Jérôme Estève

Early Years

The professional record starts in 2002, when Estève was winemaker at the Peyriac de Mer winery. His own account of formation is plain: "I learned by observing and documenting myself." That kind of training fits a discipline built on attention. In the vineyard, at harvest, and in the cellar, observation is part of the work; for Estève, it also became a way to build a vocabulary around wine without separating technique from the life of the land. "Wine is a way of living and the wines respect life, plants, the earth and consumers." In that statement, wine is treated as a relationship among grower, vineyard, bottle, and drinker, not as a finished object alone.

Making a Name

The method at Château Montfin is defined by restraint and control. Organic winemaking has been pushed beyond bio-dynamic practices, with manual harvesting, minimal winery intervention, and some wines made with no added sulphites. The aim is direct rather than ornamental: to produce wines that are elegant, lively, and refreshing while working the land and respecting nature. Estève puts the philosophy in his own words: "Our philosophy: control the yield, embrace bio, work the land and harvest manually proving that it is altogether possible to work with precision while respecting nature." By 2009, his specialty at the winery was organic, biodynamic-leaning Corbières wines from old vines and a strong biodiversity focus. Those markers give the work its frame: Corbières as place, old vines as material, biodiversity as a condition of production rather than a side note. "We are convinced that wine tells a story; it must express what it is: grape variety, terroir, certainly, but also the identity and personality of the people who make it." The technical choices follow from that view: hand harvest, low intervention where possible, and wine handled as something that carries identity, not anonymity.

The Present

Since 2002, Estève has continued as winemaker at the same Peyriac de Mer address. The work remains tied to organic, biodynamic-leaning Corbières wines, with nature, yield control, and manual harvest shaping the cellar’s direction. A concrete marker of that craft is Sur Pilotis blanc 2020, a Corbieres Blanc named among the top wines from the winery. It sits within the same pattern as the broader practice: a wine identified by variety and terroir, and by the choices and personality of the person making it.

Signature

Jérôme's signature wines include Sur Pilotis blanc 2020, Corbieres Blanc, Vincent 2022, L'Une 2022, and L'Etang danse rosé 2024.

In Their Words “Our philosophy: control the yield, embrace bio, work the land and harvest manually proving that it is altogether possible to work with precision while respecting nature.” “Wine is a way of living and the wines respect life, plants, the earth and consumers.”