The Caviste & the Oenologist

The story of Domaine de l'Astré is a story of convergence — of two people from different corners of the French wine world who found each other on the other side of the planet and decided to build something together. Sylvain Ohayon is from the Bordeaux region. He obtained his oenology diploma in 2006 and then did his apprenticeship in Argentina, at the foot of the Andes Cordillera, at Domaine Jean Bousquet — a biodynamic estate in Mendoza where he deepened his understanding of natural viticulture and the rhythms of the Southern Hemisphere. Upon his return to France, he worked as cellar master in the Médoc at Château Vieux Landat, mastering the classical techniques of Bordeaux winemaking before he ever dreamed of breaking them.

Aude Duval is from Corrèze, in the Limousin region of central France. She was a caviste — a wine shopkeeper — in Libourne, near Saint-Émilion, where she spent her days tasting, selling, and talking about wine with the customers who passed through her shop. She was not making wine; she was living it, one bottle at a time, developing the palate and the intuition that would one day guide her own cellar. Their paths crossed on Argentine viticultural lands — two French people who had travelled to the New World to enrich their knowledge of wine, drawn by the same restlessness and the same curiosity. They shared a passion for wine and a desire to "give meaning to their life" by creating something that was truly their own.

In 2017, Aude and Sylvain made the leap. They took over an 8-hectare vineyard in Port-Sainte-Foy-et-Ponchapt, on the border between the Dordogne and the Gironde, in the Purple Périgord — a landscape of limestone cliffs, rolling hills, and dense forests that has been producing wine since the Middle Ages. The vineyard was already organic-certified since 2012; they immediately adopted biodynamic practices and began working "as naturally as possible." They did not inherit the land; they leased it, and they treated it with the respect of people who know how rare a second chance is. From the very first vintage, they made a bold decision: they would declassify all their wines to Vin de France, refusing the Bergerac and Montravel appellations that the terroir entitled them to, in order to preserve total creative freedom. This was not a rejection of tradition; it was a declaration of independence.

Today, after years of experimentation, recognition, and growth, Aude and Sylvain have made another bold decision. In 2025, in a pioneering and ecological spirit, they chose to reduce the size of the domaine — not renewing the lease on 7 hectares and concentrating on 3 hectares of vines, while planting 1 hectare of orchard to produce cider and fruit wines. This is not a retreat; it is a refinement. They have proven that 8 hectares can produce extraordinary wine, and now they are proving that 3 hectares can produce something even more focused, more intimate, and more true. As one critic noted: "Aude and Sylvain show a strong commitment and great originality."

The guiding philosophy of Domaine de l'Astré is expressed in three words: freedom, originality, and kindness. Aude and Sylvain are committed to winemaking that shakes up preconceived ideas about Bordeaux varieties — a framework that allows them to produce orange Sémillon, pét-nats, sweet reds, and co-fermented rosés without the constraints of appellation rules. This is not a reaction against tradition; it is a deeper application of it: if the soil is clay-limestone, the grapes are healthy, and the process is clean, the only limit is imagination. The wines are not manufactured; they are created — each cuvée a reflection of the variety, the vintage, and the creative courage of a couple who refuse to be boxed in.

The methodology is deliberately minimal and fundamentally creative. All grapes are hand-harvested across the 3 hectares of vines, and transported immediately to the cellar. Fermentation is spontaneous — initiated by the indigenous yeasts that live on the grape skins and in the wild air of the Périgord. Aude and Sylvain do not inoculate with cultured yeasts, adjust temperatures aggressively, or force the wine into a predetermined shape. The red wines — Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon — undergo short macerations with minimal manipulation, producing light, digestible reds that challenge the heavy, tannic stereotype of Bordeaux varieties. The white Sémillon is treated with equal creativity: direct-pressed for fresh whites, whole-grape macerated for orange wines, and blended with red varieties for pét-nats and rosés.

The additives protocol is minimal: no fining, no filtration, and only a light dose of sulfur at bottling — from 0 to 1.5g/hl depending on the vintage. The goal is to allow the entire native yeast flora to fully unfold during winemaking — it stabilises and preserves the wine naturally, a strength that comes from within. The wines are aged in a diversity of vessels — terracotta jars, sandstone jars, old barrels, and stainless steel — to add layers of complexity and prevent homogenisation. This demands absolute cleanliness in the cellar, perfect grape health in the vineyard, and a willingness to accept that each vintage will be slightly different from the next. The Domaine de l'Astré cellar is not a technological facility; it is a creative laboratory where indigenous yeasts, amphorae, and the patience of two visionaries do the work.

There is no temperature-controlled tank farm dictating additions, no consultant recommending corrective enzymes, no recipe that overrides the vintage. There is only Aude, Sylvain, the grapes, the jars, and the patience to let the wine become what it wants to be. The result is a portfolio of wines that are pure, digestible, and alive — wines that reflect above all the fruit and the terroir, that change in the glass, that evolve in the bottle, and that carry the unmistakable signature of a couple who met in Argentina and found their truth in the limestone cliffs of the Périgord. As La Revue du Vin de France noted: "A magnificent skin-contact white 100% Sémillon, sappy and deep (cuvée Réjane), as well as a Merlot in jar, crunchy, fruity and full of energy (cuvée Agapa)."

To understand Domaine de l'Astré, one must understand that it is not merely a winery; it is a creative project, a biodynamic commitment, and a proof that reduction can be expansion. The identity of the project is defined by the couple — Aude, the caviste from Corrèze who learned wine by selling it, and Sylvain, the oenologist from Bordeaux who learned wine by making it in Argentina and the Médoc. Together, they have created something that neither of them could have created alone: a domaine that shakes up preconceived ideas about Bordeaux varieties, that produces orange Sémillon and sweet reds with equal conviction, and that has the courage to reduce from 8 hectares to 3 in order to focus on what matters. The estate is not a monoculture; it is a home. The result is a portfolio of wines that are not merely products but expressions of creative freedom — each bottle a testament to the conviction that wine should be pure, alive, and full of kindness.

The identity is also defined by the Vin de France declassification — a choice that liberates them from the constraints of the Bergerac and Montravel appellations and allows them to co-ferment white and red grapes, to make pét-nats, to experiment with amphorae, and to create wines that would be impossible under the rigid rules of the AOC. This is not a rejection of terroir; it is a deeper application of it. They know their soil, their climate, and their vines intimately — and they have chosen to express that knowledge without the filter of a committee. The result is wines that are recognisably from the Purple Périgord but utterly unlike anything else made there — a paradox that is the essence of creativity.

The future of Domaine de l'Astré is tied to the continued health of their 3 hectares of biodynamic vines, the deepening of their ecological commitment, and the gradual expansion of their orchard for cider and fruit wines. Aude and Sylvain are eager to go further — to explore new expressions of the limestone cliff, to deepen their understanding of amphora ageing, and to obtain ever more pure, digestible, and alive expressions from the fruit of their own Périgord soils. The Flamenc will continue to be the totem rosé, the Réjane the orange ambassador, and the Nur the sweet wine soul of the estate. They do not chase trends; they chase the truth of their land, and they have the patience to let that truth speak in its own voice — a voice that is creative, kind, and unmistakably Occitan.

In an age of increasing industrialisation in wine — of global varieties, engineered yeasts, and corporate consolidation — Domaine de l'Astré stands as a compelling alternative, not because it rejects modernity but because it has embraced a deeper modernity: one that values biodynamic farming over chemical convenience, creative freedom over appellation conformity, indigenous yeasts over inoculation, amphora ageing over oak uniformity, short macerations over extractive excess, no fining over cosmetic clarity, no filtration over sterile perfection, reduction over expansion, orchards over monoculture, and the specific voice of Port-Sainte-Foy-et-Ponchapt over the standardised replication of a global style. Aude Duval and Sylvain Ohayon are not merely making wine; they are proving that a caviste and an oenologist can build a domaine from an Argentine encounter, that 3 hectares of limestone cliff can produce wines of international recognition, that a wine with nothing added but kindness and creativity can possess the most profound identity, and that the simplest philosophy — a wine so good that drinking it makes you radiant with friendship and kindness — is often the most profound. From the first vintage in 2017 to the 2024 release: all united in one vineyard, one creative spirit, one unanswerable argument for the possibility of authentic, biodynamic, hand-made, passionately honest wine from the limestone heart of the Purple Périgord.