Saint-Rémy-sur-Durolle, Auvergne
This early december took place the 18th edition of the famed (if small) wine fair Les 10 Vins Cochons, a natural-wine, direct-sale event centered on the wines of Auvergne and Massif Central. The organizers had in mind from the start to make these wines better known for the locals who don't have the opportunity to know them, that's why the
organizers kept selecting
along the years venues located deep in the heart of this vibrant mountainous region which as you know is dotted with so many exctinct volcanoes. That's why also the bottle prices were pretty friendly, that is, either the same price than at the wine farm or even cheaper from what I was told by a few winemakers. The remoteness of the chosen location tends to make this wine fair indeed very local with few Parisians or foreigners attending because of the complicated issue of commuting by public transport (first reach Clermont Ferrand by train, then a secondary town (here Thiers), then the final stretch who-knows-how (taxi, acquaintance...) to reach the given village.
So in short, practically I gave up, but there was an unexpected turnaround when Aaron tipped about the impending event (which anyway had passed under my radar) and offered me to get there together and possibly visit a vigneron the day before. Doing crazy things collectively seemed wiser than venturing there alone, especially when not aware at all about where we'd sleep (and the region was under the snow), so I said OK, just that I was busy the day before. So here I am taking the train to Clermond Ferrand where I'd meet a few folks including Aaron (blog & Substack newsletter) and Hannah Fuellenkemper (blog or Instagram), and find myself in good company in the back of a Saab with Dutch license plates heading to the white mountains, exactly to the reservoir of the village of Saint-Rémy-sur-Durolle (pictures on both side)... I love this job
This event tool place at the salle polyvalente of the village, along the reservoir which is a recreation area around the year. A salle polyvalente is some sort of community building
sometimes called in
France salle de fêtes, typically used for village events, but these places can also be rented for family gatherings, corporate, or in the matter tasting events for example. The facilities in the large cities in France tend to become very expensive, that's also why many such events involving artisan vignerons find alternative venues like these. the entree fee was 6 € which included the specially-issued 10-vins-cochons glass which you could bring home (preciously, like I did) and unlimited tasting of the cuvées... You had to show a valide pass sanitaire to get in, so inside most people wouldn't keep their mask.
I figured out immediately that this was a good idea to begin with the wines of Patrick Bouju, whom we saw briefly before entering the premises, especially that his tasting table was not yet overwhelmed by wine afficionados, couldnt postpone without taking risks... He was there with girlfriend /partner Justine Loiseau and his daughter Suzanne.
Patrick had brought quite a few cuvées. We chatted a bit, he's always full of energy and enjoys the life, his family (his has 4 children !), he told me he set up this négoce a few years ago (2014) because in spite of having 6 hectares of his own it's hard to get enough volume.
__ Picapol, vin de France
Blanc. Made with Picpoul de Pinet.
Waouh... so whole, silky touch on the palate, love that ! 12 €
__ Jacquère. Very turbid. Vivid in the mouth, very aromatic. Not very long mouth but goes down well. 12 % (feels like 10 %). Feels like juice, what a treat at this price ! (11 €).
__ I tasted then a super red but can't talk about it yet, later maybe...
__ Super B, vin de France 2020 [L20], a selection massale of Gamay from southern Beaujolais, old vines Pisse-Vieille, Moulin à Vent (aged 80) belonging to Julien Bertrand. Oh, so beautiful, very nice substance with azlready-onctuous tannins ! 13 € only.
__ I then tasted a Saint Pourçain about which I can't talk either (also later maybe) but man, you don't drink often such beauties from this region !
__ G&M, a white with skin contact, made with Gewürztraminer, Muscat and Sauvignon. (pic on right, but the pinky color is because the previous wine was red) At the beginning he wanted to make parcellaire cuvées but at the end they decided to blend the whole thing. Super turbid. Acidulous nose. Mouth : from another world, really ! Try that too ! 13 €.
__ Festejar, a pet'nat made from Chardonnay. Disgorged a short time before this event. Here you have several vintages, 2018, 2019 and a bit of 2020. He says this is the last (2020) which brought the sugar for the sparkling fermentation. He says this sparkling will be better in a couple of years. Good to know, sometimes we rush too much to open the sparkling.
The Domaine des Trouillères is a 6-hectare wine farm located in Auvergne in the Corent/tobize area with marked volcanic soils. Mikael and Camile Hyvert started in 2016 shortly after arriving in the region, buying the parcels to Jean-Pierre Pradier who was already farming organic since 2009. They made the further steps of following biodynamic farming and eschewing sulfur use in the wine. They produce about 35 000 bottles a
year. this is the 2nd time they take part to the 10 Vins Cochons.
__ Annolium, Côte d'Auvergne
2020, Chardonnay, vinified/élevage in vat, all wines are unfiltered and zero so2 (without so2 100 % of the cuvées since 2020, before it was some yes a bit, some
nothing; 2021 will be again all without so2). This Chard has a light tannic edge but Mikael says it's a bitterness that vanishes after time when the bottle is opened.
__ Montagne de Strass, same parcel of Chardonnay but spent time in barreld (aged 3 to 10 years), self fermentation of course, racking in march and bottled end of march. Roundness with a mineral edge. Soils are clay/limestone, parcel on south-exposed slope at 450 m altitude.
__ La Cuvée du Fond, skin-contact, one-week maceration Chardonnay. Very turbid wine with lemonish color. Very onctuous for a maceration white. They made trials for the maceration and they understood the duration should not be too long, and they saw also that the wine fared better if left on lees afterwards in order to bring roundness and counter the bitterness. Very interesting texture here and good job ! 15 €.
__ Eruption, vin de France 2020, Gamay 100 %, 3 types of Gamay, Gamay d'Auvergne, Bouze and Gamay Beaujolais. Semi-carbo maceration, vines on clay/limestone, slope exposed south. Fermentation in 10-hectoliter fiber tank. Light astringency.
__ Bouche à Z'Oreilles 2020, Pinot Noir on basalt. Whole-clustered grapes in cement tank, vines on basalt soil, exposed north, 450 m altitude. Nice mouth ! Integrated tannins, super good and enjoyable freshness ! 13 %. Bottled end of july, 20 hectoliters, one barrel, the rest in cement tank and amphora. May be reductive at opening but gets away after 30 minutes. 13 €.
__ Tobize or not Tobize, [Tobize in a well-known volcanic terroir in Auvergne] Gamay on basalt. Direct press blended with macerated Gamay (4 days). Sparkling with quite strong bubbles.
The Domaine Goepp farms 12 hectares of vineyards stretched across several villages including Barr and Heiligenstein, they make routinely 14 cuvées (and they don't even use all their grapes, selling some of them to artisan vignerons) and their wines are unfiltered and without
sulfites. The two
brothers took over the family domaine 3 years ago and while their father (who passed away) had been selling the wine in bulk, they changed course, switching to bottles instead and with a fully natural philosophy. They only have 4 cuvées on sale right now, other cuvées are waiting for the printer to deliver the labels
__ La Fine Bulle 2020, 50 % Muscat, the rest Auxerrois and Savagnin Rose. No disgorging, bottled in summer. Acidulous mouth, very sympa, freshness. 11,5 € tax included.
__ La P'tite Bulle, pet'nat from Muscat Ottonel and Auxerrois. Turbid. Fruity notes, the acidulous edge comes from the Savagnin. 11,5 €.
__ Alsace Sylvaner 2020, élevage 13 months in foudre on lees. Terroir : clay/limestone. Nicely structured white, minerality. 14 €. Picked a little less ripe, I'm told. Bottled end of september, they make tests, expose the wine to the air to see if it stands it. They work with Bouju (they sell him grapes also) and they're part of the group of vignerons nature Les Vins Pirouettes.
__ L'Impatient, Alsace 2020, Gewürztraminer, 7-day maceration whole-clustered, vines on clay/limestone soil (on Grand Cru Kirchberg de Barr, but no mention on the label). Color : onion peel. Unusual wine in the mouth, awakes the throat, pretty fresh. 14 % but feels like 12,5-13 %. 14 €.
On the right, one of the Goepp brothers posing with Aimé Duveau who buys some of their grapes for his small négoce BWE located in the Loire département which is part of Auvergne (you'll hear from this guy).
The Domaine de L'Esperluette is located in the Aude département (Languedoc Roussillon), this is a 6-hectare wine farm with parcelles in the middle of the garrigue (scrubland on generally hilly terrain)
typical of the back country in the south. The domaine sits in the village of Roquetaillade, next door
to Limoux which is home of Blanquette de Limoux, one the oldest sparkling-wine.
__ Mauzaic, vin de France 2019, a white made from Mauzac Blanc on clay/limestone. They stopped asking for AOC since 2007. Unfined, unfiltered, a bit of so2 at bottling.
__ Orange, vin de France 2020, Mauzac, 7-day maceration in stainless steel with destemmed grapes. Juicy feel with light tannins, not very long in the mouth.
__ Glou Glou, a white pet'nat 2019 made with Mauzac, vinification in vat, undisgorged, unfined, unfiltered, no added so2. 11 % alcohol. Thin bottles, short mouth but fresh, a light dry bubbly wine. Anne says that the prise de mousse being very long, this explains the thin bubbles.
__ Cayrol 2019, a red made with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon (50 %), unfined, unfiltered. 13,6 % but feels way lower. No so2 either here. Nice complex mouth, velvety and quite onctuous.Bottled around harvest 2020. 12 € retail at the domaine, great deal, try that ! Speaking of exports they sell to Japan, Belgium and Denmark.
Joé Chandellier is a newcomer, he met Alain Allier (Mouressipe) in 2018 and began to work with him, finding soon after several small parcels to work with on a Cevennes terroir that yields freshness. While having trained at Mouressipe he has his own vinification style. We taste here his 2020 wines (except for the Nouveau), this was his 2nd own vinification. He works from a surface of 5 hectares plus 1,5 recently planted that will need time to become productive.
__ Primeur 2021, not yet on the market
when tasted that day. Blend of Syrah (60 %), Grenache (20 %) and Aramon (20 %).
10 day maceration. Aramon was widely planted until the 1970s, up to 8
% of the surface in the region. This is the 1st time he makes this cuvée of primeur, will be labelled as vin de France. 12 %. He says 2021 was a fresh year with quite late maturities. Will cost 4,3 € (pro price).
__ Alluvions 2020, Vin de Pays des Cévennes (he loves the region and is happy to have Cévennes mentioned on the label). Carignan (60 %) and 100-years-old Aramon (40 %), both being complanted. Vibnified together, through 50 % direct press, 50 % carbonic maceration (5 days). Discreet mouth.
__ Ribieral (a lieu-dit parcellaire), IGP Cévennes 2020, Carignan (30 %) and Grenache (70 %), not complanted, two blocks side by side. 17-day maceration, whole clusters, élevage in old barrels. More substance, with a nice maturity. 2 grams of so2 added after malolactic (to avoid mousy aromas, but lab analysis found no trace of sulfites). Unfined, unfiltered, was probably way under 10 ppm). Mouth a bit tight and astringent.
__ Aubac 2020, a red vin de France (was downgraded at the tasting commission, but he thinks it was by accident, possibly because samples were mixed up). 100 % Grenache, old vines (80 or more) in goblets. He says in his opinion the Grenache makes the mlost qualitative wines in the region, with Gourmandise in the mouth, refineness and standing well aging, this is the Pinot Noir of the south. This Grenache was foot-stomped with half being destemmed and a 10-day maceration. Elevage in 600-liter demi-muids, just to refine the wine. Unfined, unfiltered, just some so2. Nice resonance but still young, 5 years would be nice, maybe more. Astringency also on the tongue at this stage. Licorice aromas.
The small domaine Les Rêves Oubliés (now 3,5 hectares plus 1 hectare recently planted) is located in Marcilly-le-Châtel in the Forez region, it was created by Nadia Beaune with a focus from the start on natural wine following the inspiring example of same-minded vintners in Auvergne.
Maxime Gros her boyfriend
joined the adventure (both are from Auvergne) and the family (they now have a baby boy) actively working on the farm, for his side more on the oenology part and her more on the viticulture side (she trained at the Macon-Davaiyé wine school).
__ No Toxic, Vin de France 2019, Gamay Saint Romain from Côte du Forez. Parcellar selection on granite. Maceration (semi-carbo) from small-yield batch. Waou... Super fresh in the mouth.
Very mineral, it seems to me.12,5 %. 20 € public price.
__ Loquilla, Gamay Saint Romain.Semi carbo, 3weeks, then 8 months in barrels. They recovered a collection of small parcels at up to 550 m altitude, with granitic and volcanic soils, these are old vines which they rent from their owners. Lovely wine ! Try that. 20 € public, 10 € pro.
__ Résistance, made with hybrid variety Seibel 5455, from 2 small parcels. Zero sprayings on this parcel, even organic-approved ones (hybrids are disease immune). Zero so2, élevage in vat plus one barrel. After warming up my glass a bit, the wine looks pretty good, subtle wine with still power in the background
__ Résistance 2019, in magnum. Again hybrid Seibel 5455, élevage 1 year in barrels. Pretty nice too, these hybrids rock ! Speaking of exports they ship to Denmark.
The other guy on the picture is Dadou who is training with Maxime and Nadia (otherwise he is a brewer with extensive experience on beermaking).
The Ferme de Bois Moisset is as its name hints a multi-crop farm, it is located in the Gaillac region. Pierre and Sylvie Maffre manage 17 hectares of vineyards plus surfaces of grain and prairies with meat cows, this farm being recorded as active since 1730. At the time of the phylloxera in the early 20th century, the grandfather got
wealthy because he was the only grower not suffering from the issue, his vineyard being rooted in gravel soils not fit for the parasite. The domaine converted to organic farming in the 1990s, vinifications are done without sulfites (it's been 15 years he began making wines without so2). All their wines are labelled as Vin de France.
__ Bicoul 2015, Braucol grape variety, also know as Fer Servadou, destemmed grapes, no so2, unfiltered, fermented in cement tanks, bottled in 2016.
__ Les Pradel 2020, Syrah, carbonic maceration 11 days, in cement tank, zero everything. Astringency, a bit too young, I think needs to wait..
__ Rencontre 2019, Syrah and braucol, vinified together, parcel where the two are side by side (not complanted). they settle on the Braucol to decide when to pick, because if Braucol is not ripe there's no chance the wine can turn good. Aromas of small black fruits. 8 € public price.
__ Falgueyras 2018, Syrah, some astringency also. 11 €.
__ Sans Pression, a pet'nat made with Cabernet Sauvignon. Candy-like aromas (fraises Tagada). 11 €.
Astrid Lerouxel and Alexandre Coulange who surname themselves Vignerons Bien Fêteurs run Domaine Thuronis which was founded in 2010 in Alaigne in the Aude département (Languedoc), the vineyard surface today is 9 hectares. The woman on the picture is Lexie Jordan who was one of the few foreigners at this wine fair, we happened
to be tasting the wines together here, she is the San-Francisco based importer
behind Funk de Funk. The domaine is located on the AOC Malepère.
__ Le Bénéfice 2020, old vines (60 years) of Chardonnay on a soil of friable sedimentary limestone which is not fit for construction but good for viticulture. Turbid wine, ripe wheat color. Direct press, cooled down to 14 C (57.2 F), then racked to stainless-steel tank, then élevage on lees, then put into 600-liter plastic egg tanks. Very nice, enjoyable chew. 8,5 pro. (15 € public price on this fair)
__ Esprit Vendangeur 2020, destemmed Sauvignon 10-month maceration in sandstone amphora (If i decipher correctly my notes). Then, drained (there was little juice to press) and blended to one fith of direct press Sauvignon, bottled august 2021. Turbis. Sweet edge, also some light tannic feel. Interesting with Asian food I think. 4 grams residual sugar. 9,5 € pro, 17 € tax included.
__ Carbonic Invasion, Merlot, the only time he put some CO2 at the surface of the fermenter. Yields 30 hectoliters/hectare. 5-day carbonic maceration (that's when he added CO2), then pressing and fermentation in fiber tank. Zero so2 added. 13,5 %. Pretty nice, Merlot is exciting ! Lovely wine ! 6,75 € pro, 11 € public.
__ Le Pourboire, Merlot (2/3) and Cabernet Franc (1/3). Seems mousy to me but still ok.
__ Franchise 2016, Cabernet Franc, 10-day maceration, whole-clustered grapes. Pressning and then 2 years in barrels with topping up. Ah yes, nice chew and tension. 18 € public.
The domaine Le Picatier is one of the bright spots on the Côte Roannaise,
the wine farm has a
vineyard surface of 8 hectares and owners Géraldine and Christophe pialoux stopped putting so2 in the wine in 2012 (read Aaron's profile of them, you get all you need to know). The domaine was the first to vinify natually in the Côte Roannaise, with La Chamaille, a biodynamic farm.
__ Cuvée 100 % 2020, made with Gamay, Nose : very suave. So nice to sip, and it was just bottled one month before this day (bottled by gravity with a 16-spout filler). Unfined, unfiltered, no added so2 11 € public price here, great deal !!
__ Gamenites 2018, Gamay, 50-year-old vines. 2-month carbonic maceration (whole clusters). Insulated tanks, so no swinging temperatures. Seems a bit mousy to me but not sure.
__ Mademoiselle B. 2018, same vinification but in 2018, grapes purchased to La Chamaille (négoce). Bottled 6 months ago. 14,5 %. Noticeable astringency at this stage. 14 €.
__ Picatier un Jour, Picatier Toujours, vin de France 2020, 50 % Gamay, 30 % Chardonnay, 20 % Pinot Noir, bottled 3 weeks before. Already tastes very well !! Go check thaat, very good omen for a recent bottling, the Chard brings its touch to the blend. 14,5 % . 18 € public price.
The light was getting dim outside as you can see, and the thing is, we didn’t know yet where we’d sleep the following night, the last option being to find someone driving down to Clermont Ferrand in the
evening and find a bleak
hotel room near the station. But we candidly kept tasting and chatting, something would turn out undoubtly in time…
Le Temps des Cerises is one of the pioneers of natural wine in the Languedoc. German-born Axel Prüfer (he is born in the DDR) travelled with his camper van through southern France in 1998 where he met people like Eric Pfifferling and Jean-François Nicq (Vignerons d’Estézargues). His first experience on a harvest was in 2002 precisely with both Nicq on Estézargues and Pfifferling, this gave him the taste and the will to follow this route himself, and he subsequently set up his own winery in 2003 with a few parcels. Axel's labels have a beyond-the-iron-curtain revolutionary nostalgia with Alexander-Rodchenko-inspired illustrations on the labels. The vineyard surface of the domaine is now 8 hectares.
__ Le Temps des Cerises, Fou du Roi, Vin de France 2020. Cinsault, Grenache, Carignan, picked together. Sem-carbo for 15 days, then pressed, unfined, unfiltered, zero so2. Now, that’s good ! you just sip that endlessly, chalky tannins, fresh, the real thing ! Just 11,8 % alcohol. 10 €, super deal !! This was the only cuvée he brought, normally he has 5 or 6 cuvées.
Alexandre Durant is a native of Dordogne, he worked here and there with different vignerons, spent time in Italy and settled in Faugères in 2014 with his Italian girlfriend Sybil Baldassare. He was hired as manager in a winery there in 2015 while Sybil started her own production under
the name of La Graine Sauvage (here is her Facebook page).
Alexandre himself opened his domaine in 2018 under the name Pèira Levada. His vineyard surface is now 4,5 hectares (of reds) while hers is 2,5 hectares, only whites. Both surfaces are farmed biodynamic as far as I know. There was nobody in the stand when I arrived, I began to pour myself and Alexandre arrived shortly after (I’m not sure Sybil came for the event).
__ Carignan Radical, Vin de France 2020, 100 % Carignan, destemmed, 3-month maceration, no pigeage, no pumping over. 20 €.
__ The Velvet Underschiste, Faugères 2020, Syrah and Grenache, 50 % each. No added sulfites.
__ Otium 2020, a blend of the 4 red varieties and the 8 parcels. 14,5 %. Pretty powerful.
__ La Graine Sauvage, Rocalhàs 2019 (Sybil Baldassare wine), white Faugères (very rare, 3 % of the AOC), 80 % Grenache Blanc, 10 % Roussanne, 10 % Marsanne, zero zero zero : unfiltered, unfined, no so2. Pretty nice white indeed. 22 €. Labels are interesting, I understand that Alexandre worked for Fluide Glacial and Hara Kiri, both prominent French adult comics magazines.
Jean-Louis Pinto doesn’t not have vineyards of his own, he purchases grapes (négoce, for the equivalent of 6 hectares) thoughout Languedoc, also as far as Beaujolais for his Domaine Es D’Aqui
and vinifies them in his base in
the region of Limoux (I’ve read somewhere that he purchased 4 hectares which he plans to replant, already planted 9000 vines, he told me, so he’ll have his own parcels at last). Natural vinification.
__ Brutal, vin de France 2020, Carignan, 9-month whole-clustered maceration in sandstone jars, then pressed and sealed. No added so2. Wouaou ! that’s a demonstrative wine, deserves to be part of the Brutal range… 10 €, great deal !
__ Es D’Aqui, Vin de France. Blend of Carignan, Cabernet Sauvignon, Braucol, grapes from Languedoc to Gaillac. Pretty nice and sharp, focused ! 10 € here in the fair, great deal ! Normal prices for his wines are more like between 16 € and 22 €.
__ Casse Tête 2019 (green label), Cabernet Sauvignon from Gaillac and Mourvèdre from Canet en Roussillon, and actually here you have some 2019 and 2020. Not bad ! He was on his way to make a Cabernet Sauvignon and found somewhat that it was fine to blend it with the Mourvèdre. Zero zero zero here also. 16 € in a caviste (and much cheaper here at the wine fair, only 10 € !).
__ Cinsauriel, vin de France 2019, Cinsault from Saint Chinian, on shist soi land altitude 400 meters, that’s why freshness. Seems to me there’s vol here.
Cantina Filarole is located in the region of Emilia Romagna (Italy), i t was started in 2017 with the aim to work with old vines that have adapted to their environment. I understand that like in France these old vines, often small parcels split here and there tend to be pulled off by growers [who possibly like in France may get subsidies in the process]. Barbara Pulliero (here with Paolo Rusconi) tells me that the surface of the parcels total 7 hectares today, old vines from 40 to 50 years. Non-intrusive, natural vinification.
__ Onda d’Urto 2019, Croatina, a local grape variety (a little-known, little-explored variety she says). Turbid, light color. Brightly demonstrative in the mouth. Color : evolved onion peel tones. Sold here 15 €. Very nice.
I was passing again in front of Axel Prüfer’s stand when I saw him chatting with Aaron
and sipping a jewel
which landed there who knows how (Axel probably brought it to share it with people in the know…). This was Une Tranche Fine II, bottled by Jean-Luc Gauthier , Saint Joseph, Villié Morgon, picked mid-october 2013, bottled 2014. So good when you succeed warming up your glass. One of these bottles that make you tilt when you spot the pig on the label from afar, there’s an alchemy behind these wines…
Then the wine fair came to its end at around 7pm if I remember and afterwards came the eagerly-awaited dîner de vignerons
which you find at the end
of these small artisan/natural-wine fairs across the country : a gem of a dinner, all sitting around these lined table like in a school cafeteria, the vignerons/winemakers sitting together with the willing public, there’s a single, no-fuss menu and plenty of bottles randomly dispatched on all the tables, good opportunity to chat casually with your neighbor (winemaker or not) and sample the wines that pass near your plate to see how they fare with such or such food… The fee was 20 € for having such a good time, can you imagine ?
Well, we ended up finding a place to crash for the night, right in the vicinity of the event along the lake, one of the recreation area’s
mobile homes had been reserved for Maxime and two fellow winemakers, the latter either slept elsewhere or drove back home directly, so we could enjoy a good bed and a shower…
And in the Morning Axel Prüfer kindly drove us to the train station in Clermont Ferrand with his combi, not without celebrating life and friendship en route as you can see, and with a glass of « Mouressipe partage ses Bulles », a gorgeously fresh pet’nat cuvée made with (and bottled at) Joé Chandellier….
Don’t worry Axel, if interrogated by the cops, I’ll swear we weren’t on the road when toasting…
Always worth taking the chance! Superb account and an idea of what to try if it passes us by.
Cheers et santé pour sûr, Cher B,
Andrew et Tess en Australie
Posted by: Andrew Martin | January 09, 2022 at 11:16 AM