Interview with Serge Navel
The Nîmes journalist Serge Navel, who writes in particular for the magazine Terre de Vins and theWine LR website, discusses the links that unite wine and feria through the duo formed by the Feria de Nîmes and the wines of Costières de Nîmes.
What is the role of wine in a feria?
A feria is, first of all, a unique moment in a year. As the carnival is an outlet where the valet plays the master, a few days during which the codes are reversed, the feria is an outlet in that it authorizes all excesses. Anthropologically, the feria is a bacchic ritual. While it lasts, we allow ourselves a superior lifestyle: we spend, eat and drink more than is reasonable.
Is this need for a “outlet” found elsewhere?
Yes, the Munich Oktoberfest is an example. In The Accursed Share, Georges Bataille conceptualized this need, specific to all human societies, to let oneself go and throw away excess money or energy in a ritualized framework. A feria is one of the expressions of this need. Already because it lasts over several days which allows you to settle into the party and live at a different pace. But also because it interrupts certain rules and tolerates excess…drinking for example.
Wine is this drink?
In the case of the Pentecost Feria, yes! Generally speaking, the bacchic ritual makes the most of drinking and eating. However, wine has a strong symbolic charge, particularly in lands of Christian tradition. In the case of Nîmes, wine also has a historical dimension: the bullfights, which extend the circus games, take place in the Arenas built by the Romans, the same ones who introduced wine to the region! We replay the ancient world, with men who, in the arena, face superior powers to their human condition. Wine, through its historical significance, maintains the thread.
Is Costières de Nîmes wine able to play this role?
I believe there is no wine more appropriate, both for reasons of identity and for the character of the wine. This is a popular wine in the noble sense of the term. It is warm and accessible. It is a wine from the South, fruity and easy to drink. In short, it lends itself well to the game. And then, we wouldn’t imagine drinking anything else with the Nîmes or Gard specialties. What’s better than a Costières de Nîmes for a bull herd?