Hi,

My name is Thomas Noel. I am a wine merchant and owner of la Maison des Millésimes wine cellar located at 137 Boulevard Saint Germain in the 6th arrondissement in Paris.

My cellar offers 500 different wines from the Bordeaux region, with wines from the most prestigious estates and a number of exceptional vintages, as well as over 150 wines from Bourgogne, the Rhone, Languedoc and Champagne regions.

I divide my time between Paris and Fronsac in the Gironde region where I own a house. On land alongside my house, there are 20 ares of vines, which I would like to acquire with your help.

These 20 ares, are 100% Merlot, with a few young vines and a number of older ones with an average age of about 30 to 35 years.

The vines are grown organically on land that is maintained naturally, with a high level of biodiversity. We have daisies and buttercups growing on the land and with a little luck, you may even get a glimpse of a squirrel or a deer wandering around.

The aim is to produce in harmony with nature, using manual harvesting techniques to create a wine that highlights the fruit, providing maximum pleasure and freshness. All work in the vineyard and winemaking will be managed by my wife Alexandra, who spent a year in a well-known chateau (Lalande-de-Pomerol) and who knows where to seek expert advice and guidance.

I estimate that we can produce up to 500 bottles, which will be sold exclusively in my cellar, la Maison des Millésimes in Paris.

My project is therefore to finance the purchase of these vines and produce our first vintage by 2015.

I am counting on you to help me and appreciate your support.

Thomas Noel

About la Maison des Millésimes:

Ideally located on the Boulevard Saint Germain in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, between Mabillon and Saint-Germain-des-Près, la Maison des Millésimes offers a unique selection of Bordeaux wines that are ready to drink, having reached their full potential. You can find everyday wines as well as the most prestigious wines and vintages ranging from 1940 to the present day. In addition, he sells a few hidden gems produced elsewhere, with a choice selection of wines from Burgundy and other regions such as the Rhone, Champagne and Languedoc, etc.

Thomas and wine: a lifelong love affair At 14, he used to go fishing shrimps in Normandy and his grandmother would sell them for 200 Francs a kilo. With the money he earned, he bought bottles of wine that he left to age in the cellar in his parents' house. He found it so sad to see the empty racks and no bottles on them! In his bedroom in the family home, you can still see the maps he drew of the Bordeaux wine region.

At the age of 22, after graduating in tourism engineering, he moved to Saint-Emilion with plans to work in the wine business. He worked there for five seasons as a salesman in a cellar, before returning to Paris to become manager of la Maison des Millésimes, which he bought less than 2 years later from his former boss.

The plot covers an area of 20 ares in Fronsac in the Gironde department, situated in the Libournais region. It is located on the slopes of the Canon-Fronsac vineyards (the smallest Bordeaux appellation) and is south-west facing, providing perfect conditions for grapes to mature. It benefits from a microclimate, as the river Isle, a confluence of the Gironde estuary, runs close by, offering protection against frost.