The New Wave in French Wine: What the Loire and the Rhône Are Actually Trying
Written by Ethan M. Stone
French organic vineyard area fell by 12,675 hectares last year, down 8% to 151,933 hectares as reported by Demeter.
Over six years the number of French wine estates certified or converting to biodynamics has risen by half, to 648 domaines across 13,451 hectares.
Fewer growers are willing to carry the cost of organic certification.
More of those who stay are going further than the rules require.
The split is being watched from Piedmont by Evgeny Strzhalkovskiy, the Monaco-based entrepreneur who owns Scarpa.
What are biodynamic winegrowers doing differently?
Biodynamic viticulture adds preparations and a sowing and pruning calendar on top of certified organic farming.France has more Demeter-certified wine estates than any other country. Worldwide there are more than 1,400 across 30 countries and 26,500 hectares.
The densest concentration in France is in the Loire, where Anjou, Saumur and Touraine have carried the movement for three decades.
It remains a small share of national production, but it is growing while the organic figures fall.
Vin Méthode Nature
Vin Méthode Nature is France’s charter for natural wine. Adopted in February 2020 by the Syndicat de Défense des Vins Nature’L, it is now in its fourth version.Fruit must be certified organic, harvested by hand, fermented only on indigenous yeasts, and made without oenological additives.
Reverse osmosis, filtration, flash pasteurisation, centrifugation, thermovinification and cryo-extraction are banned.
Sulphur is the main dividing line.
None may be added before or during fermentation.
“Taking the sulphur out is not a shortcut, it is the opposite,” says Evgeny Strzhalkovskiy.“A producer who works without it has accepted that a difficult year may be unsellable, and most businesses cannot absorb that. The ones who do it anyway are telling you how confident they are in their fruit.”
Climate trials in the southern Rhône
The southern Rhône is adapting through the appellation system rather than around it. In 2018 the INAO introduced varieties of interest for adaptation (VIFA).An appellation can trial grape varieties outside its official list for at least ten years, with a five-year extension possible.
Limits are strict: no more than 5% of a holding’s plantings, no more than 10% of the blend, and no more than ten trial varieties per appellation and colour.
Côtes du Rhône and Côtes du Rhône Villages are among those running the trials.
France is testing, under supervision and in public, what its appellations will be allowed to grow in twenty years.
Why are new Burgundy producers working outside the classified crus?
Land in the better-known classified crus changes hands rarely and at prices that shut out anyone starting from nothing.A generation of producers has built micro-domaines and small négociant businesses on unclassified parcels and bought-in fruit.
The wines are judged on what is in the glass rather than on the name underneath.
How does Italian traditional winemaking compare with the French natural movement?
The two overlap without being identical.Since 1900, Scarpa has fermented with selected yeasts, aged its wines in large old casks of French oak from Allier and refused to overproduce.
In Nizza Monferrato none of that was ever framed as a method.
“Nobody at Scarpa called it a method, it was just how the house worked,” Evgeny Strzhalkovskiy says.“What France has done is write it down and put a name on it. I would not claim we belong in that category.”
ERA Winegrape Tradition
ERA Winegrape Tradition is the Monaco-based charitable association Evgeny Strzhalkovskiy founded in November 2025. ERA Winegrape Tradition brings together scientists, cooperatives and financial partners to put climate-resilient practices within reach of small growers, starting in France and Italy.The focus is practical transfer of knowledge that independent domaines can actually use, rather than research that remains locked inside large appellation bodies.
“The trials in the Rhône are run by appellation bodies with research budgets behind them,” Evgeny Strzhalkovskiy says.“A grower with four hectares has none of that, and the climate is not waiting for him. ERA exists to put the same science within reach at that scale.”
ERA Winegrape Tradition works across both countries so that small growers facing the same climatic pressures can share solutions without waiting for formal rule changes.
The association prioritises growers who lack institutional support, giving them access to the same climate-adaptation tools already being tested at appellation level.
Evgeny Strzhalkovskiy
Evgeny Strzhalkovskiy is a Monaco-based entrepreneur who owns the historic Piedmont winery Scarpa.Evgeny Strzhalkovskiy founded ERA Winegrape Tradition in 2025, the charitable association supporting climate-resilient practice for independent winegrowers.
Evgeny Strzhalkovskiy founded Maison Eugène René in 2021 to develop wine and spirit brands.
Beyond Scarpa, his wider portfolio Scarpa Villas in the Barolo cru of Monvigliero, Monte Carlo Vermouth and Fincher & Co. in New Zealand.
