Maison Stephan

Maison Stephan was founded in the Rhône Valley in 1991. Jean-Michel and his 2 sons, Dorian and Romain, own 5 hectares in the Côte-Rôtie AOC, 0.17 hectares in the Condrieu AOC and a further 5 hectares in some Vin de France vineyards. They craft their wines the old-fashioned way, using the “Jules Chauvet method”, as they state on their labels. Made up of several plots of vines (less than 1 hectare) in several Côte-Rôtie climats, the work here is intensive, especially as they do not use any chemicals in the soil or on the vines. This means ploughing by horse (in the lower-lying areas), using a winch, pickaxes for the weeding, and composting. The domaine’s Côte Rôtie vineyards are currently planted with 60% Serine (an original variety of Syrah), 25% cloned Syrah and 15% Viognier, varying from 15 years old to 115 years old, producing a total of 4 wines (Côte-Rôtie Bassenon, Tupin, Les Binardes, So Brune). Fermentation takes place in an anaerobic environment (whole bunches are saturated with CO2 to obtain finer aromas). No SO2 is used. The wine is aged in used barrels. The wines are bottled unfiltered and unfined. In 2023, the domaine was certified Biodynamic (Demeter), and Maison Stephan signed up to the “Vin Méthode Nature” specifications!