Sébastien Morin

Before Sébastien got into winemaking he was the owner of a small IT company in Lyon, when he incidentally got acquainted with a bartender who introduced him to natural wines. An encounter that opened up a completely new world to him and eventually led him to quit his job and pursue a career in natural wine. It also ended up costing him his marriage, but that’s another story..

Before he established himself in Saint-Étienne-des-Oullières in the southern part of Beaujolais, Sébastien gained valuable practical experience by working with Charles Dagand and Jean-Marc Brignot in Jura and Alsace. Two cult figures in the world of natural wine that Sébastien has been in working with on a casual basis since his first vintage in 2016.

Today he owns a beautiful vineyard in one piece just outside of Saint-Étienne-des-Oullières with an astonishing view of the valley. In the past year or two he has also been renting an adjacent vineyard planted with very century-old Gamay vines, that he is planning to buy, and last year he has been buying some Chardonnay grapes from a local organic winegrower in order to experiment with macerated and barrel-aged Chardonnay.

Gamay from the hands of Sébastien are gently out of time, so to speak. He makes use of long macerations, often for three to four months, mostly with destemmed grapes and otherwise a combination of destemmed and whole cluster. This style of winemaking that has for some reason come out of fashion creates deep and earthy Gamays that are quite strong in alcohol. However, with time they turn into the most subtle and elegant expression of the variety.