Producer: Vincent Wallard

Vincent Wallard

Where?

Before leaving for South America, Vincent Wallard lived in Trouville, Normandy, where he ran a bar and worked at short film festivals. In a previous life, he was a restaurateur in London. The call of travel and a love affair drew him to Argentina in 2011. He already had a taste for "different" wines, but organic wines in Argentina, whether agricultural or viticultural, remain marginal, and there are few farms. To complicate matters, Vincent wants natural wines. He dreams of introducing the French to peasant wines, wines from pateros, as opposed to wines from bodegas (large estates), but the pateros are not authorized to export them. Through constant searching, Vincent found it: with the initial help of Émile Heredia, he would vinify the wines of Bodega Cecchin in Mendoza, "one of the first organic wines and the one and only Argentinian Malbec without added sulfites." His business as a wine merchant branched out to Chile, from which he also imported natural wines. In 2016, this adventure in the vineyards of the New World led to the production of a documentary series by Mickael Royer entitled Cuatro Manos, like Vincent Wallard's wine merchant house and Argentinian cuvée.

Terroir, plots, and grape varieties

In this case, we won't describe Vincent Wallard's vineyard, but the types of terroir from which he vinifies the grapes. The main wine-growing regions of the Argentine Republic are aligned at the foot of the Andes, from south to north, with Mendoza being the largest (70% of the surface area) and the southernmost. The climate is generally semi-arid, even desert-like, with oases, and the very high altitude of the vineyards (between 800 and 1,700 meters) offers strong temperature contrasts. The soils are mostly poor in organic matter and rich in potash (sometimes saline), deep, alluvial and marly in nature, and more or less sandy and stony. The dominant grape variety is Malbec. Then come other grape varieties of European origin: Syrah, Cabernet, Merlot, etc., and local red grape varieties such as Bonarda. Argentines, big meat eaters, have a predilection for red wine and this dominates production: white wines are in the minority. In Chile, Vincent discovered a different kind of viticulture: thanks to a long and rich winemaking history, there were more winegrowers who were pushing the boundaries, and he found some "natural" wines to sink his teeth into. Recently, Vincent, alongside his import business, also opened a winery in Chinon, Loire Valley.

Growing Methods and Vinification

Whether it's the wines he imports from Argentina and Chile or those he vinifies from grapes purchased in the Loire Valley, Beaujolais, or the Midi, Vincent Wallard scrupulously ensures that the vines are not treated with any chemical additives, and that they are not used in the winery. In other words, from the New World to the Old, he imports and produces natural wines.

The Wines

Vincent Wallard's wines fall into two categories: some come from his merchant winemaking in Argentina, the rest from his French winery. The first is the Cuatro Manos cuvée, a pure Malbec from Mendoza. In France, the Tontons series reigns supreme: Tonton rouge (Cabernet Franc from the Saumur region), Tonton Grolleau, Tonton Chenin, Tonton du Sud (Grenache), and, although not Tonton, its label places it in the same collection, Le P'tit Nouveau, a Gamay from Beaujolais. Vincent's reds are celebrated for their directness, concentration, and a certain classicism. They are gastronomic wines.