Lagorce, Aredèche (Rhône)
Always happy to come back to this inspiring hilly region of Ardèche where there are these vibrant vignerons making wines that go down so easily. This time we stopped at Domaine Ozil which had been on my wish list for a long time. This domaine is managed by two brothers who took over from their parents, who themselves
were growers (like their own parents and grandparents) but selling all their grapes to the local coop. The brothers who now farm 16 hectares quit the coop when they got in charge but kept selling part of the fruit, this time to same minded winemakers.
The Ozil brothers were friends with Gilles Azzoni and his son Antonin who make natural wine very close from here (Antonin who has a 3-year age difference with them now also took the wheel from his father), and Thomas says that he vinified a first vat with Antonin in 2010 (a few years before they launched the winery in 2013) using the grapes from Thomas' father, and again in 2011, it was so-so and tasted a bit like piquette but it was a first try. In 2012 as Antonin had left for Australia Thomas reiterated a vinification experiment with his brother, with a well-ripen Syrah and Ugni Blanc (1/3, acidulous, picked at 10 % potential) and the result was nice with the combination of the fully-matured Syrah and the fresh/acidic Ugni. The following year they started the winery for good, with a volume of 8000 bottles the first year, then 12 000, 15 000, 20 000, growing up every year. And they ended up selling the grapes they don't vinify to the Azzonis for their négoce, as they had stopped selling grapes to the coop.
This image sums it by itself, you understand why pickers love to come here pick for the harvest : a gorgeous region with old villages, kind people, and a balanced mix of vineyards, garrigue and woods through which run a few rivers with old stone bridges.
When the Ozil brothers set up their winery in 2013 they converted the farming to organic. Their parents were farming conventionally as they were delivering all their grapes to the coop, they used a bit of herbicide, although keeping grass every other row and doing some plowing, and spraying chemicals before and after flowering. This wasn't really hardcore chemical farming, but still, not organic like what the two sons implemented in 2013. This light conventionnal farming was called Lutte Raisonnee, its been replaced today with a weird certification named HVE or High Environmental Value, a 3-tier system which according to Thomas is clearly designed to undermine the organic growers and allow the industrial structures to mimic the organic farming without adhering to its core values and effectiveness for the soil and plants. This HVE thing has been planned at the EU level with the supermarket sales in view and the result has been to shrink the EU subsidies in the agriculture pack for the organic growers and divert the funds towards these industrial players. Here at Ozil they saw their subsidies dimimish because of this changed caused by the new HVE certification,
They had to build this facility because there was none in their parents time, as they were just growing grapes without making wine themselves. This was an important investment, it is nor glamourously old but it is functional and clean, which I guess is strategic when you vinify without sulfites. They vinify half their 16 hectare grape production, Thomas says it would be hard to vinify more, as these types of wines require more care and attention than additives corrected industrial wines, They can handle a total volume of 50 000 bottles here or a little more, but theyd need a larger vatroom if they wanted to vinify more. And vinifying large volumes without sulfites always carries a sentiment of risk, like he says, when one of these tanks is filled with 80 hectoliters of unsulfited wine in one batch, if it turned bad for some reason, that would be a loss. Hes often told that they should vinify more but his answer is that natural wine cant be produced industrially, which is a good thing. Those who can produced such wines labelled as "nature" wines (without sulfites) on industrial scale use hidden additives or techniques like ascorbic acid, sterile filtration, vitamin C, there are a few recipes that allow big producers like supermarket negoces and cooperatives to now market such wines in their range. They also do flash pasteurization by example.
First wine tasted in this vatroom (theres no tasting room, says Thomas as if sorry, but we feel thats even better in this setting) :
__ Est Ouest 2020, a white blend made of Marsanne, Grenache and Viognier. Vinified separately and blended afterwards. The blending depends also of the respective volumes, on the available room in the vats and on the feasability of the prospective blends, each year it changes.
Nice vibes in this white, with a balanced mouth for a southern white, my system and my stomach noisingly approve. Thomas says that they very careful about the picking dates, they don't decide along the sugar or the potential alcohol, they rely on acidity and pH for deciding to pick, the rest is secondary.
Volumes can vary with natural accidents, like this year (2021) with frost, hail (50 % losses so far), and now mildew and black rot, really rocky year. So as a result this year they'll have more direct press, shorter macerations if berries have scars. This year because of the shrinked expected volume they'll not sell grapes, that's the good side when you don't vinify all your grapes, you can count on this part when you need them. Happily, Antonin Azzoni who was supposed to buy them these grapes this year had another opportunity with a friend in Saint-Remèze who is also quitting the coopérative.
This white got some SO2 at bottling, that was the first year they did that, because that year the wines were more fragile with wines less concentrated compared to 2017 and 2019, and the wines had less polyphenols, with oxidation risks much higher. To determine this, he makes air tests with the wines, leaving a glass in the open and tasting it 6 hours later, then 12 hours later. So they put 2 grams in the form of gaz, the morning before the bottling, so that it doesn't have time to combine with the wine, that's why the analysis doesn't reflect these 2 grams but something much lower (not dectable because less than 1 gram).
__ Sans Rancune 2020, 100 % viognier. Nice color and reflections, lightly turbid because unfiltered. More powerful, lightly oxidative feel. Thomas says that their wines are never filtered, he says that like it's been said, "filtration takes away the soul of a wine".
I can't but agree to this sentence, and I find strange that many winemakers even among those working naturally don't get that.
Asked about what his brother Jean-Daniel is doing for his part, he says it's both the accounting/administrative part and the tractoring, plowing and vineyard management, but they go side by side harmoniously, with sales going easily. Asked about the export share he says 80 %. During the pandemic months including the lockdowns, there was just a gap with sales delayed at first and then it sold as strongly as ever, and in early 2020 the allotments which the importers dropped were sold in France (cavistes, wine bars, épiceries) where sales spiked through the roof.
There's a white cuvée we can't taste now because it is sold out, it is La Rochette, it's a Grenache Blanc which they bottle in february, keep one month and a half in bottle so that people can have it in the spring. This is some kind of a Primeur wine, also without any additives, and this year they made 7500 bottles of it. By comparison the largest cuvées here are Gourmandise or Barry in red with 10/11 000 bottles.
Pictures on the sides : Frangins Vignerons means Brothers Winegrowers...
__ Gourmandise, red blend of Syrah (70 %) and Grenache (30 %) vinified separately, this is the classic cuvée here at Ozil. Wholecluster maceration, bottling in april unfiltered. Fruity wine, Thomas says it's still young to be appreciated, he says it will really be very good next autumn/winter. No filtration and no sulfites. B. feels the Casseilles [I happened to have brought lots of them from the Loire days before]. Thomas says that for the cuvée Barry (also sold out now) he extracts the free-run juice slowly in order not to extract too much color and drying tannins, and with the remaining macerating grapes he makes Gourmandise with pressing around the 7th day of maceration. He'll add a bit of press juice to Barry because otherwise it'd be clear like a rosé.
Speaking about how the fermentations unfold, he says they were easier over the tears as they improved the soil conditions (the vineyards were farmed conventionally in their father's time), his brother brought green compost in the vineyard to improve the nitrogen levels, scratching the soil then sowing weeds (of which 50 % legumes) and cereals, plus a mustard plant. they then mow the grass around may, leaving the mulching on the ground and under these latitudes with the summer heat, nothing grows back.
I notice they have lots of what we call here cuves de fibre or fiber vats, they use them for fermentation and maceration. Thomas says these vats have a terrific value for money, they're 2,5 times cheaper than stainless-steel ones, plus you find them easily on the 2nd-hand market (see here a few of them). I suggest what I heard, the fact that stainless steel is supposed to makes wines reductive, Thomas says he heard that too, and he says from his experience that wines vinified in stainless steel have more difficulty to settle, there's a conductivity, maybe an electric energy issue at play to explain the difference.
here on the picture he shows how you devat the maceration grapes easily as there's aslope (the bottom is not horizontal). You have also a draw-off valve on the left that clearly leaves the lees below. You can also move these vats with ease, which is important.
Speaking of pressing, Thomas says that they had an horizontal press at one point when the production spiked, it was a classical non-pneumatic Vaslin from around 1980 which did a good job but broke down last year (not the engine but the press cage itself) so they relied with this 15-hectoliter basket press which they had since 2013. He got it from Jérôme Jouret where he worked in 2012, at the time he saw the parts in his barn, there were only the metal parts, the wood staves were gone, and Jérôme let him take them, he just worked hard with a carpenter to replace the wood parts included the floor of the press (which is now often replaced with a steel plate) which he remade in wood as well. This is impressive because when you look at this press you figure it's unchanged since the early 20th century. Another proof that back in these years tools were strong and simple enough so that they can virtually work for ever.
After the Vaslin broke down, they bought this other basket press last winter, with two press cages of 5 hectoliters, and they'll use it also for both reds and whites. If you add the two presses (one with two press cages) they have a capacity of 25 hectoliters which is good, thet fill the whole with their morning picking. They still looked around for pneumatic presses but they cost quite a lot, and they still tend to oxidize the juice, so they'll keep working the old way, and they're used with working with such presses. They have a friend in southern Ardèche who works with this type of press above and he is very happy with it. They'll test this year anyway, it will be their first year without the Vaslin. This press looks like the one of Jean-Guillaume Caplain (scroll down at mid-page), by the way. One press cage can be pressed in one hour and a half, so he needs 3 hours for 2 press cages and the waiting grapes bins meanwhile coold down in a refrigerated container.
We walked outside the facility to see the parcel borsering the winery, that's Cabernet Sauvignon with which they made in 2020 a pink pet-nat, they just disgorged it and the bottles are still resting, the wine is not ready yet, Thomas says. These vines were planted by his father some 30 years ago, the vines already have a good diameter.
You can see here how damaged these Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are. The bunches look loose, with berries far from each other but it is not the way bunches of Cabernet Sauvignon should look like, this looseness is the result of the frost and the hail, few grapes survived on a given bunch. Most of the leaves you see here grew back after the hail, and the ones that were already there are torn and punctured. They have parcels at an altitude of 200 and 250 meters and nothing froze over there, but here and down the slope in the small valleys it did. But a late frost in april like this year is pretty rare in the region, Thomas says that his father saw such a thing in the 1990s.
On the other side of the dirt road we look ar a parcel of Viognier which was planted over several years, the row here is 10 years old if I'm right. here also, there are damages, the buncheslook like there was grillure, with tiny black berries but this is the result of hail. The good side is that the vines grows back foliage and some fruit thanks to the high downpours, 100 mm in may, 100 mm in june and the soil gets enough water. The soil looks sandy, Thomas nods, saying the surface is [crushed] sandstone and silt, it's pretty fertile.
We're having a look here on a few varieties next to the wine farm, but the domaine's vineyards are spread around on a 15-km radius. they have vines near Valon-Pont-d'Arc on a small side road leading to Lagorce, they're on slopes with a good exposition and a clay-limestone soil, with rocks. Over there they have mostly Grenache, a bit of Viognier, plus Syrah on the lower slope where there are less gravettes (rock debris). They also replanted some Cinsault which should be productive in two years, which Thomas says will be good for the wines, for the blends, for example for the cuvées Barry and Gourmandise it will bring volume in the juice, and freshness as well. The good thing when your vineyard is spread around (as opposed to grouped a single block around the winery) is that when there's hail for example, you get more chance that the damage will be limited, you divide the risk. The down side is that you have to drive your tractors and tools on the side roads of the region to reach the parcels.
They bottle evething outside of the AOC, as Vin de France (table wine) and thus they're free to make the blends they want. Asked if they ever condidered getting an Appellation he says no, you have to pay, you have to get the tasting-agreement approval, fit into a mold, it's everything they don't like.
We're having a look at their tools, they seem to like the Fendt tractors, Thomas nods, saying they're very sturdy. Asked if tractors of this make can be fond second-hand through classified, he says yes, even if you have to go to another region to get one, and the one here, a Fendt 270V was bought used by his brother, it is 20 years old and runs like a clock.
Here Thomas shows us a vineyard sprayer (we say pulvé for pulvérisateur, in French), it's a "Berthoud face par face" type, meaning if sprays directly on each face of the row, this way you need much less sulfur/copper as it gets more directly on the leaves. Berthoud has been making sprayers and other vineyard tools for ever and it works pretty well, very reliable, Thomas says. The machine looks wide but the inter-row on their parcels is 2/2,20 meters while the wheeled tank trailer makes 1,5 meter, you just have to be careful at the wheel.
In the back of the barn you can guess the grey harvest bins, they're apple bins (palox à pommes) and can hold 250 kg of grapes. Before they used 20kg boxes but that was lots of work for a similar result. they work with around 14 pickers in the harvest season.
This one is the same type of sprayer, just a more recent model, this way they can spray different parcels at the same time. Thomazs says that when the articulated arms are unfolded and in place, the sprayers are 50 centimeters from the foliage and this gives more precision to the job. The older sprayers do it from above, at 1,2 meter or 2 meters above and you drop much more liquid and stuff than needed this way in order to be sure that the leaves get their spray. They need to spray the volume of three such wheeled tanks for the whole surface, so usually Thomas does one and his brother does two, with the older model which is easier to maneuver in the slopes. When you have to spray it's often urgent and having two tractors and two sprayers is convenient.
On our way to the cellar we had a look on the multi-generationnal family house, this is really a wine farm deeply rooted in the history of the place, with farmers who back then certainly lived on different crops including vineyards but not only.
In the back of the house right near the cellar door, there's this magical spot of the wine farm that has barely changed over the last century or more, and this porch roof fixed to the hill and facing the cellar door was where the grapes arrived to be pressed a century ago. Now it's been used for its fresh shade for the harvest lunches, and it happens that the weekend following this visit this place would be even more active as Thomas and Laura are getting married, the festivities taking place here... By the way Laura begins also to make wine herself, she already tried her skills on a barrel and this autumn she plans to register her own thing and begin officially to make wine on a slightly bigger scale, in a separate cellar they don't use. Always good to hear, and good reason for another visit. This year it should be Syrah and Ugni Blanc. they also helped a guy who works with them, he now has 1,5 hectare, makes wines ans still keeps working for Ozil as well. i think this is a very wise way to start, like Thierry Allemand did in his early years, keeping the day job and farming your small surface on the side.
Here is the cellar which, apart from the grand-grand-parents and older generations who made wine there, remained quiet until 2013 to 2017 when they set up their domaine and started making wine there again. then in 2018 they built the modern vat house which was of course more convenient for hygiene and moving stuff. I know moder facilities can do the job but I'm always happy to see such places like this one, rooted in family history and that remained barely renovated, keeping their charm and magic intact. Now they still use the cellar, for the barrel aging of the cuvée Groove, and they occasionally sit there with visitors or friends to drink wine. The press was on the right side of this cellar, we could even see a remaining wall of one of the brick/stone fermenters, lined with tiles like they did back then. they found other traces of the early winemaking in this farm, with labels and bottle stamps. From they found out here they sold the wine in demijohns after the barrel aging, and the funny thing is they found labels dating from around 1900 where you could read "vin naturel à l'analyse", meaning no sugar was found at analysis. A definition of wine was then created : a wine had to be made from fermented freshly-picked grapes (another proof that real wine versus fake wine is a continuing battle, from what we keep learning about the many tricks and shortcuts our resourceful industry has in store).
Back in those years (early 1900s) there was a big issue with producers or rather négoces including in northern France making wine with sugar on pressed must, or even without any grapes at all, this was piquette but pretending to be real wine, that's why a full-blown revolt with riots forced the authorities to crack down on these deceitful practices. And these things had come on top of the phyloxerra catastrophe so people were very upset by yet another disaster looming. More on these troubled times on this page (in English). Speaking of Chaptalization and wine correction, read again the story of an interesting character (less wellknown in his field than Jean-Antoine Chaptal) , Ludwig Gall, this German who designed how to make wine correction on an industrial scale and was confronted early by opponents arguing this was bringing deceit and falsification. Interestingly the guy was also a radical leftist, a precursor of Karl Marx in the same hometown, he also at some point travelled to the U.S.A. bringing slave labor for a business project of his, which ended abruptly when the workers he brought evaded his grip after finding out that the normal pay in Philadelphia was several times what he gave them (the guy was full of resources as you can see, including to reduce costs). Then (surprinsingly or unsurprisingly) after this failed adventure and human trafficking, when back in Europe, he became fiercely anti-American....
Thomas says that his father has lots of stories to tell about these early 1900s years and winemaking issues back then, plus he is the one who keeps these old labels, so when we drive again near there I'll ask him for a picture of this rare label...
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