Maison en Belle Lies

Saint-Aubin, Côte de Beaune

People like Pierre Fenals don’t come around too often in a lifetime. Effortlessly combining a profound scientific intelligence and soulful wisdom, he is pure crystal in the increasingly clouded industrial Burgundian farming landscape. This is reflected in his wines which possess a deep energy and knowingness; they are complex, detailed and deeply expressive Burgundies of outstanding quality.

On the surface the story of Pierre Fenals may look like a well-trodden path – successful Parisian turns to making wine on reaching middle age - but as with his wines, the incredible detail tells a different story. Paris had cultivated Pierre with a taste for the finer things and he became what the French call an amateur du vin or wine lover. Aged 52 and armed with an eonology degree he sold up in Paris as a vigneron working as a labourer in the vineyards of biodynamic producers Louis Trapet and Emmanuel Giboulot in Burgundy, as well as Lapierre in Beaujolais.

He owns around 4ha of vineyards and rents another 3ha to produce around 35-40000 bottles across 10 appellations from Bourgogne Aligoté through to the Grand Cru Corton-Charlemagne.

All Pierre’s vineyards are farmed with a deep respect and understanding of nature’s own rhythms and he employs his observations from his years tending other’s vines in biodynamics. Compost, biodynamic preparations and natural teas form the basis of treatments along with a little copper sulphate but, unusually for vineyards, no sulphur.

"What attracted me to biodynamics is this kind of harmony that one must have in one's behaviour, in one's reflections, it's global, it has an impact on everything", Pierre Fenals

In the winery the observations, biodynamic practices and respect for natural cycles continues. The whites follow standard practice of fermenting in stainless steel and the reds are fermented as 100% whole bunches in oak vats, with only foot treading. Each of the red cuvées is harvested only when flavour ripe, forget sugar levels, and then fermented for exactly one lunar cycle. This begins with harvest on the first day of the waxing moon and ending with pressing on the last day of the waning moon. Only gravity is used in the cellar with no fining, filtration or sulphur, using only a homeopathic dose at botting for some wines. The wines are kept on lees for extended periods up to 20 months before racking and bottling.

Pierre’s bottlings are clear, bright with pure detailing of their appellations and geological origins, albeit with a little rustic charm. They are still Burgundy and they are still typical, with a deep vein of energy that resonates as much with the soul as the palate. All this is served up with the smile of a man who has found his true, higher calling.