Once Upon a Time in the West by John Sherwin A short intro to Vendée wine Many, many years ago our ancestors in the Vendée really did walk around in clogs, biceps bulging, legs like tree trunks, clay pipe clenched between blackened teeth: the men were pretty tough too. They didn’t work in the local Leclerc because there wasn’t one; likewise no high street banks, estate agents, dog-‐groomers or flower shops. Our people were -‐ and to an extent still are -‐ farmers through and through. With that never-‐ending toil came the need for sustenance: jambon-‐mogettes was our meat and two veg; fressure a treat on your saint’s day. The vegetable garden and chicken run were things of pride. If you could go back in time and tell your ancestors you buy your onions, potatoes, garlic, beans and eggs from strangers in a big town, their mouths would gape and clay pipes fall and crack. This self-‐sufficiency, and pride therein, extended to their everyday beverage, wine. And to call wine at that time an ‘everyday beverage’ is no exaggeration when there were no taps to give us clean, healthy water at the twist of a wrist. At the very least, wine was germ-‐free. Every farmer had his vines, enough to keep his family in wine for the year -‐ perhaps his extended family and friends too if he was a larger landholder or tenant. At the harvest, everyone helped out, and if you’re lucky enough to live near some of the remaining family holdings, this is a tradition which, delightfully, continues to this day. Pick one row, stop and have a drink; pick another, stop and have a drink -‐ and so on: hard, hard work, but has to be done. So, enough of the ‘first-‐the-‐earth-‐cooled’ stuff. In the mid-‐1960s, wine makers from four areas in the Vendée made a loose affiliation called ‘Fiefs Vendéens’. Thus began a long journey to recognition -‐ from little more than peasant farmer, with all the humility he had to choke on, to winemaker, with his rightful place amongst his peers. These wines were granted Vin de Pays status in 1974. A mere ten years later they were promoted to VDQS (Vin délimité de qualité supérieure), known at that time as the ‘waiting room’ for full AOC recognition. The boys in the band felt confident enough to officially apply for AOC in 1991. The boys in the government finally got round to a first inspection of vineyards in 1995. Only in 2011 was AOC status granted to wines made in the designated areas of Mareuil (585 ha), Brem (382 ha), Vix (149 ha), Chantonnay (a late comer to the original group, 57 ha), and Pissotte (42 ha). Over the past few years, I have been guiding wine lovers to many of the great wine producing areas in France. I’ve decided that it’s high time to include trips much nearer to home. See the ad on this page, and get in touch for a great voyage of discovery. You will find delightful, value-‐for-‐money wines, reds, whites, rosés, sparkling. These are wines, and winemakers, that have earned their laurels, and wines which we should support with chauvinistic vigour (cue accordions…).
John Sherwin, French Wine Tours. Tel: 02 51 66 13 05 ~ E: john@french-wine-tours.com ~ www.french-wine-tours.com
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