Wine from a Punk Rocker Turned Sommelier

Sébastien Chatillon fell into wine on a whim back in 2004, when he was looking for an alternative to his norm running a record label and playing in bands in France's punk music scene. [^180^] He took a short stint working for a large commercial winery producing bag-in-box wines for Carrefour, an experience that convinced him there had to be a better way to make wine. He was recommended to the Mosse family in the Loire Valley, where he worked for four years learning viticulture and winemaking under the guidance of René Mosse — an experience that introduced him to natural wine's allure and opened his world to a completely different approach. [^174^] [^180^]

"It was fresh, different, and in the morning I had no headache. A dream for a guy like me," Sébastien later recalled. [^179^] This epiphany led him to Paris, where he became the sommelier at Le Chateaubriand under chef Iñaki Aizpitarte. Two years later, he opened La Cave, a very small natural wine shop next to the restaurant, where he was selling natural wines produced outside of France. [^180^] For seven years, Sébastien immersed himself in the world of natural wines, developing the masterful palate and deep knowledge that would eventually define Ad Vinum.

In 2016, after serving as the head sommelier at Le Chateaubriand for seven years, Sébastien moved to Vallabrix in the Gard to start Ad Vinum. [^186^] He fell in love with the Gard because within a relatively small area, you find an incredibly diverse number of grapes, climates and soils. [^179^] He began as a négociant, purchasing grapes from trusted friends and making wine with the same creative energy he had once poured into his music. In 2019, he purchased his own vineyard — a three-hectare parcel of Grenache, Syrah and Sauvignon amongst the garrigue above the village of Vallabrix — which supplements the grapes he harvests from the vineyards of trusted friends. [^179^]

In the cellar, Sébastien Chatillon exercises both creativity and restraint, putting his masterful palate to work blending grapes from different parcels, varieties, and colours. [^179^] The wines age in a variety of vessels and are bottled unfiltered, with no additions — no sulphites, no fining agents, no enzymes, no selected yeasts. [^175^] [^180^] This is winemaking at its most liberated: the only limits are Sébastien's imagination and the quality of the grapes he sources.

A lot of the wines are made with a trempouillette method — not too dissimilar to the flotation method used by the likes of Daniel Sage and Les Valseuses — where whole bunches are sealed in direct press juice. [^180^] This technique creates wines of extraordinary freshness and aromatic intensity, preserving the delicate qualities of the fruit while adding a subtle structural complexity from the stems. The result is wines that are full of life and energy, possessing a spectrum of flavours and colours that few other producers can match. Some are experimental thirst-quenchers while others require time and are fit for special occasions. [^180^]

The Rancio is perhaps Sébastien's most audacious creation — an oxidative wine made from a blend of Pinot Noir from Antoine Leinhardt in Burgundy and Grenache and Cinsault from old vines in Tavel. [^187^] The wine undergoes fermentation in a single 450-litre barrel left outdoors, exposed to the elements. The result is an oxidative masterpiece with heady notes of caramel, salt, nuts, and spice — a wine for contemplation that challenges every preconception about what wine should be. [^187^]

The Oursin is a red wine crafted from Grenache, Syrah, and Cinsault, made with 50% co-maceration for 7 days and spontaneous fermentation in barrels — showcasing the purity of the fruit and the interplay of Southern Rhône varieties. [^175^] The Back on the Streets blends Grenache Noir, Syrah, and Ugni Blanc — the Grenache and Syrah direct-pressed and co-fermented with the Ugni Blanc, with no SO2 added. [^188^] The Fahrenheit is a co-maceration of organically grown Grenache and Syrah from 70-year-old vines, aged in neutral oak for nine months — fluid, with purple rocks, fresh acidity, and grilled green plum. [^176^]

Sébastien's wines are always changing — different blends and labels from vintage to vintage, reflecting his restless creativity and his refusal to be pinned down. [^180^] This is not inconsistency; it is authenticity. Each wine is a snapshot of a moment, a place, and a state of mind — captured in a bottle without the safety nets that conventional winemaking provides. The result is a range of wines that are dynamic, experimental, and above all fantastic — wines that prove that the best natural wine is made not by following rules, but by breaking them with intelligence and taste.