Jerome Bretaudeau set up on his own in 2005 having made wine for others for the previous 10 years, notably Jo Landron at Domaine de la Louvetrie. His Domaine de Belle-Vue is today one of the leading lights in the region and the quality of his wines is outstanding, indeed there is an underground buzz on these wines amongst France’s best wine bars and bistros.

Three things set him way apart from the rest and are the reason that his wines are so good; he harvests by hand, his vines yield only 35hl/ha (in a region where 90hl/ha is normal!) and he only uses the available natural yeasts for fermentation.

From Vallet Gabbro, this represents Bretaudeu’s third experiment with vinification and aging in concrete egg and was bottled at the end of 2022. Brimming with marine tension and imbued with infectiously juicy, subtly crunchy fresh apple fruit combined with mouthwateringly lingering saline minerals and stone. The sense of transparency, energy and brightness here is superb and the wonderful balnace it has leads me to think this will age wonderfully. Incredible and now a cult wine in France.

- Importer, Andrew Guard