Philippe Babin
Domaine des Coteaux d'Engravies
09 120 Vira
Ferme Auberge de la Corniche
Last year we spent a week in the Pyrenees. We have moved. We have eaten and are moved on. Hiking is just there, one has the impression is there is about 10,000 km of hiking trails. However, it is difficult to eat. In 1,000 m altitude there are quite a few restaurants. The small hostel in Axiat (35 inhabitants) of which we are gestoβen during a hike was a real surprise for us. The next day we knock and it was exactly as if it were an address from a travel magazine about unknown Hostels: the owner begrüβt us like old friends, a home-made aperitif, foie gras from their own ducks, and a delicious duck leg as a main course. And that was not all it was the wine - Coteaux d'Engravies: "a good wine and still wine from the dazuhin Ariège. Madame, they joke. No, Monsieur I'm not joking. We also build in the Ariege of wine and make good wines. "She was right, the wine was good.
Domaine des Coteaux d'Engravies: Philippe Babin had
This year the winery itself on an organic wine fair taken in Perpignan (Millésime 2008). We talk, we have tried wine and we laughed together. Philippe Babin is a master at telling stories, this example of visitors who ask him: "Where are you from?" He responds. "I'm from the Ariège" And they say: "Ah yes, the Ardèche we know well . 'And then Phil says, "No, I said I'm from the Ariège" And then he said for the hundredth time that the Ariège is a French department and that there also produces wine..
The Ariège
If you are familiar with the French Ariège. Strangers is not usually known to the Ariège. For them there is a small reminder: The Ariège is easy to find, the North, the department is located 40 km south of Toulouse and the southern part of Spain. Their cities are Pamiers, Foix, St. Girons, Lavelanet and Mirepoix. In the Ariège only about 140,000 inhabitants live. On the list of the 100 departments in descending order, ordered by population density is the Ariège in 95th
It is no wonder that foreigners do not know the Ariège. And the French women? Do you really know the Ariège? Do they know that the Ariège expressed on the list, the ratio of organic winemakers to all growers comes first. Do they know that the ratio equals 25%? The heiβt, is one of four winemakers an organic winemakers. Yes it is there, is one of the 4 wineries in the Ariège an organic winemakers, and the heiβt Philippe Babin.
It's no surprise that the wine is known from the Ariège. In the 96-page "small Larousse of Wine" refers to a chapter on wine in the Pyrenees, but you can look for long enough, you find nothing about the wines of the Ariège. In contrast Sherlock Holmes can in the "Guide Hachette of wines from 2006 will find a wine from the Ariège. Where? After hundreds of pages about the wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy and some other areas can be found on Page 1163 a chapter headed "wines in the country". This chapter is a section "the land of the Garonne, and since a single wine is mentioned in the Ariège: Coteaux d'Engravies, the wines of Philippe Babin.
So it is, the wines of the Ariège is not known. There are only a few vineyards and the production is low. The numbers of the Customs Office show there in 2005: 76 hl. This is nothing compared with the total production in France: 53.31415 million hectoliters. And that's nothing compared to the production in the Ariège earlier, around the end of the 19th Century: 250,000 hl.
The Ariège earlier
Claire Babin knows the history of wine in the Ariège well and she looks forward to sharing their knowledge. Dazuhin they lend us the book by Michel Castéran, "the wine in the lower Ariège since the revolution." The overall picture is sad.
At the end of the 18th Century in the Ariège, there are 6896 acres of vineyards and numerous owners, the share for example in Saverdun 510 owners 398 hectares. The yield is low in the area of Mirepoix, about 5 hectoliters per hectare harvested. The quality of the wine is rather modest. A classification of the Society for Agriculture from 1840 for France shows that in the first class are Romanée, Chambertin, Sauterne and Rivesaltes in the second Pomard, Jurançon Frontignac and Arbois, in the third Epernay, Pauilhac and Chablis, Burgundy, in the fourth, A big number is in Class 5 and Class 6, which are the lowest since the wines of the Ariège.
mid-19th Century is a bitter blow to the winery, vineyards by powdery mildew, grape moth, and Blattröte coulure hit. Suddenly you have to protect themselves against diseases of the wine. Monsieur Mares has the solution: it introduces the sulfur. The winemakers will be encouraged 70 to 80 kg of sulfur per hectare use. It works. A study by the Society of Agriculture shows that the sulfur saves 70 to 85% of the harvest. The vineyards are not sulphurised be retained only 25 to 30%.
Despite the illnesses experienced by the wine in the 19th Century a remarkable recovery. The area of vineyards, almost tripled in the Ariège. In Vira, the municipality in which since that time the domain of the "Coteaux d'Engravies" is the wine is almost a monoculture: 334 hectares of vineyards with a total area of 528 hectares. During this time, resulting in many departments, the first agricultural schools. In Ariège, it is the winery where Royat wineries can learn how they can improve quality and yield of wine. This is not a luxury, the price of the wine in the Ariège is very low: 12 to 18 francs per hectolitre (19th century). Unfortunately, the winery in the Ariège not take much to learn. The name Royat only lives on in the term "Le Cordon de Royat," a technique on the vine shoots down two horizontal cut, which was developed by the domain Royat. This is not the only innovation. The production of wine in Bordeaux, pressure by the weight of the grapes is also an invention of the domain Royat.
Domaine des Coteaux d'Engravies: Le Cordon de Royat
Phylloxera reached France in 1865 and 13 years later, she appeared for the first time in the Ariège. Vira it in 1882 and the end of the 19th Century has affected the entire Ariège. The consequences are catastrophic. A sudden decrease of area to 5950 hectares 1903rd Subsequently, this reduces further: 4.000 hectares in 1940, 2,000 hectares in 1960, 1,100 hectares in 1979 and 1990, is one to 81 wineries of which grow only one wine to more than one hectare. The vineyard is near the end of the Ariège. "Almost" because Philippe Babin intervenes.
The Drogies
"The year 1977th In the beginning here, we took the social challenge us to take care of drug addicts. With 2 other couples we opened a rehabilitation center. Philippe and I took over the agricultural section in which we employed the young people. Philippe had a dream full-time farmers to be. In 1983 there was the river land for sale, 8 acres, he said, we now have to buy immediately. I wanted to stay in the center, but after 2 weeks of thinking I said yes. So we have purchased and are now here in Vira. Gradually, we bought more land and after a while we had a real farm seed production. "But why do the seeds have dropped in favor of wine? "We were never really satisfied with the seed production, especially because we always knew that the drought will be one of the central problems of the future. So we tried something different with vigor. The second was more of a passion, An old man had told us that earlier on our hill wine was grown. It was a really old man, he was already in the first world war in the army and he went on foot back from Turkey after his release, which cost him a few years. When he came back he saw the diseased vines and thought it was all over. This old man has so much love tells of wine that Philippe has said one day: "this is what we must do it, wine. But in the first moment we appeared totally unrealistic. "
" A while later we met Jean-Louis Vigneau and we became friends. We discussed a lot with him about our project. He was president of the Association APAJH (association for adult and young disabled) and in the management of the District government. He knows many people and helped us a lot. He has always encouraged us, but because of the laws we had been blocked for now. "
As a professional wine one has to do with" the right of cultivation ". The organization Viniflohr (an association of ONIVINS and ONIFLOHR) explains: "in the context of the European Union can only be planting a vineyard to produce wine wine (wine that is produced), if one has the right to planting. There are two types of cultivation rights. The right to replanting after pulling out of an old vineyard and the rights outside of derelict land for new planting, replanting and general replacement land. "As the vines have disappeared in the Ariège was de restoration of cultivation rights is a long nightmare. This went on for many years until then schlieβlich gave the Commission the green light for new plantings in the Ariège. Philippe and three other tenants have now begun.
"Since that moment, Philippe was 100% wine, I think not. It is not good to work as a couple together forever, especially not for me, I was never a real farmer. This is not my passion. I always care about the personal side, at the time had the seed production we have many employees. We also had a disastrous year and a high debt. I took out my old training in political science and I applied. And, oh wonder, did in St. Girons I get a teaching job, now I teach English. "
Organic farming
Philippe has started on land that has never been cultivated and virgin soils, soils that have never man- have seen fertilizer or pesticides. It was easy to grow organically here. HOT STUFF, there was support from the State with the CTE (Contrat Territorial d'Exploitation, agreement on territorial attachment). "From that moment on, I'm biologically grown and I got 5 years each year 10,000 € grant. There was then really the willingness to promote organic farming. To Jean-Pierre Raffarin joined the government. He has stopped by this morning the CTE. Unfortunately, because organic really boomed with the CTE " Philippe is another example of organic farming in France: ." We have taken on the organic trade fair, a young woman to be trained (BTS) has made in the vineyard. She told that they have visited during their training in Perpignan a biological vineyard, the winery Cazes. It was there, talked about organic farming and even biodynamic cultivation. Then she said to her teacher, that these ideas are completely different to what they have learned and the teacher replied that the visit was an organic farm duty, but she could forget everything she has heard there, which is good for nothing. "
The sale
"Until just two years ago, the simple, the wine sold virtually self because we had very little, about 12,000 bottles. Meanwhile, we have 20,000 bottles, which changes many things. HOT STUFF has the initial enthusiasm for a set of wine from the Ariège. We always knew that the sale would one day become more difficult and that day has come. We sell at trade fairs, Wine festivals, the shops and restaurants Gamme Vert, yes, a lot of restaurants. We love these small festivals, but this is no serious market. We are here to realize that selling is something else, another industry and that makes us afraid. We are not a dealer. The Guide Hachette has repeatedly selected our wines, a real Glückssfall and the guy said, you'll see, you'll see, but I have seen nothing, absolutely nothing "
conclusion.? It is a wine made from the Ariège difficult to sell.
Domaine des Coteaux d'Engravies: the wines
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