Julien Sunier

Coming Up

Training at Beaune set the foundation for the work that followed. In Burgundy, France, Julien Sunier moved through vineyards and cellar at Christophe Roumier, where the practical demands of farming and cellar work belonged to the same discipline. At International Wine Challenge in London, England, work with International Wine Challenge (iwc) widened the frame through evaluation and comparison. Further roles at Nicolas Potel in Nuits, France, and Jean-Claude Rateau in Beaune, France kept that education rooted in places where precision and attentiveness matter. Managing a large négociant at Mommessin in Beaujolais, France (2003–2008) added scale to that background. Over five years, the work meant volume, logistics, and responsibility as part of the craft, not apart from it. By 2008, Julien Sunier had moved through enough different pressures to carry that experience into a more personal project. Since 2008, Julien Sunier has been winemaker of Domaine Julien Sunier, drawing on those years to shape his own domaine. The path through Burgundy, London, Nuits, Beaune, and Beaujolais reads as a progression from learning the trade to directing it, with the accumulated discipline of each stop expressed under one name.

Where They Are Now

Since 2008, he has been winemaker at Julien Sunier in Avenas. The work is split across sites in a way that reflects how the domaine has been built: "I had nothing when I started. My equipment and stocks are now in Villié-Morgon, but the fermentations and elevage is here." The line is plain, but it shows an operation assembled over time, with equipment and stocks in Villié-Morgon and fermentations and elevage kept in Avenas. That arrangement gives the domaine a sense of both rootedness and motion. Since 2008, Julien Sunier's practice has been defined by continuity, construction, and the discipline carried forward from earlier roles. The present work is not separate from that history; it is the form it has taken.

Signature

Julien's signature dishes include Sunier Fleurie, Sunier Régnié, Sunier Morgon, and Sunier Beaujolais Villages Gamay “Wild Soul." Together, these names mark the range of the domaine: each cuvée carries the Sunier name while pointing to a distinct part of Beaujolais. The list functions as a set of working signatures, each one tied to place and to the identity of the domaine.

In Their Words “I wasn’t organic focused when I started, but I quickly realized that it was the right direction.” “I had nothing when I started. My equipment and stocks are now in Villié-Morgon, but the fermentations and elevage is here.”