famous for its salt collection, this town also does the harvest

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This Saturday in October 2024, it was harvest day in Guérande (Loire-Atlantique), a town better known for its salt marshes than for its vines.

And yet, the medieval city has long been a wine-growing land.

On the Guérande hillside, facing the salt marshes

In good humor and early morning enthusiasm this Saturday, October 5, 2024 near Cramargué, on the hillside of Guérande, the twenty grape harvesters from the “Le clos du hillside” association rushed to the bunches of white grapes, of Chenin grape variety, and red grapes, of Pineau d’Aunis grape variety.

Alain Daval, owner of the vineyard, confides to the Echo de la Presqu’île:

This year has been very wet. We had to be particularly vigilant to maintain the health of the vines, by carrying out treatments, organic method, to fight against diseases, mildew and powdery mildew.

“The quality of the grapes is good”

Alain Daval and Fabien Ozanne, oenologist and winegrower in Batz-sur-Mer, however, estimate that “it would have needed around fifteen days of sunshine before the harvest to favor the sugar level and the alcoholic degree of the wine which will only be 10 or 10.5° this year. But the quality of the grapes is good.”

It was necessary to strip the vines a lot, manually, to ventilate and allow the sun to illuminate the clusters.

250 liters of white, 350 liters of red

Immediately after the harvest, the white grape variety is pressed and the red destemmed to keep only the grapes, before 10 days of maceration.

“The expected quantities correspond to around 250 l of white and 350 l of red, and perhaps even a little more. This represents 60 hl/ha, it is very honorable, it is a productive vine”believes Fabien Ozanne.

The Clos du Coteau wines will be presented in several vintages, in white, it is Chenin Blanc, and in red, Pineau d’Aunis or a blend of Pineau d’Aunis and Cabernet.

Cultivating vines and making wine is important, but the most important thing is that we are a group of friends. If we can make others want to plant vines, that’s positive too.

Useful: The wines of Clos du Coteau will be tasted, in moderation, during Alain Poulard’s conference, “The vineyard in Guérande country, from the Romans to the present day”, organized by the Friends of Guérande, on October 17, 2024, at 6 p.m., at Athanor in Guérande. Free, without reservation

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