La Belle Colline 2021

What is the recurring, dazzling dream of practically every sommelier? Making wine... instead of selling wine. Sometimes, not often, it’s true, the dream comes true, and that’s what happened to this carpenter, Jérôme François, who became a wine-guidance professional and, after inheriting a small estate from his uncle Charles, settled in Ostheim, at the heart of Alsace, where the vines grow in harmony and telluric correspondence with the orchards, progressively expanding his domain into the areas of Ammerschwihr, Zellenberg, Kaysersberg and Ribeauville, now totalling 5.5 hectares.

In his task of building a biodynamic whole across his vines, Jérôme is helped by a flock of Ouessant sheep, and by Sirus and Fastoche, two draught horses which, replacing farm machinery, prevent soil wear and the destruction of soil microorganisms. This whole team was joined, in 2018, by Morgane Stoquert, an old friend of Jérôme's.

The work carried out in the winery obviously follows biodynamic precepts, with minimal intervention, native yeasts carrying out the alcoholic fermentation and, when so decided, letting the wine's own bacteria be released to carry out malolactic fermentation. In this way of understanding the wine cycle, it is always the land that dictates the terms of the wine.