Biere Vivante de Jeannot is from this winemaker series, a blonde beer aged for 8 months in Burgundy barrels, on Pinot Noir lees from Yann Durieux. The fourth generation of a family of winemakers, Yann has made his own mark in Burgundy and beyond. The Pinot Noir lees give a touch of red fruit, and an additional layer of complexity to the beer. Lay it down for a few years, or chill and enjoy right away.

For years, Côte de Flon has been patiently waiting in the wings, and in 2023 it took centre stage; a direct press version of Weiss, Marto’s field blend orange wine, inspired largely by a memorable bottle of Dessous de Table from Catherine Riss in Alsace. Two years of aging, longer than the majority of Marto’s wines, was a combination of creativity and necessity. When frost affected 50% of the vines in 2024 there was plenty of unplanned barrel space, and they decided to preserve the barrels in the best possible way by leaving them filled with the previous year’s wine, waiting patiently to see where the extra months of aging would lead. 20 or so new 500-litre oak barrels from Burgundy were used, along with some larger vessels including Doppelstück (2400 litres) and Stückfass (1200 litres). Despite the new barrels, the oak note is shy and refined, elegant rather than overpowering. Bottled in June ’25, Côte de Flon is the table wine that Marto and Alanna had been waiting for: complex, multi-layered, full of life and with a sexy reduction on the nose.

Gewürztraminer from a rainy 2024, its saline minerality balanced by the tannic, concentrated wine of a hot 2023. For both vintages, the bunches were left whole, with daily punchdowns for a week before pressing. After aging in century-old oak, the two wines were blended with a small amount of Pinot Gris. The Gewürztraminer offers two distinct expressions of the same terroir; 40 to 45 year old vigorous vines from a clay-limestone parcel, where the soil’s water retention, a happy result of the clay content, sustains and nourishes the vines through hot periods of little rainfall. Combined, the vintages give a wine that is focussed, balanced, and utterly delicious. Yannick sees it falling somewhere between his previous releases ‘Cris et Chuchotements’ and ‘Deux Couleurs: Orange’; fluid and accessible, but with the salinity and long finish that has become a signature of his wines. A beautiful orange wine with balanced fruit, lovely tannins and lots of energy. Keep your eyes peeled for a second new wine in May ’26!