Frédéric Leprince was based near Nantoux in the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune region for ten years, and initially toured the vineyards of France before settling in the region. Since 2019, Frederic has been devoting all his energy to his wines.
Frederic did not inherit any vineyards in Burgundy, making the task of acquiring them quite challenging. Nevertheless, leveraging strong relationships with fellow winemakers cultivated over a decade, he purchased sufficient grapes from them to craft a few barrels of wine annually.
His philosophy is to “keep things simple”, meaning that no technical input, and much less “high tech” input is used. He uses the right techniques applied with precision and very little intervention “to allow the terroirs to speak for themselves”.
After being harvested by hand, the grapes are placed in wooden vats for a maceration/ fermentation period ranging from 15 days to 3 weeks. Fermentation takes place spontaneously, the yeasts naturally present on the grapes transform the sugar into alcohol. Pushed up by the gas created by the fermentation, the cap of pomace must be brought back into contact with the grape juice. This operation is known as “pigeage” and ensures the extraction of the aromatic, colouring and structuring compounds found in the grape skins.
