The night was headed to crazy.
In the middle of dinner Olivier Cousin toasted Claire his bride of 20-something years of marriage. There it was, their anniversary. Some pet-nat and the hours started to tick away. I went to bed. Fagged out, while the others rocked out gearing up to another 4:30am call.
How Claire got up to go to work, I'll never figure out.
Magical croissants appeared, forever the weight watcher, I allowed myself a morsel of pain au chocolat, fabulously flakey, buttery, there goes the diet. We walked past the horses and piled into the car, four in the back (ask me about that sometime, because never, never will I tell you in print what happened). We traveled to Sologne in the Touraine to see Claude Courtois at "Les Cailloux du Paradis."
At one time, Claude looked like the Tony Coturri of Sologne, with similar wiry beards and sad affects. Tony's beard is still wild, Claude's has trimmed. Tony still has his pony tail, Claude went to the barber. Perhaps they both have cats.
Claude was making wine in the Var since 1980, always working naturally, working organically. In 1995, the domaine had a devastating fire. Claudine was quite pregnant, they needed a place quick. Land was cheap in the Loire. He saw land, terrible land, rocky and chemicalized, with old vines. Soon they had a new baby and he was making his first Loire vintage from chemically stressed grapes.
Claude et fils basket presses
He told the worn out story, one Nicolas Joly uses:"There was more life in the Sahara than in that soil," to describe the extent of the soils devastation. There was no worm, just spiders in his land of clay and silex, that very hard almost bakelite substance that can be sharpened into weapons. He went to work to heal the ravaged land.
People often say that Courtois is a model of biodynamics, as if he is a follower. But when I questioned his feelings about biodynamics he said, "I don't want to talk about it," angrilly. Hot button? So of course I pushed and he replied, " Nature is what it is about. Biodynamic is for the BoBo in NYC." I didn't get more of an answer, something may have gotten lost in the translation, but remember, this is from someone who lives in a 'biodynamic' kind of state, even though he does not use the proscribed treatments. Never the less, he'd have an interesting time talking to Stu Smith, who has made it his mission to speak out against Biodynamics, for what I imagine would be very different reasons.
So, while he is the 'model,' meaning no chemical farming and a complete farm of biodiveristy, with wood, fruit trees, wheat, animals, he is not biodynamic.
He's one of those intuitive thinkers and winemakers who found their way to natural farming, preferring the secondary plantings to do the work than plowing. "You take the soil and turn it over, what's the point in that?' he asked. "
He has his own kind of pruning technique. A picture of his menu-pineau worth plenty. I thought I had captured this on tape, this MIGHT be wrong, but it seems as if he leaves two shoots unpruned on each branch for the following year.
He admits to having gamay (if you find his cuvée Nacarat, it is just lovely.), menu pineau, cabernet-franc, côt, cabernet-sauvignon, sauvignon. But he also has a number of grapes not allowed in the AOC, such as cesar and gascon. He also believes that the blend is a great wine savior.
Claude who never made wine in any other way than natural, learned from those around him who worked well. You find your guru and then you sit at their feet. Many people never do this, but would rather reinvent life from scratch. When asked who, if any, are his disciples he said Reynald Héaulé, who makes wine in Orleans, and someone who I find fabulously talented.
We were huddled in the winery, around delicious bread and saucisse, tasting the 2010s. My toes were about to fall off from the cold. "Go inside," Claude said, "Claudine will take care of you." Claudine was busy smoking cigs as if it could smoke a trout, and preparing our lunch, but she came out to fire up the little heater, and as I looked at the assortment of homeopathic medicines on the table, I warmed my feet.
When they were sufficiently defrosted, I sprinted across the iced over mud puddles to the part of the winery where the reds have their élevage.
The son who was the child born after the first vintage in 1995 has followed the lead of his older brother Julien and also makes wine. We tasted a kick ass gascon, (chocolate and prune) over lunch, as his friend, with the suspenders helped Claudine serve.
The wines are their own thing. These are hardcore, ethereal, broncos, wines that make you think. One of the most memorable, one I'll look forward to is the ;09 Quartz, tannic, angular, and fierce.
I had decided to take the train back to Paris from Blois, somehow the four in the back didn't seem like a great idea, but lunch went on, Claude held forth, and there we were, headed to République.
Dinner at L'ebauchoir after the incident with the Parisian traffic posse. Never had been. Yes to deliciousness. There's what to drink on the wine list.
The last night in Paris, there was a rendezvous with the artist.
His son had found my Boxing Day post, told his mother and father, they sent me an email, and as it turned out I was in town when they were in town. Cheese, wine and studio visit. Thank you Francesco and Chantal. Anyone in NYC have a fitting gallery for this internationally recognized artist?
That was early February. Now we can start writing in real time.
Could you elaborate on the pruning a bit more? It sounds like cane pruning, but maybe not?
Posted by: LCFwino | 03/06/2011 at 12:52 PM
Wish I could but my video that should have explained it all, has let me down. When he was explaining, the technique was beyond my understanding. But it does seem like cane pruning without removing the last years growth?
Posted by: Alicefeiring | 03/06/2011 at 01:05 PM