Michèle Aubery and her "perfect little ecosystem" by JP Géné
Sometimes it's nice to stop for a few minutes and re-read an article in "LE MONDE". the
Michèle Aubery and her "perfect little ecosystem
Every lover of the jus de la treille has at some point come across a bottle that has made a lasting impression on him or her and that he or she will never forget. Not necessarily a rare, expensive or famous wine, but an unforgettable bottle because it had meaning, because it offered new horizons, a pleasure hitherto unknown.
For me, the Poignée de Raisins from Winery Gramenon, a red Côtes-du-Rhône tasted at Le Verre Volé at the beginning of this century, belongs to this category. This young vintage from still pubescent vines - Grenache with a little Cinsault - reminded me that wine is grape juice. Certainly fermented, but first of all the fruit of the vine. Fresh, pure, with no external elements to disguise it. Along with a few others - Eric Pfifferling'sAnglore and the Puzelat brothers' Clos du Tue-Bœuf - this Poignée convinced me that the truth was on the side of natural wines. I was longing to meet its author. Michèle Aubery, in her fifties, with a strong chin and short hair, an easy smile and a hint of a southern accent, studied nursing. At the age of 16, she met Philippe Laurent, the son of a farmer and a nature lover. A few weeks before the wedding, they had ruined themselves by buying Gramenon, a building with 12 hectares of old vines on the heights (350 metres above sea level) of Montbrison-sur-Lez (Drôme), between Provence and Dauphiné.Biodynamics
The first bottles came out in 1979, and Winery expanded and equipped itself. Until the tragedy of 1999, when Philippe accidentally killed himself. "My children stood around me and said: "Mum, you have to carry on". Maxime Laurent, the only boy, had just entered the wine-producing college in Beaune and, a week before the accident, the couple had again ruined themselves by buying 20 hectares in the Vinsobres appellation. "So I took the plunge. Philippe's accident happened in November, in the middle of the winemaking process, and here I am with tanks that are stinging, unfinished sugar, and everything else you can imagine. With the help of a few winemaker friends, notably Dard and Ribo, Winery Gramenon, which already had a certain reputation in organic wines, will survive.Mrs Aubery sold the plots of land in Vinsobres, keeping only 4.5 hectares, and bought more on the Valréas plateau, to reach a total surface area of 26 hectares."SINCE WE HAVE BEEN ORGANIC, THE VINEYARDS HAVE BECOME MORE RESISTANT TO DISEASE".
With a Grape varieties mostly grenache (65%), syrah (25%) and 10% viognier and clairette for the whites. For Philippe Laurent, his wine was neither natural nor organic. He was simply making "normal" wine using the same farming methods he had always seen his father use and there was no question of certification. In 2006, with the arrival of her son Maxime Laurent, fresh out of school, Michèle Aubery decided, however, to switch to biodynamics and obtained Demeter certification in 2010. "It was a bit like passing my exam. Production increased and the wine itself changed. Much deeper, more marked by the terroir, less superficial." Yields, which had always been below 20 hectolitres per hectare, now average 25 hectolitres and up to 28 hectolitres in 2012. The range is expanding with plot selections vinified separately, such as Mémé from century-old vines, Sagesse (50-year-old vines) or Papesse en Vinsobres (60-year-old vines). "With the vines all around the maison, in an isolated place, sheltered from any pollution, we are in a small ecosystem perfect for our method of cultivation. Since we have been organic, the vines have become more resistant to disease. The Winery Gramenon is going from strength to strength, to the point that the famous American taster and critic Robert Parker came to taste it twice, giving scores of 91/100 to the 2006 Sagesse, 90 and 89 to the 2005 and 2006 Mémé, telling Michèle: "Keep your passion intact. When I taste your wines, it regenerates me to go and taste elsewhere. Contrary to those who take advantage of Mr Parker's good marks to increase prices,MrsAubery is cautious: "Sometimes there is a lack of wine, but I don't want to select customers by money. In our appellation, it doesn't make sense, because those who have money don't buy Côtes-du-Rhône. The Poignée de raisins remains at 5.90 euros ex-cellar for professionals, who snatch up the Mémé at 14 euros ex-cellar and sometimes offer it for up to 100 euros on the table, which irritates her son, because "it's not worth it and they're making money off us". Michèle prefers to escape into painting. JP Géné