Bruno Debize

About

Owner & winemaker: Bruno Debize
Vineyards: 2ha across two parcels
Vineyard management: Biodynamic
Soils: Clay-limestone, with some marl
Grapes grown: Clairette, Muscat

Quick facts:

• Bruno Debize, of Beaujolais fame, has come out of retirement for two vintages only to make three wines from a parcel in the foothills of the Vercors mountains in the Drôme region.

Bruno Debize was well known as a winemaker in Beaujolais–his single parcel, biodynamically-farmed Morgon bottlings were beloved by serious Beaujolais obsessives worldwide. In 2010, the French government uprooted a parcel of his old vines in order to build a highway, and Bruno took that as his cue to retire from winemaking altogether. However, he couldn’t stay away from wine for long, and in 2023 he came across a parcel in the Diois that inspired him to start again.

The Diois (pronounced dee-wah) is a small wine region found in the Drôme, a side valley of the Rhône. Historically, the region was best known for producing Clairette de Die, a low-alcohol, sweet sparkling wine. As the market demand for light, sweet sparkling wines diminished, the region became all but forgotten, but there are still interesting old parcels of Clairette and Muscat to be found. With its higher elevation (400-600m) and cooler climate relative to other parts of the Rhône Valley, it’s a particularly compelling place to make wine as the effects of climate change increase.

Bruno’s parcels are found in the southern foothills of the Vercors mountains in the Diois, between 500-600m of elevation. One of the two parcels is especially steeply sloped–it’s true mountain viticulture. There’s a 1000m-tall rocky cliff positioned to the southwest, which shields the vines from the summer sun. The soils are calcareous clay with some marl. The vineyards are farmed biodynamically and planted to Clairette and Muscat–it’s the northernmost planting of Clairette in France.

This project consists of only three wines: two whites and one sparkling, all dry. The wines are vinified simply and precisely, with native yeast fermentations and aging in 400-600L demimuids. The sparkling wine is traditional method, with frozen must used for tirage. The goal is tension, precision, minerality, and freshness.

Bruno made only two vintages from these vineyards before deciding to return to retirement, so these wines are a limited-time opportunity for a glimpse into a Beaujolais icon’s take on a forgotten region.