Olivier and Corinne are wine craftsmen who have always believed in the terroirs of Mâconnais.
Olivier Merlin’s first contact with the vines was in 1977. That year, he harvests in a Mâconnais estate and discovers an atmosphere, a family spirit. His passion for the winegrower’s profession began then.
An experience in the Jura
After a BTS in viticulture and oenology at the viticultural high school in Beaune, Olivier Merlin worked for two years in a cooperative in the Jura as a winemaker.
That’s where he meets Corinne, his wife-to-be.
In June 1985, Olivier leaves for California. He vinified two vintages in Napa, before taking over the Vieux Saint-Sorlin estate on 1 January 1987: four and a half hectares and an estate to be rebuilt which had been in the same family since 1750.
It is here that they decide to live and work, not because of family heritage, but because they like this place and because they have the intuition to make good wines by respecting the basics in the vineyards: working the soil, harvesting by hand. In the cellar: long pressings of whole bunches, fermentation and maturing in oak barrels.
