Picking Romorantin at Bruno Allion (Loire)

Picking Romorantin at Bruno Allion (Loire)

Asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341c018253ef01b8d2a876b4970c img-responsive” alt=”1bruno_allion_anouk_michel_picking_romorantin” name=”1bruno_allion_anouk_michel_picking_romorantin” src=”http://fotservis.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c018253ef01b8d2a876b4970c-640wi”/>Anouk and Michel choosing
Some
Thésée, Touraine (Loire)

Anouk Lavoie-Lamoureux is from Quebec and she & her husband (Paul-André Risse is a French national who spent years working in research at McGill) were looking for a domaine to take over in the area. Bruno’s retirement gave them the opportunity to start working with vineyards that were farmed biodynamic. His surface will be broken in two, another grower will take another half. They began to work with Bruno Allion last winter to the pruning, learning his ways all the while. They will rent the chai/cellar to Bruno and they’ll find a building of their own in the area, which shouldn’t be hard, given there are plenty of affordable real estate for sale. Anouk & Paul-André have already deep roots in the biodynamic farming and a shared interest into actual wine, you will certainly learn more about them in the future Wineterroirs (until then, check their site).

I just had to cross the Cher river on the cute narrow bridge (pic on left) from Pouillé to Thésée on the northern bank (the two villages are extremely close, see map route) and here I was at another
grape harvest, this time for a parcel of Romorantin belonging to Bruno Allion (Domaine de Pontcher),
whom I visited a few years ago. Bruno is also a very nice person to work with, very kind and not taking himself seriously regardless of the caliber of his work and of
his wines. The domaine is also farmed biodynamicly and the wines made without additives nor intervention, the group’s sessions to the biodynamic farming often happening on Bruno’s grounds, in particular for example with the procedure related with the horns like the prep 500 (horse-manure stuffed horns being subsequently placed underground for several months). Biodynamy is “organic” brought to an upper level, you feel it in the vineyard through the health of the vines but also from the wines that have definitely a vibrant energy of their own. In terms this year of spraying, Bruno says he made only 5 sprays altogether so much on his vineyards, for a total of 1,5 kg copper [per hectare I guess].

Of the very same pickers I saw working at Les Maisons Brûlées (here Michel for example) were also taking part for this grape harvest : Artisan growers often have a small surface and they try to help the team of pickers have a full work week, directing them toward a colleague whenever there’s an interruption in the choosing because the next parcel isn’t ripe. It was also a pivotal harvest for Bruno Allion (pictured on right on his tractor), who’s retiring next year, part of the vineyard being taken over by Anouk (pictured here above & on left inside her vintage Russian-made 4X4 Niva) and her husband Paul-André.

Source: Wine