Some vignerons make natural wines because it's fashionable. Others were inspired by neighboring producers, or the scene at the local wine fair, or maybe because they liked some wines they tasted at Paris's hip natural... Read More

Some vignerons make natural wines because it's fashionable. Others were inspired by neighboring producers, or the scene at the local wine fair, or maybe because they liked some wines they tasted at Paris's hip natural wine bars. Fair enough.

Then there is Patrick Corbineau, a man who spends no time at all in Paris's wine bars and in fact has only been to the city—just an hour away on the train—once in his life! This is not a man who follows fashion.

He is also not a man who follows his father, who encouraged him to modernize wine production. Patrick resisted; he wanted to continue making wines like the ancients, who were his his true inspiration.

Corbineau's wines are truly old-fashioned. They have more in common with the Cabernet Franc you might have drunk in a classic 1920s Paris bistro than in a 2017 Paris wine bar. But he definitely checks all the natural wine "boxes." He farms organically in the Touraine (nearish to Chinon) and even plows with a horse. He doesn't add much sulfur—just a touch at bottling. Extractions are light and the elevage simple. How the ancients did it.