Maison en Belles Lies

Pierre Fenals came to wine late, after a first life spent between organic chemistry laboratories and the Paris fashion world. At 52 he sold his company, studied viticulture and oenology in Beaune, and trained alongside Jean-Louis Trapet, Marcel Lapierre and Emmanuel Giboulot — the biodynamic figures who shaped his way of thinking.

In 2008 he bought his first vines and the following year settled in Saint-Aubin, founding Maison en Belles Lies. He farms roughly six hectares — Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Gamay and Aligoté — certified organic and worked biodynamically with parcel-specific herbal preparations. The name itself nods to a 17th-century monastic practice of rubbing barrels with the lees of the new vintage; his whites and reds alike are given long élevage on those fine lees.