Our Stories

Michael Baum – CEO & Propriétaire

My personal journey with wine began 25 years ago when I first traveled to France. The beauty and delicacy of Loire’s Sancerre, Côte de Rhone’s Grenache, Mourvèdre and Cinsault, Aix en Provence’s beautiful Rosés ; and the Climats of Burgundy ; were like nothing I’d ever tasted. Like other explorers of the wine world, I tried everything. But, my taste buds always came back to, yearned, for French wine.  

After almost three decades of innovating and building technology companies in Silicon Valley, my scientific mind was curious. What is it that is so different and special about these wines?

The French term terroir doesn’t easily translate into other languages, particularly English. It’s a complex concept that is difficult to describe scientifically and is only vaguely understood by most wine lovers. My friend and colleague, Antoine Lepetit de la Bigne, describes it this way,

“The term terroir essentially expresses a place, a location in nature with a specific climate, a soil on which a plant grows, a taste, the taste of the soil.”

Maybe this explains why the first thing I do when I visit a new vineyard is to lick the rocks, the soil, the earth, with my tongue. I want to know how it tastes. I want to see how well that taste is conveyed in the wines.

Clos Marey-Monge’s diversity of soils and climats provides a tremendous opportunity to delve deeper into understanding terroir. I want to learn all that I can about this terrain ; understand how it works and what can be done to preserve it for as long as possible.

With the help of biodynamic viticulture and our own form of delicate, patient winemaking ; we are pursuing the purest expression of each individual micro-terroir within the Clos. It is our ambition to make wines that are the simplest reflection of the soils and climates where our vines grow.

As we advance our own knowledge of how to collaborate with nature to accomplish these goals ; I am committed to sharing our learnings with the world in the hope that we can all live healthier, more enjoyable lives ; and leave this place better than we found it.