About Maison M.Chapoutier

Established in 1808, M. Chapoutier is one of the oldest producers in the Rhône Valley.  But its current worldwide fame - and the quality of its wines today - can be credited to the arrival of Michel Chapoutier in 1990. His willingness to change established practices - plus his determination to reflect the full potential of individual terroirs - has cemented his reputation as one of the greatest winemakers in the world.

The seventh-generation bearing the Chapoutier name to craft wines within the Rhône, it is reasonable to say that Michel Chapoutier is one of the most important figures not only within his native region, but the whole of France given his impact on the world’s fine wine scene.

Travelling extensively throughout both the Old and New wine producing worlds in his youth, Michel returned to the Northern Rhône with both vigorous passion for his craft as well as extensive knowledge gathered from hundreds of traditional and revolutionary vignerons from around the globe. The most important, lasting lesson learnt was the importance of terroir and the expression of nature’s nuances – a principle clearly evident throughout the modern Chapoutier offerings.

Setting about purchasing shares in his family company until he possessed a managing control, the first act of this masterful figure at the helm of Chapoutier was a revolutionary conversion of the entire estate to biodynamic principles in order to respect and encourage the terroir. An unprecedented move considered to be extraordinarily risky at the time, today many of its peers are merely playing catch-up to this imperious producer at the very height of its powers.