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The man behind The Office is Alex Wallimann, whom we have known for a long time, since he has worked for Francois Saint-Lô since 2016 and has been our contact at the office. But Alex has done much more than office work there, as he has also worked with every aspect of making the wines. In the end, it was a natural step for him to start on his own under the name of The Office, while continuing to work for his neighbour Francois Saint-Lô in Berrie just 50 meters down the street.

Alex does not own any vineyards yet, but he has a dream of finding a small parcel around Berrie. So far, however, the approach is to buy grapes from vineyards in the municipalities of Montreuil-Bellay and Layon, which have been organically certified for a minimum of 15 years.

Where the name of the domaine is a reference to Alex’ past (and English ancestry), the names of the wines are a tribute to all the people behind the scenes that he has met on his way while working for various winemakers. He has found inspiration in a French proverb, which loosely translated reads: “It’s crazy how many people it takes to do something alone.” According to Alex, even the biggest winemakers would not have achieved anything without the help of others.

Ironically, however, Alex has singlehandedly taken care of his own microscopic production of 1,600 bottles, where everything is done by hand including harvesting, pressing, bottling and labelling. Alex Wallimann is a man full of ideas, and several of them break barriers in winemaking, but the overriding goal behind The Office is to produce complex wines that at the same time have broad appeal.