Thibaud Capellaro
Northern Rhone

Thibaud Capellaro is one of the Northern Rhone’s next generation rising stars.

In his early 30’s, Thibaud doesn’t come from a wine background. After completing business studies, he chose to pursue his passion for wine. Following on from winemaking school in Beaune, he has honed his craft working closely with Syrah and Viognier. He interned with Andre Perret and Guy Bernard in the Northern Rhone as well as Adam & Pip Foster at Syrahmi here in Australia in early 2018.

Returning to France, he started his domaine later that year with the purchase of two small plots in Côte-Rôtie and Saint Joseph, both requiring planting.

The Côte-Rôtie site, 0.2 ha, had not been deemed appropriate for a vineyard due to its Northeast exposition, its elderly owner having planted it to fruit trees. But with ever increasing summer temperatures and the effects of climate change, the exposure was perfect for Thibaud. He cleared the land, laid out terraces on the extremely steep slope and planted Syrah at high density.

In 2020 he was fortunate to acquire a small established vineyard in Côte-Rôtie from Francois Bouillot-Salomon. The estate is now a little over 2 hectares; 0.5 ha Côte-Rôtie, 0.7 ha in Saint Joseph and 1 ha Côte du Rhone. All farming adheres to organic practices.

The site in Saint-Joseph was planted in 2020, massale selection Syrah and Sérine (an ancient, low-yielding clonal variant of Syrah) from Gonon and Charvin. The first two harvests from this vineyard have been bottled as Vin de France. 2025 will mark the first wine produced under AOC.

Thibaud supplements the small production of estate wines with negoce fruit. He sources only organic grapes from two of the finest growers in the area, Gerald Oustric of Le Mazel (Ardeche) and Clusel Roch in Ampuis.

In the cellar he uses old oak barrels, terracotta and ceramic vessels along with stainless steel.

2022 was the last vintage sulphur additions were used, but Thibaud isn’t dogmatic. If a wine requires it, he will add at bottling. Production is around 10,000 bottles, vintage dependant.

With the price per hectare that Côte-Rôtie commands, to farm in this way and make wines without intervention is not only conviction, but a belief in your ability.  Thibaud Capellaro is shaking up the system and producing pure and elegant wines of precision.