Farmer Winegrower
FARMER, ARTISAN, ARTIST, fully committed to healthy agriculture, in biodynamics, the Domaine Christian Binner has been writing its family history since 1770 in Ammerschwihr and now extends over 11 hectares.
The DIVERSITY is for the field a source of RESILIENCE in the face of climatic and economic hazards. That is why this one is also DISTILLER, valorizes its vine by-products by offering GRAPE OILS, VERJUICE under the brand MËRALLA and VINEGARS developed by Béatrice. The rental orchards, or those of the MËRALLA family, make it possible to offer JUICES without alcohol and are the basis for fruit EAUX-DE-VIE. The r est of the marc is composted and the seed cake allows us to heat up.
While everything must go quickly, I decided to restore the value of TIME. I promote horse plowing by fully integrating the place of the DRAFT HORSE on the estate when possible, I revived a DRY STONE WALL more than 40 meters long in order to retain the land by integrating ancient knowledge. I keep in the cellar all the vintages aging until I am sure of the stability and signature of my wines.
Living WITH the Soil
The estate benefits from soil worked without pesticides since always, Christian’s father, Joseph, having quickly deemed harmful chemical fertilizers and pesticides upon their arrival in the 60s. Since his installation in 2000, Christian gradually integrates homeopathy, the moon cycle, permaculture. Here he is at the dawn of his 50 years of seeking to COMPLEXIFY the different ENVIRONMENTS to become more RESILIENT. He seeks to PROMOTE BIODIVERSITY which has a direct impact on the quality of naturally occurring yeasts in grapes. This is built by associating the vine with seedlings, wild plants and questioning the place of the tree in this ecosystem. Since 2021, more than 300 trees have been planted in collaboration with the Parc des Ballons des Vosges and Haie Vive d Alsace. The tree to create water reserves, the tree to protect from the sun, the tree to protect from the wind.
CULTIVATING A MONOCULTURE: Easy to say. In nature, the soil is never worked mechanically and never bare except by accident. I am looking for ways to gradually limit the tillage and adapt technical itineraries in order to avoid destroying precious humus by relying on INFINIMENTLY SMALL to promote bacterial life using biodynamic preparations, herbal teas, compost, lactofermentations, homeopathy and other alchemies that remain to be explored while demanding from the vine that it produces and that the whole maintains an economic existence.
Decarbonise
DECARBONISE: in 2025, I decided to take a turn in decarbonization. 80% of the estate is PLOUGHED WITH HORSES, with Vizir in collaboration with Malik from La Ferme Sans Nom and Pierre Eiche. The MECHANIZED WORK remains present and unstoppable in our current eco-system when the rows are narrow, too steep and to ensure the treatments or any other activity whose urgency pushes me away from the tractor. Tractor today light and minimalist, far from the modern high tech versions energy-hungry. I also chose to use a light bottle, with crown cap, to send our wines abroad by sailboat...
LIVING WINE
For me, a LIVING wine is the culmination, the success of the work of the winemaker from the vine to the bottle, it is the COURAGE and the NOBILITY to let the wine be made with its time.
It is the FREEDOM to think and vinify a wine whose grapes have been harvested at full maturity and come from technical routes that have favored life in the soils and of which no input has been added during winemaking so as not to disturb the ENERGY of WINE.
This continuous exchange, between emitted and absorbed light explained by Olivier Salières, respects the TIME taken by the juice to stabilize and be ready to be savored.
We get a product that NOURISHES the mind, arouses emotion and is digestible. A wine that does not contain added sulfites so that it is composed of organic life and can evolve. A natural source of probiotics, where sanitized food deprives us of them on a daily basis. Life in short...
INVESTIGATION NATURE SULPHUR OF HONNETE
" We do what we say, we say what we do ".
Wine, like any living organism on earth, is composed of BACTERIA. There are some that are beneficial and others that can degrade wine. When SULFITES are added to the wine, killing the bacteria, they help stabilize it but necessarily change the taste and touch on the palate. Moreover, the living is intrinsically moving and evolving. Trying to stabilize it therefore goes against its essence...
Today in the face of CLIMATE CHANGE, my quest remains unchanged but I am not an extremist. If, despite my 25 YEARS OF winemaking experience without any input, I am facing a technical impasse, yes I give myself the right to add this gram that will protect my juice and YES I will say it for transparency sake, even if it only concerns 5 to 10% of the wines in difficult years. I have created the mention NOTHING ADDS NOTHING REMOVES (RARE) since 2021 that I specify on my bottles and prices when the wine did not need the slightest gram of sulfite during its vinification process. Otherwise, this mention is not present. I am also actively participating in the development of the VIN METHODE NATURE label at the national level.
BIOCLIMATIC CHAI
This church in Saccharomyces, built in 2012, marks a turning point in my life and in my ability to vinify without input by promoting as much as possible the well-being and harmony of the wines and the people who work there.
It associates ORGANIC forms conducive to the proper circulation of energies, in compliance with the laws of bioclimatic construction (LOCAL MATERIALS, golden ratio, respect for natural polarities of wood and stones during assembly, natural regulation of temperatures, management of electromagnetic disturbances with geobiologists...). In a few figures: it is 2000 tons of stones from GRES DES VOSGES, about 340 m3 of wood that we have cut out of sap during the descending moon, 118 DOUGLAS PINES mostly centenarians from the forests of Kaysersberg, Kientzheim and Fréland... and a lot of sweat.
Today, a place that brings zenitude and serenity to our yeasts so that the magic of the terroir is expressed through their work in our wines.
A Human Adventure
Committed to defending quality wines, "alive" and expressive, Christian likes to share with the Alsatian winemakers who have the same values, to promote natural wine, such as the launch of the AVN in 2005, the Salon des Vins Libres in 2006, of the AVLA, the Summer Fascht in 2017 and the Méthode Nature wine label. At his side, Béatrice, her sister, who manages the administrative part, and the customer relationship, from the trade to the shipment of wines. She is the lucky beneficiary of the famous cuvée Béatrice that her father created following her election as Queen of Alsace Wines in 1993/94. The tradition continues, essentially for the eponymous Pinot Noir. Béatrice has embarked on the production of vinegar by grape variety. She also likes to take care of raspberries, from pruning to picking for the famous brandy.
Michèle, Christian’s partner, shares her sensitivity to agroforestry and permaculture. She started producing organic grape seed oil from Alsace, apple juice from its old mountain orchards under the brand Mëralla. Adds the winemaking project with Christian of different Grands Crus d'Alsace. It is she who plows on the horse with La Ferme sans Nom and her horse Vizir.
Yvan, Christian’s cousin, is the king of labeling and order preparation. He also comes as a reinforcement in the vineyard team.
Manon, the granddaughter of a winemaker, has been able to master the cellar for monitoring the vinification and loves the work on the vines throughout the seasons.
Louis recently joined the team with his experience of the family estate in Australia.
We welcomed interns, wwoofers, who gave us all their energy and their different and complementary vision of work according to their cultures. A number of them now have their own vineyard and we are still proud to taste one of their cuvées.
A wine that Travels
Our wines are appreciated by many importers who distribute our Wines to Professionals and individuals in Japan, USA, Canada, Great-Britain, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Hong-Kong, Singapore...
But if you want to come to the Estate, do not hesitate to make an appointment via the contact form or call us at 03 89 78 23 20 to visit us and take some bottles home.
You will also find our bottles at many wine merchants and restaurateurs across France, see our page "Where to find our wines".
