Originally from Brittany, Jean-Christophe spent years working as a sommelier in upscale restaurants until he decided to make the stuff himself. His natural wines are true to his terroir and have a great personality.
After packing in his sommelier career, Jean-Christophe set off on his journey of learning how to grow it. He ended up in a 6 month work placement in the Loire as a stagiaire with Mark Angeli, and also spent time in the deep south, in Banyuls with the Parcé family. Working and mixing with these people and many others in the natural wine world really settled the ideal of winemaking for JC: Wine is made in the vineyard, so the health of the vines and grapes are paramount.
Jean-Christophe set off on his own in 2002, settling in the village of Saint Lambert du Lattay. Not only is this village the home of an excitingly diverse range of vignerons but not too far away, dispersed throughout Anjou there is a stellar group of wine growers including Sebastien Dervieux, Jerome Lambert and Olivier Cousin, to name but a few.
Although he started out with considerably less, today Jean-Christophe has close to 12 hectares. He works with certified organic vines of up to 60 years of age, farming a mix of Chenin Blanc, Grolleau, Gamay, Cabernet Franc and Pineau d’Aunis. Everything is done manually, whilst using some biodynamic practices. No synthetic pesticides or herbicides are used in the vines and only minimal amounts of sulphites are used - if any at all.
Jean-Chripstophe’s wines are lively and individual, with quiet confidence. They are excellent representations of the land from which they come – and of the man that bought them to life.