Cinier Sophie

Where are you from ? I was born in Fuissé, I am a pure Burgundian from the south, but I left after my baccalaureate in 1985 and I returned to set up as a winemaker in 2000. What is your background ? I was not at all a winemaker at the start, I have a quirky background, I have a literary baccalaureate, a BTS in trilingual secretarial work, a BTS in international business, a diploma from a higher school of commerce and management and a BTS oenological viticulture that I passed in 98 to be able to take over the estate. Why this job? My mother inherited part of my grandfather's vines, my parents were artisan traders, they did not exploit the vines, they rented them. And Mom wanted to recover them in order to exploit them herself. It was very complicated, it took us 12 years and the only solution left to us, as I was an only child, was for me to settle down so that I could stop the rental lease. At that time I was active, I worked for 10 years, I sold wine for a Burgundian merchant, throughout the south of France. And then my parents asked me, “Are you interested?” I didn't think about it for long, I said to myself, I'm going to take a break, I took training leave to do my BTS viti-oeno at the CFPPA in Mâcon Davayé, and I never left. I have no regrets, I loved my job but I still prefer this one. I took over my vines in November 2000, there was barely one hectare of vines with only whites and today we are at 3 hectares with whites and a little red. I didn't start making wine right away, I started in 2005 and I haven't stopped since. And your guest rooms? Regarding the guest rooms, that's another story... Where the estate is located is land that belonged to my mother and where my father had built his workshop since he was a craftsman and trader. My parents then built their house, we moved mine there. There was an enclave on this land, which represents the value of a section of vines (here it is 400 m²). It was my grandfather, originally the owner of the land, who sold the 400m² to his wine-growing employee in the 50s. This gentleman, originally from Italy, absolutely wanted to live in Fuissé. So my grandfather sold him these 400m² where he built his house. He spent his whole life here with his 5 children and his wife, he was like my grandparents. My father had his workshop nearby so we saw them all the time and he always said to my mother “when I die the house is for you”. When his wife died (well after him), the children suggested that we buy the house as a priority before putting it up for sale, because it's landlocked and there are no rights of way so it's complicated... My parents didn’t hesitate, they said “we’re going to have guest rooms” I asked: “But who’s going to take care of it?? » -Well, you!! » So we bought the house, renovated it inside and the rooms were opened in the spring of 2008. Your favorite place on the Grand Site? Mont Pouilly, firstly because I have a plot of land which is almost at the level of the limestone lawns, and because I love this place, there is a superb view, it is softer than the rock, there there are fewer people, it's less steep, there are horses and then we have a little family tradition: for July 14 we go up to Mont Pouilly to see all the fireworks on the plain. Your best memory on the Grand Site? The ascent of the rock on the old path, which was very steep, it was still a little steep and when we had family meals, it was the tradition to show the Solutré rock to the guests or to go up after the meal. I have fond memories of it and I regret that we can no longer access this path because as a child, it was a little scary, it was great.