Cupano

Lionel Cousin is one of the most interesting winemakers you’ll meet: you turn up for an hour visit, and stay for four. A disciple of the father of modern Burgundy, Henri Jayer, wine wasn’t his first calling. He spent most of his career as a cinematographer, including time spent with the tribes of the Sahara (attested to by the photographs that line his study walls). But in 1996 Lionel and his wife Ornella purchased an 86.5 hectare estate, where no chemicals had ever been used. They now have some seven hectares planted, all by hand, and craft Brunellos that belie their modern winemaking, with purity of fruit and silky tannins the order of the day.