Face B

Face B is the second side of a record and a second life at once: the project a young couple built when they left the city to make honest, low-impact wine in the Roussillon.

Backstory

Severin Barioz founded Face B in 2016 in Calce, a tiny village in the heart of Roussillon, France. Originally from Lyon, he studied wine law before spending eight years in Burgundy deepening his craft, then settled in the south with his partner Mathilde Ceccon. The name nods to his Plan B, the flip side of a vinyl record, and the B of Barioz.

The Region

Calce, whose name means limestone in Catalan, sits between the Agly and Tet rivers at around 300 meters. The terroir is a patchwork of schist, slate, and calcareous marl that gives the wines salinity and energy.

Vineyards and Farming

Barioz farms several hectares organically and biodynamically, with nearly all vineyard work done by hand, from pruning to harvest. Production runs to roughly 12,000 bottles a year, weighted toward white varieties alongside Grenache and Carignan.

Winemaking

Each parcel is vinified separately on indigenous yeasts with no additives and no filtration. Sulfur additions are minimal, around 10 mg/L only at bottling. Whites ferment and age in older oak barrels, reds in concrete vats and demi-muids.

The Wines

The result is a range of pure, saline, direct wines, including a traditional-method Blanquette de Limoux and parcel cuvees built on Carignan, Grenache, and the white varieties of Calce.

Italian Wine Regions

Valpolicella is versatility in a glass—cherry-bright Valpolicella, velvet Ripasso, and contemplative Amarone, all shaped by...
Etna is energy in a glass: Nerello Mascalese and Carricante channel lava flows, altitude, and...
Barolo is Nebbiolo at its most articulate—perfume and power shaped by Tortonian and Serravallian soils...

French Wine Regions

Savoie, nestled in the heart of the French Alps, represents one of France's most distinctive...
The Rhône Valley, in southeastern France, borders the Alps to the east and the Massif...
Bordeaux, located in southwestern France, is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and...

Natural Winemakers

Heydi Bonanini practices heroic viticulture on terraced cliffs above Riomaggiore, producing Cinque Terre whites and the legendary Sciacchetra from rescued indigenous varieties.
Weingut Niklas is a family-run Alto Adige estate in Kaltern where Dieter Solva farms 7 hectares of calcareous mountain soils to produce precise, aromatic whites and structured Lagrein reds that have carried the family name for over 50 years.
A molecular biology graduate turned sparkling-wine cult figure, Michael Cruse founded Cruse Wine Co. in Petaluma to make fresh, serious, distinctly Californian wine, including old-vine Valdiguie.