Known locally as ‘the philosopher’ Yves already knew quite a lot about growing grapes under similarly difficult conditions, hailing from a Champenoise family and helping his parents tend the vines that grew along the chalk valley sides. After studying biochemistry at university in Montpellier, he retrained in oenology and honed his craft in wineries across France, Australia, New Zealand and the US. In 1996 he bought the land that would become Terres Falmet, and began replanting the abandoned portions of the vineyard. Almost everything had to be built from the ground up, with no buildings or equipment in the domain’s possession. Moreover, the vineyard’s gradient made it impossible to mechanise much of the labour, even the planting of vines, with Yves’ careful manual viticulture a virtue born of strict necessity. Yet, for all its difficulty, results have vindicated his impassioned, meticulous and patient labour, Terres Falmet rocketing to the top of the quality tree in Saint-Chinian after just a few decades of operation.

The secret of Yves’s wine lies in the emblematic slope of la Dèveze, an infertile strata of limestone and pebbles overlying deep clays. Water percolates through this highly permeable upper layer into the clays, which act as a reservoir in times of drought, and force the vines to grow extensive, searching root systems. This geology helps reduce vigour, and also ensures that the vines never suffer hydric stress during even the hottest and driest of summers. Its steep north facing aspect provides perfect exposure whilst also minimising the risk of sunburn or overripeness, Yves is able to harvest healthy and high-quality grapes whatever the vintage. The vineyard is planted to Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault, Aramon, Carignan and Mourvèdre, Yves practicing a form of lutte raisonée and always trying to put ecological considerations at the heart of all his work. More recently, Terres Falmet has gained formal HVE certification.

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