This is Virginie’s first vintage of wines from La Spanda. It’s a new start in a relatively new place, but one she’s happy to call home and where she has quickly felt an attachment and understanding of the terroirs and the vines.

After studying business then art history, Virginie worked for a nationwide organisation of museums in charge of publication rights for works of art but as happy as she was there, she often chatted with a friend and colleague of hers about giving up everything in search of something more creative and fulfilling. They broached many careers - dancer? singer? artist? It was after visits to meet winemakers and taste their wares that she realised how much that career appealed to her, being outside with nature, creating something, and also the scientific aspect of winemaking. As with many families in France, wine was ever-present at Virginie’s mealtimes and it was during those times that Virginie learnt to appreciate wine and held fond memories of accompanying her grandfather to fetch bottles from the cellar. The decision was made and she was soon to resign from her office job to learn a new profession.

Virginie studied for a wine qualification in Beaune and started to get experience under her belt, working as an editor for a well respected wine guide, helping with Jean Thevenet in the Maconnais part of Burgundy and working as a caviste in Paris. In 2005, she co-founded the Domaine des Causses Marine in Gaillac where she spent 15 years with her partner making great natural wines now known around the world. Finally, in 2019 Virginie arrived in Calce, in the beautiful foothills of the Pyrenees mountains, where she started working four hectares of vines previously belonging to Olivier Pithon.

The name La Spanda comes from a term referring to cosmic vibrations and has its origins in tantric teachings from Kashmir. It’s not a name chosen by chance because Virginie also happens to be a yoga teacher. Both yoga and tantra play important roles in her life and influence how she wants to work, being in tune with nature, the terroir, and her vines.  Just as micro-vibrations of spanda can vitalize living things around us, Virginie uses organic and biodynamic farming to create wines with energy and depth.

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