Emmanuel Houillon/Maison Pierre Overnoy Arbois from Emmanuel Houillon and Pierre Overnoy.

Pierre Overnoy and Emmanuel Houillon. Profile

Viticultural is one of the smallest of all wine regions in . Over 80 kilometers stretching North to South, on a ridge never more than 5 kilometers wide, the Jura has 1850 hectares under vines. This is down from 20,000HA pre-phylloxera, when about 40 varieties were widely used. This has been reduced to fivesince the creation of the AOCs, with the local Trousseau and for red wines and for white, along withBurgundian grapes Pinot Noir and . Chardonnay dominates the plantations, although there are many types of plants and clones. The most interesting is called Melon à Queue Rouge, a type developed locally which has reddish stems.

Pierre Overnoy's father ran a 15HA farm of mixed agriculture in Pupillin, a village near Arbois. 2.65HA of the land was vineyards, which Overnoy took over in 1968; he left the rest of the farming to his brother. From his beginnings, he tended his vines in organic fashion, known at the time as traditional, i.e. without herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, nothing but copper and sulfur.

In his , he was a pioneer of what has come to be called natural wines, especially in his avoidance of the use of sulfur. The Jura, with its tradition of , made in a slowly oxidative fashion, was probably ideally suited for these explorations. Jules Chauvet, the Beaujolais négociant and wine researcher, was a mentor and a friend to Pierre Overnoy since those early years. Overnoy's goal was to make wines of terroir, which would reveal the minerality of their soils and the ripeness of their vintage. Stylistically, it was also a returnto what his grandfather's wines tasted like.

Emmanuel Houillon, a kid from the nearby, vineless area ofFranche-Comté (the region that comprises Jura), came to Pierre as an apprentice in the fall of 1990. A self admitted lost soul, Manu found his path working with Pierre.He'd alternate betweenenology school andworkingat the estate every two weeks. That lasted seven years, until he left school with a professional baccalauréat in and oenology. Overnoy then hired him as an employee, though by then they two had already formed an unbreakable relationship akin to father and son.

In 1995, whilestill a student, Houillon found 1/3HA of Chardonnay vines which he tended himself. He also planted 1/2HA of Chardonnay in 1998. That same year, the Overnoy estate grew by 2.5HA of Poulsard and Savagninwhen Pierre took over vines owned by his sister.The estate now consists of 2 HA of Ploussard (or Poulsard), 2 HA of Chardonnay and 2 HA of Savagnin . 30 ares of Trousseau were planted in in 2013.

In 2001, at the age of 63, Pierre Overnoy retired. Emmanuel Houillon and his wife Anne havebeen fully at the helmsince, with Pierre devotingmuch of his time to baking bread and enjoying the finer things in life. Still, he remainsan everyday presence for the family and the estate.

2020 Update:

Over the years Overnoy's reputation has skyrocketed to the point of becoming some of the rarest, most sought after wines in the world. It's all a little strange to us: for a long time the wines were only popular amongst a small subset of restaurants and wine shops in Paris and die-hard fans. If you wanted to drink one, chances are you could. Now bottles are fiercely guarded and "asking for Overnoy" is a daily faux pas made by inexperienced buyers and natural wine tourists on their first visit to Verre Volé or Cave Septime. When we started importing the estate in the early 2000's,the wines were considered wildly esoteric for the USA market and only a dedicated few would purchase them(shout out to Arnaud Erhart and David Lillie). We even had some restaurants pouring it by the glass!

But times have changed and the cat is definitely out of the bag. So with prices going up (bad crops, less wine, the wines frankly being underpriced for way too long) and the extreme scarcity, are these really worth all the hype? In our humble opinion: absolutely. Beyond the obvious Jura quirkiness, the estate is as singular as they come. Here are some of the reasons why.

The first and most impressive is the unwavering dedication to only releasingwine when it is deemed ready. In the vast majority of cases, eventhe most iconic wineries in the world release vintages in a chronological, scheduled manner. At Overnoy you never know: multiple vintages of the same wine are usually released together and the vintage is anyone'sguess. Furthermore, there are no set rules for how long the wine will age in wood or in bottle. Through regular tasting, Manu decides when the time is right to bottle and release each cuvée. And depending on the quantities and the quality of the grapes, often only a part of the vintage is bottled, letting the remainder evolve.

That means that the same vintage will often be bottled and released multiple timesfrom different foudres that have each takentheir own distinct path. Since 2018,the Houillon began adding the bottling date as the lot number of their front labels. You can spot these on the lower right sideto help identify the various bottlings of the same vintage. This fact is not made obvious in any way, you just need to know. It's part of thelarger lore inthe wines'crypticuniverse, whereone must have all the clues to decipher their true identity. With the exception of the Vin Jaune and Vin de Liqueur, all of the cuvées feature the exact same label. The only way to tell the difference is the color of the wax on the top of each bottle: white for Chardonnay, yellow for Savagnin, red for Ploussard. There exists a mythical green wax for the Chardonnay/Savagnin blend that has not been released in a very, very long time. Again, this has never been clearly explained or communicated other than word of mouth. Oh, and if it's a 50cl bottle, it's the Savagnin Ouillé.

Finally, despitean insatiable demandManu has refused to grow or buy grapes, all the while sufferingthrough a decade of near inexistent crops due to climactic hardships. He feels that their current size is as much as he can handle to truly do everything top to bottom himself. He is not interested in becoming a négociant and will only produce what nature gives him. It's a noble philosophy that we admire and respect tremendously.

Unfortunately, with the increased global demand for natural wine, bad crops and the very rare crossover between die-hard naturalistas and more classic sommeliers clamoring for all they can get, a perfect stormensued: we never have enough to satisfy even our best customers. It's also brought out some of the more unsavory sides of the world we work in: wine as a status symbol, grey marketing, accusations of price gouging...

It's too badbecause these wines come from some of the hardest working, humble and generous people we have the pleasure to work with. They have no desire for the limelight, for the glitz and the glamour and in fact live a very private lifestyle. And despite the sharp increases in price in the last few vintages (which to be transparent we actually encouraged them to do), the Houillon live a simple farmer's existence off the scant bottles they produce. At this point, all we can hope for is thatthe very little wine we receive each year (less than 400 bottles a year for the entire country) is enjoyed beyond the artifice of the superficial butfor all the workthat goes into eachbottle. Interview

This interview with Emmanuel Houillon took place in Pierre Overnoy's house in August, 2012.

Tell us about the estate.

Today, we work 6 hectares of vines. We grow three different grapes: about 2 h of Ploussard, 2h of Chardonnay and 2h of Savagnin. We're also planting 30 ares of Trousseau next year, which will be a new experience for us.

As far as our history, the estate was founded by Pierre, and today I have taken over all major responsibilities. The vines have always been worked organically, and our goal is simply to make a pure, authentic wine. We want you to taste fermented juice and that's it. Sometimes this is problematic, because people don't understand the wines or what we are trying to make. But overall, people are very open to the idea.

Can you tell us about Pierre's beginnings?

Pierre took over his family's estate. His father and brother were both vignerons, and he expanded the viticultural size of the estate by shifting from polyculture to monoculture. At some point early in his career, Pierre decided to study how to make wine in Beaune, where he was taught modern oenology. After applying these techniques to make wine, Pierre found it odd that his wines were so dull compared to his father or brother's; after all these were the same grapes! He had gone to oenology school to make better wines than his family's, but it ended up being the opposite!

Around this same period -mid-to-late 70's-, he met Jacques Neauport for the first time. Jacques told him that it was entirely possible to make wine without modern techniques and even without sulfur. In 1984, Pierre started vinifying without sulfur, only adding a touch at bottling. Starting in 1986, not one of Pierre's wines have seen any added sulfur.

What is Pierre's current involvement?

Pierre is still completely integral in my family's day to day life. He's still here, he's still a vigneron, but now his new passion is baking bread! He's always there to taste the wines with me, to give advice or lend a helping hand.

What about your involvement?

The first time I came to Pupillin was with my uncle, who had been buying wine from Pierre for a very long time. He knew the Overnoy family very well; over our many visits, my parents eventually befriended Pierre. I was in high school at the time, and by 1989 I would spend all my off time helping out in the vines. I was 14 at the time.

In September 1990, I went to Beaune to study viticulture, and that was really the beginning of my career.

Did you hope to start your own estate or to work elsewhere after your studies?

When you're 15, you don't really think about stuff like that! All I knew was that it was something I truly enjoyed -that I still enjoy- and that the vines felt like a wake up call. I was a bit of a lost soul in school, but learning to make wines with Pierre -especially with how different it was than what they were teaching me in Beaune- made me realize that even if you think you've found everything, there's still so much more to unearth.

So seeing how Pierre worked, and how completely different it was from what you were being taught in school, that really affected you?

We are always told that the teacher knows everything. But if he teaches you the wrong thing, you might spend your entire life doing something wrong and thinking it's right. We were told that wines without added sulfur were impossible to make, that it would invariably turn to vinegar. So to make people accept that it IS possible to do -and even today some people still don't believe it- that was something that marked me. This was 1990: people treated Pierre like an extraterrestrial!

After your studies, did you come right back to Pupillin?

The program I took had me splitting my time between Pierre's vines and school: each month I would spend two weeks in Pupillin, then two weeks in class. In July and August, I was in the vines the whole time. So I've always been working the same land. It's where I learned everything. I studied for 7 years, and in 1997 I came back to Pupillin to work full time with Pierre. I was salaried until 2001, which is when I took over the estate.

What's the work in the vines like? Everything is important, everything counts. I think the most important thing everyone needs to start focusing on is taking your selections massales very seriously. Go find the old vines wherever they may be, because otherwise you're going to lose them forever.

This is really important for the future generation of vignerons. Back in Pierre's day, people controlled the entire process of how their vines were planted. If they felt like they needed something that could withstand a colder climate, they would make selections from vines that were a little more precocious. Today, our climate is getting increasingly hotter, so it makes sense to find the vines that produce lesser maturities, that you can harvest later. The pépiniériste cannot do this job for you: he can only do the same, uniform plantings for everybody. People need to make personal judgement calls.

Has anything evolved in the cellar over the years?

We have a saying here: "You can always do better for tomorrow." I don't believe you can ever reach a point where you can say: "Everything is perfect, we'll keep it exactly like this." Everything is always changing: the climate, the yeasts that will ferment the wine each year... These are things that we know aren't static. So you have to follow the movement of where things are headed.

Obviously, we are trying to make wines that we like to drink. Wine from 200 years ago might not be what we'd want to drink today. So yes, there are always little changes happening here and there, but never any drastic overhauls.

What is your take on sulfur?

In my opinion, sulfur can in some instances be beneficial to viticulture and winemaking. Pierre always said it helps stabilize wines, and can carry them through time. The problem is that sulfur use has become standardized, and in many cases takes the life out of the wine.

The big argument is that it keeps the wine stable.

But this is a fool's tale! I would argue that alive wines often age better, because when a wine is unfiltered and unfined, you've got all the elements you need for it to age. If you want to make a wine that will age for a long time, there are many ways to do it: you can leave it on its lees for a long time, bottle them years before release...

Sulfur free wine often gets a bad rap because many of them have very obvious flaws, specifically brett, oxidation and volatile acidity. Yet this never occurs with your wines. Why?

There are important guidelines to follow if you don't want your wine to suffer from these flaws. You can't just do whatever you want, however you want to do it. You can make sulfur free wine every year, but that means that some vintages you'll need to be patient. Being meticulous with the grapes you are harvesting is THE most important thing you can do. Especially with the reds, if you're not sorting through what you're picking, it's not even worth attempting.

Another important detail: not letting the grapes reach over-maturity. The best fruit is the one picked and eaten exactly at the right time. If it's under-ripe, over-ripe or you let it sit for a few days, it's going to lose some of its purity.

How do you feel about the term "natural wine"? Our wines are what they are. As far as classifying them, I'd rather someone else do that: it's much more interesting for us, and gives us the opportunity to always put what we're doing into question.

Here's the thing: for a long time, these wines were misunderstood. There were so many " connaisseurs" that believed our wines weren't good because they were unfiltered, un-fined, un-everything... Today, people are more sincere when they drink. They taste a wine, and if they like it, they're happy. They are much more confident in their own palates. Better that than being told what you should and shouldn't like! So I think there is a future for these wines. I think that one day we won't talk about organic agriculture anymore, because everyone will be doing it.

You're convinced of this?

I'd like to see it happen! It's how we used to do things, right? Why couldn't it come back? In any case, I'm convinced that the next generation of great wines will come from this type of work.

Do you think this shift will result from new laws being passed, or simply a more conscious generation of farmers?

There is already an ever increasing amount of consciousness. We needed it. And now I'm meeting more and more people who are proud of what they do. They have a healthy outlook on life, and even if they're not working organically yet, tomorrow they will be. And the consumer is requesting it too: they are sick of always drinking the exact same wine every time, they want to taste the pleasure of something real.

What do like to drink?

Plenty of stuff! We have so many vignerons friends... I don't set any rules for myself, but I love wines from my friends. I won't name names, but from North to the South, I like it all! Visits

This visit with Emmanuel Houillon took place in July 2017. Words and photos by Jules Dressner.

Knowing how iconoclastic Overnoy has become, our annual visits with Manu, Anne and Pierre almost feels like a privilege. Getting an appointment is notoriously difficult, harder even than acquiring the wines. And it is true that in so many ways, the six hectare estate lives up to the hype: as pioneers of "sans-souffre", the unwavering attention to detail in the vines and the cellar, the insistence of only releasing wine they deem ready... This kind of adulation goes to a lot of people's heads, but I'm fairly convinced the Houillon are blissfully unaware of how obsessed the wine world has become with them. Manu just wants to make wine and take care of his family. He is one of the nicest, humblest and generous people we work with. He's also a very private person; posting his wines will get you hundreds of likes on social media, but I doubt many people would recognize a picture of him.

On this summer day, we got to experience something Manu had wanted to do with us for a long time: tour the vineyards and taste the results "sur place". For all the Overnoy madness, surprisingly little has been written about about the land. My big takeaway from this visit, as you shall soon see, is that the Chardonnay, Ploussard and Savagnin all grow in separate, distinct lieu-dits and terroirs.

We started our visit in Viandreries, the lieu-dit where the estates' 1.7 hectares of 50 year old Chardonnay are planted along with a tiny bit of Ploussard.

Manu had only slept a few hours, as he'd partied with friends the night before, then woken up at 5:30 to go on a hot air balloon with his wife Anne in the morning.

"I'm tired, but when you're spending time with friends, it's worth it."

While soaking in the beautiful landscape, Manu opened a bottle of 2012 Chardonnay.

"Everyone surrounding us here is working organically now. So much has changed in the last 10 years. It's very encouraging."

The Chardonnay had a beautiful nose; it's the rare type of wine you spend so much time smelling, you forget you're supposed to drink! Unsurprisingly, it is rich, complex, herbaceous and has a very long finish. The wine was fermented and aged in foudre for 4 years, and bottled August 16th, 2016. As mentioned earlier, the Houillon release wines when they feel they are ready, which is why vintages are constantly jumping around. Zaggy was very much enjoying les Viandries.

Unfortunately for her, we eventually had to drive over to a nearby cluster of lieu-dits: Le Grappiot, la Ronde, Huguenette and Aspis.

These four sites are all within a few steps of each other. At 70 ares, La Ronde is a combo of young and old Ploussard, with the oldest vines planted in 1959. It's a north-east exposition planted on red marl. The oldest Ploussard vines are in the hectare of Huguenette, planted in 1949. With all these Ploussard vines around us, it was time to open a 2015! The wine was almost amber in color. The nose was very aromatic, rich but still 100% Ploussard (think onion peel.) The tannins were a little more pronounced than usual, but very subtle and well incorporated. With a little air, flavors of blood orange became more prominent. In the solar 2015, the wine clocked in at 13%.

"With the weather we had, I was surprised the alcohol wasn't higher."

They've also recently planted 50 ares of Savagnin here that have taken very well. Our final stop was in the lieu-dit of Parc, where the Houillon's 50 ares of Savagnin grow on grey and red marl.

Half a hectare is not a lot...

Here, we opened a Savagnin Ouillé 2006. It spent 8 years in barrel, and was bottled in 2014. With a never-ending finish and beautiful, precise oxydation, it was fantastic. With a little air, the minerality really started coming out.

That was our visit. It was fun. It was educational. It was special. It was a reminder that one of the most revered, sought-after estates in the world is still the work of a humble farmer. And it won't even get us a thousand likes. Wines A.O.C Arbois Pupillin White

A.O.C Arbois Pupillin Red