Hannah Fuellenkemper

Nouvelle vague

Originally from Wupertall, Germany, Hannah moved to New York, US, just a couple months old, and then to England aged 5. She addended a Law university and went on to do a Master in Law in Amsterdam, where she also started writing, willing to dedicate herself to literature. As she started writing for food and online magazines, she worked on the side at Bar Centraal, where her interest for natural wine grew gradually.

To associate her passion for cooking with natural wines and fun parties, Hannah created Le Carton, organising pop-up wine bar nights in Amsterdam and around. Her curiosity in wine ever growing, she went to work harvest with Baptiste Cousin, for the first time in 2016 and then again for a couple years. 

In the Spring of 2018, on her way to Banyuls, where she was going to go work at les 9 Caves, she stopped in Ardèche, visiting Andrea Calek and Stephana. She starts helping out, and one thing leading to another, she ends up staying there for almost two years, helping the Calek and learning alongside Sylvain Bock, and never makes it Banyuls.

Ardèche is a tough, warm region that does not fully appeal to Hannah. In search of grapes that she can better connect with, she travels to the Loire, in 2019, where she ends up helping François Saint-Lô, Jérôme Saurigny or Mai and Kenji Hodgson. Her first wines are made back in 2019 together with François Saint-Lô, in the Loire, with Grolleau and Cabernet, some of Hannah's favorite varieties.

Another trip later, she finds herself in Chassignoles, Auvergne, renting a gîte that's been left empty during the 2020 lockdown, and finally finds a garage in Langeac, minutes away from the train station, where she vinifies her 2021 vintage, Syrah, Cinsault, Barbera from Piemonte, Chardonnay from Ardèche and some of her own grapes too, from a tiny vineyard in Boudes, she took over from no less than Aurélien Lefort.

A journey that's still in the making, but one we're thrilled to follow closely!