Jean-Louis Chave is one of the most cerebral and hard working winemakers we’ve ever met. He took over his family’s domaine in 1993 but as if that wasn’t enough work, a few years later he began reclaiming his family’s hillside vineyards in St. Joseph. These vineyards were abandoned and required re-terracing and re-planting. These are old vines that were only worked by hand or by horse and grown biodynamically on granite. The wine is fermented in large, wood, open top fermenters and then finished in old oak demi-muids.