“Vigneron par amour” a name quoted by Louis himself, re-affirming the fact that he loves what he does. He decided to leave a life in industry behind and re-connect with nature, not only ideologically but in every aspect of his life. He now leads a lifestyle which many would refer to as “simple” but with simplicity comes its own set of challenges, its financial hardship and a deep reflection as to what is really important in our lives. It is not a life without stress, but Louis’ preoccupations are focused around the well-being of his family and his impact on the land they call home.
Louis took to the vine in 2013 and had the opportunity to experience wine making from the point of view of the likes Michel Guignier, Domaine Valette, Tripoz & Balagny, established wine makers in their own rights who inspired a passion of crafting low intervention wines, pure wines with a conviction to biodynamic agriculture and wines without manipulation. He installed himself after 3 years of close apprenticeship, in April of 2016 Louis crafted his first vintage on 20 rented acres, allowing him to release his first wines. This grew to 1.5 hectares in 2017 and 2 hectares in 2018 with a majority of gamay and 35 acres of chardonnay. Installed in the Cerdon AOC - method ancestrale gamay & poulsard, Louis was more interested in making still wines. When he installed himself, Merignat was a new home for him, he did not feel obliged to follow suit with the near entire output of the small village, nor was this style his personal preference. He began vinifying uniquely still wines in the middle of Cerdon territory with the certitude that these terroirs could deliver high quality still gamay, made naturally and grown biodynamically. Louis is now in the process of conversion to Demeter as he re-purposes a portion of his parcels that were once handled less sensitively.
Louis took to the vine in 2013 and had the opportunity to experience wine making from the point of view of the likes Michel Guignier, Philippe Valette, Tripoz & Julie Balagny, established wine makers in their own rights who inspired a passion of crafting low intervention wines, pure wines with a conviction to biodynamic agriculture and wines without manipulation.
The vines are pruned once in spring and mown only once before harvest. More and more attention is paid to the affect and relationship between vines and flowers during the season. Biodynamic are sourced nearby in Burgundy and made in the village, there is a large enough collaborative of winemakers in the village that contribute and share in preparations.
In addition to biodynamic preparations, treatments are always supplemented with various herbal teas (nettle, horsetail, wicker, buckthorn, comfrey ...), black soap and sometimes essential oils. Over the years, I have improved my biodynamic practices, but I want to go further and explore a viable model of natural agriculture based on my various influences (Steiner, Fukuoka, ..) and on-going experiments. For the sake of consistency, produce natural wines from natural viticulture. All the cuvées are pressed by hand, vinified with the greatest delicacy throughout the process and are 100% pure grape juice.
