Pèira Levada

Hailing from a family of winemakers from the Bergerac region, it was in 2009, while working with Didier Montchovet in Hautes Côtes de Beaune that Alexandre Durand experienced a pivotal moment in his life as a winemaker: ‘That's where I understood that 98% of a great terroir wine was made in the vineyard, that is, in and with nature! It is essential to preserve, or even often recreate, natural symbioses. The terroir is alive. Soil, microorganisms, wildlife, flora, vines: everything is connected.’ Alexandre met his companion Sybil Baldassare in 2010 during the harvest period. After a few years in Italy, the young couple relocated to Faugères in 2014 to take on roles as farm managers. In the following year, Sybile established her own winery. In 2018, Alexandre established Pèira Levada - ‘Raised Stones’ referring to the many marble lith's found in the vineyards - 4.5-hectares divided into ten small plots of vines located in different parts of the Laurens commune, grown on soils made up of schist, marble, and limestone. Syrah, Grenache, Cinsault and Carignan are picked by hand in crates, are destemmed and vatted by gravity, then vinified with their native flora, undergoing delicate macerations of two to three months with no punching down or pumping over. The wine is then given the space and time to truly express itself through the use of fiberglass tanks. The resulting wines are pure and thoughtful with surprising depth and finesse.