It was the writings of biodynamicist Rudolph Steiner that steered Valentin Morel from a career in international law to winemaking. He then embarked on studying winemaking in Alsace, where he was introduced to Pierre Frick and Bruno Schueller before taking over his family’s Poligny domaine of 6 hectares in 2014 and introducing simplified cultivation techniques. Morel’s farming practices pay particular attention to soil microbiology. The vines are divided between Triassic marne (marl) and clay-limestone soils with the respective grape varieties adapting to these terroirs. Poulsard and trousseau are on a main south-facing hillside plot of marl soil known as Les Trouillots, while Chardonnay, Savagnin and Pinot Noir occupy the top of a clay-limestone hillside.

The white varieties, Chardonnay and Savagnin are pressed, fermented and aged in barriques and for the reds Pinot, Trousseau and Poulsard are macerated and aged in stainless steel tanks. The rich minerality and volatile acidity of the Jura’s Jurassic soil is highlighted in the Chardonnay marked by exotic fruit. The Poulsard is a typical Jura variety with vinification and aging in vats on fine lees producing a frank wine that plays with lightness and has delicate notes of fresh fruit and acidity.