Portrait of an endearing leading pioneer figure, infinitely respectful of life.

A fully qualified agricultural engineer and oenologist, Alain Moueix is the director of the family property Château Fonroque in AOC Saint Emilion Grand Cru and of Château Mazeyres in AOC Pomerol since thirty-five years. He has been practicing certified biodynamics at Château Fonroque since 2002 and at Château Mazeyres since 2012. 

He is vice-president of biodynamic organization Biodyvin, a label that brings together 180 properties working in biodynamics, former president of Association of Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé, and consultant of a number of wineries in France and South Africa. 

In 2011, he was name “Person of the Year” by the famous French gourmet guide “Gault & Millau”.

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« I am part of a lineage that, since the 1930s, has upheld a certain idea of wine and widely spread its particularities on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. My family has always been committed to producing refined wines, following what my great-uncle Jean-Pierre Moueix called this now obsolete expression, “the Parisian chic.” I interpret this expression as a desire to reveal what Bordeaux calls the “race” of wine. 

This idea can be declined according to four essential aspects: Authenticity, Elegance, Harmony and Length, or Aptitude for aging. »

L’authenticité comme vecteur de transparence

Because wine has a vocation to express what its terroir has to offer, our work as winegrowers involves revealing its uniqueness. If we let the wine speak for itself, it tells the story of the place, its history, and reveals much of the winegrower’s personality.

Elegance as a source of heightened enthusiasm

Quality is an invaluable gift that always leads to a form of elegance. Elegance is an invaluable source of heightened inebriation. 

Harmony as a posture

This means observing and imitating natural phenomena as much as possible.

What is biological and biodynamic agriculture?

“I can only answer for myself, as there are so many different approaches. We know that nature expresses itself in interactions and our goal is to take into consideration all the actors of this natural conversation. The soil, the plant, the people who work in the places and the environment from the nearest to the furthest, everything counts and enters into the ‘body’ of the project.” 

Technically, this agriculture is based on the agronomic practices used in organic farming and complements them by invigorating the soil and the vines with preparations of animal and mineral origin that revive them and restore balance to the plant and soil. It also uses natural rhythms such as solar, lunar, and planetary rhythms. 

Biodynamic agriculture allows symbiosis of all the elements of the ecosystem. An approach that places organic intelligence and observation at the heart of vineyard progress with the aim of revealing the wines’ radiance and balance.

The mindset is reversed compared to intensive practices that destroy soils and boost plant growth. For even if the opulence of the harvest is “pleasant”, it has no interest if it is obtained without fruit quality and without preservation if the Terroir. The ecological argument is therefore obvious and accompanies us in our efforts to sublimate the wine, in our search for depth, beautiful texture, racy profile, length, balance and refinement.

He confides that, at the beginning, initiating a transition to organic farming and then to biodynamics represented a significant upheaval at the time. It was considered a transgression by many winegrowers in Bordeaux.

“However, as a winegrower, I could not adopt or maintain agricultural methods that permanently commit to a path of depletion affected by destructive energy. At Fonroque and Mazeyres, biodynamics means implementing an experimental toolkit that enables us to support natural phenomena in order to gain the best possible results in terms of resistance to disease, supporting growth processes, and wine quality levels.”

I work to maintain a fragile and threatened balance. The conduct of a harmony between a place and its history, the terroir and its specificity, the human being and the full realization of its contribution, occupies a central part in our reflection. 

Trusting in the strength of concrete biological languages is a trait of sensitivity increasingly shared by a growing community all over the world that refuses to simplify the complex and deny its responsibility in a chain of exchanges that nourish everyone’s life.

I apply this highly personal approach to my wines, with the aim of preserving their vitality and potential for dialogue with those who choose to drink them. My confidence in the power of concrete biological languages is a valuable guide, to which I add all the appropriate biodynamic tools to serve my project. 

This sensitivity is increasingly shared by a growing community, all over the world, which refuses “to simplify the complex and to deny its responsibility in a chain of exchanges that nourishes the life of each one”.

How has biodynamics changed the estate? 

“Eighteen years of work and exploratory research have changed the estate and those who live there. This patient adventure has resulted in the estate becoming the first Grand Cru Classé in Saint Emilion to obtain biodynamic certification. 

Since 2002, the vine has become resistant. We have learned to work the soil better, which has regained its structure. At Château Fonroque, the land is on a slope, and every year we used to go up the land. But, now, with the grassing, she no longer descends.

The wines have gained in verticality and expressiveness. They are very refined. Their growing international reputation speaks for them, and for us.

Biodynamics has provided me with the most credible answers. Wine touches humans. It is a prerequisite for any other consideration. The one that brings us closer to the subject, which is nothing other than contributing to the gustatory pleasure, to the culture of taste,

and the development of an inebriating experience that elevates the spirit.

Because what distinguishes a great wine from a good wine is the refinement of its aromatic expression and the silkiness of its texture. This exercise in crafting a great wine brings me back each time, with benevolent determination, to our role on earth, which is played out almost exclusively in the details and in our consciousness.”

We are pleased to be able to offer you some bottles of the 2016 vintage. More elegant than its predecessor 2015. The climate of the year has allowed the development of wines of great aromatic purity, combining floral and fruity freshness, with silky tannins and a perfectly mastered structure.

By experiencing the tasting of the 2016 Millésime, you will understand how Alain Moueix’s wines translate these ideas of Authenticity, Elegance, Aromatic Refinement, and Harmony.

For any information, you can contact us at the address owc@bacchusglobal.co.th, we will respond quickly and with pleasure.