Claude & Etienne Courtois

Claude Courtois is one of the pioneers of natural wine, having rediscovered more than 20 years ago in his native Sologne the path leading back to the “original” nature, which is why the French word Paradis appears in his estate’s name, "les cailloux du paradis", meaning “the stones of paradise”. The estate is made up of vines, fruit trees, hedges and a farmyard... It’s Etienne, the first of Claude’s two sons, who manages the family vines now, though Claude kept 1 hectare to keep himself busy. Julien, the second son, has a separate production (Clos de la Bruyère), where the approach is the same, through with a different sensibility, the result being equally delicious! On Claude and Etienne’s estate, one finds a multitude of grape varieties from here and there, many of which are ungrafted. Here, we let Mother Nature care for things, the grass grows between the rows, the vine expresses itself naturally and without any violent interventions from man, chemicals or anything else... To retain total freedom in their work, the Courtois prefer to have the majority of the production classed as table wine. But take note: the work in the vineyard and the cellar alike is high precision... and the wines are splendidly solid.