In the summer of 2009, Sophie and Fabrice Laronze decided to risk everything and start their own Domaine in Burgundy. This is rarely done as most Burgundian winery owners are born into the role of winemaker after many generations in the family. Fabrice worked under the Negociant Alex Gambal for about a decade and developed a passion for the region, eventually developing a desire to work directly with the land on his own. He and his wife began looking an area to curb their passion and discovered an old mill on a beautiful creek in Auxey-Duresses with old vineyards that they turned it into a working winery. They also acquired numerous desirable vineyard parcels and began to work towards their dream right away. Their vision was simple: revitalize and plow the soil, restore biodiversity in the vineyards, cease the use of chemicals and farm organically. These decisions quickly improved the quality of the fruit and gave the vineyards a chance to express their potential in the glass. A large portion of Terres de Velle's vines sit in the region of Burgundy that was plagued by hail in both 2014 and 2013. Their first vintage was 2009, and 3 of their first 5 vintages have lost 30-50% of their harvest. That is a huge loss for any Domaine to handle in any year, let alone 3 consecutive years, and especially for a Domaine that is just starting out and doesn't have the fat of some of the more established domaines to help cushion these financial blows. Through all of this hardship, this new, struggling domaine has consistently put out extremely high quality, well made wines.