Le Bois Dieu - Salma Cassam Chenaï & Frédéric Thiry

For Frédéric, the love of wine came very early through his Burgundian grandfather, who took him as a child to visit the cellars of the great estates. For Salma, it was rather the love of fine spices, those from the large island where she was born, and whose treasures her brother Yoann brilliantly imports to Geneva (Spices & Vanilla).

After meeting in China and traveling extensively throughout Asia for their work, they settled in the Canton of Vaud more than twenty years ago, where they still work as lawyers. During their weekends, they discovered southern Burgundy and fell in love with the Brionnais region, where they renovated an old farm in a place called Le Bois Dieu.

This estate comprises a few acres of old vines, scattered amidst vast pastures, the rare remnants of a vineyard that once covered nearly 4,000 hectares before the phylloxera epidemic. In this "land of white gold," with its pristine environment, their encounters with Pierre Overnoy years earlier, a shared passion for unadorned wines that reflect the land from which they spring, strong friendships with winemakers in Burgundy and the Loire Valley, and very old Gamay vines (planted in 1936 and 1939) just waiting to produce beautiful grapes—all of this led them to take the plunge and make wine without any additives, as close to the fruit as possible and as naturally as possible. Without formal winemaking training, guided by their palates and the advice of their winemaking friends, Salma and Frédéric strive to capture, on a truly artisanal scale, the incredible beauty of this preserved terroir.

Visits and tastings at the estate are not possible, except for professionals and by appointment.