Experience: Self-taught and respected for his hard-work attitude, Stéphane is energetic and inquisitive. Instinctive by nature, he is driven by a desire to push boundaries and question accepted wisdom. Stéphane does not impose his winemaking style upon the wines he consults, instead taking pride in preserving the expression of their terroir.
Philosophy: “I like to define the potential of a terroir and try to adapt the winemaking to express that to the maximum.” Stéphane seeks to make wines that become memorials of place and time.
Influence: Stéphane closely follows Clos Fourtet throughout the year, during periods of calm as well as periods of intense work. He inspects every process with a detailed eye, delivering the irreproachable precision of our wines.
Experience: Winemaker at Château Pétrus for more than 40 years, Jean-Claude brings immense experience and a formidable body of classical knowledge. He was trained at the University of Bordeaux, under the revolutionary oenologist and researcher Émile Peynaud.
Philosophy: “A wine should tell you the story of the place it came from.” Behind these words lies a profound humbleness, a belief that the winemaker’s job is secondary to that of nature.
Influence: Jean-Claude visits the chateau at crucial moments for every vintage: during harvest time, vinification, and for the final blending. Infrequently enough to retain an external, objective perspective, but often enough to impart his wisdom upon our wines.