alsatian interpretation particularly interesting, based not only on the local expression of the grape variety but also on the deployment of its possibilities. Here, maceration gives it a new character, marked by tension and rectitude. It finally finds its say and adds a few strings to its bow. Pairs with practically everything, but come on, we'll dare: with caviar, it's the best. Biodynamic method, fermentation with indigenous yeasts, unfiltered, unclarified, no sulfites added in the vineyard or in the cellar.

Find out more
"Maceration in Alsace is a tradition!" says Jean-Marc Dreyer, adding that direct pressing in this region is a modern invention, linked to the advent of electricity. In the past, we worked by hand and let the grapes macerate before sending the marc to the press. " Whole bunch maceration is Jean-Marc Dreyer's signature and represents 85% of the estate's production, the rest consisting of direct-pressed whites, often aged using controlled oxidation. Jean-Marc succeeds several generations of his family at the Dreyer & Fils estate, created in 1830 between Obernai and Molsheim. Upon taking over the estate, he immediately opted for biodynamics, but he hesitated for a while between several methods: at the beginning, his wines were more oaky, aged in new barrels with stirring. Then, a sweet period: all his wines contain residual sugar. In 2008, he tried vinifying without any sulfur and found his direction: the following winter, upon returning from the pilgrimage to Compostela, he swore never to add sulfur to any wine again. Having made this decision, he asserts his style around skin maceration, quite advanced, chiseled, always surprising on Alsatian grape varieties, of which it brings out the structure without sacrificing the delicacy. Jean-Marc works in single-varietal or blended vintages and also produces Pinot Noir reds of surprising depth.

Ma' Carotte Blanc 2018,

Frédéric Gounan
It will meet all occasions. Fruity, balanced, fresh, and mineral, Ma' Carotte is an orange wine—in other words, a macerated white—from Auvergne made from equal parts Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc, directly pressed. Enjoy it, Frédéric doesn't make it every year.

Find out more
Coming from a farming family established in the commune of Saint-Sandoux (Puy-de-Dôme) for at least two centuries, Frédéric Gounan was first a mechanic and prototype designer for the French motorcycle brand Voxan, headquartered in Issoire. He turned away from the industrial world to devote himself to wine with his partner Caroline. He intends to take advantage of the magnificent terroirs of his native village, far from "pissing the vines", as was done in the past: he notes that everything that comes from this land has exceptional taste qualities. He takes over plots of Gamay d'Auvergne, plants other grape varieties, and ends up producing vintages that are among the tastiest and most sought-after in Auvergne. On this land of the Chaîne des Puys, Pinot Noirs grow on black basalt soils, Sauvignons and Pinot Gris rest on white clay-limestone soils pebbled with basalt. A follower of organic and biodynamic agriculture, Frédéric also applies methods that he considers appropriate to the climate and the terroir: to facilitate photosynthesis in this harsh and contrasting climate, he practices lyre trellising which allows the vines' foliage to be aerated and exposed to the sun, guaranteeing ripe fruit at harvest. Still a mechanic at heart, he makes his tools and tinkers with his tractors according to his needs. His wines are rare and distinguished, highly sought after by connoisseurs: small estate (less than two hectares), small production (by volume, not by spirit).