"Terroirs and winegrowers : the quest for harmony"

" I had the good fortune of being born at Volnay, in the middle of Burgundy's most beautiful terroirs, into a family of impassioned winegrowers. As a young man, I found this quotation by the Indian chief, Seattle : "we don't inherit the earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children". It was the trigger which made me understand why I would be a winegrower, and how I would go about it. The profound wisdom of this maxim resounded within me and revealed the humbleness that should be shown in the face of nature, and our responsibility when working these history-laden terroirs. Our terroirs are unique and our grape varieties magical ; we ourselves have to be exceptional in order to create harmony.

     I am a happy man and a happy winegrower :

     Happy to be a link in this intergenerational chain of many centuries, resulting in the subtle harmony of terroir and grape variety, orchestrated by the hand of man.
     Happy to have the freedom, every morning, to work in my old vineyards, filled with a tranquillity which allows me to experience the entente cordiale between all living things.
     Happy, in this world of speed and gigantism, to be on an estate with human dimensions and to have the privilege of sharing my bottles with friends the world over.
     Happy to have a father, Michel who, during the 60's, was wise enough to continue listening to his vines and not to succumb to the era's sirens of technical progress. How fortunate that turned out to be !
     Happy, at this point in time, to cultivate my vines according to biodynamic methods. The effect of the life forces and the nourishment and stimulation of living things on the contentment of the vines result in grapes that are unequalled in richness and complexity. Currently, the earth is suffering a lot. My modest contribution towards her cure gives a certain amount of satisfaction.
     Happy, each year, to experience a new adventure which may be happy or sad, eg when the elements are unleashed. Every vintage has its own peculiarities and remains unique.
Happy to be the conductor of an estate where every parcel is a section of the orchestra: the winegrower must listen to every vine-plant, if every vintage, every one of the estate's wines is to be a new symphony.

    The progression I am striving for, through my work and my experiments, is always guided by one word : harmony. I am intimately convinced that respect for the soil and the vine and the actions of man, always working in consultation with and in the same direction as nature, will advance us in our search for greater harmony. A harmony which is currently under pressure from our climate's intense luminosity and extreme variability. As Burgundian winegrowers, our challenge for the coming decades is to assist our Pinot Noir and our Chardonnay to adapt perfectly to these new climatic conditions to continue expressing the subtle nuances of Burgundian terroirs."

Ce texte a été écrit par Frédéric Lafarge pour le livre de Jacky Rigaux « Le terroir et le vigneron » aux éditions « Terre en vues »