Paul-Henri Soler

Market wines

Carouge, a residential area in the outskirts of Geneva, looks like a small Provencal village, with a concentration of grocery stores, bakeries, wine shops and other small bistros to delight the most demanding palates. If you've ever been to the market on Saturday morning, you may well have crossed paths with Paul-Henri Soler! It is indeed there, not far from the Jura of his ancestors, that he presents his wines to an ever increasing number of curious people; not content with just making wine, he wants to meet those who also taste it. So much so, that in addition to Carouge, he also walks the aisles of the Marché des Grottes, in the heart of the city, on Thursday evenings.

Trained in Bordeaux, where he learned what he didn't want to do, he arrived in Switzerland as part of his studies. He stayed there for love, settling with his partner in the family farm in 2005, in Meyrin, just outside Geneva. It is there that he embarks on his dream, to produce the wines he loves to drink. No vines, but grapes, which he buys from winemakers he knows and trusts, most of them well established names in the local organic movement. The equipment is reduced to a strict minimum and the winemaking is pure, non-interventionist.

Local grape varieties such as Chasselas or Charmont, in white, or Gamay or Gamaret, in red, express themselves in a freshness that was not known in the region. Paul-Henri tries everything and is very curious. He even experiences the passérillage, with his cuvée Vin du Dimanche, or to make "orange" wine with the cuvée Biceps, a very rare gem.

Wines that stand out and that will definitely not leave anyone indifferent.