We met Catherine and Raphael via our friends Melusine Wines and already knew a bit about them going into the meeting. The first thing we noticed when we walked in was a photo of Catherine on the wall with a crown. Asking Raphael about this was the perfect lead-in to the story of the vineyard because Catherine was actually the Alsace wine queen (from the wine festival we mentioned above) several years back and this is how she and Raphael met! Raphael had been out on his own growing grapes for a co-op and Catherine’s parents were selling their grapes to the same one. A few years later Raphael decided to make his own wine, as he didn't feel the co-op was getting the right expression out of the grapes and wanted control over the process. Since Raphael and Catherine were dating they all tried his wines and her parents thought they would also like to control the winemaking process of their grapes. This was the beginning of Domaine de l’Envol! Because Raphael was already in the process of winemaking, they decided to partner up with Catherine’s parents and her brother to create the brand Envol, which means “to take flight” in French. This was their first venture into wine on their own and the name is perfectly fitting. Catherine left her job at a larger winery to launch with them and now they've been making their wines under this new label for the past three years! One fun fact is that Raphael also does some work with Les Vins de Pirouettes, so if you ever see one that says “de Raphael” you'll know who that is!