January Wine Club: Tour de France (Wine)
Happy New Year, and welcome to the first wine club story of 2024 from GoodWine x UnWined! If you’ve just joined us, GoodWine is a startup that brings you wine that is good for the planet and the people who live here. By supporting us, you support grape growers and winemakers who are working to leave the planet better than they found it.
Swish on the slopes! (But why the short sleeves?)
This month, we’re heading to France to learn about the specific ways that French winemakers in Bordeaux, the Loire, and Savoie are tackling climate change. What are the challenges they’re experiencing, and how are they making lemonade out of—er—wine out of grapes? What are some of the current trends?
To get some info from the source on how much of a factor climate change is and what to do about it, we interviewed one of this month’s producers, Sylvain Liotard of Les 13 Lunes wines. Sylvain made our white wine selection this month—a cool mountain stream of a wine from the Alps made from the Altesse grape.
We asked Sylvain what changes he has witnessed in his vineyards through the years, and he said that given the very hot and dry summers, flooding in the fall, springs with late frosts, and hail, there’s plenty to contend with, and he has to get creative. Grasses in the vineyard help to reduce heat, store carbon, and keep the soil in place, and biodynamic work helps to put him on solid footing in terms of using fewer stuff to make the wine in the cellar. In a direct benefit for the climate, he has also stopped using a tractor in order to decarbonize.
Finally, Sylvain also takes an inclusive view of sustainability by thinking about the people, too. He pays his workers fairly, which means that he has repeat laborers year-to-year. We really appreciate Sylvain’s willingness to chat with us! Stay tuned for the learn tab of this site, where we’ll soon publish the full interview translated from French.
The Wines
First is Sylvain’s wine that we previewed above—a tasty white wine that makes us think of hitting the slopes. This is the Une Hirondelle from Les 13 Lunes in the Savoie region of France near the mountains. In addition to the cool things above, Sylvain also reduces packaging by ditching the foil capsule (see photo), and he packages the wines in boxes without the cardboard inserts between the bottles, reducing waste. He’s making improvements from all angles!
— Les 13 Lunes Une Hirondelle 2022
Our next wine is a Pinot Noir and hails from the appellation of Saint Pourçain, which is a lesser-known part of the Loire—so much so, that winemakers from this area have banded together to create a collective called “Loire Volcanique” to make themselves better known. The “Volcanique” part refers to the fact that most French volcanoes are in the area.
Grower and winemaker of our second wine, Denis Barbara, is a member of Loire Volcanique and makes wine with care for the planet. Denis cultivates grasses between vine rows, which has many benefits such as storing carbon and reducing erosion. He also forgoes insecticides, pesticides, or chemical fertilizers in his vineyards, which is better for the soil and for people, too.
— Domaine Grosbot-Barbara - Chambre d'Edouard 2022
Our final wine is a special offering for us, as it’s an older, 2016 vintage from a wine producer that has been around for seven generations. Chateau Villars is in the Fronsac region of Bordeaux, which is a traditional area governed by a complex classification system. Even given its traditional roots, though, Bordeaux has still had to adapt to a changing climate. In one major development, the government recently changed the law to allow the growth of four new red grape varieties and two new white ones. These new grapes will better deal with the late spring frosts and water stresses that have cropped up. This is certainly a big change for a region known for its Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.
As for Chateau Villars, they have six hectares divided between meadows and forest, a feature which captures carbon and provides habitats for wildlife, too.
Let us know what you think! And if you still have the Glen Manor Bordeaux-style blend on hand from October, try your hand at a little comparative tasting, too.
