Anders Frederik Steen & Anne Bruun Blauert

A Danish in the Ardèche

Anders Frederik Steen was born in Denmark, where he trained as a sommelier in prestigious establishments in Copenhagen, starting at Noma, where he developed a taste for healthy, simple and lively wines, which are really "only made of grapes". He then went on to be in charge of the wine selection for Relae restaurant and its bar Manfred's, where he established one of the first 100% natural wine lists, also expanding into wine importation in Denmark.

As the years went by, Anders was more and more attracted by the call of the vineyards. It is with the famous nomadic producer Jean-Marc Brignot that he learned about winemaking, buying grapes from producers he liked and signing rare and unique vintages, which are now anthology.

Tired of going back and forth between France and Denmark and keeping his multiple hats on, Anders had to make a choice. It was to be the vine. He settled in Valvignères, the "valley of the vines", already popular with the Romans, in the Ardèche. With the help of Gérald Oustric of the Le Mazel estate, he made his first vintages in 2013. In Alsace too, he recovers some of the Bannwarth family's grapes, which, unlike many winemakers who take them home, he vinifies on site, in a cellar dedicated to him. Anders argues that the cellar itself is also part of the local terroir and that it cannot be separated from the rest. Today, while he grows 0.6 hectares of his own grapes, Anders continues to work with the Oustric and Bannwarth families.

From his experience in the kitchen and as a sommelier, he retains a certain spontaneity, the desire to work with what exists, to adapt, to create constantly. Thus, each year, the wines differ, sometimes direct presses, sometimes macerations, blends varying with the vintage, but always made at the time of harvest, so that the juices are fermented and matured together, becoming one.

Anders makes wines of rare depth, expressive and striking. He vinifies outdoors, lets the juices ferment spontaneously, and the vinification and maturation are completed in old barrels, tuns or vats, always in the open air. The result is juicy and surprising nectars. The approach is his own, the grape varieties are classic for the region, Carignan, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Syrah... The wines are never the same, specific to the vintage, an ephemeral aspect, the expression of a terroir by a winemaker, at a precise moment.