Collection: Benoit Rosenberger

The village of Saint-Maurice is home to the already well-known wine-rock star Benoit Rosenberger. During our visit last winter, I got to take a look at his cuverie and a glimpse into his vineyards on the village's volcano.

Born in Sancerre he began as a former computer engineer and programmer, Benoit traded in his office life in 2013 to pursue wine making in one of France's most interesting and quickly emerging wine regions after coming shoulder to shoulder with local vignerons (Frédéric Gounan). He maintains 3ha of Gamay from 50- to 80-year-old vines growing on basalt, granite and volcanic sand. Everything in the vineyards is done by hand and he uses no chemicals of any kind throughout the process. He only uses tea infusions such as dandelion, nettle and pine in his vineyards. Also in the cuverie no chemicals of any kind come into play in the process, the wines are bottled without any addition of sulfite.

In the cellar, Benoit is uncompromising in his approach. There are no additions made at any stage and the wines are only bottled after a proper élevage, something he feels is vital when making wines in this way. Benoit's wines are full of energy. Light and drinkable with a powerful mineral finish from the energetic soil. However, the quantities are very small, which makes the wines even more special. We do our best to share the wines with everyone as much as possible.