|
In the 1990s there was a big trend taking place whereby small grape farmers were more frequently bottling their own wine in the Rhone and Burgundy, and so many of the famous négociant houses, scaled down their activities and also focused more of their interest on proper farming and making the wine from their own domains themselves. Michel Tardieu bucked this trend as he saw quite a lot of very small growers with old vines who didn’t have enough resources, and didn’t have a good market for their wine.
In the mid-90s he started a supply chain of really good “old vine” young wine from across the north and south Rhone. Initially he raised his wine in Dominique Laurent’s casks, hence the name of the first fifteen years of the project was actually Tardieu-Laurent to give respect to Dominique Laurent. Michel is assisted by his son and daughter, and the daughter runs the office, the son runs production, with Charles there to help out. Dominique Laurent has long since disappeared also the small casks have disappeared and they now use foudre and vertical tronconic casks to age some wines in a more neutral environment. Today, Famille Tardieu is a top-rated 5 star winery in the French wine guide Bettane & Desseauve, and a 'Top 100 Winery of the Year' from Wine & Spirits in 2018. They make wine across the North and South Rhone. In short, Tardieu has bucked the trend, gets a legendary status and they don’t own a vine! Maison Tardieu Laurent Route de Cucuron, 84160 Lourmarin, France |
|
(c) The Clear Wine Company Ltd. 2020
|