A while ago my friend Arnold Waldstein inspired me to learn more about natural wines and when the opportunity came up a while ago I signed up to work vintage at “les Terres Promises”. I feel, that in order for me to really learn about natural wine, I need to go back to the vines, then to the cellar and with this knowledge ultimately I will fully understand the wine in the bottle. And I feel that “les Terres Promises” is the perfect place to learn. The domaine is the brainchild of Jean-Christophe Comor, an ex politician, who bought land in the Provences and became “vingneron” in 2003. The reason he was interested in natural wine is that he feels it is the only way to make the best possible wine which really tells the story of the terrior, or in his words: “Je veux que mon vin raconte l’histore du raisin et du caillou, de la terre qui est a la base de la vigne”.*
The idea behind the natural wine is to not add any additives who take away from the “original” expression of the grape, in the vineyard as well in the winery. So minimal intervention is THE rule, and often also natural winemakers follow the cycles of the moon. Here at “les Terres Promises” we started picking when the moon started to descend in the cycle – right know I do not know exactly why but I will ask Jean Christophe tomorrow and explain this a little further at that time. All grapes are handpicked, whole bunch pressed in a horizontal basket press before they go into tank to start the fermentation. No yeasts are added, instead it is the indigenous yeast living on the grape skin which will induce fermentation. This process is a lot slower and carries more risk, but it is the only way to allow for the full expression and unique flavours of the terrior. Commercial yeasts often enhance certain flavours associated with the grape variety….
I arrived a week into vintage and will stay till the end, so I hope to give a good recount of my vintage experiences in this blog but updating it on a regular basis…
*Jean-Christophe has asked me to quote him in French so all his quotes will be in French…
