Claude, Etienne and Julien Courtois, a family of winemakers

Les Cailloux du Paradis & Le Clos de la Bruyère

In the natural wine movement, Claude Courtois is a historical figure; he occupies a space that is at once essential and marginal. Essential because he has not once strayed from his total and uncompromising commitment to preserving the life of his soils and vineyards’ biodiversity, from his first vines in Provence in the 1980s - abandoned because of recurring fires - to the creation in 1992 of his estate Les Cailloux du Paradis in the Loire Valley.

His estate spans 18 hectares, six of which are vineyards, in Soings-en-Sologne (Loir-et-Cher), on the borders of Sologne and Touraine, on a clay-siliceous soil. Marginal because he runs his estate – or rather, farm, with animals, fields, orchards, and woods – without deferring to the constraints of local appellation laws. Along with the region’s traditional grape varieties (sauvignon, pineau, romorantin, gamay, côt, cabernet franc) Courtois also planted many unusual or unknown varieties: this diversity is illustrated by the emblematic Racines vintage. Among these non-local grape varieties, the winemaker shows a particular predilection for Gascon, a red grape variety that may have originated in the Orléans region, but which once had its moment of glory in the Yonne, where the Courtois family originally hails from.

More audaciously, he also planted Syrah – which was ostensibly planted in the Loire Valley many years ago. Courtois’ love for Syrah led to several run-ins with wine authorities: Following many lawsuits and fines, Courtois decided to graft the forbidden Syrah vines with the famous Gascon grape. Another form of ‘marginality’, when compared to the conventional viticulture unfortunately dominant in the region, is Claude Courtois’ strictly traditional philosophy, which eschews all chemical products in both the vineyard and cellar.

During the 2010s, Etienne Courtois, Claude's youngest son, gradually took over the reins of Cailloux du Paradis without changing the philosophy of the estate.

In 1998, Julien Courtois, Claude's eldest son, created with his partner Heidi Kuka his own estate, Le Clos de la Bruyère, in the same village of Soings-en-Sologne. The vineyard has 5 hectares of vineyards also with clay-siliceous soils. Typical Loire grape varieties are planted for both white (Esquiss and Évidence) and red wines (Ancestral, which nonetheless includes some Gascon in the blend). In his estate also, the father’s philosophy of totally natural work prevails.

Singular, sometimes "atypical", and even disconcerting in their uncompromising sincerity, such are the wines of the Courtois family.

See all wines from the Courtois family