The Apprentices, the Double Life & the Honest Hand

Maison Alumni is not a domaine inherited through generations. It is a side door opened by two apprentices who had the courage to believe they were ready. Founded in 2023 in a modest cellar on the Faubourg Saint-Nicolas in Beaune, it is the story of Astrid and Adrien — two young vignerons who spent their formative years inside two of the most distinctive estates in Burgundy, absorbing contrasting philosophies, complementary rigours, and the quiet conviction that the best wines are not made by institutions but by human hands that have learned, then dared.

Adrien is second in command — second d'exploitation — at Domaine Chandon de Briailles, the historic estate in Savigny-lès-Beaune that has been in the de Nicolay family since 1834. Under the stewardship of siblings Claude and François de Nicolay, Chandon de Briailles has become one of Burgundy's most viticulturally progressive addresses: biodynamic since 2005, Demeter certified since 2011, farming 13.7 hectares across Savigny, Pernand-Vergelesses and Aloxe-Corton with horses, herbal infusions, and a radical commitment to whole-cluster fermentation and zero new oak. Adrien learned his craft in a cellar where no enological products are used, where fermentations start naturally in cement tanks, where the vertical press is called the "Rolls Royce" of presses, and where the wines are bottled without fining or filtration. He absorbed the de Nicolay philosophy: "the only constant is the unending quest to learn more and experiment" — a mantra of humility in the face of terroir that would become the DNA of Maison Alumni.

Astrid works at Domaine Agnès Paquet in Meloisey, the village above Auxey-Duresses where Agnès Paquet — a self-made vigneronne who took back her family's rented vines in 2000 at the age of 21 — farms 13 hectares organically with a small team, Guyot Poussard pruning, milk and whey trials, sheep in the vineyard, and a stubborn refusal to let the appellation system dictate her ambitions. Astrid learned from a woman who faced down sexism in a masculine world, who built an estate from nothing, who makes sparkling Aligoté pet-nat and ages her "Patience" cuvée for 20 to 24 months because the wine, not the calendar, decides. The Paquet philosophy is one of transparency, trial and error, and the belief that organic farming is not a certification but a conversation with the land. Astrid brought this fierce independence to Maison Alumni — the refusal to rush, the willingness to wait, the understanding that a vigneron's job is to listen.

In 2023, the two decided to create their own wines — not by leaving their mentors, but by working alongside them. Maison Alumni was born from a common desire: to create their own wines while continuing their work for their respective estates. It is a double life that would exhaust most people, but for Astrid and Adrien it is a form of balance: the security of learning from masters, the freedom of making their own mistakes. They set up in Beaune, the crossroads of Burgundy, where the Hospices de Beaune stands as a monument to the region's wine charity and the narrow streets hide cellars that have fermented Pinot Noir for centuries. Their first vintage was 2023 — a hot, generous year that required morning harvesting and careful restraint. They made 900 bottles of Bourgogne Aligoté — seven months in barrel, four months in stainless steel, bottled in August 2024. It was a wine of concentration, fine acidity, and surprising roundness — the kind of Aligoté that makes you forget the grape's reputation as Burgundy's "other white." It sold out. And so did the Pinot Noir. And the Hautes Côtes de Nuits Blanc. Because Burgundy, for all its grandeur, still makes room for the honest wine of the honest hand.

The winemaking philosophy of Maison Alumni is one of radical honesty and learned restraint — a synthesis of the biodynamic rigour Adrien absorbed at Chandon de Briailles and the patient, trial-and-error approach Astrid learned at Agnès Paquet. The guiding principle is simple and profound: "la maison recherche des vins francs" — the house seeks honest wines. This is not a marketing slogan but a covenant with the drinker: no manipulation, no masking, no chasing trends. Only the grape, the terroir, the vintage, and the hand.

The whites are made with indigenous yeasts, slow fermentations, and extended lees contact in old oak barrels. The Bourgogne Aligoté 2023 — their first cuvée, just 900 bottles — spent seven months in barrel and four months in stainless steel tanks before bottling in August 2024. The result is a wine of concentration and fine acidity that defies Aligoté's reputation as a simple aperitif grape. It is textured, mineral, and surprisingly round — a wine that makes you understand why Agnès Paquet champions this variety and why Chandon de Briailles experiments with it. The Hautes Côtes de Nuits Blanc 2023 is Chardonnay from limestone and marl, fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged in old oak. In the glass, it reveals aromas of citrus, white flowers, and fresh almond — a precise, mouthwatering white that carries the mineral tension of the escarpment without the weight of a Meursault. The Mâcon Péronne is the solar counterpart: unfiltered, energetic, and generous — a Chardonnay of the southern sun that speaks of ripe orchard fruit and limestone warmth.

The reds are made with the same low-intervention philosophy. The Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2023 is a wine of freshness and lightness — hand-harvested, naturally vinified, with gentle extraction that privileges elegance over power. It is not a wine of grand cru ambition but of honest Pinot Noir: red cherry, wild strawberry, a touch of earth, and a silken texture that makes it irresistible young. The approach reflects Adrien's training at Chandon de Briailles, where whole clusters and natural fermentation produce wines of transparency and detail, and Astrid's experience at Agnès Paquet, where varying amounts of whole bunches are used depending on the vintage and the vineyard. The result is a Pinot Noir that drinks like a conversation rather than a declaration — a wine that asks you to pay attention, not to be impressed.

What emerges from the cellar at 20 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Nicolas is a portfolio of microscopic scale and surprising sophistication — around ten barrels a year, each one a document of a specific parcel, a specific vintage, and a specific moment in the education of two young vignerons. The Aligoté is concentrated, fine, and food-worthy — a wine that redefines what Burgundy's "other white grape" can achieve in honest hands. The Hautes Côtes de Nuits Blanc is precise, mineral, and mouthwatering — a white Burgundy from the escarpment that proves value and terroir are not mutually exclusive. The Mâcon Péronne is solar, energetic, and unfiltered — a southern voice in the Alumni chorus. And the Pinot Noir is fresh, light, and silken — a red that carries the DNA of the Côte d'Or without the price tag. All are united by a single principle: the house seeks honest wines, and honest wines require honest work.

Maison Alumni is not merely a micro-négociant; it is a monument to the courage of the apprentice — a ten-barrel-a-year project in a modest Beaune cellar, founded by two young vignerons who learned their craft at two of Burgundy's most distinctive estates and who had the conviction to step out on their own without leaving their mentors behind. In an era when the wine world is obsessed with inherited domaines, speculative pricing, and grand cru labels, Astrid and Adrien have demonstrated that the most profound wines sometimes come from a side door on the Faubourg Saint-Nicolas, made by hands that spend their days tending Corton and Auxey-Duresses and their nights making 900 bottles of Aligoté that sell out before the leaves fall.

The legacy of Maison Alumni is the legacy of the graduate's hand and the disciple's heart. Adrien did not inherit Chandon de Briailles; he earned his place there, learning from Claude and François de Nicolay that biodynamic farming, whole-cluster fermentation, and the absence of new oak are not limitations but liberations — ways of letting the vineyard speak without the cellar shouting over it. Astrid did not inherit Agnès Paquet's estate; she found her place there, learning from a woman who built a 13-hectare organic domaine from rented vines, who faced down sexism and skepticism, and who proved that the best wines come from patience, transparency, and the willingness to let the wine decide. Together, they have taken these lessons and applied them to their own micro-cuvées — not as copies, but as conversations with the terroirs they source, the vintages they live through, and the drinkers they respect.

The future of the project is tied to the future of micro-négociants in Burgundy — to the growing recognition that the region's greatest asset is not its grand crus but its human capital, the young vignerons who learn from masters, then dare to make their own mistakes. As the Bourgogne Aligoté continues to prove that Burgundy's "other white grape" can be concentrated, fine, and food-worthy when farmed organically and aged with patience, as the Bourgogne Pinot Noir demonstrates that honest Pinot can be fresh, light, and silken without the weight of a village label, as the Hautes Côtes de Nuits Blanc reminds the world that the escarpment produces Chardonnay of precision and mineral tension at a fraction of the Côte de Beaune's prices, and as the Mâcon Péronne brings solar energy and southern generosity to the Alumni portfolio, Astrid and Adrien remain what they have always intended to be: two apprentices who became artisans, who work by day for masters and by night for themselves, who seek honest wines in a world of noise, and who are proving that ten barrels a year, made with indigenous yeast, old oak, and the lessons of Chandon de Briailles and Agnès Paquet, can be more meaningful than a thousand barrels made without conviction. The story of this house is the story of a cellar on the Faubourg Saint-Nicolas, a double life lived with passion, and a quiet, stubborn belief that the best wines are made by those who are still learning — one barrel, one vintage, one honest cuvée at a time.