Hard to believe as the second largest municipality of Yvelines is dragging an urban image, moreover often made of violence in recent weeks.
And yet, the city of 52,000 inhabitants would indeed be the home of a real good wine according to Alexandre Golovko, the oenologist in charge of monitoring the vines in Sartrouville.
Which evokes a terroir made "excellent" thanks to "the limestone slab".
Composed in particular of grape varieties vinified in Chardonnay, Gamay and Pinot noir, the 5,200 square meter vineyard located at the foot of the Saint-Martin church will also expand in the coming months from 5,200 square meters to 7 000 square meters.
The municipality has just started a major agricultural development program that will run until spring before continuing this fall, with, in particular, the planting of 110 fruit trees and the creation of flower meadows.
A city with a rich wine-making past
Formerly present on a third of the arable land of the town, then gradually reduced to the plots surrounding the Saint-Martin church, the vine has always been part of the heritage of Sartrouville, at least until its disappearance in 1910. It had was reintroduced in the mid-1990s at the exact location where it was in the Middle Ages, that is to say around the religious monument built in the year 1009.
At the time, there was a real wine-making tradition in Ile-de-France, especially for making mass wine.
Today, Sartrouville wants to reconnect with this heritage and even extend this culture to other lands in the town.
"Of course, we could sell the available land at a very high price, but I think there is a real choice to be made nowadays on the preservation of arable land in Ile-de-France, in particular by making agricultural land safe. », Notes Mayor LR Pierre Fond.
A (small) part of Sartrouville is also concerned by the protected agricultural zone (ZAP) of the plain of Montesson.
READ ALSO>
Wines from Ile-de-France and Oise: 14 bottles on the test bench
This operation should also make it possible to rejuvenate a vine whose production has been observed to decrease over the years.
The aging vines will thus be replaced by 800 new vines.
Soil maintenance will be carried out using horse-drawn plowing.
To this is added the establishment of new plots in eco-grazing, all around the new vines.
“I wanted to enlarge the vines for several reasons, explains Pierre Fond.
First, for the historical wink.
It represents a link between the past and the present.
But also because we use it a lot in our internal communication, because it is the agents of the city's technical services who maintain it all year round, after having received the necessary training.
"
Newsletter The essential of 78
A tour of Yvelines and IDF news
Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters
The project seems in any case to enjoy a good rating with the inhabitants.
And especially at the time of the harvest, part of which is carried out by the children of the city.
This educational workshop which takes place during the first half of September is followed by a grape press on site.
The opportunity to taste a little local grape juice.
"It cuts off from the usual landscape"
The rest of the time, the place is a delight for walkers.
"It's nice to walk next to the vines, it cuts a bit from the usual landscape," smiles a passerby.
We see the culture changing with the seasons, it's very pretty when the first clusters appear ”.
The three grape varieties used are intended for the production of red and white “still” wines, as well as “sparkling” type wines.
Since 2000, it has been decided to increase the quantities of Chardonnay to the detriment of Gamay.
Today there are 840 feet for one and 360 for the other.
All of the approximately 300 bottles produced each year are redistributed to newlyweds or during charity operations.
"We do not get any money," says the new boss of the mayors of Yvelines.
“Wine is one of the fundamental elements of our culture, the tradition of which we want to perpetuate,” finally confides Pierre Fond.
But we must also not lose mind that this vine gives the opportunity to small children who live in urban and working-class areas to be able to appreciate the change of nature by discovering the evolution of an agricultural culture.
"