RESPLENDENT ROBINOT 🍇 (ZERO/ZERO LEGENDS)

Source note: This post is adapted from Parched's November 12, 2026 newsletter

Good morning.

Ask a wine lover for their favourite producer, and it can be impossible to get a straight answer. With all the great wine out there, how can you narrow it down to just one? There is one name that's always on my short list, however, and that's Jean-Pierre Robinot.

Robinot opened one of the first bars in Paris dedicated to natural wine, L'Ange Vin, in the late 1980s, while also co-founding the natural wine magazine Le Rouge et Blanc. In 2001 he made his first vintage of wine in the small village where he grew up in Jasnières, splitting time between there and Paris; a year later he closed his bar and moved permanently with his family to Chahaignes focus on winemaking. The Robinots now have ten hectares across Jasnières and the Coteaux-du-Loir, focussing solely on one white (Chenin Blanc) and one red (Pineau d'Aunis) grape. The wines are as natural as can be—Jean-Pierre was a co-founder of Les Vins S.A.I.N.S. (Sans Aucun Intrant Ni Sulfites), an organisation whose members commit to making wines with zero additives.

If you know anything about me, you know I love a good pét-nat. (I also sometimes love a not-so-good pét-nat, but I digress...) Robinot's are some of the best of the genre. They're both from négociant fruit and labelled as L'Opera des Vins (wines from Robinot's own grapes are labelled as L'Ange Vin, like his former bar). They're both made the same way, fermented in cuve then aged for 18 months on the lees in bottle before disgorgement. Fêtembulles, 100% Chenin Blanc, is tart and mineral-driven; Les Années Folles, 100% direct-pressed Pineau d'Aunis (is it a rosé? the pale colour is nearly undetectable but definitely there), is clean and plush.

The two Chenins available are both made the same way—15 months élevage in old barrels—but couldn't be more different. Charme, from 40-year-old vines, is dry, crisp, and punchy, the type that makes you want to finish the bottle in no time at all. L'Iris, from 90-year-old vines, is lush, expressive, and contemplative.

Similarly, the two reds are both Pineau d'Aunis fermented for three weeks and then aged 15 months in old barrels. Le Regard is the lighter of the two, showing off the grape's signature peppery notes, whilst Lumière des Sens has more tannin but balances that with more acidity as well.

I should note that although all of these bottles are ready to drink immediately, for those with the willpower to wait your patience will be paid back in full (anyone who thinks natural wines can't age didn't try the 2009 Robinot Nocturne that a friend was generous enough to share with me a few years ago). One bottle for now, one bottle to stash for a while, win-win.

Blink and you'll miss it: we also just received a small stash from Anders Frederik Steen and Anne Bruun Blauert, who make wines in the Ardèche from, in their words, 'grapes and only grapes'. Their wines are unconventional, uncompromising, and (more than anything) alive, and they almost never produce the same wine twice (notice the ever-changing poetic names of their cuvées). Made from grapes they grow themselves as well as from their friends at Le Mazel, these wines might not be for everyone but adventurous drinkers will be highly rewarded.

On the relatively tamer side: Viognier pét-nat; a white blend that drinks and looks like an orange wine, equal parts Chardonnay, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc, and Grenache Blanc with 2-5 years ageing; and a fuller rosé from direct-pressed Carignan and Grenache. On the wilder side: a rosé of Cinsault and Syrah that sees 2 years in foudre; a light Syrah/Chardonnay blend macerated for 9 months and then aged in barrel for 2 years; a high acid Carignan with 10 months infusion and 2 years of ageing; and a deep, slightly oxidative Chardonnay like none you’ve ever had before.

Happy drinking!

Cheers x,
Mike