Saumaize Michelin - Saint-Véran AOC France

Roger Saumaize - Michelen

Roger is the winemaker and on meeting him one is as likely to think him a crazed artist as anything else. Passionate rants about biodynamics (an energy based approach to organic farming which he practices) or various wine techniques are illuminated by wild hand gestures and contorted expressions. As he showed us around his beautiful old winery, one couldn’t help but notice that this was a man at one with nature and proud of his craft. This is wine made at nature's pace. Grapes are handpicked and sorted and the press is a gentle, slow process. Wines are usually fermented in oak and aged for a year before bottling but he was keen to point out that he lets the wine dictate how and where it is fermented and matured. It’s as if he makes wine by feel, an intuitive approach that is refreshing in a world of industrial systems.