Twenty years at Serra Hills, in Marco's words

I came back to Serra Hills in 2004 with a notebook full of questions and, I'll admit, a few opinions I was sure Burgundy had taught me for good. The hillside corrected most of them within a year.

My parents bought this estate in 1987 with almost no experience and a lot of stubbornness. By the time I was old enough to actually taste what they were making, I already knew I wanted to leave and learn somewhere else first — which is how I ended up working two harvests under négociants outside Beaune, mostly carrying things and asking too many questions.

What I brought home wasn't a technique. It was a rule: never hurry. Burgundy taught me that a vineyard will tell you when it's ready, in its own time, and that most winemaking mistakes come from someone deciding they know better than the vine.

Twenty years on, I still sample every barrel weekly, still blend by taste rather than by formula, and I still think the best thing I can do most days is listen carefully and interfere as little as possible. The hillside has never once been in a hurry. I've stopped trying to convince it otherwise.