Hervé Ravera’s 2022 Vintage | Le Grain de Sénevé, Marchampt

In 2007, Hervé Ravera pursued a passion for nature and farming, leaving behind his medical career to purchase an old house in Marchampt, southern Beaujolais, surrounded by a 2-hectare vineyard on steep slopes.

Hervé has worked with biodynamics since his first harvest, a practice learnt whilst working at Domaine Guillemot-Michel in Macon. Hervé works the land manually with the assistance of his horse, Reggae Nights. Harvesting involves friends and family. Each plot is vinified separately, aging in either concrete or fibreglass tanks. Grapes are for the most part left in whole bunches and fermented semi-carbonically, without added CO2 before being pressed using a century-old press attached to the house. Sulphur is never used at any stage, and the wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Hervé’s wines are unconventional, distinct from the region’s usual styles—neither heavily extracted nor akin to Beaujolais Nouveau. These wines are amongst the most pure and transparent in region.