1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 286 New Wine Farmers Fleeing in droves

Chapter 286 New Wine Farmers Fleeing in droves
The car drove along the main road near the village for a while, then, guided by Zoe, turned onto a side road lined with vineyards on both sides.

Ronan quickly determined the direction and realized that their destination was no longer Mena village, but somewhere between Mena village and Bonnio village.

"Are we going to a rural winery cooperative?" Ronan asked Zoe.

There were no road signs or directions in the Luberon Mountains. This place was outside Ronan's usual area, and he no longer knew where he was going.

Zoe's tone betrayed an undisguised excitement and lightness:
"This path leads to the village of Gour, which is famous for its Provençal spirits."

"Provençal spirits?" Ronan was taken aback.

In his life, there were two kinds of liquor that could be called strong liquor: one was the anise liqueur that men in Provence loved to drink, and the other was 'Provence Hole'—a pomace brandy.

Coincidentally, Ronan rarely drinks either of these, so trying a spirit would be quite a novelty for him.

But isn't Provence famous for its white and red wines?

After asking what she was thinking, Zoe explained to Ronan:

“Provence is indeed famous for its wines, but its culture of distilled spirits is equally unique. Have you forgotten the story of the mobile still? There are many small winemaking cooperatives in Gourd. They mostly produce spirits, and when you get there, you can feel the Provençal people’s love for spirits.”

Ronan smiled and looked away, focusing on driving.
"I don't know how much Provençal people love spirits, but I do know you like spirits."

When Zoe was emotionally devastated by Mr. Thuram's orders, a bottle of strong brandy was always kept in the studio.

No wonder Zoe was so excited the whole way.

Zoe said in a tone that said, "You're still too young."
"That's because you haven't tasted good strong liquor."

Ronan had heard of the name Gur from the villagers, but he thought it was a very small village. He didn't expect it to be larger than Lourmaran and also a village with a bird's nest.

In terms of driving distance, it is closer to Lourmarin than to Menana village and Bonnillo.

Seeing the beautiful little village nestled against the mountainside in the distance, Ronan couldn't help but sigh:
"This is actually my first time visiting Gur Village."

Zoe propped her head up with her elbow:

“There are too many little-known villages like Gour in the Luberon Mountains, but their brilliance is overshadowed by the star villages of Mena, Bonnillo, and Gordes.”

She looked at Ronan and said:
"In fact, Lourmarin is the smaller of the many Luberon mountain villages. Just like when you first come to Gourd, many tourists do not choose to go to Lourmarin when they come to Provence."

Ronan sighed:

"Lourmaran still has a long way to go."

Zoe said proudly:

“You’ve made Lourmaran known to more people. Can you believe it? In such a small place as Lourmaran, there’s a commercial street that’s extremely busy in the winter. I heard from Cotillard that many businessmen have their eyes on it, and some have even asked Cotillard if he wants to sublet it.”

Ronan humbly said:

"It wasn't my own achievement. Blanco is an ambitious guy. Without his unique vision and his correct decisions time and time again, even if I were incredibly capable, I wouldn't have been able to stir up any trouble."

Astrid taught Ronan to "borrow power" and "profit," but that required having "power" and "strength" to borrow.

If Ronan had moved to another small village in Provence early last year, the story might have taken a different turn.

Zoe nodded, quite agreeing, and said:
"Blanco also drew on the experience of other star villages to achieve success and decided to transform the village. Tourism is really too important for the villages of Luberon."

Ronan excitedly slapped the steering wheel:

"Today we'll also go and learn from them, see if there's anything we can learn from the spirits of Gur Village."

Before even entering the Bird's Nest Village area, Ronan saw merchants selling wine in large plastic barrels by the roadside.

With a learning attitude, he parked his car on the side of the road, rolled down the window, and asked what was in the bucket.

The merchant trotted to Ronan's car and said in a rather proud tone:
"It's homemade spirit, would you like to try some, sir? It's only 30 francs a liter."

In Provence, the term "shochu" generally refers to distilled spirits, while the most common distilled spirit near Luberon is brandy made from grape pomace.

Ronan silently exclaimed "Wow!" to himself.

This price is incredibly affordable.

It's important to know that this wasn't a table wine, but rather a fruit pomace brandy that could only be enjoyed in small sips, perhaps one or two glasses at a time.

Before Ronan and Zoe could decide, the merchant in the leather hat cut a piece of goat cheese with a knife and poured them a small glass of wine in a plastic cup.
"It goes best with bacon, but I don't have any with me. It's also good with cheese. Give it a try."

People in Provence place great importance on wine culture.

Different wines must be paired with different foods.

This habit cannot be broken even on country lanes.

Ronan took a small bite of cheese and a small sip of wine, and his eyebrows immediately furrowed:
"Your brandy has a pretty high concentration."

The man laughed and said:
"It has undergone two distillations and has a temperature of 55 degrees."

Despite the cold winter, the man braved the wind to boast to Ronan about how amazing the wine was, supposedly a secret recipe passed down for three generations.

Zoe whispered to Ronan:
"How about it?"

Ronan, mimicking Theodore's wine-tasting manner, rinsed his mouth a few times:
"The flavor is quite unique, with notes of dark chocolate and smoke."

"Buddy, you're really something." The merchant adjusted his hat. "That's what makes my liquor different from other spirits."

“One liter, please,” Zoe decided for Ronan.

Ronan and Zoe didn't buy much, but once the car started moving, they both saw the boss excitedly gesturing in the rearview mirror.

"He really enjoys the feeling of his brew being appreciated," Ronan said, glancing in the rearview mirror.

He wasn't happy because he made money; Ronan saw passion in him.

Zoe withdrew her gaze:
"Of course, that's obviously his hobby."

At this point, Ronan asked with a puzzled look:
"But doesn't the law prohibit private brewing of distilled spirits? Is he just openly selling them on the street like this?" Zoe glanced at him, asking jokingly.

"Do you know that you can't drive after drinking?"

Ronan pursed his lips:

"I only drank a little bit."

Before 1990, France had a high tolerance for drunk driving.

Using a blood alcohol concentration of 0.8 g/L as the alcohol threshold, this translates to approximately 1.5 to 2.5 glasses of spirits.

Zoe said with a smile in her eyes:

"We haven't really entered Gur village yet. I've heard there are even more good things there."

Upon entering Gur Village, the familiar advertising signs for the brewing cooperative reappeared.

And it seems there's more than one place here that specializes in spirits.

In searching for their next learning goal, Ronan asked Zoe in a probing tone:

"There seem to be many brewing cooperatives in Gur village, but why are there none in the Lourmaran area? Even Moli isn't from Lourmaran."

Zoe hadn't studied the issue in detail; she was just casually mentioning it as a topic of conversation.

"Perhaps it's because the vineyards near Lourmarin are too fragmented? Many wineries and winemaking cooperatives are used to building vineyards on tens or even hundreds of hectares of land, but Lourmarin doesn't have such large contiguous plantations, and there are plenty of winemaking cooperatives around, making it difficult to break into the existing market to establish a new brand."

Although Zoe answered casually, Ronan thought her analysis made a lot of sense.

There are many vineyards in the Lourmarin area, but they are all in small plots, and no one's vineyard is particularly large.

But why is it so fragmented?
Ronan felt it was necessary to go back and find out the reason in detail.

Ronan also agreed with Zoe's second reason.

People in Provence have a habit of tracing their roots and origins, especially when it comes to wine, which they can't live without every day.

Starting a new wine brand in Provence is more difficult than in other regions.

From this perspective, taking over a well-known wine brand is indeed the best solution.

Zoe had only heard that the spirits of Gur were famous, but she had never been there herself. So, with the help of the villagers, they went to what was said to be the largest brewing cooperative in Gur.

Upon arrival, however, they discovered that the scale of the place was completely different from what they had imagined a brewing cooperative to be; it seemed more like a private residence, albeit in a U-shape.

A drowsy wolfhound lay under a tree, barking listlessly at their car twice, before a middle-aged man's head peeked out from behind one of the windows.

"Here to buy wine?"

Ronan rolled down the car window and asked uncertainly:

"We haven't come to the wrong place, have we?"

"You've come to the right place. Park the car on the east side of the yard so it'll be easier for you to move the wine later." After saying that, the man closed the window.

A minute later, the middle-aged man came out of the house and went straight to open the heavy wooden door in the middle of the east side of the U-shaped house:

What kind of wine do you want to see?

Ronan and Zoe followed him into the dark, rectangular room without windows.

Stepping from the glare of the outdoors into the darkness made it difficult to see anything for a short time, but Ronan's nose caught a very pleasant fragrance:

"You set up a wine cellar at home?"

A dim yellow light bulb hanging from the roof suddenly lit up, and the middle-aged man went back and closed the heavy wooden door.
"The correct explanation is that we live in the winery. It's a family-run winery cooperative."

"No wonder it's so small," Ronan muttered to himself.

The middle-aged man deftly produced several exquisitely crafted small glass cups:

"Want to try one of those? I have fig brandy, peach and apricot brandy, and cherry liqueur."

Ronan wasn't very knowledgeable about strong liquor, so he asked:

Which one sells best?

The middle-aged man picked up a bottle of clear liquor:

"Cherry wine is the best-selling product, with over 800 bottles sold a year."

Ronan and Zoe exchanged a glance, both sensing the shock in each other's eyes.

More than 800 bottles?

Is this really the 'largest' brewing cooperative in Gur Village?

Before being upgraded to a winery, Mauritius produced tens of thousands of bottles every year.

As the middle-aged man poured the wine, he looked at Ronan with suspicion: