Born in 1976, the sixth-generation vineyard owner of Domaine Labruyere shared his love for wine at a young age.
During his time in school, Labruyere already demonstrated his knowledge in wine in many ways.
Labruyere wanted to become an ambassador for the world - so he in fact started his career in French foreign policy and worked at the French Foreign Office.
After many years in the French office, he decided to join the wine business and became a courtier (broker) in Bordeaux."I worked there for three years and after that, some chateau owners gave me some money to create my own company. And so I was in the wine business from 2002 to 2009."
In 2009, life sent Labruyere back to his roots as his father asked him to take over the family business. He then had the opportunity to run Domaine Jacques Prieur, Chateau Rouget and Domaine Labruyere.He even expanded the business to create Champagne JM Labruyere in 2018.
Currently living in Burgundy, Labruyere's week is packed with train travels."People always told me that all I want is terroir," he said. "That's why I try to implement policies that focus on that."
In viniculture "terroir" refers to getting down to the roots and essence of the wine - such as the soil, atmosphere, the air and everything that comes to shape the evolving product.Being a terroir enthusiast, Labruyere is always on the go, circling from Moulin-a-Vent, Meursault, Champagne and Pomerol.
To him, winemaking is like haute couture. "I don't own it, I'm just here for the next generation. And I like to think that we are artisan and so everything is handcrafted."Revisiting Labruyere's legacy, he is the pioneer of being organic winemaking.
"It's a matter of generation, my father and my grandfather used to make fantastic wine, they make wine like a traditional habit and as a generational business, but without the scientific aspect," he said,"I am not saying what they did in the past is bad but each generation has to bring its own break through to the pyramid."
Since 2009, the wine produced by Domaine Labruyere is free from any chemical, herbicide and insecticide products. "We know more now as we have more tools, skills and a better understanding of how each terroir reacts to specific vintage. So when I took over I wanted to be organic certified."He is dedicated to give a cleaner terroir to the next generation.
But being organic is a challenge and the toughest decision he made. Producing wine organically will lead to limited quantities and reliance on the nature."Mother nature gives us a lot of challenges," he said.
"Consider the climate change we are all experiencing right now. And sometimes, like in 2021, we got those frost that destroyed 75 percent of our production and we could not do anything about it."Putting on some windshields or chemicals would have saved the harvest but it does not align with his winemaking philosophy. "It would have been a pity to sacrifice those past 510 years just to convert a certain quantity of wine," he said.
"We will stay organic and I cannot tell what will happen in the next 20 to 40 years but, fingers crossed, we would have more tools and new bio-organic products by then."Aside from dealing with mother nature, he had just visited Hong Kong recently and shared his wines to local wine enthusiasts.
The city reminded him of New York when he was a teenager."It is a fast-paced city and I'm amazed by the knowledge Hong Kong people have for wine, whatever, wherever from champagne to bordeaux."
Despite dealing in wine almost all his life, Labruyere is no wine snob.Food-and-wine pairing always seems to have a textbook mindset. But he described it as a personal feeling as there's no clear recipe of right and wrong.
Impressed by the innovative wine and food pairing in Asia, he shared: "We had a small dim sum platter at Yung Kee on a Monday night and it worked very well with the champagne."
