Grandbois Wines

Philippe worked his way around the wine world as a sommelier and hospitality manager: the Barossa in Australia, Waipara Hills in New Zealand, Dijon in Burgundy, and finally the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, where he ran bars and restaurants and spent every spare hour in cellars. Tanja trained as a pastry chef in some of the Black Forest’s better kitchens, got pulled towards wine instead, went to the vineyards of West Kelowna and then worked harvest in the Mosel at Dr. Loosen.

They met in the Okanagan and then did the least practical thing available, which was to move to Germany and start a wine estate from nothing.

In 2018 they landed in Maring-Noviand, a quiet village a few hundred metres off the Lieser on the old Moselle path, and began farming three hectares on the slate and limestone slopes. The first Grandbois vintage came in 2021. Two people who gave up stable careers for this is not a story you have to look very hard for in the wines.

Riesling is unavoidable in the Mosel and they do not try. Container Riesling is the light, low alcohol one, Kestrel the straight Riesling with a late harvest Spätlese version alongside it, and 1984 La Résistance a rarer bottling that ran to 600 bottles.

The pét nats are where they clearly enjoy themselves. When Life Gives You Lemons is the one people buy twice, Bad Behaviour is Bacchus, that intensely aromatic German crossing, and Unicorn Knight is Chardonnay, now in a still version too.

On Pinot Noir, the Pinecone wines run across red, rosé and Pinot Blanc, Heart is the straight Pinot Noir, and Cerf is the rosé with more to say for itself. Sanglier is Bacchus, Weiss blends Pinot Blanc with Riesling, and Mixtape is exactly what the name suggests, a blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, Bacchus, Chardonnay and Riesling that moves around from year to year.

Cerf is a stag and Sanglier a boar, which tells you most of what you need to know about the labels and about the two of them.

The farming is chemical-free and regenerative in approach. Sheep live between the vine rows, managing the ground and fertilising it, which keeps the whole system alive and the vines more resilient without anything synthetic going on. On three hectares that is a lot of work for two people, and it shows.

In the cellar every fermentation is spontaneous on native yeasts. One choice that stands out: they use some new oak on the still wines, which is unusual in natural wine and gives the whites and reds a rounder, more welcoming shape. Probably Philippe’s Burgundy years talking. It makes the wines easy to like rather than austere, which is plainly what they were after.

There are something like eleven natural winemakers working in the Mosel at the moment, a small and fairly tight-knit group in a valley better known for other things. Grandbois, with their international CVs and a first vintage in 2021, bring something different to it. At 10,000 bottles a year the allocations here are small and they go.

Where is Grandbois Wines based?

Maring-Noviand in the Mosel valley, Germany. Three hectares on the old Moselle path, a few hundred metres from the Lieser river, on slate and limestone. Their first vintage was 2021.

Who are Tanja and Philippe Grandbois?

Philippe was a sommelier and hospitality manager who worked across Australia, New Zealand, Burgundy and Canada. Tanja trained as a pastry chef in the Black Forest, moved into wine in British Columbia and worked harvest at Dr. Loosen in the Mosel. They moved to Germany in 2018.

What is Bacchus?

A German crossing with an intensely aromatic, almost floral character. Grandbois use it in the Bad Behaviour pét nat and the Sanglier, and it turns up in the Mixtape blend.

Why are the wines named after animals?

Cerf is a stag, Sanglier a boar, and there is a Kestrel, a Pinecone and a Unicorn Knight. The labels are a large part of the appeal and they are entirely Tanja and Philippe's own.

Do Grandbois wines contain sulphites?

Very little. Fermentations are spontaneous and intervention is kept to a minimum. Small amounts of sulphites occur naturally in all wine as a by-product of fermentation, so no wine is ever truly sulphite-free.

How much wine does Grandbois make?

Around 10,000 bottles a year across the whole range, from three hectares. Allocations here are small and the popular bottlings go quickly.