Gilles Berlioz, Rousette De Savoie 'El Hem', 2022

Gilles Berlioz has an unconventional background for a grower. He wanted to live a rural life and first tried cultivating flowers, then breeding vines, but couldn’t make a living, so instead worked as a builder. After losing two fingers in an accident he recovered in Chignin, and surrounded by his family's 0.8ha of vines, he decided to give winemaking a try. Increasingly unhappy with using chemicals in their vineyards and with the compaction caused by too much tractor use, Gilles and Christine embraced organic practices in the late 1990s, with certification following in 2002. Winemaking has evolved too, with Gilles cutting out all use of oak in 2006, and recently moving to fermentation and élevage on fine lees in horizontal fibreglass eggs. Sulphur use has decreased as well to current low levels of around 35mg/l total. It was at this point that Gilles became obsessed with making top-class wines and so reduced his holdings to a more manageable 4ha as well as moving towards biodynamic viticulture - all their vineyards are now worked either by horse or manually with a hoe.