Bruno Ciofi

Loire Valley, France

Bruno Ciofi started his career as a winemaker at Domaine Pierre Frick, one of the pioneers of biodynamic farming and natural winemaking in Alsace. After 13 years of experience with Jean-Pierre Frick, Bruno moved to Arbois in 2008 and he worked for Domaine de la Pinte until 2016. Bruno brought biodynamic farming to the vineyards in 2009, improving Domaine de la Pinte's quality dramatically. In 2016, Bruno met Virginie Joly, daughter of Nicolas Joly which turned out to be another turning point of his life. Bruno decided to leave Jura and move to Anjou to start a new life with Virginie. At that time, Mark Angéli - La Ferme de la Sansonnière, another wine producer in Anjou, was looking for a partner and Mark approached Bruno. Mark and Bruno clicked and they began producing wine together from 2016 to 2020. At the start of 2017, Bruno started brainstorming a small project to do on his own and started the project “Béret et Compagnie". He assists small producers in the Loire Valley who are working the vines naturally but don't have enough power to bottle or commercialise their wines. Béret et Compagnie select only grapes from biodynamic or organic vineyards, and they also support converting vineyards from conventional farming to organic farming.