Since 1979, Pierre Gauthier’s been hand-farming 18 hectares in Benais, the beating heart of the Bourgueil AOC. They went organic in 2000, plow between rows, keep cover crops for soil health, practice bud-pruning and do green harvesting all to squeeze yields under 40 hl/ha. They even thin the canopy a few weeks before harvest. It’s an obsessive attention like this that really sets them apart.

They treat the cellar with the same fanatic care. Their underground domain is literally carved from the vineyard hillside and provides perfectly natural temperature control. They 100 % de-stem and ferment with native yeasts, letting the cuvaison stretch out for up to three weeks. These are wines from a true master of his variety and land. These are exceptional expressions that offer joy in their youth but can also live for an eternity.