Bret Brothers

The Bret Brothers story goes back to 1947, when Jules Bret purchased the first plot of vineyards in Pouilly-Vinzelles. The parcel was called 'les Quarts' and the Bret family's total vineyard size was a whopping one hectare. Jules and his wife Louise set out to expand their small domaine by purchasing rows of vine adjoining their one hectare of land. At this time, all grapes still went to the cooperative in Vinzelles.

In 1969, Jules and Louise's son Jean-Paul took over, and continued increasing the size of the domaine, up to 4.5 hectares of vineyards, and in 1991, his sons Jean-Philippe and Jean-Guillaume (the current generation to own the domaine) started their studies in wine, preparing themselves to take over the domaine.

1998 saw the Bret Brothers withdraw from the cooperative, and in 2000 they began producing their own wines from estate fruit - it was also the first year that the vines were treated organically and biodynamically. This was extremely cutting edge as 17 years ago there weren't any producers in the region who were working with biodynamics.

In 2001 the Bret Brothers label was created (separate from La Soufrandiere, which is the official name of the domaine), with a commitment to buying top quality grapes from the best terroirs of the Macon and in 2004 they took back the Macon-Vinzelles vineyard of 'Clos de Grand Pere', which belonged to their grandfather.

These are arguably the best wines of the Macon, whether from the estate of La Soufrandiere or from the Bret Brothers negociant label. They give some of the top wines of the Cote de Beaune a run for their money in blind tastings, and in the past few years the Bret Brothers have been continually recognized for their commitment to quality, farming and care for the land.