Wine Tasting, Vineyards, in France

Le Champ du Possible (French Alps)

Jacques Pierre in front of his wine farm

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

Romain des Grottes (Beaujolais)

In the parcel next to the wine farm

Saint-Étienne-des-Oullières (Beaujolais)
We're here in the Beaujolais visiting Romain des Grottes, this is another of my backlog stories, it took place at the turn of july and august while riding on motorbike from Paris to Provence using non-toll highways. This year has been difficult in some regards in France with the pandemic and the economic consequences of the lockdowns but what a weather we had to counterbalance this misery ! Just a wonderful, sunny year from spring to autumn and I think it's healthy to see the good side of things in a time where it's easy to complain and see doom at the door. Beaujolais is a great region to ride through, with gentle winding roads passing through old villages harmoniously nestled in the hilly landscape.

Romain des Grottes began his Domaine des Grottes in 2001 using 6,5 hectares of vines owned by his family, his first vintage being 2002 where he made 3 cuvées, one long keep with some élevage and 2 primeurs. In 2003 he did about the same, and he sold in bulk what he didn't bottle to a négociant with who his grandfather had already been working. But in 2004 the négoce didn't buy his wines [they had gotten too real and alive for him ?] and he never heard from this buyer again, which somehow helped Romain find himself more customers that could appreciate the wines he was making. Romain and his wife Perrine Stas farm organic and biodynamic (using very little sulfur/copper) on a 6-hectare surface plus a couple hectares for medicinal plants. Romain & Perrine also run Elixir Lab which produces all sort of herbs, plants, tea and other products grown here on the land.

Le Nez dans le Vert (Jura)

Jean-Baptiste Menigoz with Florien

Abergement le Petit, Jura
This is an iconic wine event that has been taking place for around 10 years in spring, Le Nez dans le Vert is a wine fair organized by Jean-baptiste Menigoz and gathers a few producers of the region making natural wine and Jura wine lovers including dedicated importers. The website states that Jura is the organic-most wine region of France as of 2014, with 14 % of the vineyard surface farmed organic, versus 8 % nationwide.

This year because of the lockdown this was not possible to have the wine fair in march but they could not bring themselves to go without anything in 2020 and decided to set something up in summer, when things eased, with 23 vignerons among the 48 organic growers of the region. They didn't communicate too much about this improvised fair that took place the 14th of July, so that there weren't crowds, plus they spread the tasting in 4 locations including Les Bottes Rouges (more details here). the fee for the day was a mere 2 €, can you believe that ? Jura rocks...
We showed up at the end of the day after these exciting visits at several domaines, just in time for the barbecue and friendly dinner, sharing the long tables with some of the best vignerons of Jura, what a treat! For the wines there was such a choice I limited myself (so to say...) to the reds so as not to finish on my knees. Here are a few pics of this evening, I put my job on the side for a few hours and didn't take any notes, sorry...

Domaine Bruyère-Houillon (Jura)

Renaud Bruyère

Pupillin, Jura
Adeline Houillon and Renaud Bruyère have been building their domaine along the years in Pupillin outside Arbois, starting in 2011 with less than one hectare located in Arbois and with a surface today of 5 hectares stretched between Pupillin and Arbois, but Renaud says there downsizing back to 4 hectares next year because they have enough surface that way (he adds they prefer to make less, but better). Adeline who is the sister of Emmanuel Houillon has been learning while working with her siblings at Domaine Overnoy with Emmanuel and Aurélien. Renaud who is originally from the Rhône (Tain-L'Hermitage, he was a cook there and met Adeline in the rhône) worked with Emmanuel now and then from 2004 to 2007 while refurbishing this house and then with Stéphane Tissot along 7 years from 2007 to 2015 (he kept working there after starting their domaine). Adeline and Renaud live literally next door to Houillon-Overnoy and vinify their wines in their cellar under their house which has an old rusted sign reading Vins Fins (fine wines). They vinify naturally, don't filter or add anything in the wine and farm their vineyards organic and sometimes with biodynamie.

They vinify everything in parcellaire with 4 varieties altogether : Chardonnay, Savagnin for the whites, and Ploussard and Trousseau for the reds, the parcels being located in roughly 3 zones : Arbois-Pupillin with a specific terroir of triassic marls, Then Arbois with its Lias clays and Montigny-lès-Arsures with also Lias clays, but that's the one they'll drop next year. To be precise they also have a limestone terroir, Les Tourillons (a light soil with limestone scree).

Thomas Popy (Jura)

In the cellar

Mesnay, Jura
Just outside arbois (the small road from Arbois to this tiny village is yet another reason to fall in love with this area) on the east side there's the village of Mesnay where we visited a vigneron, Thomas Popy who started his production very recently (in 2015). You reach the village (see view of the main street on right) by following more or less the winding course of the river 1,8 km from town, this river also flowing through Arbois. Thomas, who is a Beaujolais native (Villefranche) has been trained by the vignerons he worked with, people in the Beaujolais like Julie Balagny (around 2010-2011), then Jean-Claude Lapalu (18 months) and Michel Guignier (8 months), or Jean Delobre in the Rhône (Ferme des 7 Lunes) then when he settled in the Jura Houillon/Overnoy and Céline/steve Gormally.

While in the Jura he studied at the Montmorot wine school (40 km south of Arbois). He makes wines from a couple hectares, he started with buying a parcel to Etienne Thiébaud, he now works from just a couple of vineyards and we were all particularly impressed by his whites.
Thomas lives with his family in a beautiful house along the river (which has more the size of a creek than a river) with a grassy garden and a deep, deep cellar, meaning the people of this region were serious when keeping their wines. I heard his production is quite small and his wines hard to get, so don't wait the bottles are sold out if you stumble on some.

Bistrot des Claquets (Jura)

Arbois rocks !

Arbois, Jura
If there had to be just a single reason why I love the little town of Arbois in the Jura (but there are plenty of other reasons), this could be because it's the home of the Bistrot des Claquets, a homy bar-restaurant with an exciting wine list of artisan vintners. Started by Claudie Peseux years ago, it recently changed hands last june with Rachel Gariglio taking the wheel. Rachel has been an active staff there for years, so we can be confident that the Claquets will remain the familiar and affordable eatery where natural-wine lovers will rest and resource.
This small story with pictures from my phone will get you a quick impression of the place, but first, beyond its natural-wine list, the food is home made with good ingredients and the price is very affordable, like 14 € for entrée & dish.

Other reasons to love Arbois ? People are easy going and not stressed, the woods and nature begin just at the end of the street, you can literally walk to there (see on this picture above), the streets are family friendly and safe (light years from what major French cities have become over the last few years), the city isn't disfigured by shopping centers in its immediate vicinity (see satellite image) unlike many small French towns, cars aren't considered public enemy #1 (very few anti-parking posts) and the street houses haven't been over-renovated nor sterilized/gentrified (like Beaune), yielding a feel of a real city where people of all means do live...

L'Octavin (Jura)

Alice Bouvot

Arbois, Jura
That was a busy day, we began with a vist at L'Octavin which is now single-handedly managed by Alice Bouvot. The domaine was started in Jura in 2005 with her then partner Charles Dagand. Trained in Bordeaux, then in Dijon Alice traveled around the world (Mexico, Chile, New Zealand, Napa) and when back in France at 30 she worked as manager in a domaine where she met Charles who was also employed there, and together they decided to start something, discovering natural wine with encounters while starting the small winery. They would make the wines they loved, wines with emotion, not the square wines she was trained to make in the wine school. And organic, then biodynamic viticulture was obvious at this point. A musician since childhood (she plays cello) she compares making natural wine to playing an improvisation with a friend versus following closely the music sheet, rendering a technically-conform piece but without that extra vibe of emotion.

The domaine's vineyard surface is today around 3,5 hectares and she manages to make some 12 cuvées. The winery facility was until last october dowtown Arbois in a very nice back street with charm just behind the famed Bistrot des Claquets (which sits at the bottom of the redish street house on the picture on right) but it was more and more unconvenient to function as a winery because of the lack of room, plus the town hall was making difficulties for the noise (tractors bringing the grapes and delivery trucks make occasional noises and nuisance), so she now works just outside Arbois in a modern facility sitting in the local industrial park with easy access for delivery and shipping.

Domaine Dandelion (Burgundy)

Morgane and Christian in the cellar with their baby

Mavilly-Mandelot, Burgundy
[I'm back ! this visit took place in july and its publishing was delayed because of travel-laptop crash]
This is the 5th vintage of Domaine Dandelion which was founded by Morgane Seuillot, a Burgundy native and her Australian boyfriend Christian Knott who is also the winemaker at Chandon de Briailles in Savigny. Morgane travelled and worked a few years in Australia in biodynamic wineries, but ironically she didn't see Christian Down Under, she just heard about him and met him when back in Burgundy. When she came back she bought a small surface in the Hautes Côtes de Beaune to start making wine although before leaving for Australia that wasn't her initial goal in life to start a domaine. Through Christian from his experience at Chandon de Briailles she got initiated to natural winemaking and discovered the many talented vintners of this movement. The wines at Dandelion are vinified naturally since the beginning, no additives, no sulfites. They also take a great care of the vineyard, and Morgane has a good family experience in the matter, her father Pierre Seuillot doing some draft-horse plowing for domaines in the region.

Mavilly-Mandelot is a lovely village located out of the beaten wine route, up there in the woody hills above Beaune, so close to Beaune and also so different, away from the tourist crowds (of Beaune particularly); the parcels in this area aren't endless monoculture, they are nestled among prairies and woods on a hilly landscape, with a feel of unchanged connection to mother nature. You have there a very similiar setting with the one around Bouze-les-Beaune nearby, a village you're more likely to drive through when you leave Beaune to the north using regular roads (not the toll divided freeway).

Julie Balagny (Beaujolais)

In the courtyard with Julie Balagny

Romanèche-Thorins, Beaujolais
We went to Julie Balagny in Romanèche-Thorins at the end of the afternoon, her wine farm is a lovely quiet place with dogs and farm animals. At one point she told us about her beginnings, like she candidated to be in charge of the winemaking in a family winery in southern France that had just lost its householder, and this, in spite of having never had a real full experience of the job. She was a bit anxious but at the same time confindent that wine could be made by itself without intervention or yeast, she was just annoyed by the enologist who visited from time to time and stressed her, and also by the son of the family who wanted everything to be square. I guess retrospectively she wondered what she'd had done if the wine went south but the wine turned fine and she ended staying 5 years there.

She later met Marcel Lapierre in 2007 (if I'm right) which made her look for something in the Beaujolais, she went every year to Marcel's méchoui on july 14, a friendly and unformal gathering with 4 whole porks, 600 people and 10 hectoliters of wine. She met other people there and one day Yvon Métras (met him on her first visit at the méchouis) and Jean-François Ganevat told here they could look around for available parcels for here if she liked to setlle in their region, and she ended up starting in the Beaujolais in 2009. I first met her by chance in 2010 (see here) while dropping at Yvon Métras, this was her first vintage and as she had very little volumes because of hail, she used one of Yvon's cement tanks for her maceration, and this helped her adapt also to this new region, fermentation style and varieties after years of vinifying Syrah and Grenache in the south. To stay with up-to-date info, she now works on 4,8 hectares of vineyards, all rentals (the most she had).

Jean-Louis Dutraive (Beaujolais)

Big tea pot

Fleurie, Beaujolais
This is the first of a few stories following several visits of winemakers I made with Aaron and also Juliette (a former staff at Coinstotvino who now studies in a wine school) who joined us in Beaune. We arrived at Jean-Louis Dutraive's Domaine de la Grande Cour as he was about to prepare a nettle tea for a spraying. Jean-Louis Dutraive is a long time actor in the Beaujolais nature scene and beyond the about 11 hectares of the domaine he and his children vinify purchased grapes, so this visit was a good opportunity to taste a few of their wines.

At one point Jean-Louis spoke about the conditions in 2019 (we tasted this vintage), he said they had no mildew at all but the vines were still recovering from the hail damage of the previous years, so they didn't have a big load. But altogether the fruit load was not that bad that year, they expected less. In 2018 they made about the same yield, like 24-25 hectoliters/hectare. This means that year after year the vines recover and this year should get even better. This year there has been a bit of hail near Julienas, but that was not too bad.