Mas Coutelou's Watering Hole

Jean-François Coutelou's pond project is coming to life: another landmark in his quest to return biodiversity to the viticultural plains north of Béziers.

Jean-François Coutelou beside his nascent pond southwest of Pailhès, Sept. 2022.

Back in August 2021, when I visited Puimuisson vigneron Jean-François Coutelou shortly before harvest began, the project he was most keen to discuss was the least impressive, at least from a visual standpoint: a cleared plot of earth the size of a drugstore parking lot, sout…