history and future

OUR STORY:

The Domaine des Enfants was founded by Swiss-born Marcel Bühler in 2006.  As a child, Marcel found his dreams to be with gardening, but as happens often with childhood ambitions, he  grew up forgetting this dream and followed other pursuits.   After many years, he suffocated from his discontent with the path he chose to take.  He was reminded of his lost inner child, l'enfant perdu. This is when he changed direction to follow his childhood gardening dreams. However, as child he was unaware that his dream of a garden would  in fact be that of vineyards. 

 

This is why he named his vineyards Domaine des Enfants, or Domaine of the Children.

 

Things inevitably change over time, and in 2011 Marcel was joined by his wife, Oregon-born Carrie Sumner.  This of course was eventually followed by the birth their son Jordi in 2014.  Domaine des Enfants has now become a family business, and there is now a "we".  The three of us are working together alongside Bernard Bascou, our vineyard manager.  Not only do we all work together, but we also must always depend on each other.  

 

Through natural circumstances in January 2023, we have faced the death of our horse and partner Nina.  This loss forces us to  reevaluate how we work, and how we will continue in the future.  It's a difficult truth, but this leads us to ripping out many of our 100 year old vines to replant with young vines we can work sustainably without the assistance of our horse. For us, these young vineyards represent new life in honour of our beloved Nina.  As with everything, we will see where this leads us, and perhaps it will lead us to a future in biodynamics.