Meet the Winemaker: Pierre Bernault and Violène Lagarde of Chateau Beauséjour

Welcome to our Meet the Winemaker series.

We'd like to e-introduce you to a few of the winemakers that Vegan Wines has partnered with because they are so close to the heart of our mission of bringing you exceptional, naturally vegan wines! Let’s begin with the owner of Chateau Beauséjour, Pierre Bernault, and winemaker Violène Lagarde. Their patience, love, and desire to work with nature instead of against it show through in the taste of the beautiful wines produced at Chateau Beauséjour in Montagne-Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux.

Try these wines for yourself: Shop the 2011 La Petite Robe Poivreé

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3XC_KxifG2/ Raised on a farm in a poor part of France, Bernault bought Beauséjour back in 2004. When he started working in the vineyards, he found, to his horror, a totally lifeless soil. "Many people don’t know what living soil looks like anymore," he said. "But when I was 10, I was driving a tractor and I can remember. When I plowed, the soil would literally be moving with life. With worms and nematodes and all kinds of creatures. The birds would follow me like seagulls around a fishing ship." At Beauséjour, by contrast, all was still. "There was no life at all. And there was no pack of birds following me. No flowers, no insects, nothing. It was a cemetery." For the first ten or so years, Bernault avoided using any fertilizer at all. "I was just waiting for the soil to recover. Now I am starting to use some wood cuttings and also some bio-char [charred wood], which releases its nutrients faster." Today Bernault is very proud of every bottle he produces from his vineyards, and he aims for perfection. For instance, the Petite Robe that we carry at Vegan Wines is not fined or filtered at all, and it ages at least five to seven years before it is bottled. We’re hoping to introduce one of his younger wines to the Vegan Wines portfolio in 2020, so stay tuned! You can also follow Pierre and Violène on Instagram.

Read more: Vegan Wines Travels Through France

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  There are many reasons Vegan Wines creates partnerships with winemakers besides their amazing, naturally vegan wines. Veganism is not just what we eat, but who we are and how we care for the earth and other human beings. We hope that our ethics will become part of the greater wine industry's movement toward transparency.