Bourgogne

The story goes that Renaud Boyer, originally from Meursault, trained to be an engineer before switching careers and becoming a vigneron of the land in Saint Romain, previously belonging to uncle Thierry Guyot, an organics enthusiast who had been working the vines free of chemicals since the 1980's. Renaud's wines are seen as strong competition to some of the famous names in the region. The vines are divided between Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet and Saint Romain.

Catherine and Giles Vergé are making seriously interesting and totally unique expressions of Chardonnay in Macon. "White Burgundy raised by Wolves". The duo farms 5 ha in Viré on Jurassic limestone and clay. The vines are seriously old, with most of them between 54-126 years. Apart from the cuvée 'Séléction 216' they never use barrel, but only steel tanks, in which the wines stay for 3-4 years before bottling and no added SO2- ever!

Pierette and Marc Guillemot took over Domaine Guillemot-Michel from Pierette's parents in 1995 after studying oenology in Beaune and then Montpellier. The domaine can be found in Macon, next to Clessé in the commune of Quintaine, which is widely recognised as some of the finest terroir in the Mâconnais due to the proximity to the Saone river. Pierette's parents were early adopters of biodynamie, acheiving their certification by Demeter in 1991 and their continued commitment to the soil is impressive.

Domaine Chandon les Brailles has been preserved by the Nicolay family for nearly 200 years, today managed by François and his sister . Their 13ha vineyard, which are found in Savigny-lès-Beaune, Pernand-Vergelesses and Aloxe-Corton have been certified Biodynamic since the 2008 vintage. In the cellar, the reds grapes are partly de-stemmed, whilst other bunches are left whole. The grapes are cooled to 18 degrees to avoid premature fermentation. No chemistry is permitted in the cellar apart from a small amount of SO2 before bottling.

Emmanuel Giboulot is an unusual creature in Burgundy. He used to want to be an actor before he started the complex task of creating a totally new domaine in Burgundy, not something you often see these days. Of course purchasing land in Burgundy was (and still is) eye-wateringly expensive, so Emmanuel started with less than 1ha of his father's land, which at the time was mostly planted with other crops. Since then, he has been carefully adding one parcel at a time and now has 10 ha spread over Côte Chalonnaise and Hauts-Côtes de Nuits in Beaune.