Patrick Piuze
Chablis, France
Patrick Piuze was born in 1973. He is Canadian, from Quebec, and born into a middle class family with no ties to the viticultural world. As a young adult, he met Marc Chapoutier. The famous vigneron from Southern Rhône changed his life. With his help, Patirck gained his first viticultural experiences. Chapoutier connected him to wineries all over the New World, in Australia, South Africa and as well, in Israel.
Patrick returned to Quebec in 1997 and opened a wine bar in the heart of Montreal, called “Le Pinot Noir.” Patrick was a firm believer in the “culture of dégustation” or the culture of tasting wine. During his 2 years in the restaurant business as a sommelier, he aspired to regain the certain feeling he experienced in the caves of the domaines he most preferred. The convivial atmosphere of casually talking about and enjoying good wine seemed to be missing in his life as a restaurateur. So, in 2000, with only a backpack for his belongings, he left for France. Patrick joined the team at Maison Olivier LeFlaive in Puligny-Montrachet for the harvest. He enrolled in the CFPPA (Centre de Formation Professionnelle et de Promotion Agricole), an agricultural school in Beaune and soon after he finished his studies, Olivier put him in charge of the vinification in his winery in Chablis. There, Patrick honed his skill and truly came into his own.
Four years later, he left Maison LeFlaive to work at Maison Verget. Over a short year, Jean-Marie Guffens shared his philosophy about terroir with Patrick. This left an indelible impression. During this period, Patrick started to make a name for himself as a talented winemaker. Word spread and soon he was recruited by Jean-Marc Brocard as Cellarmaster to the negociant’s cave in Chablis. Soon, Patrick decided to become his own boss and launch his own negociant business. In 2008, he made it happen.
Patrick’s philosophy in his own business is to define the relationship between the winegrower and the winemaker. As he does not own his own vines, rather he sources them from trusted vignerons with whom he works very closely. They are his partners for the long term. These close relationships allow him to select the best parcels from the most legendary vineyards in Chablis made up principally of old vines, and to harvest the highest quality grapes. In his work as a negociant, Patrick has created a range of wines from Petit Chablis to 6 different Grand Crus, while passing through the breadth of the region’s Premier Crus, producing over 100,000 bottles of Chardonnay. Across this range of wines, in the heart of every bottle is the true character of Chablis and the expression of its unique terroirs.