Elders

Today I visited a 6-ha vineyard, managed by a very dynamic 25-year old, Fanny, and her dad. They produce about 180,000 bottles of wine each year. There's a whole story that could (and will) be told about Fanny, but today, her grandparents stole my heart.

Grandma Reine and Grandpa Justin are both 91 and full of life, with crystal clear heads. When I asked if I could take their picture, he chuckled and said to his wife: "come here, sit on my lap and give me a smoochie!" She readily obliged ;) They were pleased that I was able to handle my end of the conversation in the native Alsatian dialect (and I was amazed that I remembered enough to be coherent…)

He started working on the family farm (which included a vineyard) from early years and took it over right after the war. Much of it had been destroyed during the war -- in fact, he said, only the copper rims of the big wood barrels were left. As barrel makers were overwhelmed, the family build concrete barrels, lined with ceramic tiles. That's the first time I'd seen those and they are impressive devices. I'm told they work really well to store wine (they still use one of them today) but aren't so great for the fermentation process needed to actually produce the wine, as the ceramic tiles retain heat -- not so great unless you are into making vin chaud ;)

Some stats: the average size of a vineyard in Alsace is 0.5ha; the price of a hectare of vineyard runs between 100,000-250,000 euros.