Domaine de Thalie

Mâcon-Bray, Burgundy, France

Peter Gierszewski is a first generation Burgundian of Polish parents, who was born and grew up near the town of Cluny. He does not come from a winemaking family, but started to show an interest in wine in his late teens, early twenties, and ended up doing a degree in viticulture at a school in Mâcon. 

Following his studies he worked for various estates locally, but eventually opened a wine shop in Cluny that he ran for many years. It was through this experience that he was initially exposed to the world of natural and minimal intervention winemaking and fell in love with the style. Many of his friends were also already working this way so it was a natural progression for him once he eventually became a grower and winemaker. 

Peter searched for a long time for his own land and in 2009 he acquired 4.5 hectares in a subzone of the Mâcon appellation in the village of Bray. He has been certified organic from day one, and today he farms Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gamay, a little bit of Syrah and some recently planted hybrids in a beautiful corner of Burgundy at 400 meters in altitude where he is surrounded by forests, other crops, and cattle. This is a far cry from the monoculture more prevalent in Northern Burgundy. The altitude also leads to a high diurnal range which ultimately slows down ripening and yields wines of great freshness and stable alcohol levels even in hot vintages. 

The soils here are very varied across his five main parcels (with vines ranging in age from 10-65 years). Parts of it are limestone and clay like a large part of the Mâcon appellation, but he also has a decent amount of Marl similar to Chablis and also Granite like further south in Beaujolais. All of his varieties are actually planted on different soils which makes for a unique variety within his range of wines. 

Peter is an enthusiast of geobiology, which is a relatively young field of scientific research that explores the interactions between the physical Earth and the biosphere. This interest led him to install three massive 'menhirs' (granite stones) in strategically placed spots in his biggest parcel. Menhirs are directed and polarized stones, arranged specifically to channel the telluric energy from the depths of the Earth and celestial energy from the sky. The menhirs balance these two energies in order to boost crop growth and resistance, and generally improve the vitality of living beings within the range of the stones. When asked about the impact, he states that his motivation was what he perceived as a lack of vitality in this vineyard, something which has completely disappeared since. This gives the name to the wine that come from these vines - Les Pierres Levées, or the 'raised stones.' 

Peter's vision for the future is modest. He does not want to grow his estate beyond its current size in order to continue mostly working alone and comfortably providing for his young family whilst leading a simple life, working in his vineyards and always surrounded by nature. We look forward to seeing the evolution of these amazing wines over the course of the next decade and beyond.