Aurélien Lefort

Aurélien Lefort, who trained at the École des Beaux-Arts, apprenticed with Michel Auger in the Loire and Patrick Bouju in Auvergne before settling in Madriat, near Boudes in the Côtes d'Auvergne, in 2011. His natural wines are made in tiny quantities, often fewer than 500 bottles a cuvée, and are prized by natural wine collectors.

He takes on abandoned vines on volcanic basalt, granite and clay soils, converts them to organic farming and works them by hand. Gamay d'Auvergne leads, with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The wines ferment with native yeasts, often as whole bunches, mature in old barrels and are bottled without additives, sulphur, fining or filtration, as Vin de France.