After spending a good amount of his life in New York City and starting a restaurant with his wife called ICI, Laurent left the city and his wife to follow his new love back to France. Fortunately his new love Noella Morantin was into wine, and so after a while experimenting and renting vineyards, he purchased half the estate from Clos Roche Blanche, as the owners retired in 2015. He now owns 6 hectares and works a mix of organic and bio-dynamic.Unfortunately, most of his wine actually ends up back in New York, where he sells to many of the restaurants and bars there.
The first wine Laurent actually made was this La Pause from 45-year old Loire Gamay grapes. After the harvest, the grapes are fermented in whole bunches with the stems, which adds silkier tannins and rounds out the wine if the acid is higher in a particular vintage. It was aged in various wood barrels from September to February before it was bottled. Laurent says, he tries to forget how he makes the wine, so he can start fresh every year. Food wise this is quite flexible and is fantastic with a fresh salad or grilled fish.