KERMIT LYNCH WINE MERCHANT

Loire native Mickaël Olivon often traveled to the southern Alps in his youth to go rock climbing, but little did he know he would eventually make his home in the shadows of these dramatic peaks to become a vigneron. Raised on the rural outskirts of Nantes, he was exposed early on to the country tradition of growing and transforming his own food—his grandfather and mother taught him how to make pâtés, jams, and other preserves—but wine was never part of the story. Despite having no family ties to the wine world, Mickaël always had a fascination with viticulture. He felt drawn to the idea of creating a product from scratch, managing the entire process from start to finish, so he moved to Burgundy to pursue studies in viticulture and enology.

Upon receiving his degree, Mickaël sought vinification experience through numerous internships in cellars in France and abroad. He then worked for ten years as an agronomic consultant in the northern Rhône, allowing for formative exchanges with a number of reputable vignerons. Later, on a year-long bicycle trek through the Alps and beyond, Mickaël learned more about the challenges of viticulture in extreme terroirs. This journey of self-discovery further inspired him to settle in the mountains, sparking ideas for a future project of his own.

The seed planted years prior finally sprouted in 2019. Charles-Henri Tavernier, an eccentric artisan who pioneered natural winemaking in the remote Hautes-Alpes, was retiring, and Mickaël would take over. He had worked the harvest with Tavernier in 2016 and looked up to the old man whose life path mirrored his own: a transplant to the Alps drawn to the mountains, graced with a spirit of independence that led him to build something from the ground up and succeed against all odds.

The domaine sits above the town of Embrun in the Hautes-Alpes département, between the Alpine city of Gap and the French-Italian border. At the far north of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, the area enjoys a continental climate with strong Mediterranean influence, more similar to Alto Adige than neighboring Savoie or Provence. In fact, the Hautes-Alpes are distinct from both the Provence and Savoie wine regions, in terms of terroir as well as their winemaking traditions. “You need to have a pioneering spirit to make wine here,” says Mickaël, pointing out that local wines have rarely ever been produced on a commercial scale (even today, just a handful of small domaines call this area home). As a result, a hodgepodge mix of grapes—hybrids and transplants from other regions—are found on these Alpine slopes, with Mollard being the only true native. Mickaël has already begun replanting with varieties he feels are better adapted to the mountain terroir, including Savagnin, Pinot Noir, and Persan.

Mickaël’s 2.5 hectares (including new plantings yet to begin producing) are scattered across several tiny parcels on soils of glacial moraine and rocky scree at 900-1,000 meters above sea level. While the dry air at this elevation facilitates organic farming, the Alpine conditions present a number of new viticultural challenges. Vintage effects are amplified due to the unpredictable weather, but the diverse mix of grape varieties—often co-planted old vines—provide some protection from climatic mishaps. He prunes late to mitigate the risk of frost that runs well into May, and he does not trim the vine shoots to protect the fruit from summer hailstorms. “Optimization is key,” he asserts, highlighting how conventional grape-growing wisdom does not always apply in this extreme setting.

Armed with strong convictions from his many years of experience—among them, a distaste for herbicides and a penchant for sulfur-free vinification—Mickaël produces two whites and two reds from his little cellar nestled beneath magnificent snow-capped summits. With little winemaking precedent in this uncharted region, he is free to follow his instincts, adapting his methods to create something completely novel in a beautiful, but challenging environment. Mickaël’s cuvées are original wines of purity and class, characterized by floral aromatics, bright, fresh fruit, and stony minerality from these Alpine slopes. Born from the most unlikely of places, these unique wines illustrate heroic viticulture at its finest.