Julien Courtois & Heidi Kuka
Quick facts:
Location: Soings-en-Sologne, Loire Valley, France
Owner & winemaker: Julien Courtois & Heidi Kuka
Vineyard area: 4.5 hectares, mostly over 40 years old
Vineyard management: Biodynamic farming, no chemical additions.
Soils: Flinty silica soil on the surface, with red clay studded with silex, silica, and Paleolithic-era rocks at depth.
Main varieties: Romorantin, Menu-Pineau, Chenin, Gascon, Cot, 2 Gamay clones, and Genouillet
Winemaking: 8,000 to 10,000 bottles annually. Grapes are hand-harvested and quickly brought to the cellar, where they’re gently pressed. A gravity-fed system channels the juice into old oak barrels for spontaneous fermentation lasting 15–30 days. Wines age on lees in neutral barrels for up to 18 months—sometimes twice as long—with no bâtonnage and minimal racking. Bottled unfined and unfiltered, with a touch of sulfur added only to reds at bottling if needed. All of the wines are labeled Vin de France, as they’re crafted from grapes that aren’t officially recognized by the AOC.
Winemaking runs in Julien Courtois’ veins; he is the eldest son of one of France’s earliest and most revered biodynamic winemaking pioneers, Claude Courtois, whom we also proudly import into the U.S. “I was born into the world of wine and started working in the vineyards at a very young age,” says Julien, who grew up in the mid-Loire Valley’s Soings‑en‑Sologne. “I gained experience as I grew up,” he adds, noting that he worked at his father’s mythical winery full-time starting at age 18.
Julien later took off for a stint in Burgundy before eventually founding his estate, Le Clos de la Bruyère, at age 21 in 1998, just down the road from his father and brother Etienne’s domaine, Les Cailloux du Paradis—the Pebbles of Paradise, a name gleaned from the rocky, inhospitable soil that they’ve worked their magic on, planting the vineyards with field blends of ancient indigenous varieties. While Julien’s wines give a nod to those of his family, they are also remarkably distinct.
In 2004, Julien met his now-wife, Heidi Kuka. A New Zealand native, she first came to France in 1998. After years of working in a wine retail shop back home during university, she brought her wine background to a restaurant in Normandy, where she sold the wines of Claude Courtois. It was kismet, in some sense. “Julien’s dad was the first wine maker I met when I came to France,” she says.
Today, Julien and Heidi cultivate approximately 4.5 hectares of old vines including Menu-Pineau (also known as Orbois), Romorantin, Chenin Blanc, Gamay, Côt, Gascon, and Chaudenay, and Genouillet—many ungrafted and planted in the late 1970s. The couple emphasizes minimal‑intervention, chemical‑free viticulture and vinification, working by hand and allowing long cellar aging without filtration or fining. Only a small amount of SO2 is added to the reds at bottling, as needed. “My goal is to produce the best grapes possible to try to get the best result once bottled,” says Julien, adding, “There is nothing scientific about wine; each year is unique and therefore different, and the work done must be adapted to what the vine needs.”
Their wines reflect a deep commitment to terroir and tradition—from the amber‑toned Originel (Menu-Pineau) to their expressive reds like Eléments (Gamay de Chaudenay) or Ancestral (a blend of Gamay, Côt, and Gascon). Each cuvée is crafted with precision, yielding authentic wines marked by minerality, layered complexity, and a sense of place.
Heidi keeps the whole operation running, and leaves her striking mark on each and every bottle: she designs all the bold black-and-white artwork for the labels, inspired by her Māori heritage and beautifully drawn in India ink. The labels are inspired by folklore, nature, and Ta Moko, a form of Māori tattoo art. She convinced Julien to change the labels soon after they met, and her art has functioned as a visual calling card ever since.
Together, Julien and Heidi have spent decades producing wines that are deeply evocative of the land they came from—land which Julien has spent his whole life learning, nurturing, and tending to with curiosity and compassion. These wines are very small production—typically under 10,000 bottles per year—so we consider ourselves extraordinarily lucky to be able to bring a taste of them stateside.
Wines
Ancestral 2022
Grapes: Côt from 2003 (45%), Gamay (ungrafted) from 1978 (45%), and Gascon from 2006 (10%).
Vineyard: Soings-en-Sologne, on flinty silica soil on the surface with flinty, red clay studded with silica and silex.
Personality: The wine is deep in color with notes of red berries and plums on the nose; black currant, blackberries and plums on the palate; and a saline mineral finish.
Elements 2022
Grapes: 100% Chaudenay from 1968 (Gamay Teinturier from the Bouze and Fréau family).
Vineyard: Soings-en-Sologne, on flinty silica soil on the surface with flinty, red clay studded with silica and silex.
Personality: Deep red with red currant and fresh minerality on the nose; a fresh and light palate of elderberry, morello cherry, gentle dried fruit notes and a gentle crisp finish.
Originel 2022
Grapes: 100% Menu-Pineau (also known as Orbois) from 1968.
Vineyard: Soings-en-Sologne, on flinty silica soil on the surface with flinty, red clay studded with silica and silex.
Personality: A delicacy! Pale yellow in color with aromas of almond, rum cake and citrus. On the palate is a melange of fresh and caramelized apples leading into a salty finish.
Resonance
Grapes: 100% Chenin from 2011.
Vineyard: Soings-en-Sologne, on flinty silica soil on the surface with flinty, red clay studded with silica and silex.
Making of: The 2020 and 2022 vintages are both direct pressings, fermented in vats and then aged for 18 months.
2022
Personality: Pale yellow with a a fresh nose of white flowers, white peach and green almond; palate is salty, mineral and acidic with ripe citrus fruit.
2020
The Résonance 2020 contains deposits—we’d recommend serving it chilled, and perhaps decanted if you prefer to filter out the sediment.
Personality: Hazy yellow with some sediment, this wine brings deep aromas of nougat liqueur, licorice and plum. On the palate is apricot, pear and a hint of brandy.
Autochtone
Grapes: 100% Romorantin from 2003.
Vineyard: Soings-en-Sologne, on flinty silica soil on the surface with flinty, red clay studded with silica and silex.
Making of: The 2018 and 2019 vintages are both direct pressings that have been aged for 4.5 years in barrel, as they took fair amount of time to ferment—but the wait was certainly worth it.
2019
Personality: Notes of peach liqueuer, salted almond and apricot, with a well-rounded, full bodied and nutty palate.
2018
Personality: Aromas of plum liqueur lead into a round, mature palate with pleasant bitterness, white flowers and ripe peach.