Splendid Weekend with French Vintners

It has become an annual ritual for me to go to the Salon des Vins des Vignerons Independants, which always occurs the 3rd week of November, just like Thanksgiving, and one in the spring.   It is without a doubt the largest gathering of  independent wine makers in Paris!  There are always over 1000 booths in the fall salon where vintners from all over France offer free degustations of their wine.

I spend several weeks of serious consideration and study concerning which ones I will buy to refill my little cave.  Some vintners I buy from regularly because I know that from year to year, their wines will be lovely, but I love to make new discoveries too!

When I go, it is not to drink, but to taste wines!  It is totally impossible for my palate or anyone else’s to discern the various flavors and complexities of each wine tasted, if I drink all of each offering.  After smelling the bouquet, which  can be very defining for me initially, I take just one  small sip and pour the rest out, otherwise I would be eventually toasted and unable to taste the others on my list.

 

These wine makers are unique because they not only grow their own grapes, but vintify their wine and are responsable for marketing it to consumers themselves.   They are first and foremost grapes growers and wine makers, who are not all the  pushy marketing types.

At these salons, I am able to find wines from small or not very well know areas that even in Paris are not easily found, such as the Cevennes, where Marcillac red, is as robust and rugged as the people who live in this beautiful mountainous area.

For me , I much prefer to drink wine from a vintner that I know.    A bottle of wine to me is more than just wine, as each one captures not only the various flavors of the grapes and the soil it was grown in , but also the wine makers personality and passion.  To open a bottle of wine is to open memories of the very year the wine was made; remembering where I was and with whom, in addition to feeling like the vintner has been invited to my table!

Parents and grandparents often commemorate the birth of a child or marriage with buying a case of wine made during the respective year.   Some houses offer special labels that can be added with the child’s name and birthdate as well as marriages.

For me the salon is like a reunion to visit with families that I have followed for over 10 years.I have seen sons and daughters finish oenology school and start taking over the  family business, as one 4 th generation  young  man in Alsace.  I get to hear about their year, see scrapbooks, and find out the latest family news.

I often refer to them as Marion’s Fitou , Gilles’s Cahor, or handsome hunk Stéphane’s Amboise rouge, who also is very sweet!  Marion talks about her vines like children and how wayward some of them can be.  At 70 years old she remains passionate and feels sad if she is not in her vineyard.  One vintner from burgundy confessed he worries and has to oversee his vines more than he does his children.

Most vineyards are passed down and kept in the family, and as in all families feuds can often result regarding their division amongst heirs who have not stayed behind to help directly and those who have.   Vineyards in certain reputed areas of burgundy, bordeaux and champagne are worth millions,  necessitating prospective winemakers to look elsewhere to set up their vines.   Far easier to marry into, rather than buy a French vineyard.

Children often start out helping in the family winemaking business and those interested will go to a high school specializing in wine making .  They are called Lycees Viticole and in addition to regular academic studies, the students study oenology and the intricacies of winemaking.  The Lycee Viticole in Beaune, the capital of Burgundy is renowned for the excellent burgundies the students produce, that command a high price.  Many destined or groomed to take over then go to university studies around oenology.

I find them very refreshingly easy to talk to and very eager to share information about their wines and region.  They have to be both scientists and artists in order to make wine, as it is extremely complicated  to extradite the best wine possible from their grapes  from year to year.

Their biggest headache is the weather, which can make or break a season in terms of quality and quantity.  This year for example parts of the Loire region were hit with two  late spring freezes, that froze off grapes buds , reducing drastically the amount of grapes left to mature on the vine.

As one of the vintners said, “one freeze I can pull through, but two and I lose big”.  One way a wine maker tries to prevent damage to his new flowers and buds in an impending freeze is to spray them with water which will freeze around the tiny grape clusters, and keep them from going lower that 32 F.  Others use wind machines to circulate air warmed by smudge pots.

The other major catastrophic event is hail which at any time can literally  destroy grapes clusters at any stage of growth.  The other is too much rain, which causes fungal outbreaks that has to be treated with copper and sulfur.

When the weather cooperates , without freezes and hail and there is an abundance of sunshine, especially the last two months of summer till the harvest, then the wine maker has all the potential to make his/her magic.

I find it absolutely amazing that the same grape planted on one hill versus another in the same village, and vintified by the same vintner,  will give you a wine with different nuances depending on the soil and exposure to sun.  This expression of “terroir” is fundamentally why French wines can each have so many different tastes and personalities that intrigue and astound.

These expressions of terroir and the passion these winemakers put into their wines,  sets these French vintners and wines above and apart from the others, like the large houses or negociants, who buy grapes from growers and make and sell the wine under the house name.  In France the metal top covering the bottle will say Recoltant, indicating that is was produced by an independent winemaker.

It usually takes around three days of visits to make my rounds, as I don’t like to rush or taste too much at a time.  I generally try all the whites and sparkling wines first and then tackle the reds.   Some wines are so popular, that they sell out early, so I have learned to reserve in advance.

A Slyvaner I had wanted, had only a bottle left by the time I made it to their stand, but because their son with be in Paris doing the Crus en Seine wine party/salon on a barge moored in the Seine next weekend, I got an invitation to that one too with the assurance of finding some more Slyvaner.  Ah! Vive la France et ses Vignerons Independants!