Olivier Humbrecht MW is co-owner and winemaker at Domaine Zind Humbrecht in Alsace, France. He was France’s first Master of Wine and is one of the early adopters of biodynamic farming methods. Since 2002, he has been President of Biodyvin, an international association of biodynamic winegrowers, and since 2011 also president of the Alsace Grand Cru Association. He also consults for Phantom Creek Vineyards in British Columbia, Canada.

The best advice I ever got

From my physiology/viticulture teacher at school Purpan-Toulouse 1982/1987: do not do summer pruning hedging, it’s illogical if you try to understand the physiology of the vine and its fructification system. Life changing advice…. 

My life motto

Carpe diem

I am currently reading

You’re going to laugh, but after all the damage on our trees in both garden and forests, we had to cut lots of wood. So Norwegian Wood Book - Chopping Stacking and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way by Lars Mytting. 

My most played music track

S.O.B - Son of a bitch, give me a drink  by Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats

If I didn’t do my current job I would be

Producing single malt in Scotland, preferably on an island…. 

Skill I don’t currently possess but would like to have 

Speaking more foreign languages, Italian to start with. 

My favourite kind of exercise

Mushroom hunting

I relax while

Fishing for mackerel on the west coast of Scotland. 

I collect

Single Malts, mostly Highland Park and Elchinger pots from Alsace.

My essential newspaper/magazine

I mostly read online version of magazines and local newspaper. But I read this on paper: Le Rouge & le Blanc.

My desert-island wine

Wrong question, I would never accept to go on a desert-island with only one wine…. 

I have learnt a lot from

My father Léonard Humbrecht. 

My last meal and sip will be

I hope I will not know that it’s my last meal… but it would be a Babette’s Feast kind of meal with my best friends and family.