Domain de La Table Rouge
Claude Cabel-Airaud et Philippe Chigard
The Domain de la Table Rouge is a micro estate: 80 ares, spread over 4 parcels, where the vines are of Chenin, Cabernet and Gamay. With an average yield of 35hl/ha, Philippe Chigard and Claude Cabel Airaud produce between 5000 and 8000 bottles. They started gardening a plot of vines, making wine for their own consumption and today we are lucky enough to enjoy it too. Trained in Beaune, Philippe is a service provider in animal traction for winegrowers in the region. The first parcel of vines he acquired was with the idea of being able to experiment, demonstrate and present his work like an artist presents his “book”. It was Tanguy Perrault who called him one day to tell him about a magnificent plot of vines: 25 ares of uncultivated Chenin. “We set up a big red table, carried on the backs of men, in the middle of the plot to invite friends and discuss the project…
Around this table today live vines of all ages, some of them just planted, and twenty-five different varieties of trees: apple trees, peach trees, plum trees, almond trees, but also lavender and small fruits, or other less common varieties such as the corm tree. Indeed, Philippe and his partner Claude’s project does not stop at wine: as wine-gardeners, they seek to restore the landscape and biodiversity on land that has suffered from chemical agriculture.
For each missing vine, Philippe plants a tree in order to provide shade for the vines everywhere. On another plot, vegetables and aromatic plants are planted between the rows. In their vineyards, only the horse – which can lower its head and avoid branches, unlike the tractor – will work the soil. Since the creation of the estate, Claude has been involved in almost every stage of the business, while still working in the restaurant business. She officially joined the business in 2013, as production increased and Philippe’s activity became more solid and diversified: Claude found her place in particular on the meticulous tasks and in the garden, and went so far as to train in grafting, which she will try out for the first time in 2019. It is thus with naturalness but prudence that the couple develops a multi-activist business, which has become viable “for them, as for the landscape.
Laurie Wendenbaum