Collection: INTRODUCING
Fontaine des Grives

Benoit Périssé and Leïla Lare are making some of the most exciting, counter-culture wines in the Dordogne, a satellite zone of Bordeaux two hours east from the Atlantic.

There’s a diversity of wine styles here, ranging from free and easy drinking table wines to serious age-worthy Cabernet Franc and an elegant sous-voile Sauvignon Blanc.

The couple works mainly with Bordelais varietals (Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon), but their wines are not like any classic Bordeaux blends you’ve ever had. They also farm some grapes native to the region that have been long forgotten (vinified mostly as sparkling wines) – and are looking to the future with a new 1 hectare planting of Chenin Blanc.

Everything has an incredible purity of fruit and freshness that keeps us coming back year after year to drink their wines.

The domaine is located in a small hamlet about 30 minutes south of Bergerac. Benoît grew up in the nearby town of Eymet (which has more English and Dutch retirees than natives!) and started his career at Chateau Lestignac, a pioneer of natural and biodynamic viticulture in the region. Leïla hails from the Basque Country and joined him three years ago after winemaking school and domaine work in Jurançon.

The couple work biodynamically and are fond of experimenting with methods to work even more holistically in the vineyards — they have planted fruit trees in some of the plots, as well as put up small wooden houses for bats in the forests bordering their young Chenin plantings!

But it’s not all experiments. When Leila arrived in 2019, they bought one of the first organic vineyards in the region closer to Bergerac from an Englishman called Richard Doughty. Chateau Richard just happened to have some absolute treasures, including 60-year-old Cabernet Franc vines! Leila has had the wisdom to just keep the winemaking simple and age the Cab Franc for a couple of years in old barrels (we are getting the 2020 right now and it’s drinking beautifully).

The Dordogne, with its European retirees, cow pastures and timber forests, was a little bit sleepy and still seen as an outsider for the last few years even as many importers combed through forgotten regions of France. All of a sudden it seems to be hitting in both the natural and more classic wine worlds -- nearby Château Thénac (a historic regional estate) was recently purchased by Russian oligarch Roman Abromovich... the secret is out!