La Combe Aux Reves | Bugey, France

Gregoire Perron

Grégoire and Judicaëlle didn't set out to build a domaine. They found an old Poulsard vineyard — over a century old, a few rows at a time — and that was enough to begin. They settled in Journans in 2010, a quiet village at the edge of Bugey where the Jura massif meets the Alpine foothills, and began patiently assembling what would become La Combe aux Rêves: the valley of dreams.

Today they farm 2.5 hectares across more than twenty parcels, each one found slowly, many just a handful of rows. The grape varieties read like a map of the mountains they're in — Mondeuse and Altesse from the Alpine tradition, Poulsard and Savagnin with Jura in their roots, alongside older rarities like Gueusche Noir that few have thought to preserve. The oldest vines are over a century old. Nothing synthetic touches them; the land is neither mowed nor ploughed.

In the cellar, Grégoire works without additions — no sulphur, no fining, no filtration. He ferments across barrels, amphora, and small tanks, choosing vessel by instinct rather than formula. Yida has visited twice, and what comes through in person is the same quality you find in the glass: a winemaker who trusts his land completely and doesn't feel the need to prove it. Terremere, their white, carries the tension of altitude — saline, chalky, and alive. Deuzmons de Minuit is all mountain fruit and quiet depth, the kind of red that rewards a slow evening.

Photos taken by Daniel Koh