Chardonnay

Phillipe Tessier took over 21ha from his father in 1981, 20 years after the domaine was first established at the centre of the Cheverny and Cour-Cheverny AOCs. His vinification demonstrates his admiration for the grapes and their capabilities, opting to use neutral casks and indigenous yeasts. He would rather it is the land that speaks, and not the winemaker.

The family domaine of Mas d'Intras has been farming grapes for four centuries, but it wasn't until the 1980's that Robert's family stopped selling their grapes to the local coop, which the family had helped establish. With that decision, Domaine Mas d'Intras was born. In the late nineties they recognised that their soil was suffering and they began to turn their attention to organic farming, acheiving Ecocert organic status in 2009.

Enigmatic and wild. Words for the person as well as the wines Pierre Rousse makes in Western Languedoc! With his 5 ha of vines, Pierre plants seemingly standard varieties Merlot, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, although the results are anything but standard. Pierre also produces a cidre 'Babiole' from local apple varieties. Truly bonkers juice from a truly bonkers man.

Pierre and Sophie Lamarndier are without a doubt true kings of Chardonnay in Champagne. For them, choosing to farm their vines biodynamically wasn't a reaction to a trend, rather an absolutely necessary step to communicating the extraordinary terroir of their parcels in the wine glass. Their 15ha vineyard falls in the 1er Cru area of Vertus and the Grand Cru appellations of Cramant, Chouilly and Avize. Naturally, the harvest is done by hand and no yeast is added - another rare practice in Champagne. The grapes are pressed extremely gently and each Cru is vinified individually.

Once a region covered in vines, Domaine St Nicolas is now one of the few remaining winemakers in the lesser known Region of Brem, situated south of the city of Nantes and nestled under the Fief Vendéens appellation. Vigneron Thierry Michon started working biodynamically in 1993 and hasn’t looked back since. He describes his approach to biodynamics as going far beyond the absence of chemicals in the vineyard, rather creating a deeper connection with the soil leading to an amplified expression of terroir.

Husband and wife duo Bruno and Isabelle Perraud make wine under their domaine 'Côtes de la Moliere' in the northern corner of Beaujolais. Their 8.5ha of vineyard cover Moulin-á-Vent, Morgon, Fleurie and a few plots outside of the appellation. Also, they rent a few parcels just north of Beaujolais, in Pouilly-Fussé and Saint-Véran. In 1989, Bruno accidentally poisoned himself with insecticide and decided to remove it from his vineyard practices after observing the effects on his body. In 2002 the domaine was certified organic.

Thierry and Jean-Marie Puzelat enjoy making wine, which is a good thing as they produce a lot of them, sometimes close to 30 different cuvées a year. They feel so many of their parcels offer something unique worth exploring in its own right. Some of their cuvées are made from rare local varieties on the verge of extinction such as Romarantin, Grolleau and Menu Pineau (a natural mutation of Chenin Blanc). Wines made from these grapes rarely gain AOC recognition and so are labelled Vin De France, one of the biggest disappointments of modern winemaking laws.

Alain Allier makes his wine in a small garage close to the Mouressipe mountains, the very same which used to be a vital lookout for the Romans; they probably even planted the vines. The vineyard covers 9ha in total of Syrah, Mourvèdre, Grenache Noir, Cinsault, Chardonnay and Chasselas on a limestone base with clay and blue marl. Alain only vinifies the fruit from 4 ha himself, offering the rest to the local coop. Alain's philosophy is simple: the more you do in the vineyard to create healthy, balanced fruit, the less you need to do in the winery.

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!

Vigneron extraordinaire Axel Prüfer was born in East Germany, but as a young man he moved to Languedoc to start making wine. Axel met Eric Pfifferling early on which helped set his course for the kind of wine he wanted to make. In 2003 he established Domaine Les Temps de Cerises which refers to an old Parisian song from the Revolution. Axel's vineyards are buzzing with life: insects, herbs, flowers, weeds. Wild boar roam in the nearby forests and Axel uses human hair collected from the local hairdressers to distract them from eating all his grapes. Yields are super low.