Alsace native, Eric Thill went to Jura in 2007 with his wife Bérangère, after completing his studies in Dijon. They fell in love with the region, so they settled here and established an organic wine estate, receiving the Ecocert certification in 2015. They started with a little less than 3 hectares of vineyards and since expanded to 7 hectares. Their vineyards are located around the village of Trenal, close to the commune of Gevingey, about 28 miles away from Arbois.

With great respect for nature, biodiversity, the terroir of the region and regional products, Thills work by hand, and try to be as sustainable as possible, even implementing biodynamic practices. They use recyclable corks and recycled bottles as well, to minimize their carbon footprint.

Eric’s philosophy is to express single varieties and single plots separately. In French, this is called the “parcellaire” method. He only works with his own fruit with the quest to express the unique characteristics of place and grape in his wines. Thus, his farming is detail oriented and labor-intensive.

This philosophy continues in the cellar where Eric works only with native yeast. All wines are spontaneously fermented, but see a tiny dose of sulfur at pressing, because the pressing can take a long time as it is very gentle. For white wines there is no significant maceration time, while for the reds the maceration time depends on the vintage. The wines are bottled when Eric feels they are ready, which can take between 6 and 18 months.