Laragne-Montéglin, Haute Provence
This story is taking place in Jean Giono country at the border of Haute Provence and Hautes Alpes in a region south of Grenoble at mid altitude, with warm summers but cool nights, this is not the Provence you might think about, these
are remore lands
with scarce population and harsh climatic conditions that have shaped along the centuries a hard working local with an enduring and austere character. The region is not known for its wines but there's a small production with a few vignerons, some of them making natural wine like Jacques Pierre. Jacques came to the region because he is a hang-gliding pilot and instructor (Haute provence, Alps and Savoie are sought-after regions for outdoor fanatics in France). For a living he wanted initially to open a multiservice business for the quiet months (he masters carpentry, plumbing and other trades) but the French administration doesn't help aspiring artisans by asking many certificates and diplomas, so he decided to make wine instead.
Jacques settled in this bastide or farm a year ago (early september 2019), just in time for the harvest that took place september 19 in his Rhône parcel in Violes. The farm sits isolated in a valley (look at that scenery on the right, indeed a perfect setting for a Giono novel), it had all the features of an old farm with a large cellar where wine was made and stored, he's renovating it little by little but has already begun to make wine, both from local parcels and from the ones from the Rhône. See how small the windows are on this bastide, this is the typical architectural feature in harsh temperature conditions.
Pic on left : courtesy of Jacques Pierre
This story should have been published early september and was delayed because of a backlog of other stories. The cellar of the farm is being cleaned and renovated, and Jacques put out all what remained of its last vinification tools, among which a few rotten barrels and this interesting fermenter with a rare shape and proportions.
Speaking of the wines
he makes, Jacques says
he has a one-hectare vineyard in Violes (near Gigondas) with Grenache and a bit of Carignan. Then right here just outside of Laragne-Montéglin (north exit) he has a parcel with Syrah, Viognier and Cabernet Sauvignon. This past year he used only the Syrah because he helped a vigneronne with whom he works, she took the Viognier (of which they had only 3 hectoliters that year) and the Cab. He also bought grapes to Elodie Aubert at Clos des Cîmes, and organic domaine between Nyons and the Mont Ventoux. Jacques will also plant soon a 1,2-hectare parcel near here with Clairette and Roussanne (he got the administrative green light for the plantation).
Right now Jacques vinifies under the vin de France label, he could pretend to the IGP Hautes Alpes but this isn't a wine philosophy he shares and he says they could get their own IGP in this region, or possibly rejoining the Coteaux des Baronnies which is located further west from here.
This is yet another thing he found in the cellar and chai, this long container seems to have been carved from a tree trunk, it's hard to tell its use but it looks very old, and I'd say it could have been used to settle the gross lees after the pressing, or it could also have been used to crush the grapes with the feet, the juice then flowing into a barrel underneath (the basket presses were unaffordable in the 19th century for farms that were making wine marginally along with other crops, and the locals were either renting a press on wheels or doing the job with their feet).
The wines : he makes a rosé, with 48-hour maceration using 100 % Grenache from Violes (Rhône), then a red, Grain D'Folie made from Syrah grown here in Laragne-Montéglin, and Looping Grenache, Syrah (20 %), a blend from the parcels in Violes and Mérindol-les-Oliviers. Altidude 590, a 100 % Cabernet Sauvignon grown here. From both the purchased grapes and his own parcels he made 45 hectoliters in 2019. Jacques says he hopes to expand his vineyard surface but you have to go through the administrative hurdles with getting plantation rights : the whole planted surface in the Hautes Alpes is a mere 150 hectares (other sources says only 130) and the rules prohibit to replant more than 10 % every year, which can slow down requests if several growers ask plantation rights the same year (this year was good in this regard as only 6 hectares of new plantation rights were requested to the administration).
The place was a bit messy with the renovation as Jacques was finishing the work before the harvest (this story took place late august). I asked him how he found his first customers, he said he printed flyers for the people in the area know he was making wines, he also attended local street markets of Laragne-Montéglin and Lachau (25 km West from here) where he knows people, also a few restaurants and campgrounds accomodating visitors eager to discover local products. He hasn't really exported yet although he got good feedback from Belgian visitors who bought a few cases and seem to be willing to buy more...
Asked if he has exchanges with other people elsewhere vinifying naturally and sharing the same philosophy, Jacques says his longtime mentor is Marcel Richaud, who is also a hang-glider (deltaplane in French, see mid-scroll on this page Marcel Richaud preparig for a flight. He also know well Marcel's Children Claire [who basically is in charge now] and Thomas (who is into paragliding). Jacques is from Burgundy, not the wine part but Monceau-les-Mines, and his father used to tell him that in the past the family had a parcel of vines that had been pulled up in the 1950s, and it always made him dream a little to know neat Monceau-les-Mines there were also vineyards. This notalgia resurfaced when he befriended Marcel and that's how he came to starting this wine farm.
Jacques says he vinified his cuvée Looping 2019 in these large-capacity barrels (650 liters each) given to him by Marcel Richaud, putting the grapes inside, part whole-clustered (40 %) and part destemmed for 5 to 6 weeks. In order to be able to pour the bunches inside, he enlarged the original openings himself. These demi-muids are old enough so that there's no wood imprint. He'd check the temperature every day, the goal being to keep it around 21 or 22 C (71,6 or 73,4 F) maximum.
Here is the cellar being prepared for the vinification in a couple of weeks. He'll keep the sides with dirt floor in order to get the right exchange with the soil in terms of temperature & humidity. He'll put 3 cement tanks (the ones that are outside for now) in the bottom and a few other vessels on the sides. He chose these cement tanks because they're not square but with rounded sides, so they'll go along with the vaulted ceiling that comes low on the side. These cement fermenters are made in Chambery (in the region) and the small label on their front reads "Tri Plok" Cuves en Ciment Armé, Office Vinicole, 73000 Chambery.
Last year he vinified in this same house, in a front room next to this vaulted cellar and not in this main cellar because he had just arrived here without time to make any basic functional repairs, plus this room was full of rotten barrels and other trash that had been laying there for decades. Marcel Richaud gave him a few vessels to be able to work last year. For the first year he used a basket press but he says he should have soon (in time for the harvest of 2020) an old non-pneumatic Vasling press, like 15-hectoliter capacity. He also may in the future bury a couple of amphorae, qvevri style, in this cellar for experiments.
Jacques will use this opening in the ceiling of the vaulted cellar for gravity : the red grapes will arrive on the upper level where they'll be processed, pressed and settled, then the juice will flow down through this opening in fermenters and barrels. This is great to see that this old farm is having its antique cellar and chai revived the proper way...
Here at the front end of the main cellar you can see a rarity proving the farm was active at its creation in the winemaking : This tine (Provencal term for fermenter) is embedded in the foundation and walls of the farm, it's made od rough stones held together with some sort of lime mortar, the inside being probably tiled like it used to, I say probably because Jacques hadn't any access to the inside, the opening is originally on the top and the previous owners apparently poured a cement screed over it on the upper floor for convenience, as obviously they weren't using this tine anymore.
This is quiet interesting to see such an antique fermenter, it must have had quite a large capacity given the estimated size, meaning that just for a multi-crop farm like this one the vineyard surface was substancial. And the opening located on the lower side lets you suppose that they'd fill the barrels through there. Thinking again about the wooden tool see above, it could have been used a couple centuries ago to crush the grapes on top of the tine, the width of this improvised crusher being about the right size. There's a renovated tine in the small town of Sisteron (see picture here) and we can see the tiled inside). Jacques says that at the time they'd fill this fermenters with grapes (destemmed he supposes) with at the end a heavy wooden lid to prevent the cap from surfacing. I feel that it's very similar to the Georgian way with Qvevri. Jacques says that from his own experience he saw that many old farms of the region have such tines.
This passage connecting the cellar to the outside was formerly a sheepfold, this farm was of course at the time growing different crops and keeping farm animals for self sufficiency and exchanges. To a certain extent these animals were keeping the foundation of the building warm like a living thing...
Walking outside we pass along this machine, he'll use this Italian-made crawler tractor which works easy on slopes and doesn't compact the soil.
Really feels like in Provence even though we're just over the line from the Alpes de Haute Provence : just below the farm there's this large field of lavender, next to Jacques' newly-replanted parcel. He says that before this lavender field was planted there were vines, and you still find wild vines along the trees on the sides dating from that bygone era.
We walk down to the newly-planted vines below the farm, this is Marselan, a variety with small berries and thus low yields, this is a fairly recent (1961) cross between Cabernet Sauvignon & Grenache. Jacques says what makes the difference is the rootstock, he chose the R140 here. He tilled the whole parcel by hand because the plot was overwhelmed by weeds months ago, which is why a few baby vines died. That's what makes him dubious about letting grass grow in the vineyard, and Marcel thinks the same, plowing or scratching the soil is important to avoid an excessive competition. Plus, the plowing (given you choose the right time) helps build a buffer layer that prevents humidity loss, which is very important in a region with dry summers. The soil is very rocky with pebbles here and there, and Jacques says it sits atop a moraine, which is a typical configuration in the region.
Asked about his vinification, Jacques says everything (including the grapes in the Rhône) is hand picked, he only relies on indigenous yeast, there's no filtration, no fining, and he only adds a bit of sulfites at bottling, like 2 or 3 grams (per hectoliter). But he bottled part of the cuvée Grain D'Folie without any SO2 and he realized he should have bottled more this way, but last year was so edgy given the conditions with a facility barely in place. He'll be less shy in the next vintages, bottling as many cuvées without SO2 if he feels safe with it. Grain D'Folie is vinified in fiber vat only (the next vintage, 2020, it'll be in cement tank) and Looping in demi-muids.
We bought a few bottles and have already opened this one, a beautiful vin de France 2019 made with Grenache, powerful (14,5 %) but with outstanding acidity, very interesting style with aromas of eucalyptus and similar spices. So enjoyable to drink and swallow with this chew in the mouth, obviously unfiltered given the sediment in the bottle. We had it over two days, super deal indeed for 9,5 €.
We made the mistake to chill this rosé and open it for apéritif, it proved not the best way to enjoy it : Hours later we had this obviously-unfiltered rosé for dinner at room temperature, and what a pleasure ! Full mouth, onctuous and very harmonious with the food, so easy to drink even with 14 %. And only 8,5 € (but if I remember it was sold out for the 2019).
We at last opened this cuvée Altitude 590 (Vin de France, vintage 2019). Very nice bottle, very fresh, enjoyable chew with light spicy edge, a real pleasure to sip, and easy drinking again in spite of 14 % alcohol. Great deal again, we paid 11 € for this bottle. For a first vintage (and vinified nature) we have here very nice wines at affordable prices.
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