What if Clermont-Ferrand became the world capital of volcanic wines? It is the mad dream of a winemaker, Pierre Desprat, and of an association, Vinora, which held on January 30, at the Grande Halle d'Auvergne in the city, the first international fair of volcanic wines. "I have the impression of organizing a cousinade", smiled the Auvergne winemaker when he received on his land professionals from around the world who have the particularity of growing their vines at the foot or on the slopes of a volcano extinct or not.
The Pierre Desprat family has produced wine since 1885 and today exploits 190 of the 360 hectares of the AOC Côtes-d'Avergne appellation. Five or six years ago, he remembers, when the Puy-de-Dôme department was working to classify the Puys chain as a UNESCO world heritage site, "I dare say during a tasting of our wines that it is not a Côtes-d'Avergne but a volcanic wine ”. And it's a revelation. "We discovered that there was a family in the world made up of a dozen small vineyards like ours producing volcanic wine".
Flintstone Notes
Vines planted in Santorini in Greece, on the slopes of the Italian volcanoes Etna and Vesuvius, in the Azores archipelago in Portugal or in Oregon on the American west coast… "From this moment on, we no longer have wanted to look like no one. We have become emancipated in our way of thinking about wine, ”says Pierre Desprat. And this is how the Chardonnays (white), gamay and pinot (red) from the AOC Côtes-d'Avergne became… volcanic wines.
Wines produced at altitude, between 300 and 600 meters, in the middle of a chain of 80 volcanoes that winds up to the gates of Clermont-Ferrand. “The altitude brings a natural freshness. The basalt soils bring notes of flint, a very original stony minerality ”, not to say unique. It is this singularity that the AOC Côtes-d'Avergne now wants to highlight. This new denomination has the advantage of offering an international influence to the AOC Côtes-d'Avergne, while enhancing the exemplary work of the fifteen or so winegrowers.
"Auvergnats are finally proud of their wine"
“In my dreams,” continues Pierre Desprat, “there will soon be a new family of wines on the menus of restaurants and wine merchants: volcanic wines. The winemaker thinks big and thinks of future generations: "We have set ourselves the goal of planting 50 hectares of vines in five years. "
A necessity given the growing demand. “The Auvergnats are finally proud of their wines. Export, which accounts for 25% of production, is also very interested, especially Japan ”. While the vineyard almost disappeared after the phylloxera crisis, large operators would already be ready to invest to produce this famous volcanic wine. “The Côte d'Auvergne is a vineyard of the future, predicts Pierre Desprat, especially with global warming. "
