Laura & Ben Yvernay
Beaujolais, Cogny, France
 

Laure and Benjamin Yvernay took an unusual route into wine, having worked in agriculture and at ski resorts before settling into farming full time.
 

In 2012 they took over vines in Cogny, in the Pierres Dorées area of southern Beaujolais, and certified the domaine organic from that first year. Today they farm around 3.5 hectares, mostly Gamay, with small plots of the rare Gamaret and some Chardonnay. Some of their Gamay vines are over a century old, planted on granitic sand and clay on slopes so steep they harvest using climbing gear.
 

No herbicides or synthetic products touch the vines. Instead the couple rely on nettle and horsetail teas to keep copper and sulphur use to a minimum. In the cellar it's grapes and nothing else, semi carbonic fermentation, no fining, no filtration, no sulphites added at bottling.
 

Laure and Benjamin are part of a small, close knit circle of natural winemakers around Oingt in the southern Beaujolais, alongside neighbours like Nathalie Banes and Julien Merle, who share equipment, ideas and, by all accounts, a lot of mutual support.