Julien et Sophie Schaal

In 2011, Julien Schaal and Olivier Biecher launched a wine merchant business specializing in grands crus. In 2013, they were joined by Julien's wife Sophie, a Burgundy oenologist trained in Dijon, who fell in love with Alsace. The couple decided to divide their vintages between them, with Julien keeping the grands crus and Sophie offering more accessible wines. For Julien, the wines are mainly made from Riesling, a grape variety he considers best suited to conveying the typical characteristics of the Grand Cru terroirs. Sophie is more focused on wines that are enjoyable, delicious, and cheerful, giving a warm impression of a "welcoming" wine. At the same time, since their first vintage of Chardonnay and Syrah in 2005, Julien and Sophie Schaal have been running a wine business in South Africa. This adventure has allowed them to create wines from Chardonnay, a grape variety to which they are particularly attached due to their personal histories. But they also work with Syrah and Chenin, with the particularity of trying to make terroir wines in this vineyard, which is not accustomed to such practices. The result is fine wines that are inevitably influenced by Burgundy while retaining a South African character.