Thomas Merle, Domaine Bouisse-Matteri: young winemaker on the quest for forgotten grape varieties

In 2007, after studying viticulture-oenology and spending a few months in Australia, he went back to spend time with his parents, Bruno and Mariette at Domaine Bouisse-Matteri, located in the heart of Provence in the town of Hyères.   On arriving at Domaine Bouisse-Matteri, Thomas became intrigued by a plot of vines. "We had several vine plants that had been identified as Grenache. But, we knew full well that there was no way that this was Grenache, because physically, it didn't look anything like it", said Thomas. After several years of research, Thomas and his family discovered that it was a forgotten grape variety: Mourvaison. "We were quick to change the label on the vat to include the word 'Mourvaison'!"   Discovery of Rosé du Var   This discovery encouraged the young winemaker to explore further and search the orgin of other grape varieties. "Around ten years ago, we rented some fairly stunted grapevines that had grapes with large pink berries. We initially called it Aramont Gris. But we ultimately realised that it was in fact another forgotten grape variety called Rosé du Var. That was in 2013", remembers Thomas. "When I found out that the Centre for Rosé was looking for Rosé du Var and Mourvaison vines, I looked at the photos of these grape varieties and recognised ours. The Centre sent a specialist who confirmed this. He even found another not so rare grape variety called 'Aubun'", added Thomas. Read the full article