To tell you what Les Jardins de Saint Vincent is all about, I need to try and tell you a bit about myself first.
Interested in the food industry, I studied to get a cook's CAP (vocational training qualification) in 1989 at the Simone Weil cooking school, in Dijon, Burgundy. Catherine Doré, a fascinating sommellerie teacher, was the first of many critical meetings that I would feed off later in life and led me to attend the complementary mention of Sommellerie.
And so things started… In 1994, I went on to disciver the vineyards of the Rhone Valley, Alsace and the Loire Valley. A few years later, another crucial meeting turned the way I saw wine and my career upside down… Les Griottes – two buddies with sparkling minds and free spirits, Pat Desplats and Babass Dervieux. This was my first meeting with wines that were totally free – free from everything and especially sulfur – and created emotions and pleasures I’d never experienced before.
During my adventures, I also learnt from a series of work experience – first at La Tour d’Argent in Paris, and then at La Côte d’Or Bernard Loiseau in Saulieu. I finally accepted the position of Chef Sommelier of the Maison Jeunet – a Michelin two-starred gastronomic restaurant in Arbois, Jura. Today, my story with this Maison goes on, as I continue to manage the cellar and the purchases and select the wines.
My love for telling stories to the restaurant's clientele led me to creating Les Jardins de St-Vincent, where I dreamt of telling a wider audience about all the wonderful stories hidden behind each bottle of my cellar.
I was eager to share my favourite picks, and especially my love for “pure juice” wines – no inputs during vinification, and made with pure grapes. It was a crazy bet at the time… Thanks to which, I can now offer you a selection that carries 26 years of passion, of very special and privileged encounters, strong friendships, fantastic discoveries, delicious moments, a bit of luck and a lot of authenticity. Simple moments of happiness, that I can draw out thanks to my 100%-natural selection in our cellar in Arbois, and on the website of Les Jardins de St-Vincent.
In 2018, I pushed the dream further and made my own wine in collaboration with Alice Bouvot, Domaine de l’Octavin, a great lady that offered me the opportunity to create my first batch. In 2019, a collective of friends and I created the BAKA Project – after years of fantasizing about the day we’d make wine together. And what a bunch of friends ! Sébastien Morin (“Winecraft”), Charles Dagand (« Carlito ») et Jean-Marc Brignot (if you know, you know…) and I all came together and joined forces in the fascinating and powerful experience of wine-making.
Today, I am continuing this winemaking experience with Karnage, a trading company created by Charles Dagand. Making my own wines feels a bit like having definitively fallen into the barrel! This adventure allows me to deepen my understanding of wine and to provide Les Jardins de St-Vincent with an ever more accomplished selection.
Stéphane Planche