Pépin is going big
How a wine collective is helping winemakers reach a wider audience.
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Pépin is a network of natural winemakers and independent growers in the Alsace region of France. Working to support developing farms in the natural wine industry, Pépin doesn’t follow the usual vintage structure, but instead works in “lots,” meaning their wines are available year round. They have a core lineup of wines, but batch to batch, they might change depending on the grape used or the personal craftsmanship of the winemaker, while the ethos of the brand remains the same.
I talked to cofounder Pierre Dietrich about the decision to found the collective, how it works, and more.
Brianna Plaza: Can you tell me about Pépin Wine?
Pierre Dietrich: My brother, Jean, and I grew up on the family estate of my Dad, which has grown only organic grapes since 1999, and they started growing biodynamically in 2003. He works more in vinification and I work more in distribution. We travelled and worked all over the world and came back to the family estate in 2016 and started a winery called Aquilée. My dad never made wine so we bought a tank and started making wine with the biodynamic grapes that were grown on the property.
In 2018 we started selling wine and it went really well and we had a high demand. We knew another winemaker that was growing an organic vineyard, so we decided to create Pépin.
We have five core wines: white, orange, red, sparkling, and rosé. Outside of that we have a cuvée as well. We’ve been able to work with a wide variety of growers and wine makers with Pépin.
Brianna Plaza: Why did you decide to start a wine collective?
Pierre Dietrich: We were running out of our wine. And also because we had a lot of friends asking to buy grapes from them, which we didn't want to do. On the one side, you have clients asking you for more wine. And on the other side, you have a wine maker who can make additional wine if you give them a bit of help. So why don’t you make that link?
But at Pépin we do more than just make wine. We are natural wine makers, but we also help with the commercialization. That way the winemakers can focus on making the wine and not have to deal with the administrative parts. We’ve merged all the commercial parts of Pépin with our other wine brands so we have one team that handles it all.
Brianna Plaza: How does the collective work?
Pierre Dietrich: The concept is really simple. Right now we have eight different winemakers, and they always bottle at their own place. They go from start to finish with one product. We’ve worked with people who have grown organic grapes for a long time but never made wine, or maybe they have too many of one grape. We taste with them to see the direction we want to go, help them make natural wine, and put our Pépin label on it.
We don’t blend everything into one wine, which is important for two reason. First, you’re working with natural wine without sulfites, and if you’re moving wine by truck to blend it, that’s a lot of risk there. Second, if you’re a winemaker and you manage wine from beginning to end, you can see the final result of your work, and it’s not work that’s merged with others. This allows you to have a better quality of wine, because you know exactly where everything goes.
So with each batch, you have one winemaker. They all follow the same specifications but the wines evolve with each new batch. That’s what makes the concept really powerful.
A collective also allows us to grow into bigger markets because we don’t run out of stock. With our family’s label, we’re always running out of stock so restaurants won’t put us on their lists. With Pépin, we can have high quality of wine and have a large volume of wine for the next couple of years.
Brianna Plaza: How do you manage customer expectations as the wines evolve?
Pierre Dietrich: A lot of customers don’t really know the difference. But, it’s a concept, so you have to be cool with a little change and know you’re going to have a different wine. Some people are uncomfortable with the idea of buying something that won't taste the same every time it's opened, but if you want wine that is made by artisans, you have to accept the concept.
But for wine professionals, they can be a bit wary and might not want to buy year over year, but eventually they just start to believe us. We can guarantee that if you liked the first one, you'll like the second, the third, and so on. But the thing is, it’s natural wine, and wine you taste in February is going to be different from wine in the September. It’s the norm that they’re always evolving.