This is the project of young growers Dimitri Vetois and Marion Valverde, a couple originally from the Loire and Auvergne respectively who settled in the Jura in 2020.
After a search of nearly half a decade, they realised their dream by purchasing a small house and cellar in the picturesque village of Menétru-le-Vignoble, which included two and a half hectares of vines in the surrounding hills. They now farm a total of four hectares of old vines spread across small parcels in some of Château-Chalon’s great terroirs, such as Beaumont and Sous Roche.
Whilst as you’d expect the majority of the vines are planted with Savagnin, they also farm Chardonnay, Pinot, Poulsard and Melon à Queue Rouge. They have worked organically and followed biodynamic principles from the outset, working the soil with the help of their beloved Comtois horses, Solferino and Khyr, with a focus on letting the vines and surrounding nature remain as free as possible.
In the cellar, they are seeking a pure expression of terroir. They prefer to vinify by parcel, with the whites pressed directly to old casks for a proper elévage, whilst the reds are destemmed, à l’ancienne–by hand using old cane mats. Nothing is added at any stage and the resulting wines are dense, layered and nuanced. Pure and harmonious, like the great wines in this part of the Jura, they reveal themselves slowly over time.