Whole clusters of Syrah and Alicante Bouchet fermented in direct pressed Merlot.
Karnage - Stéphane Planche & Charles Dagand
Karnage is the natural wine négoce founded by two longtime Arbois insiders: sommelier and wine-shop owner Stéphane Planche and Jura natural-wine pioneer Charles Dagand.
Stéphane spent more than two decades working as a sommelier, including at Arbois institution Maison Jeunet, and since 2002 has been the proprietor of Les Jardins de St-Vincent, the beloved wine shop in the center of town. It’s a place that has become something of a pilgrimage site for natural wine lovers, thanks in no small part to Stéphane’s legendary hospitality and an extraordinary cellar filled with old and unusual bottles.
He had been experimenting with winemaking for years, collaborating with Alice Bouvot of Domaine de L’Octavin, as well as Jean-Marc Brignot and Sébastien Morin, before joining forces with Charles Dagand in 2020 to create Karnage. Charles brought his own deep experience in Jura natural wine, having co-founded Domaine de L’Octavin with Alice Bouvot in 2005. Together, they built a négoce project without vineyards of their own, sourcing grapes from trusted growers across France and vinifying them in Charles’s cellar in Abergement-le-Grand.
There are no real geographic boundaries for Karnage. Fruit has come from the Jura as well as the Ardèche, Alsace, Limoux, the Hérault, and Roussillon, with Stéphane seeking out growers whose farming he trusts. The wines are made entirely from grapes fermented with their native yeasts, with nothing added and nothing taken away: no sulfur, no filtration, no fining. Just grape juice, allowed to become wine.
In the cellar, Stéphane favors gentle, infusion-style macerations, looking for the right balance of perfume, vibrant fruit, and subtle tannin for each variety. The wines feel light on their feet but are never lacking in character, reflecting Stéphane’s decades spent tasting and working alongside winemakers from Jura and far beyond.
Charles stepped back from winemaking in 2023, making that vintage the final collection produced by the pair together. Stéphane now carries Karnage forward on his own, bringing the same curiosity and instinctive approach to the cellar. Unburdened by regional rules or expectations, he makes wines according to a simple philosophy: wines of pleasure, honesty, and sincerity that he himself wants to drink.
Every bottle is unmistakably Karnage—pure, vibrant, a little unpredictable, and made to disappear quickly.
