Our Partners

We work with some fantastic French winemakers, who all share our ethos of bringing passion and joy to wine. We have partners from a number of France's great regions, bringing their unique terroirs and climates to the forefront, whilst all maintaining high environmental standards.

Champagne Faucheron Gavroy

A small independent family house that's been making fine Champagnes for over 130 years. Covering only five hectares of vines, the Faucheron only make Grand Cru Champagnes as Récoltant-Manipulant, or Grower Champagnes.

They have now abandoned the use of pesticides and use natural techniques to preserve their vineyards in line with their strong environmental commitments.

The grapes are pressed slowly ensuring a delicate extraction which will preserve the clearness of the grape juice. All the Champagnes then undergo malolactic fermentation to obtain rounded and very tasty wines. The various crus and grape varieties are vinified separately in order to preserve all the particularities of the specific terroirs and allows the Faucheron to assemble the best wines possible every year, including the use of their long-established reserve wines.

In line with their traditional approach all the bottles are then put on racks and riddled by hand. Far removed from industrial winemaking, the family pay attention every step of the way.

All this effort leads to some tremendous Grand Cru Champagnes, perfectly balanced and smooth. We're pleased to be able to bring them to the UK for you.

Domaine Wilfried et Réjane

Wilfried and Réjane Pouzoulas, a brother and sister, picked up the vineyard in the late 1990s, but it's been a family business since the 18th century and making wine since the end of the First World War. The village of Rasteau in the Southern Rhone valley is known for big, bold wines, but has undergone a bit of a revolution recently, and the Pouzoulas family has been at the heart of that. Every generation since has added their own vision to the winemaking, all the way through to their current philosophy.

Truly engaged with respectful winemaking, they stopped using pesticides early and have been certified as organic since 2009. Their vineyards are swept by the Mistral and the warm Mediterranean sun allowing their syrah, mourvèdre, carignan and cinsault to produce some extremely high quality wines.

Believers in natural winemaking, the grapes ferment on indigenous yeasts and there are absolutely no additives during the winemaking. The wines are mostly aged in concrete to ensure purity and finesse. The care put into the winemaking is obvious when drinking their stunningly delicious wines.

We are so happy to bring these wines to you, some real classics and some more unusual Rhone wines which are sure to please.

Domaine Bader

The Domaine Bader has been producing wine since the 17th century. Located in the commune of Epfig, one of the most important wine-producing communes in Alsace, the family had succeeded one another over the generations. In 2006, Pierre Scharsch, from a different family of winemakers took over the estate after learning his trade in Burgundy. As a sign of respect for the work of the family that had worked the land for over 200 years, his vineyard continues to bear the Bader name.

 

Since his arrival, the Domaine has reached a size of 13 hectares, and has slowly but surely made the entire vineyard organic, reaching that goal in 2019. He learnt to love his terroir when he was studying and is passionate about allowing the Alsatian land to express itself fully through the wines he makes. Some of them are light and fruity, some are oaked in vast Foudres (large oak vessels much larger than a traditional barrel), some are also aged on lees for several months to build wines in a style more reminiscent of Burgundy, where he studied winemaking.

 

A true lover of his terroir, Pierre continues to push the astonishing quality of his wines ever higher. We are incredibly pleased to be able to bring these to you.

 

Domaine des Homs

Husband and wife team, Jean-Marc and Anne de Crozals run the Domaine des Homs, an exceptional, small vineyard deep in the Minervois, near the spectacular city of Carcassonne. True perfectionists, they have run the estate with the highest respect for the land, going organic as early as 2006 and follow biodynamic principles. Covering a total of 22 hectares (15 in the AOC Minervois), the estate is on a low plateau, also known as the Terrasses du Minervois, which brings winds that help to cool the area in the hot summers of the South of France. The biodynamic wines they produce are all beautiful expressions of the terroir with low average yields, only using the best grapes available.

Keen to experiment, some wines are aged in steel, French Oak or amphora. Jean-Marc is permanently improving both inside and outside the chai and all this effort is clear in the exceptionally well balanced wines, showing the devotion they give to their vineyard.

We are delighted to be able to bring you their wines.

Domaine de Combet

Based on a plateau overlooking the village of Monbazillac, the Domaine de Combet, the winery now covers 21 hectares in the area. David and Matthieu have been making organic wines that show the highest respect for the terroir, whilst leaving some of the rigidity of the AOCs behind. They pick their grapes manually, some of which have been covered by Noble Rot, to create some original wines that are sure to please. The grapes are gently pressed and matured mostly in steel to retain their fruit, and some of the special blends spend some time on French Oak to really develop intense and interesting scents and flavours.

Firm believers that wine should first of all be a source of pleasure, they blend grapes in unusual ways, such as blending white and red grapes, or growing varieties not normally found in the region like Chenin Blanc.

Their wines have received the highest of accolades, a place in the cellars of the Elysée Palace, and we're extremely proud to be able to bring these to the UK for you.

La Microwinerie

Maxime Rozé set off on his wine journey years earlier in Chinon, in the Loire, where he got his first experience of biodynamic winemaking. He was immediately hooked and set off around the world to really perfect the craft.

After his journeys, he decided it was time to make his own wine. As a small startup, he decided to go down the route of buying in his grapes from several smallholdings, who all grow their grapes organically. He then needed somewhere to set up, enter the Darwin Ecospace on the right bank of the Garonne. In a historic Bordeaux fashion, the Microwinerie follows in the footsteps of the "négoce", a practice dating back to the 11th century in the region to facilitate trade with England. The name is well-chosen as it's a tiny operation in a small space in an old repurposed barracks. The scale allows Maxime to really experiment and put plenty of his personality into his wines.

The wines are a true twist on classic Bordeaux styles, with the added possibility to mix and match grapes which aren't traditionally present, such as Manseng from Jurancon and Chenin from the Loire.

We're very excited to be able to bring you this update on a classic and market them in the UK.

Maison Valentin Piquereaux

The fruit of a fusion of two family smallholdings, Maison Valentin Piquereaux covers 16 hectares of beautiful organic vineyards on the right bank of the Bordeaux region. Perrine, Christophe and Philippe are driven by a shared passion for delicious wines that aren't all that traditional upending the old rules of Bordeaux. The vineyards themselves are on the rolling hills of the area, overlooking the beautiful medieval town of Monségur, and are all cultivated organically with the upmost respect for the terroir. The wines are then aged in steel or French oak depending on the grape and the vintage, before being assembled into some truly remarquable combinations and styles, very unlike traditional Bordeaux reds such as sparkling Merlots and Cabernet Sauvignon vinified like a rosé to maximise the juiciness of the grape.

We are so happy to be the first to introduce these wines to the UK, and we can't wait for you to be able to try them.