Origin: Jura, France
Grapes: Savagnin

This requires a little patience so open an hour or so beforehand.

Patrice Béguet and Caroline Hughes left the bright lights of Paris in 2009 to return home to embrace the Jura winemaker's life in the small village of Mesnay, a stone’s throw from Arbois in the Les Planches-près-Arbois gorge.

Committed to sustainable viticulture practices (Demeter certified) and winemaking techniques, they own 4.5 hectares of vineyard in the AOC Arbois appellation at over 300 metres above sea level, including one of the most coveted slopes of Arbois, Les Corvées, and a parcel on the famed Côte de Feule vineyards in Pupillin, amongst others.

Patrice has an environmentalist bent, sowing wild flowers, leguminous plants and cereals between vineyard rows. He works his vineyards biodynamically, applying yarrow, nettle, dandelion, chamomile and meadowsweet preparations. So committed is he to this lifestyle that he meticulously sources biodynamic straw for his straw wine and even an ancient breed of Alpine sheep graze on indigenous grasses between vines in the winter.

There is also a focus on diversity with lots of native fruits surrounding the vines and beehives strategically placed at the bottom of vineyard slopes. The fruit is always hand harvested and sorted in the vineyards. The domaine is also a member of Le Nez Dans Le Vert, a biodynamic wine growers group in the Jura.

In the cave, he is a keen experimentalist, making use of extended macerations and egg-shaped barrels.

All wines are fermented with indigenous wild yeasts, with some fermentations lasting up to six months. The wines complete their élevage (or "upbringing") in a mixture of stainless steel tank, eggs, and various aged old oak barrels. He has always used very little sulphur, if any, for all his wines and from the 2015 vintage, he has used no SO2 at all.

The wines are all unique and individual. They are aromatically wild, profoundly textured and generous on the palate.