Collection: Etienne & Claude Courtois

Claude Courtois, known as the Loup Blanc in the small world of 'natural' wines, has been offering for more than twenty years totally atypical wines, made with the greatest care, in his own way and without artifice. He is considered to be one of the great pioneers of natural wine making in Loire. Today the domaine is under the control of one of Claude’s two sons, Etienne Courtois. Les Cailloux du Paradis is a 13 hectare estate, in the heart of Sologne. No pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, chemical fertilisers, or synthetic chemicals of any kind are allowed on the vines or in the soil of the vineyards. At Les Cailloux du Paradis, Claude and Etienne use only vertical presses. The wines are marked by tension, mineral or acid, frankness and complexity. The soil under here is is mostly made by a thin layer of silica which is mostly flintstone (silex) dust, under which there are deep clay flint stones, the roots going deep into it and feeding of a rain water which behaves like a silica extract. Other parts of the vineyards are very rich in quartz, which is basically melted silica. If you haven't had a try of Les Cailloux du Paradis' wines, I would describe them as strikingly alive and mineral. These non-appellation wines are gems that make you happy and feed you at the same time.