I got a note from Louisville native winemaker John Bojanowski that he’ll be doing a pouring this Friday November November 6 (5-7pm) to do a pouring at Liquor Barn Springhurst. He tells me it’s the first time his wines have made it back home to Kentucky.
John gave me a little backstory on how he came to be a winemaker in France and I was utterly charmed by the story.
My wife Nicole was born down here in Languedoc and she started Gravillas in 1999 to try and make a “grand vin rouge” . I met her through a friend when working in Paris (France…) in 1992. I didn’t know then I was destined to drive mini caterpillar tractors, fix pumps, stomp grapes (really), and taste wines for a living, but that’s what happens when you’re not careful. Our 15 acres of vines (13 different grapes) are tended organically and the wines are made with as little intervention and technology as possible. Great grapes make great wine-it’s that simple. We have 7 different wines but only 1800 total cases (about 20,000 bottles). It’s enough to live on, as we have all the wine, sun and fresh air we require and fresh food is very good and easily available. We don’t shop in supermarkets anymore (except to buy bleach and toilet paper). We’ve become the leading advocates of the local Carignan grape- which is the cause of most of our fame. The 2008 Wine Report put Gravillas on its list of the top 10 Languedoc domaines (there are over 3000). Not bad for a poor French girl and a (still quite) skinny Kentucky boy.
Now, that sounds like the life doesn’t it? If you appreciate wine I do hope you’ll head to Liquor Barn at Springhurst on Friday evening to support this Louisville native and to give his wines a try.
November 02, 2009
Beyond 264, Wine