[ MANIFESTO ] – Renaissance des Appellations

"In terms of taste and flavour in wine, these can only ever become original and inimitable through the stamp of a terroir and its microclimate. All over the planet, terroirs exist as the unique interaction of 4 factors in a matrix: heat, light, precipitation and geology. It is the combination of these factors that each plant will absorbe in its own way, thus creating the subtlety of each AOC (Controlled Appellation of Origine).

Our understanding of the particularities of this matrix in certain zones gives rise to the greatness of an AOC and guarantees consumers a taste linked to the uniqueness of place. For a vine to be able to absorb through its root system the uniqueness of its terroir (minerality of the soil and sub-soil, orientation, slope, etc.) the terroir must be living, and thus totally free from herbicides. And to correctly capture the many factors of climate (wind, sun exposure, humidity, etc.) the plant must be allowed to develop and grow as naturally as possible. In particular, the leaves must be free from all synthetic chemical products which disturb photosynthesis and the general development of the living plant.

When healthy agriculture (organic or biodynamic) allows a place to express itself through the vines, cellar technologies (and the secondary/arbitrary flavours they can generate) become useless and detrimental to such an expression of place. The wine thus retains its original taste and its ability to mature with total transparency and honesty for the consumer."

Nicolas Joly