SPIRIT OF THE AREA
01. Our story begins long before the wine.
It was in 1593 that our family, coming from Switzerland, crossed the mountains to settle in Alsace. Very quickly, it finds its place in Orschwihr, this village nestled between hills and vineyards. At the time, as everywhere else, we live from polyculture. Self-reliance is a necessity: each family raises animals — to feed, but also to work the earth — grow fields, orchards, and of course, vineyards.
This way of life continues, generation after generation, until an encounter. The Camille Braun, born in Orschwihr, Marguerite Noll, from Katzenthal, a village about thirty kilometers north.
Both grow up in families attached to the vineyard. And when they unite their paths, they make a decisive choice: abandoning polyculture to devote itself entirely to the vine and wine.
They leave the fields, the animals, and choose the unique but demanding way of viticulture. Not out of ambition, but out of conviction. For love of the place. By desire to listen the message they carry.
This moment marks a turning point. A gentle, but founding, tip, one that gives rise to a vocation.
From this union are born two childrenMarie-Laure and Christophe. It's Christophe who will take over the torch. After a few years of study, he returned to the field in 1987. It makes the farm grow, opens up to new terroirs. Gradually, the surface expands.
02. Biodynamics & Transmission
At the end of the 1990s, an encounter with the brand: work in biodynamics, sighting in some avant-garde Alsatian winemakers. It's still in the foreground, but there's evidence: for the good of the soil, the vine, the wine. He embarks, without delay, on a conversion into organic and biodynamic farmingfrom the early 2000s. By his side, Chantal, her companion, also enters into adventure.
The sepanoid domain. Today it reaches 15 hectares, built as a patchwork of plots around the village, a faithful reflection of the terroir of Orschwihr.
Then comes another transmission.
Of their two daughters, it's Annabelle who chooses to pursue history. After her studies, after several experiments elsewhere, she returned to Orschwihr in 2023. She's coming home to the ground. Time procurement This opens up: knowledge that changes hands, gestures that are transmitted, memory that becomes future.
03. Vine gests, gestures of life
It all starts with the Size. First gesture of the year, the first link with the sleeping vine. We practice Size Guyot Poussard, a respectful size, thought to follow the natural flow of sap. This gesture, apparently technical, nevertheless determines much more than a volume: it sets the framework for the coming season. It regulates, adjusts, and especially Listen to the strength of the foot, so that he gives what he can — not too much, not too little.
Then come Town hall, extension of this attention. In one or two careful passages, one lightens the vine of the useless. We keep only the essential: the buds that will allow balance, fair distribution, the promise of the best fruits.
From May to July, piling becomes our daily breathing. It's a hard work, almost choreography, which supports young twigs. We guide them without forcing them, we raise them gently to open up to the light. The vine is structured, Its foliage breathes. We avoid tangle, shadow zones, damp pockets. Air circulates, light filters.
And then comes the braiding — last move before the berries turn towards maturity. Here, no trimming, no scratches. We're going with you. We respectapex, this living end of the vine, this place of desire for growth. Keeping it intact leaves the plant fInitiate its movement, go all the way to the end of itself, then decide to offer its strength to the fruit. This is where the slow and beautiful adventure of the maturation.
But such a job, we could never carry it alone. We are fortunate to be surrounded by a faithful team, who walk by our side, who understand our vision and share our actions. Thanks to it, our demand takes root and our quest for excellence makes sense. To be many is to be able to watch every detail, to progress together with attention, to accomplish every task in the consciousness of the next.
04. Live soils
The ground is our first ally. Never left empty, it remains covered with vegetation, from autumn to spring, as a protective mantle. This cover nourishes the earth, retains moisture, houses micro-organisms, prevents the erosion.
When spring awakens, the intervention is measured, almost silent. A light passage, one row in two, to aerate without disturbing, lighten without nude. Then, at the end of summer, we sow carefully selected cutlery : they give the soil structure and diversity, they enrich its deep breath, its capacity to accommodate the vine.
For here the earth is not a silent base. It is a moving world, vibrating a multitude of beings that weave balance. Every root, every lumbric, every secret yeast participates. We trample her with respect : aware that the life of the ground is not a detail but the first condition of everything. Wine is born here, from this underground dialogue, from this invisible choir
05.Vendanges and Vinifications
When harvest time comes, all the rhythm changes. It is a suspended moment, a parenthesis where every gesture is done by hand, slowly, carefully. About thirty grape growers, faithful, attentive, collect what the vine has chosen to offer. Each cluster is scrutinized, touched, respected. The right time is not coming, you must seize it.
In the cellar, the same respect continues. Do not coerce. Don't hide. Only accompany. Pressurizations are slow, measured, as a serious, carefully weighed word. The juice clarifies from him-even, then to his place : lightning, tank or barrel, for a long time — silent breeding time.
Here, no recipe, no motionless calendar. Wine decides; We listen. Time dictates, instinct accompanies. Nothing superfluous disturbs this word. Only a slight touch of sulphur can be given, if the wine requests protection.
For our goal is not to impose a taste, but to let wine say. Say its soil, say its climate, say its vintage. Also say the winemaker's gesture. Not in prowess, but in truth. With sincerity. Right.
