Transcript
007: Pauline Lapierre, French Winemaker

Theresa Christine: Welcome to The Wild and Curious Podcast, a show that's part travel, 

Suzanne Schmedding: Part feminism 

TC: And completely inspired by extraordinary women worldwide. I'm Theresa Christine, 

SS: And I'm Suzanne Schmedding.

TC: When I was doing an at home barre class, 

SS: Yeah?

TC: I actually used two bottles of wine as weights. Because I didn't, I don't have any weights. I've got the bands, and I've got the ball, and a mat and everything,

SS: But you have two bottles of wine.

TC: I got two bottles of wine. As I've gotten older, I've noticed my respect for wine has increased exponentially. I've become that person.

SS: Oh, no. 100% I mean, I used to think that the $3 bottles that I would buy in Bakersfield, CA were pretty nice. And I couldn't understand why I had headaches all through my 20's. 

TC: Do you remember when two-buck Chuck? It increased, I think, to $2.50?

SS: Oh, the horror, the HORROR

TC: And everyone was, they couldn't wrap their heads around. And I was like, 'guys, it's terrible wine just get something else.' 

SS: Sorry, Charles. 

TC: And it's official now, Trader Joe's is never gonna sponsor this show. It's okay. It's okay. But yes, I love wine. 

SS: Yes, 

TC: You love wine. 

SS: I do love wine. 

TC: It only makes sense that we want to talk to people who make wine.

SS: Today we are talking with Pauline Lapierre, who is the owner, operator, and winemaker at her family's winery, Château Haut-Rian. Two years ago, she produced her own plot of land, Les Vignes de Coulous. And last year produced her first organic wine.

Pauline Lapierre:So actually, I grew up in a winery in Rions, so it's 30 minutes drive from Bordeaux. Southwest of France, it's at, when I was 15 that I left home. Actually, I was a very good student. So I was strongly encouraged to study and so I went to Paris and preparatory school which is a very French program, and very intensive and it's a lot of work and a lot of competition between students. I mean, I did that for two years and managed to enter which is known in France as the best business school and I studied their finance. But after a while, I actually, when I started to wonder what I really wanted to do and what, what job I wanted to start, I realized that it was not, exactly I mean, I was very happy and I had a lot of friends and I mean, I was happy in my life, but I was not really interested or deeply interested in what I was doing. So I worked. I still I worked for two years in for Danon, which is a dairy and water brand and I was based in Singapore. I had, like great managers and a great team, but still I was, I was missing a lot, the winery and wine making. And so after a while, I decided to go back to school. And I took a degree in oenology

SS: That is so brave and exciting to leave this kind of life you've had and go back and start over and become this winemaker. You're, you're not actually in, in what we think of as Bordeaux. You're in Cadillac Côte de Bordeaux. 

PL: Yes. 

SS: Could you tell us a little bit about how this spot is unique or different from what most people think of when they think of traditional Bordeaux and Bordeaux wine? 

PL: I think in Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux, we are very lucky to have first beautiful terroir. So it's actually mainly hills, facing the river. So it's just like beautiful landscapes on which you have this, vinyards planted with these nice slopes with South, South East exposure. So first, it's beautiful and then each field is a bit different in terms of soil. So in Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux, as a whole, we have really a diversity of the terroir and of soils, which explains that we grew white grapes, red grapes, we make sweet wines, sweet white wines, dry white wines, red wines, oaked wines, or not. So it's...and the, the second very important thing to me is that it's mostly family owned vinyards. And it's a vinyard, which is a bit, at least nowadays, less known that like, very famous grand cru from the Médoc or Saint-Emilion. So it's more like a family owned type of businesses. And where we are, a lot of actually younger winemakers to take over from their parents. So in a way, like this region as well, because it's kind of innovative. I mean, we make wine, we love wine. But it's, we have a link to wine, which is a bit less traditional, I would say. Then in some, like bigger, very well known regions of Bordeaux,

TC: For this, like younger generation, I mean, what do you feel that they're tackling and taking on that is so exciting for you?

PL: To me, I mean, I feel very responsible for the vinyard part of the job. When I think of my job, I take care of the vinyard. It's only estate grown fruits, then I make the wine and then I set it. And, in, when my parents created the vinyards 30 years ago, they, at that time in the region, wines were, I would say, quite bad, which is, that and so it's always these times in the 70s, 80s people were very, well, thinking that science was going to improve everything, there was a big trust into like, previous science progress. And so at that time, my parents had a lot of work to make in the cellar. So they focused on how to make a good wine out of grapes. At that time, the knowledge and around the wine was not so deep. So it was more about knowing your chemistry and understanding what a fermentation is, managing well your fermentation. And I would say today, this is really well managed. I mean, everyone knows. Any winemaker knows how to make a fermentation happen, and usually it's happening very well. And safely. Our generation, the young generation, is going back to the vinyard. And this is really, I think, meaningful for us. During our studies, we had some lessons on ecology environment, and we all care about our environment. And so we are spending a bit less time in the cellar, maybe trying less to control everything in the cellar, but going back to, really, the beginning of the work, of the job, which is having healthy grapes in a healthy environment without using crazy chemicals. And this is really, I think, our task today for my generation

TC: And when we met, I was under the impression that, you were probably in like, a boys club sort of thing. Like, I thought winemaking was male dominated and it sounds like that's not actually the case. Why, Why is that?

PL: No, I would say that I'm 31 and for my generation, like it's mostly women taking over their parents vinyards around me. I think having family owned business is, is key in the region because then, when you are like, a mother or father and you want to, you are thinking to retire and you are looking for someone to take over, if any of your child is eager to do it, as a mom or as a dad, you're happy, I think.  At least for me, this is how. I have one brother was not interested at all in the vinyard. And when I said that I wanted to go back, to come back, my parents were very happy. And now that I'm managing the vinyard, when I'm recruiting, I'm recruiting women, as well as men, of course, but at least half-half. And so the fact that we have so many family owned businesses around here, for me was a big, big door open to daughters and women who wanted to work in that, in that field, and the second thing is that we we miss people nowadays, being a winemaker, as well as being a farmer, and less and less people are young people. are interested in being a farmer. So when anyone, woman or men, wants to do it, and has found a fit, he's welcomed or she's welcomed.

SS: Oh, that's really wonderful. I mean, it's, you know, equality born out of necessity and, and family rights, but I think that's so incredible what you're doing. And speaking of a family produced land and owned land, you are managing your parents winery, and you're the owner operator there, but you also just bought some land and produce your first organic wine. 

PL: Yes. So as, as I said before, for me the like, organic farming and I mean, farming is very important to me. And so my parents structure is a 80 hectares vinyard, so it's quite a like, medium size to big structure. And I, like, we have existing customers existing wines. So I'm changing quite a lot of things. But I have to go as well cautiously and smoothly. So I wanted, I had the opportunity, I had a neighbor, actually a woman who was in her 50s who wanted to retire and she, she has, she had the plot in my village, and she was farming it organically. She had been farming it organically for the past 10 years. And she asked me if I wanted to take over. And for me it was a very nice opportunity because it was a small kind of plot. And I saw it as the opportunity to do my own thing, and to train on organic farming, which is quite technical. So I bought the land two years ago now, and did my first vintage in 2018. And it was, it was incredible as well because it's great to take over from your family but you still have the, like, the pressure to do at least as well as they did and consider and you have a line to follow and still a tradition to respect, whereas when you start your own little thing, and nobody cares about it, it's great because you can you can do whatever you want.

SS: No, I love that. I mean I love that you're kind of stepping away and producing this organic wine.

TC: Yeah, that you get to, you get to work with your familiy still, and have that, but then you're also going your own route and kind of forging into the future, which is really great.

PL: Yes, yes. I find it nice as well. It's a good escape.

TC: When you think about winemaking in your region, what do you kind of hope or see for the future?

PL: I would say that I really believe in, in family owned business and and in estate grown fruits. So we are in a region where the wines produced are, so Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux, they are, let's say, affordable, and good quality wines. I would say that what I really believe in is knowing the people behind the bottle, and in our region, we are all like medium sized estates where when you knock on the door, the guy who makes a wine would open the door and would be able to explain what he's doing and would be living on the farm, so he would as well know very well his neighbors. And I really value that because at a time where we are very concerned about environment, if you for example, I live in the vineyard and I'm I have plots all around my house, so I'm the first one concerned about the chemicals I put in my vinyard. And I'm the first one to have to face that. So I don't know if I explained it clearly, but I like the fact that we grow our vines, we live on the spot. We work with local people. Everything. This family owned structure to me, makes sense in general, because when you work with local people that you meet at school, when you live on the estate and not 100 kilometers away, you are much more concerned about the way you work and what is at the end in the bottle. So I think it's a model that is as well, well-perceived by people drinking wine nowadays, because they want to know how the wine was made, who made it, what we used, and what we put In the wine. For me it's, I see it as the guarantee that things are done properly and responsibly.

TC: I wish that we're, so right now we're recording this at 8:50 in the morning.

SS: Yeah.

TC: I wish it were an appropriate time to drink wine, here, in the United States. However, it is an appropriate time to drink wine in France. 

SS: Yes.

TC: And so we could,

SS: You could, but I think, I think you are only limited by your imagination. If you want to drink wine at 8:50am I will not judge you that much.

TC: I loved talking with Pauline because there's so much tradition that goes into winemaking and even just this idea of wine almost that doesn't feel accessible.

SS: Yeah, no, it's, I think we have this sort of idea that it's this very sophisticated, you know, removed sort of thing, because it's very old, but I loved the things she said where she's like, 'You know wine? Wine wasn't always good.'

TC: Yeah, winemaking,  mean, it started thousands and thousands of years ago, like, 8000 bc and then particularly in Bordeaux, I believe it was, like 2000 years ago. 

SS: Right. 

TC: And, you know, I, I'm guessing 2000 years ago, the wine did not taste awesome. 

SS: Wine 8000 years ago was probably made in a toilet. 

TC: Oh, yeah, definitely. Prison wine for sure.

SS: So gross.

TC: But you know, Pauline is a really great example of someone that she's got the family winery that she works with, that she respects, that she loves. But then she's also doing her own thing.

SS: I know, I love that. Like this idea of, you know, she wants to be involved with her family and her community, but she's also super interested in creating something of her own that has, or that offers a lot of freedom and, and innovation. You know, I think that's so great.

TC: If you would like to follow Pauline on Instagram, you can find her at @hautrian. That's h-a-u-t-r-i-a-n  

SS: And you can purchase her wine from Chtâteau Haut-Rian and Le Vignes de Coulous online or, you know, in France.

TC: You've been listening to The Wild and Curious Podcast hosted by me, Theresa Christine 

SS: And me, Suzanne Schmedding. If you've enjoyed this episode, there's more where this came from. Subscribe to The Wild and Curious Podcast wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. You can also follow us Along with our adventures on Instagram, our handle is @_thewildandcurious_ and we will also put that in the show notes for you. 

TC: We are always looking for extraordinary women to talk to you on our show. If you have someone in mind or you are that someone go to thewildandcurious.com to let us know.