WITH RESPECT to the
ENVIRONMENT DISTILLERIE DU PEYRAT PRODUCES ORGANIC COGNACS UNDER THE WATCHFUL EYE OF THE RAULT FAMILY.
Located in a small village East of Cognac on the banks of a river, Distillerie du Peyrat produces, distills, and ages its eaux de vie with respect of the environment and the intense expression of the terroir. Since 1705, the du Peyrat family calls the Charentes region home, distilling cognacs there for several decades. Around thirty years ago, after having distilled Cognac for bigger, well-known brands, owner Jean-François Rault decided to produce and market his own Cognac with a rather unique specialization to the area— the production of organic Cognacs. Distillerie du Peyrat now produces exclusively 100% organic Cognacs. The vineyard is in the Fins Bois delimited area of production, just a few kilometers away from the delimited Grande Champagne area, also known as the first cru. Behind the Cognac brand, Distillerie du Peyrat is a family project and has been so for five generations. Antoine Rault, who works with his
brother and father to run the du Peyrat distillery stresses that mitigating the impact of its activities on the environment, local wildlife and biodiversity is at the heart of the Distillerie du Peyrat approach. “We are aware of the pressure that human activities exert on both climate and biodiversity,” he says. “Even more so because we, as winegrowers, are directly and increasingly affected by extreme weather episodes (hail, frosts, drought etc.) and soil artificialization.” As a 100% organic brand, Distillerie du Peyrat only sources grapes from organically grown vineyards. “Ruling out synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides from the production process to create our Cognacs, the grapes either come from our own vineyards (30 HA of Ugni Blanc in the Fins Bois region) or from our network of local partner winegrowers, all involved in organic agriculture,” notes Rault. In addition to using organically grown grapes, the winemakers promote cover crops in the vineyards and the planting of endemic tree hays to support wildlife and biodiversity. On another note, Distillerie du Peyrat has laid out 300 square meters of solar panels on the roofs of our premises, producing up to 35,000 Kwh of electricity a year. “Distilling Cognac involves relying on fossil energies to heat our Charentais pot stills, but also electricity to cool water down,” explains Rault. “In the future, we are looking to invest in alternatives to reduce our dependency to these energies, while continuing the tradition of Cognac making. We want to work on reducing the footprint of all elements composing the packaging of our Cognac bottles with our supplying partners.” According to Rault, “Nature is essentially the number one resource for winemakers. Its preservation should be our top concern to make sure that there is a future for our activity and for the generations of winegrowers to come.”
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