Pierre OVERNOY and Emmanuel HOUILLON

Pierre Overnoy: a legendary winemaker

A sacred monster for some, an example to follow for others, a sage among sages for all, it is true that the Jura Pierre Overnoy still represents today tenacity, rigour and the human touch for a whole generation of winegrowers who want to work differently, avoiding the ease of industrial methods. Now retired, the kind Pierre Overnoy has left his place to his former apprentice, Emmanuel Houillon.

Emmanuel Houillon: the student who became a master

Pierre Overnoy started in 1968 on the family farm Winery in Pupillin with 3 hectares of vines, met Jacques Néauport and Jules Chauvet who introduced him to the precepts of wine without chemical additives and made his first wine without sulphur in 1984. Emmanuel Houillon joined Winery in 1990 and at the same time worked a few acres of organic vines until the end of his apprenticeship in 1997. He took over Winery in 2001 and became a partner with some members of his family in 2005. Today, at the head of just under 7 hectares, the Houillons continue Pierre Overnoy 's work in the most natural way .

 The Winery Pierre Overnoy

The soils are worked mechanically without chemical weed killers and enriched with natural fertilisers for top quality natural wines! The Bordeaux mixture helps in case of a hard blow in this region which can withstand heavy rainfall. Reduced spacing of the vines brings minerality and concentration.

The fermentation of the red grapes, destemmed, is done slowly to bring fatness, the vatting lasts more than a month and the juices support rare rackings. The whites, in the same spirit, are aged on fine lees and not topped up. With the exception, of course, of the yellow wine.

Natural wines without added sulphite

The vinification in stainless steel tanks is done without adding sulphite and the wines are not filtered to keep their purity and typicity and thus guarantee a better conservation. The wine is aged in old oak barrels or in barrels and demi-muids and bottled without sulphur. On clay-limestone, chalky, grey or blue marl soils, their Poulsard (2.43 ha), Chardonnay (2.2 ha) or Savagnin (2 ha) represent the quintessence of natural wines and the proof of an indisputable gustatory and emotional quality. The Houillons have chosen, for us, to work with nature, accepting the difficulties and risks that this entails for the best expression of Grape variety and the terroir. 

In the end, these marvellous winemakers offer us fruity red wines and whites with superb minerality! True terroir wines, very aromatic, from highly sought-after grape varieties. Long live the grape, long live the Jura!

NB: in view of the (too) small quantities available, the organic/nature wines of Winery Overnoy-Houillon are reserved for members of the Club Petites Caves. Thank you for your understanding.