Corentin Houillon Vieux Foug takes its name from the Gros Foug mountain chain overlooking Corentin's Chautagne vineyards. Made from 100% Gamay grown on steep slopes of molasse soils—the sandy grès molassiques characteristic of glacial deposits—this wine embodies the region's unique terroir. Corentin vinifies with 40% whole clusters and 60% destemmed grapes, employing a 21-day maceration period. Following spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts, the wine undergoes partial barrel aging before bottling without sulfur or filtration. This biodynamic approach allows the mountain-grown Gamay to express its full potential while maintaining the freshness inherent to high-altitude viticulture.

Corentin Houillon

Corentin Houillon’s first wine memories date back to 1991, when he was foot treading the Poulsard grapes from the legendary Pierre Overnoy. Having the chance to be fully immersed in such a family from a young age is of course a huge asset. Those experiences were a decisive influence in his decision to become a winemaker, and he went on to study wine in Beaune and Montpellier. Corentin subsequently worked with some stellar estates that are at the forefront of Biodynamic farming in France, such as Domaine Tissot in Jura and Domnique Derain in Burgundy. He then travelled to the New World to broaden his experiences, and finally began making wine in Switzerland under his name for La Ville de Morges. 

Corentin ended up settling in the Chautagne region, literally a 5 min drive from Marie and Florian Curtet. He is now looking after 5ha of steep vineyards (Altesse, Jacquère, Pinot, Gamay & Mondeuse) that comes as one single block, all planted on "molasses soils" surrounded by forest.

The vineyard has no neighbours at all, just their cellar at the bottom of the hill. Corentin works mainly with concrete tanks and barrels, giving the wines time and oxygen. Talking to him is quite invigorating as he has quite a lot of energy, and he laughs a lot too. He knows exactly what he wants to do, and has invested a lot in state of the art equipment to work the soil in his particular conditions, and in some instances, has built his own bespoke tools that are better suited.

"I have grown up in an environment where we advocate zero additives, zero chemicals, and no sulphur. I’ve always learnt to work this way."