Maison En Belles Lies, Aligote, 2023

Having spent many years living in the polluted air of big cities, going back to nature and connecting with it was a big draw for Pierre, and working biodynamically was imperative. He became fascinated by the subject (many years before his career as a vigneron) after picking up Rudolf Steiner’s book The Agricultural Course at a Parisian flea market. From then on he attended courses on biodynamics while applying its principles to the family farm (in the Cantal region) as a hobby. Nowadays he tends 7ha, half of which he owns while the other half is rented, spread over ten appellations across the Côte de Beaune. Many of the herbs and plants used in the preparations are harvested in the vicinity of the vineyards, while some others such as arnica, wormwood and yarrow are picked and dried in the Alps where Pierre has a cabin. Weather permitting, the vineyard and cellar work is paced by lunar cycles – the reds, for instance, are harvested when the moon is rising and the maceration lasts a full lunar cycle of 29-30 days.