Philippe Pacalet

Philippe Pacalet is the nephew of Marcel Lapierre, the man widely credited with starting the natural wine movement in Beaujolais, and he trained directly under Jules Chauvet — the Beaujolais chemist whose research made sulphur-free winemaking a serious, science-backed option rather than a hopeful guess.

Before starting his own label, Pacalet spent a decade as winemaker at Domaine Prieure-Roch, running practices that were radical for Burgundy at the time: organic farming, whole-cluster fermentation, wild yeast only, zero sulphur during vinification. In 2001 he founded his own negociant house in Beaune, renting rather than buying parcels across the Cote de Beaune and Cote de Nuits — proof that you don't need to own the land to make some of the region's most talked-about wine.