If we surprise Oronce de Beler, in his forties, entering his imposing stone building located in the heart of Nuits-Saint-Georges (Côte-d’Or), we imagine that we are facing a Burgundian. However, neither Burgundy nor wine came naturally to this former Parisian business school graduate. And it took twenty years, not without crossing the desert, for the contours of his activity to become clear and for him to acquire this house. Here he is today at the head of a multifaceted project, both winemaker and brewer.
He heads first toward the wine. At the age of 26 he joined the Beaune Vocational Training and Agricultural Promotion Center, a viticultural option. With his diploma in hand, he remained in this region where he had no ties and began to create small vintages to launch his own business. The Machard de Gramont estate, in Nuits-Saint-Georges, is the first to entrust it with its organically grown grapes. This is the beginning of his brand, La Maison Romane, with a wide range of different wines, Marsannay, Fixin, Chambolle-Musigny, Vosne-Romanée, among others, which he vinifies in his own way, without sulfur or the addition of yeast. . “I make very airy, light wines, but long in the mouth, with a digestible side. “That’s how I see Pinot Noir.” specifies the neo-rural.
When it began selling its first vintages, in 2009, the business was in full crisis. “It was very hard, he remembers. This is why I created another animal-drawn activity for plowing vines. » He ran these two businesses simultaneously and then, in 2015, sold his company, Equivinum, for which he also prototyped modern harnesses. But, in 2019, Oronce de Beler once again needs to diversify. He does not yet own vineyards and his business depends on the good will of the winegrowers who supply him with grapes, in a context in which the prices of Burgundy wines continue to increase.
Elegant and fresh flavors of green citrus fruits.
“In the last ten years, the increase in the cost of grapes has become crazy. However, I seek to maintain stable prices for my wines, he explains. That’s why I migrated towards other products, like beers. » First, he launched the Nova Villa brand with his beer friend Diego Acuña Weisser. Together they produce a pale ale and an IPA. But this year each one chose a different path: Diego Acuña Weisser created his own brewery, Harvest Brewing, in Savigny-lès-Beaune (Côte-d’Or), and Oronce de Beler is now dedicating himself to what he is passionate about. the best: “wild moss”, also called La Maison Romane. “I view these beers the same way I view my wines, declares the winemaker and brewer. They are very fine, with foam, but with a slight effervescence. »
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