Renée Mallon writes I was born and bred in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa (Auckland, New Zealand) and have been based in London for the past 13 years; I now consider myself not only a kiwi and but also a proper London. I run Community Wine, a charitable wine tasting club for wine enthusiasts, bringing together people in a friendly, informal setting to taste delicious wines, meet like-minded people and have fun. You can follow me on Instagram @Community_Wine or sign up to my newsletter via my website www.communitywine.uk.
Broken Booze Cruise
It’s Friday 6th November 2015. I meet four friends at the Wicked Campers base in Lambeth, South London. We are going on a booze cruise. The destination: Salon des Vins des Vignerons Indépendants in Reims, France. This is the Wine Fair for Independent French Winemakers, bringing together over 200 wine makers from across the country every autumn. My friend Serena, a veteran of the salon, has organised this group trip.
Our mode of transport is a Wicked Camper van, covered with eye-catching graffiti art. On the back of the van, the phrase “Behind Every Great Man is a Woman Rolling Her Eyes…” is emblazoned in large, bold lettering. Considering the reputation of Wicked Campers this is exceptionally tame (seriously, look it up). Serena informs the Wicked Camper employee that we won’t need any of the camper’s accoutrements so begins the process of removing as many items as possible to ensure maximum capacity for the wine we intend to procure. After the clear-out, the five of us pile into the van and drive towards Folkestone to take the Eurotunnel across to France. We arrive in Reims early evening and enjoy a dinner of oysters and Champagne to kick-off the weekend.
The salon is located in a large expo centre similar to an aircraft hangar. At check-in, we receive our tasting glasses featuring the Independent Vigneron logo. Spread across two large rooms, there are hundreds of stalls, each bearing a colour coded sign denoting their region (this proves to be handy once the alcohol starts to kick in). We rock up to a stall, greet the winemaker and present our tasting glasses to receive samples of the wines, all of which are available to be purchased by the bottle or case at attractive prices. The cherry on top of this already fantastic event are the food stalls. On offer is cheese, charcuterie, boulangerie, moules frittes, and Serena’s favourite – a delicious, dense, terrine-like spiced pork sausage, wrapped in a buttery, crisp pastry, served hot from the oven. This fancy sausage roll is of such a calibre it would be fitting for a Buckingham Palace garden party.
Serena has a list of winemakers she wishes to visit and we make a bee-line for their stalls. In the afternoon, we arrive at the stall of Domaine De La Coume du Roy, one of the oldest wineries from the commune of Maury. The winemaker, Jean-François Bachelet, is manning the stall, and he warmly greets Serena – a returning customer. Jean-François pours the wines and talks us through his latest vintages . Founded in 1850, Jean-François is the sixth generation to which the vineyard has passed. His daughter and baby grandson – the seventh and eighth generation respectively – are also at the stall today. To illustrate his vineyard’s long heritage, Jean-François displays a bottle of dessert wine from the 1925 vintage. The winery has a library of very old vintages which date to the birth years of family members. “Would you like to try it?”. There’s a resounding YES from us. From a near full bottle, Jean-François pours a generous sip into each glass. To date it’s the oldest wine I’ve ever tried. It is likely the oldest wine I will ever try. We oh and ah and express appreciation at being offered this unique experience. This booze cruise just keeps getting better.
At this point, I should provide a tasting note for this near century old vintage, but I can’t. I have no recollection of what the wine tastes like because of what happens next. Jean-François is talking us through the wine and the history of his family vineyard and with the bottle in his hand, he gesticulates, and the bottle slips and falls to the floor and shatters. Everybody is shocked into silence. This bottle of wine crafted during the 1920s and matured throughout the twentieth century – Jean-François’s family heirloom – is seeping all over the black concrete floor. There is nothing to be done. The wine cannot be salvaged. We just stand there basking in the awkwardness of what just happened. The only thing more shocking than the broken bottle on the floor is Jean-François’s blasé attitude. He is practically zen-like considering the situation. Of the small group gathered at the stall Jean-François is the least concerned about the broken bottle. He’s a glass half full kind of guy; “at least it wasn’t the baby”. Serena immediately replies “I don’t know about that, babies bounce”.
When researching Domaine De La Coume du Roy for this article, I read Jean-Francois is a retired colonel who served in the French Commandos and was attached to the NATO Peace-Keeping forces. I can only assume that for Jean- François the broken bottle really wasn’t that big of a deal; he’s led a life that provides perspective. Sadly, in 2022, Domaine De La Coume du Roy ceased winemaking activities although the vineyard lives on as a boutique bed and breakfast. Wine Searcher lists one bottle of the 1925 vintage available for a princely price of £325. If I had more disposable income, I’d own it.
Image by Constantine Johnny via Getty Images.
