Domaine de la Petite Soeur

Adrien de Mello's story is fascinating and full of twists and turns - both literally and figuratively. This talented winemaker, who switched to natural viticulture in 2015, is now based in the Anjou region. Before choosing this land as his base, he travelled both within and outside France, specializing in 100% natural viticulture.

His first trip took him to Quebec, where he discovered viticulture through his work as a grape-picker. He then fell in love with biodynamic viticulture, which he learned about from the books his mother sent him from his native Brittany. Subsequently, South Africa, the United States and Quebec (again) were his learning grounds for growing and winemaking.

You'd think that his return to France in 2010 would have sounded the death knell for these incessant peregrinations... but, although he vinified his first nus at Bernard Duseigneur's (in Châteauneuf-du-Pape to be precise), he left again after a few years. Not so far away this time, as he finally landed on the land of the current Domaine de la Petite Sœur - a name inspired by the arrival in the world of his daughter, sister of his partner's first child.