Mobile Distillery in Puisaye

Régis' mobile distillery, in the middlle of a village Somewhere in the Puysaye (northern Burgundy)
The Puysaye is a region sitting at the limit of Burgundy (Yonne département), the Loire and the Nivernais. It's name has Celtic origins, meaning in the Celtic language both "humid country" and "forests" (it was all forests then). Although this map may make it look part of the Loire, it is often said that it's the door of Burgundy. It has a long tradition of cider making like you could see in an earlier story. But like many other regions in France, it has also its distillation culture, with mobile distilleries still scouring the region in autum to distillate alcohol for local people. In France, anyone owning fruit trees can have his fruits distillated in a registered distillery. People often use these mobile distilleries because they settle a few days near their village and this makes a shorter distance to transport the containers of fermented fruits (which can be quite heavy). Before going there with Gérard who had some stuff to distillate, we stopped at the charming village of La Ferté Loupière nearby to eat in a restaurant. The area seems to be ignored by tourists and many villages are lovely. The achitecture is very different compared to the Burgundy that we know, and here they use red bricks in old buildings.

The all-weather alambic trailer The weather was particuilarly tough this day, with a storm bringing rain and strong winds friom the Atlantic ocean. But the appointment with the bouilleur de cru had been made by Gérard for that very day and there was no way to change plans. Gérard picked me at Chatelet and we took the road toward Joigny, near which he stays on weekends.
As you may have learned in a previous family-harvest story (part one and part two), Gérard own a small vineyard near Joigny, and he has been making wine every year for fun, for himself and his friends. He uses to bring some of his grape must at the distillery, which is what he is doing this day. He almost didn't press this particular batch of must, in order to keep the maximum of juice within. It has been fermenting in this blue barrel since october, and now it's the right time to distillate it. He was helped that day by as friend of his (also named gérard) who lives in the area permanently and also gives a hand for the vineyard tasks. Gérard2 drove the blue container to the mobile distillery and we took a couple of containers of white wine that Gérard says didn't turn well. We uncorked and emptied a few dozens of bottles of this chard in order to have it distilled along with the must that day. I tasted one of the bottles, it was indeed spoiled, it was oxydized at some point, and not in a beautiful way. Every established winemaker distillates a cuvée now and then when it turns bad, so there's no shame to do it if you don't like the result.
But what is important is to distillate the two separately, the best result being brought by the distillation of the fermented must. The must looked like a packed compote and to make the filling of the alambic easier, Gérard emptied the plastic barrel with a pitchfork, filling smaller reconverted trash containers instead. The wood-fired boiler The boiler of the mobile distillery works with wood, like in the old time, which means that it's competely autonomous and can work in the middle of nowhere, given that you have a source of water nearby. Some alambic makers still offer steam boilers using wood (like this one), but there's also electronics which need maintenance and electricity. Here, nothing of that, this one is at the same time perfectly basic and reliable in all circumstances. It was made by Bouveau, distillateur constructeur in Escamps, a village south of Auxerre (not far from here). Régis designed this alambic trailer, some parts being very old (like the chassis) some more recent. Some of the parts were also custom made (not ordered ready-made) and connected to the whole system the way he wanted them to be. The client here (pic on right) brought some wood along with the cider he wants to distillate
Régis has an old van parked on the side with lots of wood inside, but clients can bring their own wood and they will pay less at the end for the distillation.
Régis fills the hearth with wood from time to time, and you feel like you're on a steam locomotive, except for the lack of noise.
Even indoors artisanal distilleries use wood sometimes, especially when they still use vintage alambic inherited from the family like it'soften the case for this profession. You may remember an earlier story of mine about a bouilleur de cru in the Morvan. Morvan is a wooded area in central Burgundy (a bit further east from here), which was sort of remote in the past, little inhabited, cold and poor. The Puisaye was also densely forested in the past, not now anymore. A steam boiler with its lid Before beginning the distillation of Gérard's must and white wine, Régis finished the batches that were processes when we arrived. This wheeled distillery has three separate steam boilers, all heated by the wood stove at the end. the steam circulates between the stove and the three lined boilers, and the heat is thus softer than a direct fire with which you have always to make sure that the botton of the boiler doesn't get too hot, because it may burn the must and generate bad aromas in the spirit. With the steam, there's a limit to the temperatute to which the raw material will be subjected to.
You may think that people would just drop their fruits or cider/wine and come back a couple of hours later, but there's a convivial tradition to just stay with the bouilleur de cru and help if necessary. It's also that you've been preparing your fruits for months (even if it means just letting them ferment in a side building), and you want to see the whole process from A to Z.
When a distillation is over, Régis opens the drain valve underneath the boiler and all the must get flushed in a big cloud of steam. Then he unlocks the lid which lets another burst of steam go away, after which you just wait that it all clears off. The boiled must being taken away Here, Regis takes the remains of the boiled grape-must, which will be dumped somewhere. The tray system allows him to lift it easily, and it allows him also to position it at a safe distance from the bottom of the boiler, which is where the heat comes from.
The green tank on the right is full of water and that's where the steam gets condensed by going through a cooling coil. It's conveniently placed on the outside, far from the heat to stay cold, and easy to refill. Loading the grape must in the boiler Now that this grape must has been taken out (not belonging to Gérard), Régis hoses the tank with water and he fills it with Gérard's must which is waiting in the trash containers.
The trailer in the background belongs to another client, and the cans in there seemed to contain cider and wine. This cider may not have been spoiled, but some people around here make so much cider every year that they may make room by dumping their older stock. Getting the 2nd boiler ready The 2nd boiler will be where the spoiled white wine will get distillated if I remember. Régis is used to distillate separately the products of his clients, and during the time I watched him work, I saw all sort of raw material being used, grape must, fermented apple-mash, cider, white wine and so on... I think that the liquid being poured on the left may be some cider, but I'm not sure, it could be also some fermented juice.
You can see on this picture how these pressure cookers look like on the top, it's pretty simple to lock and unlock. I'm not familiar with the trade but I don't think they may explode, even though Régis told me that they're 3-millimeter thick, which doesn't seem that thick. But he says that the steam has a way out, the cooling coil through the water, and that it's never on the verge of exploding.
This condensation coil (pic on the right) is pretty basic, the water is as I understand renewed continuously so it can stay cold, and when some water is need to clean a tank or complement the raw material being loaded, it is taken from there and replaced by tap water. A mobile distillery in action (video) On this video you can watch how a mobile distillery looks like on an ordinary winter day, the clients helping and giving a hand (bringing their wood for example) or just chatting, the checking from time to time of the alcohol level, the emptying of the steam boilers and the filling with the raw material and a bit of water. You don't feel it in your flesh but the wind was cold and humid that day and this made our glass of ratafia (see below) very welcome. Pouring a ratafia for us Now, that's what I like in these mobile distilleries : you get a taste of the final product even before it's finished. This ratafia was very welcome, because the day was cold and windy, and apart from the wood steam stove, there was no escape from the wind. Régis took out several glasses from this small green cabinet which makes you feel on a steam boat. This ratafia was made with pure grape juice blended with marc (spirit made by distilling grape must), usually half and half. This is a very natural drink, and quite pleasant and easy to drink. Here, we were wondering if maybe sugar was added (we didn't ask). Sugar is not needed most of the time because grape juice is very sugary, but it's sometimes added to make ratafia more round.
There's always a bunch of men hanging around, this is like an ephemeral café where you can chat about everything, no women around, a men's thing. We raise our glass and enjoy the warmth of the drink. You can exchange recipes for the making of you ratafia, as there's not a uniform way of making it, from the blend share to the choice of the juice (usually around here either apple juice or grape juice). Here it is Here comes the spirit, filling the bucket quite fast actually. Régis checks the alcohol level regularly, and it varies considerably fromthe beginning to the end. The final level will be in the 50s', which is good to make ratafia, as I understand. We regularly pass a finger under the liquid and taste it to check. Not my type of alcohol really, but it's quite aromatic. The distillation is made at once, not in two runs like in certain distillers. That's because of the two cylinders through which the vapors pass before going through the cooling coil (condensation coil), if I understand correctly. The first cylinder is (in French) the colonne de deflegmentation and the second is the colonne de rectification. Régis had these tools made on his requirements for this mobile distillery. The bouilleur de cru with a customer The bouilleur de cru who operates this mobile distillery does that for a living, but part time only, during the autumn/winter season. He starts to scour the surrounding villages in november and finishes somewhere in march or april. The village where we visited him was the one where he stayed the longest, about two weeks, because it's central for a large number of people who use his services. Otherwise he stays a few days in a certain number of villages throughout the region. During the rest of the year he is a farmer who grows wheat, and he probably knows the people living in those hamlets and villages better than few..
This profession is highly regulated and you have to go under the scrutiny of the law before being allowed to operate a distillery such as this one. Being from a family where a father or a grandfather did this sort of job may help. You have to keep your books straight so that in case of need, the authorities can see who made what volume of spirit and from which sort of raw material. Also, there are distillation hours, you can't distillate after 6pm, I guess it has to do with and old law where you couldn't distillate after dark, probably to avoid the production of undeclared spirits. Also, you must wait 6pm to take away your alcohol, and this must be also a way to allow a rapid check by the Douanes (the French customs are the ones who are in charge to enforce alcohol laws) of the alcohol production of a given distillery on a given day.
My friend Gérard got 29 liters of distillated alcohol that day, at about 50 proof, part of which came from the fermented must, part from the discarded white wine (they keep the too separate). He payed 3 € per liter for the service, and he didn't pay the tax because his mother still has a distillation right. Since shortly after WW2 if I'm right, no new droits de distillation (which make you exempt of tax) are issued. Only the people who got these rights after WW2 and are still alive today can be tax-free in their private distillation. This tax is about 4 € for a liter of 100 proof alcohol, or maybe 7,5 € for one liter at 50 proof. Having no tax to pays allows you to have an excellent spirit for a mere 3 € a liter, a rare priviledge...
Gérard will probably use part of this spirit to blend it next year to his home-made grape juice and make a good volume of ratafia... If you happen to visit the region, don't miss the church of La Ferté Loupiere (its outside being pictured at the top-left of this page). Its unique Danse Macabre is a 25-meter-long wall painting which dates from the Middle Ages and where you can follow the story of two well-to-do misters being instructed by skeletons on how short and vain life is without spiritual salvation... these murals are estimated to date from the late 15th century. The church is also very beautiful by itself, because it is simple and humble. Such danses macabres are rarities in Europe, and this one is visible for free in this nice village.
Here are a few close-up pictures of the mural

Comments

[Riedel Wine Glasses]

Albeit, the equipment doesn't look all that new but what a treat to have the fruits of you labor (pun intended) be distilled in your own back yard, well almost. I've heard of these mobile distilleries before and the acquaintances who have had the opportunity to indulge in locally grown, locally brewed pleasantries of Puysaye's neighboring regions have nothing but wonderful things to say about it. Glad I found this post, puts an image to the stories.