L'Albertine - Guillaume Thiriet

I started making wine with the C.UV.E collective in Marseille. In 2020, I moved to an area where there are almost no more vineyards: between Le Vigan and Mont Aigoual, in the Cévennes mountains. I settled there as a farmer, winemaker, and harvester, with a very small plot of vines (0.8 hectares) planted 30 years ago—an exception.

There are many agricultural and peasant histories here, and the forests that make up the majority of the landscape are actually large agricultural wastelands, which once included a few wine estates, not to mention the "family" wines. Wine production ceased entirely here in the 1970s, and all the vines were uprooted. I am conducting research on the history and viticultural uses of these terraced plots, and since 2023 I have begun replanting vines wherever I can. I am trying to imagine what this terroir could offer in terms of wine(s) and with which grape varieties. As the climate changes, and as social and economic rules and realities change, the challenge is to show that wine, and "good" wine, is still possible. This requires a "natural" and "organic" approach: it's no longer really a question, but a given. My work is as close as possible to the natural processes in the vineyards: gentle pruning, cover cropping, green manures, and only occasional tilling; sulfur used only and copper as little as possible; local fertilizers, etc. And in my cellar, there are no filters, no additives whatsoever.
oenological equipment, a press, a pump, and a manual bottling machine. I make wine as gently and attentively as possible.
possible, without adding or taking anything away.

I'll be with the wines at the summer markets in Le Vigan on Saturday and Tuesday morning...