Wine Tasting, Vineyards, in France

Anders Frederik Steen, Ardèche (Rhône)

Anders Frederik Steen in front of his village house

Valvignères, Ardèche (Rhône)
We know that in the world of natural wine many of these vignerons who make a difference are outsiders, like coming from large cities and often with a completely different professional background, but sometimes they come from really far, like it's the case with Anders Frederik Steen, who moved years ago from Denmark with his wife and children to tend vineyards and make wine in this sweet region of Ardéche, in the southern Rhône. We visited him a few weeks ago (around mid-july, I'm pretty late for the publishing, sorry, that's why I backdate it to august...) and Valvignères was still the quiet and lovely village I appreciate, surrounded with hills in a mixed landscape of garrigue, woods and vineyards.

When Anders met us in this square facing his home and cellar, he told us that he started in 2013 with vinifying grapes sourced at Domaine Le Mazel, making his three first vintages (2013, 2014 & 2015) with Jean-Marc Brignot, the iconic winemaker from Jura who now lives much of his time on Sado Island in Japan. He had befriended Jean-Marc in his years working at Noma (2006-2008) where he was a sommelier. where Anders recounted how they went through a terrible hailstorm in the area a few weeks before during which the vines lost all their leaves and buds, there was nothing left and not much to do. But fortunately the artisan wine milieu is caring, and fellow growers came here to help and they tried to minimize the long-term shock on the vines by pruning what was left the appropriate way, a different pruning compared to the one in winter, with only 3 or 4 eyes, meaning relatively long, which helped the foliage grow back. He's spotting flowers growing, just that these new flowers and potential bunches are in a stage the vine goes through usually around the end of may, meaning these grapes should be ready to be picked theorically between november 15 and december 1st....

Domaine Ozil, Ardèche (Rhône)

Thomas Ozil with wife Laura

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.

Blandine Floch (Loire)

Blandine Floch among her old vines of Gamay (here with a huge marcotte)

Valaire, Loir-et-Cher (Loire)
We're here at the heart of an active community of natural wine producers in the Loir-et-Cher département in a corner of the Sologne south of Blois, with within a short distance people like Thierry Puzelat, Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme, Christian Venier, Jeremy Quastana, and Olivier Lemasson who alas left us a few weeks ago, and others. That's where Blandine Floch lives and tends her parcels alongside several of these growers. Blandine's first vinification was in 2018 when she vinified the grapes of Jeremie Choquet, she was pregnant at the time, and when I visited Jeremie, she was busy with their 3-year-old daughter. Both separated since and she's now on her own, tending her own parcels and vinifying her fruit. Blandine's early debuts were in 2011 and 2012 when she began to work for the harvest at Olivier Lemasson's Les Vins Contés, it was a new thing for her as she still had a job in the social sector then. She helped Olivier also on the cellar side, she also did some cooking for the pickers, with Jeremy Quastana's mother and his brother Jean. She discovered through these experiences the world of natural wine and she loved it much, so from then on she spent her free time and vacations working in the vineyard of these growers, doing the picking as well, at the end of summer. Through Olivier she met other interesting people like Isabelle Frère who makes wine in the Languedoc Roussillon, she also did some Wwoofing at the Ozil brothers in Ardèche. After these beautiful experiences she decided to get a training and quit her public service job. She, like us all, is still shocked of course of the sudden death of Olivier Lemasson, and she saw him just a few days before as both were taking part to Bamboche, a small natural wine fair that took place in the Languedoc near Sète and Faugères (it was the first edition). She recently found a warehouse to rent for her new facility (pictured on left), and that's where she'll vinify her cuvées this year.

Domaine Cambalu (Loire)

Julien Moreau near an old vine

Francueil, Loire
The Domaine de Cambalu is a second-generation winery now managed by Julien Moreau and his brother Frédéric. The two brothers were born here and took over the domaine from their parents, who in their time were selling all their grapes to the local coopérative. The name of the domaine stands for the lieu-dit where the farm sits, 2,5 kilometers west of the village of Francueil and maybe only 1 km as the crow flies from the Chateau de Chenonceaux along the Cher river. actually the grand parents on both sides also had vines and made a bit of wine, but like most farms at that time, grapes were accessory for the family consumption, along the other, mainstay crops and farm animals. Selling grapes to the coop was mainstream in many French wine regions, and well into the 1970s and 1980s, then that's when bottling became accessible for family wineries. Here, Julien's parents kept selling their grapes to the coop by convenience, and when the two brothers took over, they changed course, quitting the coop and starting right away to farm organic.

The main reason they stopped selling to the coop when they took over the domaine is that the coopérative didn't make a distinction between the quality of grapes they were buying, vinifying the whole mass of grapes together, the conventional, the organic, the culture raisonnée. His parents before 2016 were farming in culture raisonnée, that is without herbicides, his father would plow and prune relatively short, with yields that weren't excessive, and his work in the vineyard wasn't valued as it should have.

Terraces reopening in Prais

5th arrondissement (direct link to video)

This was yesterday (mark the date : may 19th 2021), D-Day for the reopening of terraces for bars and restaurants, all over France, and to make this day even better the curfew (until now 7 pm) was pushed to 9 pm, not yet full normalcy but we're in the way.... You could hear the previous day (may 18th) people in the street wondering between themselves if there would be rain that day (that was actually the forcast for that day), obviously people planned to go out and enjoy this historic return to one of the joys living in a city. Here are a few pictures and videos to let you have a glimpse of how it felt. I came out in the 15th arrondissement but really began to shoot images at Saint Germain des Près, but even in more humble locations throughout Paris and the suburbs, people were out, sitting and determined to celebrate ! I've published a single shot of this day on my Intagram account but this platform being also kind of corrupt and practicing shadowbanning (I experienced it twice), here is the full, freewheeling load of images of my stroll through the city (before I sat myself for a good glass of Muscadet)...

Wine news (79)

A terrace ready for reopening

Tomorrow will be the day : Terraces (or terrasses in French) are again allowed to reopen for restaurants, cafes and bars, and life will breathe again in the city streets, plus the curfew is being pushed from 7 pm to 9 pm, not ideal yet for getting back to a sustanaible business but in a few weeks it'll be at 11 pm, or almost normal. All over Paris you could see workers refurbishing the terrace structures, especially for those who had created temporary terraces last year on parking space in front of their venue with wood floors and privacy fences. For months these terraces had been unused and neglected and needed repair and refresh.

L'Anglore (Rhône)

Eric Pfifferling

Tavel, Rhône.
Here is a visit that took place long time ago (in early 2011) at Eric Pfifferling's iconic Domaine de L'Anglore. I didn't publish it at the time because Eric was worried he'd would be overwhelmed with demands and orders he couldn't fulfill, his production being basically already allocated before the wines are even ready. Now that his sons are getting in charge I thought I could publish the story at last, especially that I'm short of stories these days (I should resume visits and reporting soon, don't worry). So take this story like some sort of travel in time, on a domaine and winemaker that shines well beyond our borders.
Tavel is located in the southern Rhône, and the region has been producing wine since the antiquity, the wine being shipped along the river to various faraway clients, for example the pope Innocent VI in Avignon had the wines of the Prieuré de Montézargues (near Tavel) exported to Italy. The AOC Tavel is a rosé and alas people think exclusively of rosé when hearing the name, but the region can make wonderful reds and whites as well, and Eric's wines are thus mostly bottled as Vin de France (table wine).

There are domaines and winemakers whose wines strike a chord, you feel so many things at once, you keep them in the back of your brain and are excited whenever given the opportunity to share another bottle. My advice is usually, never let pass thee opportunity when you see a bottle of L'Anglore available in a wine shop, that may not last. There's also one thing interesting with Eric, which he shares with a few outstanding winemakers, it's that his prior skill was very different from any wine-related job, but it needed as well a demanding meticulousness and rigor, and an attention to life, that may have helped him make these wines we all love. Like for example Fred Cossard was in the milk trade before becoming the man we know, Eric Pfifferling was a beekeeper and honey maker, and I'm sure this past experience dealing with patience and respect was much more helpful than would have been training at the wine school.

Pierre Gagnaire cooking at his restaurant

Pierre Gagnaire in his restaurant Le Balzac

Paris, april 2021,
It's been more than a year (march 15) that the restaurants have been closed down in France because of the pandemic and higher risk of transmission among unmasked people sharing the same rooms for a couple of hours. French restaurants were then allowed to partly reopen again in june 2020 before having to shut down again on september 28 following the up-and-downs of the pandemic. This have been a heavy blow for many of them, even with measures taken by the authorities to alleviate their burden (rents, fixed expenses, salaries). You can listen to a few reports and interviews made recently on the British-accented French network France 24 to understand how they suffer and tried to adapt to minimize the losses. We all hope that this economic sector which gets our cities alive and thriving will get through these troubled times, but we're expecting many closures, especially for the small operations with little financial backing.

To illustrate this hope in a grand way, I'm publishing here pictures I shot some 10 years ago at Pierre Gagnaire's flagship restaurant Le Balzac. It was an assignment job for a photo shoot I made for a third party at the time (that's why I didn't publish it on Wineterroirs), it featured Pierre Gagnaire preparing an entree dish in the kitchen, a dish I and the writer were going to have for lunch right there in the restaurant afterwards, quite a magic experience... I alas didn't take notes then [always take notes!], and of course I forgot what the recipe was all about, but I think it was seafood (possibly scallops) cooked with mushrooms, among other ingredients. Enjoy !

Underground tasting

Underground tasting

Here is the third tasting I attended recently in the Loir-et-Cher (for professionals only as well), and this one was underground in many regards, not just because it took place in these deep cellars between Thésée and Montrichard, but also because it was intendly not publicized in order to avoid crowds, something understandable given the display of cellar galleries in general. I happened to see a poster announcing the event while in the tasting at Thésée. The poster specified not to disseminate the news on social media, and speaking with the organizer, this was meant during the two-day event (it was sunday-monday), in order not to attract crowds in these times where people are literally thirsty of such happy tastings but at the same time must not find themselves in overcrowded situations. I hadn't anticipated to come initially first because I was unaware of its very existence, but I jumped on the bandwagon excitingly when I learnt about it. The name for this event was "Vins Vivant et Résistant", a good, appealing program in a few words, you know what kind of wines you're dealing with. The event was set up by a few vignerons, they hadn't been contacted by the other events and so when they heard about it they decided to do their own thing as well.

This was as you can see a beautiful weekend indeed, bright sun, clear skies, ideal weather to be around on a motorcycle. I went there straight from my tour at Les Montils, where I tried to spit more than I'm used to (promised !) in order to be able to be there safe afterwards. At the door the first people I saw were Emily (the California native relocated in this part of the Loire), Ben (her partner in life), their daughter on the left who kind of learns to drive a forklift machine, and Maxime (of Archimède, the wine bar/restaurant in Saint Aignan). The three are holding their empty glasses for the picture but they'd get back a pour after this pause...

Sologne tastings

Olivier Lemasson

Ouchamps, Sologne (Loire)
There was another multi-location tasting event that weekend, it was in the Sologne region near Blois, the region that is home to many rebels, like Courtois, Villemade Lemasson, Venier, Puzelat and others. This professional tasting event was also taking place along 3 days (friday to monday), and spread over 6 locations, namely the facilities of Puzelat, Lemasson, Villemade, Venier, Tessier and P.O. Bonhomme, and the participating vignerons were part Loire, part from further regions. The tricky part was that you had to drive (ride the motorbike for me) between them, even if for a small distance, with the risk of breath checks in-between if the authorities were aware of the tasting, which they certainly were. That's why I went to only 3 of the 6 locations, and over two days, this felt more secure especially that there was a 45-50 km distance back to the other side of the Cher river afterwards.
Here is the first location I went to, the wine farm of Olivier Lemasson (les Vins Contés). The protocol (see the picture on right at the door) was here also very secure, I had reserved a time window for the visit (some days were fully booked), you'd bring your own glass, you'd get a cardboard cup to spit and leave your contact info in case of problem. Plus, you'd enter a given winery room only if the number of persons there was low enough.
At one point I shot this picture of Olivier near one of his tractors, a French make I had never heard of, Energic. It seems possible to find these old Energic tractors for sale on the Internet, and they're not that expensive.