Although you may never taste my wine, I am happy to share with you some details about how my wine is made. This may also help you when evaluating other wines.

For a summary of the wine-growing and wine-making conditions and methods, go to the bottom of this page. For a detailed description of the processes, start reading just below.

Quality certification: Appellation d’Origine Controlée

Let’s start with the AOC concept (nowadays called AOP, but I’ll stick with AOC, because it is better known). AOC (Appellation d’Origine Controlée) is a kind of certification, that your product (cheese, sausage, etc. and in our case: wine) is:

• From a specific area which has been declared AOC

• Using production methods which are defined by the AOC legislation

In France there is of course an Institute (INAO) that does nothing else than to keep an eye on the correct implementation of this concept.

Please note that other countries, among others Italy and even California, are trying to implement “AOC-like” concepts, because it is considered a seal of quality.

First step to AOC status: land certification 

Let’s use the case of Champagne:

The Champagne AOC wines must be from certain vineyards which have been declared AOC by the authorities, based on things like soil composition, exposure, etc. Note that once a vineyard is classified as AOC, it will never lose that classification.  

Now even if you copy 100% the Champagne production methods (winegrowing/winemaking), but you are not in area which has been declared Champagne AOC, you cannot call it “Champagne”. Even if you use all the traditional Champagne techniques, you have to give it another name (“sparkling”, “mousseux”, crémant, etc).

No surprise then that some Champagne villages partied very hard when authorities decided in 2008 that their non-AOC village all of a sudden became a Champagne AOC village. As on person stated: "If your vines fall on the wrong side of the divide, they will be worth €5,000 (£3,850) a hectare. On the other side they will be worth a million euros,". Overnight!

Second step to AOC certification: winegrowing and winemaking regulations

Above is described that you have to be in a certain geographical location to be able to claim that your land is AOC. But in order to put AOC on your label, you also have to adhere to other rules. Let me mention a few:

Grape variety: in the case of Champagne you can only make “Champagne” with mainly 3 grape varieties: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier (both red skin grapes) and Chardonnay. Usually “Champagne” is a blend of the three, sometimes it is a single varietal wine. But never it will have the name of the grape (like Chardonnay) on the label. That is not allowed. And using another grape (say Riesling or Syrah) to make “Champagne” is of course totally illegal.

Pruning method: how do you prune (cut down) each year the vines, for optimal results. There are a few methods that can be used. You can read more about it here. Probably an image explains it better than words:

Max yield per hectare: the base yield in Champagne is 10,400kg of grapes per hectare. In certain years and under certain circumstances the INAO Institute may decide higher yields, but never more than 15,500kg

Handpicking only: a very expensive method, but again, all this to reach the highest quality levels.

Would not everybody want to have AOC status for their wine?

What is the net result of all these rules? In order to answer this, we must make a distinction between the well-known, big reputation wine regions (Bordeaux, Bourgogne, Champagne, etc) and the lesser known, but up-and-coming wine regions like Languedoc-Roussillon.

In the well-known wine regions, it is an absolute must to have the AOC certification. You simply cannot sell a wine as Bordeaux, Champagne etc if you do not have the certification. With an AOC the winery is able to get much higher prices than without. Imagine 2 bottles with the same wine on a shelf in a wineshop: one “Bordeaux” + AOC (AOP) written on the label, the other bottle (same wine) has written something like “Red wine from France” (and no AOC) written on the label. For which bottle will you be ready to pay more? This is because most consumers have heard about these famous wine regions: Alsace, Burgundy, Champagne, etc. and that reputation leads to higher prices. 

But what if the consumer does not really know the wine region, for example Languedoc-Roussillon (where Gnoré is made)? In such a case the winemaker has to ask himself: “Is it worth it to implement all these quite stringent AOC rules (plus the paperwork that comes with it), without being able to increase the price of each bottle?”. And that is exactly what is happening in Languedoc-Roussillon: wineries that for a number of years adhered to the strict AOC rules, are now giving up the “prized” AOC certification and write something simpler on their label, while keeping the same high level of quality.

For example they use the IGP (Indication Géographique Protégée) classification, one of the lowest-ranking in the France’s wine hierarchy. And that this is not a disadvantage is shown here. If you scroll down, you can see the prices some of these “low ranked” wines fetch per bottle!

By using the simpler certification IGP, winemakers can now be more creative, for example add grape varieties, such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir, which are not allowed under AOC rules.

Summarizing, you can say that to make a good/great wine in the Languedoc-Roussillon region, you probably do need AOC verified land/vineyards, but you do not necessarily need the AOC certification on the label. And often, in absence of the strict AOC rules, some of these IGP wines, created with full artistic freedom, are more interesting than the classical AOC wines.

Fast forward to Gnoré wine, classified “Vin de France”

Gnoré is made based on the principles mentioned above. The small vineyard is AOC classified, on a slope facing south. The grape variety, Syrah is on the AOC list. I do not (by far) go over the maximum AOC yield limit. So far so good!

But in order to make AOC Languedoc wine, you are required to blend several AOC grape varieties together, you are not allowed to make a so-called mono-varietal wine. Aahhhh! Here I go wrong: Gnoré is 100% Syrah. No AOC for me then! Good thing that anyway I did not want to do all the administrative paperwork required to obtain the AOC status, but it shows how this system works. And it also explains why I choose the “rock bottom” qualification: “Vin de France” (and I am not alone here)!

The Gnoré vineyard

The vineyard is very small and planted in 2002. The pruning system that is used is the Guyot Double (see image, not taken in the Gnoré vineyard)

Our vineyard is dry-farmed, but I am not categorically refusing the idea of installing one day drip irrigation as a plan-B emergency option. It is getting hotter every year and harvest now takes place 2-3 weeks earlier compared with 10 years ago. Often the grapes have difficulty ripening correctly because some vines “shut off” in order to protect themselves from the extreme heat.

See here and here for a discussion of dry-farming and wine quality. A tiny bit of water to keep an even ripening process going, may just be what is needed. Look out for updates about this in the future.

In 2020 we still ploughed the vineyard, but we are planning to create a green soil cover by sowing clover early 2021 and from then on simply pass a weed mower, without ploughing. A good article about cover crops in vineyards (in French) here.This is an experiment, especially in our region where this concept is looked at with scepticism. We’ll find out!

No systemic pesticides (= bug-killing)/ herbicides (= weed killing) have been used since 2014. If you want reasons why it is a good idea not to use such products, read here and here.

We use Sulfur (brand: FLOSUL SC) and Copper-Sulfate (brand: CUPROXAT SC) for spraying (only one spraying in 2019!).

For soil fertilization we use organic guano dung.

Harvesting is manual, in small plastic crates.

Our harvesting team consist of professionals only, see photo:

The general philosophy is “minimal intervention”.

All grapes are destemmed. I will probably do a trial in 2021 with partial destemming, to see how this influences the end result.

Fermentation takes place in small stainless steel tanks, with “floating lids”. The destemmed and crushed grapes are left alone for a cold soak and typically start to ferment after 24-36 hours. No yeast and no enzymes are added.

Because of the small size of the tanks, the temperature, even in the middle of fermentation, rarely exceed 25C. If anything, sometimes the temperature is not high enough and ambient heating is required.

The cap is punched gently once a day, mainly to aerate the must and break up and wet the cap.

On average skin contact will last approx. 10 days, quite short, in order to produce a less astringent, finer wine.

Gently pressed, mainly free-running juice, to reduce extraction of tannins.

No filtration.

No fining agents (although I would consider egg whites if necessary). 2015 and 2016 are vegan, but no claim is made on the label.

Wine transferred into 220L barrels, used more than 5 times. Purpose only managed oxidation, oak flavours are not the goal. Barrel aging typically for a period of 12 months.

Summary of the wine-growing and wine-making conditions methods

A purely clinical description of the vineyard, wine-growing and wine-making processes follows below. For more details please read the information above.

Vineyard

Surface: 0.1ha
Land classified as AOC Languedoc-Rousillon: yes

Grape variety: Syrah 100%

Age of vines: 2002

Pruning system: Guyot double

Soil: deep clay-limestone

Exposition: South-southeast

Slope: 15-20 degrees

Dry farming: yes

Drip irrigation available: no                  

Systemic herbicides: no

Systemic pesticides: no

Sulfur sprayings: yes

Copper sulfate sprayings: yes

Fertilizer: Organic guano dung

Ploughing: yes

Cover crop: no

Harvest method: manual, in small plastic crates

Harvest time: mornings

Cellar

General philosophy: Minimal intervention

Destemming: 100%

Tanks: small, stainless steel, floating lid

Cap punching: 1x per day, gently

Indigenous yeast: yes

Added enzymes: no

Maceration: approx.. 10 days

Pressing: manual basket press, mainly free running juice

Fining: none

Filtration: no

Racking: 2-3 times

Malo-lactic fermentation: yes

Added SO2: as little as possible

Barrel aging: 12 months in 220L barrels, used more than 5 times. Purpose: only managed oxidation, not oak flavours

Bottling: 750ml glass bottle, with 49mm Cat 1 natural (non-bleached) corks.

Vegan: yes