After years drinking and collecting some of the world’s finest bottles, Marc Delienne retired from his day job in Paris to become a vigneron in his sixties.
Delienne spent four vintages learning all he could about organic farming and low-intervention winemaking with the legendary Eloi Dürrbach of Domaine de Trévallon, as well as a stint at Alain Graillot’s Domaine de Fa in Beaujolais, before producing his own debut vintage in 2015.
Having transformed his property, Château de l’Abbaye, into a model of biodiversity and biodynamics, Delienne now farms 2ha of old Gamay bush vines near the top of Fleurie’s famous ‘La Chapelle’ slope, as well as 12ha around the domaine. Fermented with semi-carbonic macerations using native yeasts, his wines are bottled without fining or filtration and minimal added sulphur.
