 |
| The younger-looking one has been making wine for 73 years ... Domaine Pontfract |
But the 350 year old family estate had to survive. Today,
trim and distinctly more active than me, he was still at the cellar, alone,
supervising the arrival, crushing and pumping of the grapes from his 35
hectares of prime land in Correns, the recently famous Provencal village where
everything; wine/ food is 'Bio'... shops, farmers, everything. Brad Pitt and Angelina now have their Château
de Miraval here. (Years ago we sold volumes of that when owned the by jazz
pianist Jacques Loussier).
We liked the village's attitude so much we then put
our Flying Winemakers into their co-op winery for several years. Made a
difference. But now we are happy with M. Paul who was surprised to learn that
there is a town called Pontefract in Yorkshire. He wished he'd known … would
have liked to join in the Tour de France festivities. Amazing man, great wine.
Living proof you can never really retire from our world.
A long drive up and up to the hills around Pierrevert and
dynamic winemaker Hubert Sylvestre … who looks like a modern day Porthos and works
in the highest vineyards of France. He is an inspiring guy. Big energy, big
personality. And … just big. Few take the trouble to drive the many miles of
winding roads up to where he works but these sunny-but-cool heights produce
some of the most exciting, undervalued wines of France. His 'Art de Provence'
has been our best selling rosé for some years and now his Alpes de Haut
Provence 2014 … looks set to win him yet more followers.
 |
| Hubert, (pron. 'U-Burr') at Alpes de Haut Provence |
Air France is on strike yet again but it’s their subsidiary
Air Corsica flying us to Figari. Why? Well, Corsica is, judging by their newspapers,
still a fairly violent island.
Possibly, upsetting your passengers here could be fatal.
Our first wine buyer here was robbed at gunpoint in the
mountains. And we are off to see a brave widow who once had her and her late
husband's winery blown up from under them … what she dismisses as 'un événement plastique'. ('Plastique' round here does not a refer
to picnic cutlery.)
Doors firmly locked we set off for Domaine Azitella. Originally from Normandy, Sophie
Gandolph moved here from Paris and – ever elegant – looks Parisienne. She met her late
husband there and her friends were horrified she was happy to leave for bandit
land. He was one of the many Pieds Noirs – North African winemakers, who fled here
when things got unpleasant. They usually succeeded well but there was a lot of
anti-immigrant resentment … and, round here,
plastic explosive. Disaster.
The solution was to draw around them nine other wine
producers – all native Corsicans – and build a new, communal cellar in the
middle of her vineyards. That has offered protection. So far. The cellar is now
presided over by the rather shy and retiring André Casanova. Maybe not a good
name for such a quiet chap. It is actually run by a dynamic young winemaker
from the Loire (Muscadet). But Christophe
Paitier was asleep, they said.
Sophie works there as do others in the group. They are a
particularly dynamic bunch and becoming very successful. We arrived after dark
and very hungry so a bunch of them took us up into the dark hills to a
rough-hewn little stone shack that was doing a roaring business with locals. I
don't think they'll get tourists as there are no signs of any kind. It’s a
while since I've eaten in a smoke-filled restaurant but laws, round here, are
not enforced … or even known about! Menu was meat, meat and more meat. Plus
fritters.
 |
| With Sophie ... night harvest |
I saw something very rare in the receival bays; a mix of red
and white grapes. The increasingly popular Sciacarellu vine (looks scary, but
easy to pronounce: chac-ar-Ello) grows grapes of both colours which ripen at the
same time. We are here mostly for their rosé which is getting very
popular. Clearly this is a grape variety just perfect for
rosé.
No comments:
Post a Comment