By richard harvey
Stories of aviation have always held a special allure for me. Early inspiration came from reading the beautiful, real-life accounts of flying by Antoine de St. Exupéry (his most famous flight of fancy of course being The Little Prince). But passages in his other books such as Wind, Sand and Stars stay in my mind 50 years after my first readings. The dangers of emulating birds (feathered, hollow-boned and born to fly) by humans (bi-pedal, featherless, heavy and surface dwelling) are beautifully real as he recounts the courage and the seeming insanity of this endeavour in incredibly moving prose.
M. Ader's Plane. Photo Credit: www.vin-ribonnet.com
My discovery of the wines of Domaine de Ribonnet offered me a combination of my fascination with aviation and my profound enjoyment of wine. This estate, found an hour south of the French city of Toulouse, was established by Clément Ader, one of the very first French pioneers of aviation. Engineer and inventor. Starting in 1890, Ader created many aircraft (with lovely names like Éole) and his works gave birth to the modern French term for heavier-than-air machines: “avion”. His “Avion III” achieved the world's inaugural aircraft flight (50 metres!!!) some 13 years before the American Wright Brothers’ first flight.
Around this time, M. Ader bought the 15th Century castle of Ribonnet with its surrounding vineyards. He expanded its wine production and — engineer to the core — innovated fermentation vats of concrete and glass instead of wood.
Fast forward to 1974 when the Gerber family from Switzerland bought the estate. The vineyards were mainly planted to hybrid grapes and the wine produced from these vines was, at best, “drinkable”. The Gerbers quickly began replanting the vineyards with grapes such as Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Merlot and Syrah, along with converting to organic farming. The resulting wines have been qualitatively impressive, especially considering that they’re from an under-the-radar region known simply as the Comté Tolosan, or Toulouse County.
In a zone lacking in celebrity, room for innovation is found for unique grape variety blends. Ribonnet produces a Pinot/Syrah as well as a Merlot/Syrah, plus a southern French grape crossing known as Marselan. The Gerbers farm 24 hectares of vines, with other income from a classic polyculture of grains and seeds such as wheat and sunflowers.
As odd as the Pinot and Syrah combo might seem, the dark fruit of the Syrah enhances rather than disfigures the elegance of the Pinot Noir. And if Merlot provokes a sneer from some wine drinkers, it seems to enjoy stepping out with Syrah here to give the wine more emotion. Chenin Blanc also flourishes here in the foothills of the Pyrenées, and in a fully modern way, Ribonnet offers us a pét-nat of this grape with a splash of Viognier simply named “La Bulle” or “The Bubble”.
Simon Gerber runs the estate with the help of Gulnar Murat, a talented winemaker from Kazakhstan(!!!). Simon’s father, Christian, is also still there to provide his winemaking wisdom and experience, as well as to enhance the wine with paintings (done on used cellulose filter pads) that become the labels for most of the wines.
The contemporary Domaine de Ribonnet continues the spirit of innovation and creativity that Clément Ader applied to his attempts to fly like a bird, reveling in its location in a French area delightfully unbound from traditional practices and restrictions.
Here is what we have available:
Here is what we have available:
