Pauline and Géraud are both Jura natives and got started young in their winemaking careers, hanging out in the vines as children. They met while studying in Dijon and created Domaine des Marnes Blanches upon their return to the Jura in 2006. Organic from the outset, they’ve built up their holdings to twelve hectares spread across four villages. Fermentation takes place with wild yeasts, and sulfur use is minimal for the whites, non-existent for the reds. After they lost 90% of their yields to frost in 2017, Géraud also set up a micro-brewery, which is a handy little side income in years where the weather sucks (looking at you, 2021).La Porte Saint Jean is the project of Loire native Sylvain Dittière and Pauline Foucault. Sylvain kicked things off with an internship at Château Yvonne before stints with the greats. Gérard Gauby, Thierry Germain, Marc Tempé, and Clos Rougeard (where he met Antoine Foucault). He began farming his own vines in 2010 and now works 8 hectares.


Each vineyard has its own microbial fingerprint and Sylvain believes that’s what gives each wine its unique character. To preserve this, he avoids additions, instead relying on time to stabilise the wines naturally. Sulphur is used only in tiny doses at bottling (max 30ppm). He figures out how much by doing bottle trials and leaving them outside for 48 hours to see how quickly they oxidise.


Reds are always destemmed and softly macerated in concrete. He’s experimented with whole bunch but found the stems never ripen alongside the grapes in Franc, leading to bitter, green, astringent wines. Whites are direct pressed, then slowly aged untouched in serious barrels, Clos Rougeard cast-offs lol.

However, it’s those Loire troglodyte caves that is the true secret to such pure, pulsating expressions of place. The super stable temps allow for long, slow ferments and very gentle aging. Things can come together harmoniously at their own precious pace. Time is allowed to do its magical thing, fully undisturbed.