Atelier du Sage de la Passe

L'Atelier du Sage de la Passe is the story of an encounter where passion takes precedence over reason. A chance meeting with Mr. Prud'homme, a wine consultant who, after having spent 28 years as General Manager of Mouton Rothschild with Baron Philippe, worked for major Bordeaux and South of France estates and helps at the Atelier... This person transmitted to me the passion that drives me today, convincing me that making wine is relatively simple and requires very little time. I know today that this is not quite true... My first harvest dates back to 2011 and has been going on every year since. Nevertheless, to this day, making wine is not my main activity, still a passion. I have neither land nor vineyard. I buy the grapes and transform them into wine in my workshop at the bottom of the garden (having started the first years in the horse box for the reds and in a room of the house for the whites). Today, I buy the grapes from winemakers that are friends or from friends that are winemakers... One of my priorities is the selection of the plot of land and the grapes. The plot of land is selected according to the composition of the soil, determined by pedological studies, and generally on slopes following the idea that the vine that suffers develops its root system in depth. The grapes themselves are selected on two or three rows of the plot. It is picked at the desired maturity (for a balance between degrees and acidity), which requires vigilance and reactivity to assemble the team of grape pickers (most often composed of two to three people). The principle of the Workshop is that good wine is necessarily made from good grapes. Beyond the selection of the parcels, the grapes are therefore respected to the maximum. The objective is to have the healthiest grapes possible. Strictly selected, picked at maturity, they are handled with delicacy. The objective is also to have only grapes, nothing but grapes. Hand-picked in 8 to 10 kg boxes, the first sorting is done in the vineyard. Two manual sortings follow. All stages of vinification and maturation are carried out without additives (except SO2) and according to biodynamic principles. The vinification and maturation are done naturally, in barrels only. The volume produced is approximately 2,000 to 3,500 bottles, whites and reds combined, with vintages of 300 bottles for the smallest, 900 bottles for the largest. They vary according to the terroirs and grape varieties discovered and the people met. L'Atelier is my little creative space, a place of artisanal discovery and enriching encounters.