The discovery of a passion
He is tall and slender.
It is a bit like a vine that comes out of the ground, a vine that comes out of nowhere because in the eyes of the majority it had no place in that terroir!
Yet it is from him that it comes, because without the land, without the vines that he cultivates, without the wines that he shapes step by step, the GrandR would not exist.
He is there, in his small cellar with its strong symbols of the past, like the stone of the old press on which are piled, due to the small size of the place, barrels of various origins and ages or these lanterns and oil lamps which rub shoulders with the modernity of small stainless steel vats, an elevator or an electric pump...
Michel created from nothing, on a whim, the Domaine le Grand R , which still has much to make us discover. His wines are like him, indecisive at first then revealing themselves over time in new aspects that appear over the seasons, because at the Grand R , we live with the immutable rhythms of nature, waiting for the right moment to move from the barrel to the bottle.
And it takes time before the wine reveals all its magic to us. A part of its mystery and its potential.
The wines are vinified and aged with little technical intervention, with the necessary care but not too much, because it must be given the opportunity to fight for itself to evolve and preserve its authenticity and personality by enhancing the potential found in the grapes as in those that come from the Vaux-sur Morges vineyard, cultivated biodynamically.
Let’s give Michel the floor: “My adventure began with two wines:
Le Pari de Midi , made from the Altesse grape variety, whose purity, finesse and magnificent complexity on the palate I love.
Le Pari de Minuit, made from the Gamay grape variety, is delicately expressed through blossoming fruits with a fleshy and structured side in the mouth.
Like my 5 other vintages , I will let you discover these gastronomic wines, so different from each other, and which clearly demonstrate the spirit that inhabits me:
To enhance at the best level what the vine gives me, so that this gift becomes for those who receive it, a source of joy which nourishes conviviality”.
Timeline
Le Grand Rélabore three single-varietal wines that seek to enhance their terroir as well as a blend composed of five grape varieties that inspire harmony. In order to develop the best potential of each wine, they are aged for several months in oak barrels.
2016/2021
Birth
Year the vines were planted.
2023
Premier prix
Conversion of vines to biodynamics.
2025
A New Era
The Grand Cuvée which will make its first appearance at the end of 2021.
A Bet
The first wines of Michel Reynolds, based in Vaux-sur-Morges (VD), were called Pari de Midi and Pari de Minuit. They were in fact the result of a
bet made with his colleagues...
The Rookie
Being promoted to "best hope" at 48 years old, that's Reynolds. "If I had to do it again, I'd jump in right away!" The Vaudois "rookie" of the year 2024 by Gault & Millau still can't believe it.
An Adventure
The Le Grand R estate was born in 2016, following a bet that its creator successfully took up. Since then, Michel Reynolds has come a long way and continued the adventure. Voted Hopeful of the Year 2024...
The Estate
The estate has chosen to use Braille to illustrate the bottle labels. The analogy with the sense of touch evokes the often overlooked delicacy of touch in the mouth, before the palette of flavors is expressed. Aware of the extraordinary potential that nature has to protect itself over time, Le Grand R has been producing its wines biodynamically since 2020, respecting the natural cycles that repeat themselves year after year with the particularities that give each vintage its typicality. Domaine Le Grand R is located in the Côte vineyard, on the slope overlooked by the bucolic town of Vaux-sur-Morges.
