Issue 5.5: Volcanic Occitanie
The radical paysan vignerons working where the Languedoc takes on the basalt tones of Auvergne.
Beside the Languedoc village of Caux is the ancient volcane des Baumes. It's the southernmost manifestation of France’s famed chaîne des Puys, a forty-kilometer span of bygone volcanos situated a few hours’ drive north in Auvergne. The wide-screen landscape of Occitanie contains all sorts of soils: limestone, schist, galets roulés. But the basalt-streaked terroirs around Caux offer a flavor all their own - southern echoes of the toothsome volcanic reduction that typifies good natural gamay d’Auvergne on basalt.
The village’s natural wine icon is Fontedicto vigneron Bernard Bellahsen, a proponent of horse-plowing and biodynamics who began producing natural wine in 1994. He soon established a reputation for singular purity in farming and winemaking that suggests a sort of Occitan counterpart to Pierre Overnoy. (Both make immortal wines, and both men like to bake bread, but to be honest the comparison probably stops there.)
Bellahsen’s profound work has been an inspiration for younger vignerons in the immediate area, notably Joe Jefferies, Julien Peyras, and Rémi Poujol. Their work on similar terroirs could be seen as combining Bellahsen’s militantly paysan approach with some of the freewheeling experimentalism of their friend Antony Tortul.
In Issue 5.5 of the NOT DRINKING POISON newsletter you’ll find a quartet of stories from in and around volcanic Occitanie:
An interview with horse-plowing expert and natural wine pioneer BERNARD BELLAHSEN of FONTEDICTO.
A visit to the limestone-scree and basalt soil vineyard that yields JOE JEFFERIES’ magnificent white “Pierre de Sisyphe,” a grand cru of the Hérault if there ever was one. (No paywall.)
A chat with Adissan vigneron REMI POUJOL, whose intense, undervalued LE TEMPS FAIT TOUT wines are perhaps Bellahsen’s closest stylistic kin.
A taste of Aspiran vigneron GREGORY WHITE’s excellent yuzu-infused natural GIN. (No paywall.)
And, for good measure, some recent hi-jinx in Auvergne:
A report from the 2021 edition of LES 10 VINS COCHONS, Auvergne’s premier natural wine salon, where we narrowly escaped sleeping in the snow.
That’s all from the Languedoc for now. Some adventures from beyond France’s borders coming soon. In the meantime I’m laying low in Paris, working on book edits, and wondering how to mark the occasion of one year of Not Drinking Poison on Substack. (Any suggestions?)
Many thanks for reading, as always. Stay healthy and stay warm!