The Giant and the Forgotten Gardens
2022 · light red
sold outDiscover →Luftmensch, wines adrift
It is the warm law of humankind
They turn grapes into wine
They turn coal into fire
They turn kisses into people.
Nature does not endure sudden change without great violence.
Every man for himself, and God for all.
01 · About
Wines adrift
An Alsatian in Provence, Thomas Lesage is a winegrower setting out. For now, under his Luftmensch signature, he tends one hectare of Nebbiolo at the foot of Mourre Nègre and makes small-batch wines in collaboration with Château de Beaupré, near Aix-en-Provence.
Wines adrift, with only one point of reference: the pursuit of freshness and crunch, despite the Mediterranean blaze. All finely honed by exceptionally long ageing.
But Luftmensch is, above all, a pretext for a philosophical, sensory and poetic enquiry in the midst of a global anthropogenic crisis. An exploration made possible by precious accomplices.
02 · In the Vineyard
Agroecological edging
At the foot of Mourre Nègre, in the southern Luberon, Marie Séité-Kertekian entrusted me with the care of Domaine des Passages' Nebbiolo plot. This west-facing slope, abandoned and swallowed by the pinewoods in the 1980s, was reclaimed in 2014. On the restored terraces, pomegranate trees, broom and wild plants accompany the great Piedmontese climber, which finds here a far more generous sun than on the legendary hills of Barolo in Italy.
In the local landscape, this plot is a UFO. A jewel of a vineyard, as magnificent as it is demanding to tend. I try to keep the vine on a knife-edge between simplicity, hardiness and antagonism, practising a kind of agroecological edging. Of course, I intervene to steer the course of events and produce delicious organic grapes. But I force myself not to lord it over the glorious mess of life unfolding there.
Vineyard certified organic. The spontaneous plant cover is mechanically mown once a year after flowering. All other work is carried out on foot. Physiological pruning. Copper-and-sulphur treatments with a backpack sprayer. Canes woven together. Occasional hoeing to restrain competing woody plants.
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03 · In the Cellar
Nothing matches, everything comes together
I discovered winemaking at Ferme Saint-Martin, in the Dentelles de Montmirail. It was there I learned the craft. I regard myself as a disciple of Thomas Jullien, the magician of Suzette, whose bottles, especially his Gérine and Estaillades, moved me as few wines ever had. By his side, I learned sensitivity and exacting standards, intuition and risk, resourcefulness and trust. Observe closely, taste constantly, intervene at precisely the right moment. Above all, never mistake simplicity for ease. His living, forthright, vibrant wines, imbued with tenderness, have profoundly shaped my palate and my stylistic compass.
Today, at Château de Beaupré, through the affectionate invitation of Phanette Double and with the support of her team, I pursue my own explorations. Every vintage is a chance to experiment. I am in love with wines from the north, of acidity and tension, yet my roots lie beneath the scorching Provençal sun. Here I stubbornly pursue my paradoxical quest: to make fresh, delicate, mouthwatering wines that burst into life with vivid fruit, then are refined, chiselled and led astray through long, sometimes extraordinarily long, ageing. Until a curious balance emerges, where nothing quite fits yet everything falls into harmony. Wines of utter disorientation.
Luftmensch × Beaupré wines are produced and marketed by Château de Beaupré as limited-edition cuvées.
04 · The Wines
Wandering cuvées
Luftmensch creations are ephemeral. They come into the world in tiny batches, from 24 to 600 bottles. Save for rare exceptions, these are wines that will not return from one year to the next. In traditional vineyards, on the contrary, it is this eternal return that grants access to the oceanic feeling, through the ‘vintage effect’. To that delicious descent between permanence and impermanence, at the heart of a hallowed terroir.
While Luftmensch wines spring from the same grapes and the same centuries-old terroir as Château de Beaupré's own cuvées, they are more like the wanderer crossing the landscape, bundle on his shoulder. From his window, an old man watches, amused.
With my safe-conduct in hand, I roam Beaupré with complete freedom to experiment. Individual plots, blends and grape varieties, winemaking methods: every path is open to me.
Naturally, I begin by composing from the range of possibilities offered by the grapes grown on the estate. In the cellar, I make wine with spontaneous microbes (bacteria deserve their moment in the spotlight too! No offence, dear yeasts, for I love you just as much) and without oenological additives, except for a pinch of sulphur before bottling. I use neither fining nor filtration, so as not to erase or blur the wines' complexity.
The Swell and the Breeze
2023 · balanced red
sold outDiscover →
Patience Amid the Swell
2023 · deep red
sold outDiscover →
The Ruddy Edges
2024 · light red
availableDiscover →
Seno
2024 · dry white
availableDiscover →
The Enormous Normal
2025 · dry white
in productionDiscover →
Storm Diabolo
2025 · deep red
in productionDiscover →
Storm Diabolo
2026 · balanced red
in productionDiscover →05 · The Enquiry
Dread and joy
The grapevine is a liana.
In the wild, it favours the fringes of riverside woodland, those meeting places where light, water and vegetation give it room to thrive. It storms the trees, borrows their trunks and branches to reach the light, and spreads its foliage into the canopy.
Read the rest of the manifesto →1 / 26
06 · Background
Born in Mulhouse, I initially followed a path far removed from the vineyards. I begin my career as the right-hand man of Alain Thébault, designer and skipper of the Hydroptère. After a stint in Switzerland as a propagandist for the watchmaker Swatch, I co-found Omnino in 2017, an Alsatian micro-roastery specialising in specialty coffee.
In 2019, drawn to living wines and disoriented by my discoveries about the Anthropocene, I move to Provence to get my feet on the ground and put a few ideas to the test. I join Phanette Double at Château de Beaupré, supporting her in the agroecological transition she has embarked upon. In 2020, I begin my journey as a winegrower, one of wandering, learning and seasons spent alongside makers who share a curiosity for living things, precision of gesture and wines that stir the emotions.
View full profileA few stages along the way.
2018–2021Self-directed learning
Exploring the Anthropocene, energy and climate issues, and ecology.
2019–2020Château de Beaupré, Provence
Head of marketing and communications.
2020–2023Agroecological kitchen garden, Provence
Growing food in a 150 m² vegetable garden, nurturing living soil.
2020–2021Volunteering across France
Immersive WWOOF placements, notably with Jean-Pierre Rietsch (Alsace), Domaine des Passages (Luberon), and Le Temps des Rêveurs (Sainte-Victoire).
2021–2022Ferme Saint-Martin, Beaumes-de-Venise
Vineyard and cellar worker; second-in-command in the cellar alongside Thomas Jullien.
Awarded the vocational qualification in vine growing and winemaking (BPA Travaux de la vigne et du vin).
Since 2022Luftmensch, Provence
Making experimental small-batch wines with partner winegrowers.
2023A roaming season
Tractor driver at Château de Beaupré; assistant winemaker and tractor driver at Villa Minna. Seasonal vineyard work in Burgundy, Anjou and the Luberon.
2024–2025Domaine de Rochereuil, Brittany
Deputy estate manager alongside Antoine Desvigne and Maylis Chauvin. Helped establish the vineyard and produce the estate's first vintage.
October 2026French Ministry of Agriculture
Awarded the professional diploma in agricultural business management (BPREA) through recognition of prior learning (VAE).
07 · Acknowledgements
To my active accomplices, my heavyweight accomplices, my discreet accomplices, and those who became accomplices despite themselves... my gratitude to you all! Materially, physically, spiritually, technically, financially, as friends, aesthetically... you too have a touch of the Luftmensch about you.
A special mention for Harold, guardian of the temple, who hates being singled out and therefore, quite logically, gets a double helping here. Thanks to all the others, jumbled together and levelled by the blind law of alphabetical order, whatever the uneven weight of your contributions. I know their weight, and so do you.
Alen Demark · Alix Millot · Amandine Neau · Anaïs Guimontheil · Antoine and Maylis Desvigne · Arnaud Straupe · Bastien Boutareaud · Bastien Schwab · Benjamin Bracco · Brice Martin · Bruno Schloegel · Caroline Ougeot · Caroline Tamaro · Cécile Verriele · Christian and Anne Bleger · Clément Mercet · Cyrille Burckel · Damien Valla · David Chaldoreille · Didier Bellavoir · Dorothée Pin · Fabien Chanavas · François Dal · François Martin Saint Léon · Gaëlle Differt · Grégory Vieublé · Guillaume Bleger · Jean-Baptiste Roman · Jean-Francis Rispoli · Jean-Pierre and Sophie Rietsch · Jérôme Maillot · Johan Casse · Julie Canaple · Julien Castel · Julien Cuculi · Julien Fabre · Julien Lebreton · Kamélia Sekkat · Karim · Kona DM-590-SA · Kristina Godun · Laurent Barth · Laurent Feutrier · Laurent Maynadier · Léonie Vuillemin · Lionel Audouin · Loïc Nauche · Louis Henneman · Louis Toucas · Ludovic Clémenson · Magali Fiandano · Marc Demelin · Marc Kemlin · Marie Bouhié · Marie Séité · Maryline Huet · Matthieu Filliatreau · Maxime Gay · Meryl Straupe · Mickaël Huet · Muriel Rose · Olivier B. and his sidekicks · Pascal Courbard · Paul Burlot · Pauline Thibaux · Phanette Double · Quentin Romeyer · Rémi Tranchand · Richard Graglia · Satori · Sylvaine Roustan · Thomas Cunha · Thomas Jullien · Tristan Hamon · Valentina Bassanese · Véronique and Cédric Aubert · Véronique Jacquot · Virginie Mercier · Yaris DZ-777-BL · Zori Spasevska
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