In 2005 Arnaud Tessier was catapulted into the driving seat when father Michel died and he and partner Catherine were forced to take responsibility at the domaine with no notice and relatively little experience. Michel used to sell almost everything to negociants, including fairly classy ones like Verget, and they still sell some fruit in bulk. Thankfully they are retaining more and more fruit for themselves.

The change of generation required a huge amount of effort from Arnaud and Catherine. However, both work like demons and seem to share a delightfully positive outlook on life. They can communicate between each other apparently just through eye contact. It`s fascinating watching them together and their intimacy seems to extend to their vineyards, because they get hugely differing aspects from each one. Pretty much everything here is done by hand. (CW 22/01/15)