Vignerons Créateurs
Bruno Manzone – 46 years old, the title of president of the Vignerons Créateurs cellar printed on the business card as well as the new title of president of the appellation – is, so to speak, a child of Costières de Nîmes. The link is first of all filial thanks to a winegrower father who, at the beginning of the 1980s, settled in the town of Bellegarde by buying ten hectares of vines on the southern limit of the Costières de Nîmes plateau which he converted to organic in 1997, thus counting among the precursors of the organic shift in the vineyard. But history is also collective. Very quickly, Bruno, who joined his father on the family farm, became involved in the life of the Bellegarde cooperative to the point of becoming its president. In 2009, he actively participated in the merger process with the cellars of Jonquières-Saint-Vincent, Manduel and Saint-Gilles. Il reste ensuite fortement impliqué au sein de la nouvelle entité, qui prend le nom de Vignerons Créateurs, laquelle, en rassemblant 150 adhérents cultivant près de 1 100 hectares de vignes dont une bonne part en AOC Costières de Nîmes, devient rapidement un opérateur majeur du territoire et de l’appellation. Avec douze cuvées différentes, ses références en AOC Costières de Nîmes sont nombreuses. « La plus emblématique, c’est la Mille X Réserve, explique Bruno. Elle a été nommée en référence aux milliaires romains, ces repères qui bornaient la Via Domitia et qu’on retrouve parfois aujourd’hui au détour d’une vigne. » À noter que le succès de la Mille X a donné vie à une cuvée d’exception : la Mille X Excellence, issue d’une sélection parcellaire rigoureuse et bénéficiant d’un élevage de dix-huit mois. Souple et structurée, le rouge est à goûter avec un magret de canard ou une épaule d’agneau confite. L’interview
How are the Creative Winegrowers doing?
- Very well. The dynamic is positive with many cooperators today wanting to expand. Even at the age pyramid level, we have noticed a positive movement over the past two years with the arrival of young cooperators, particularly in organic farming.
Looking back, what did the merger achieve?
- Volume, since it is one of the three largest operators in the appellation. But also stability because its perimeter, which covers both the south and the north of the vineyard, makes it possible to ensure relatively regular supplies from one year to the next by smoothing out the hazards that may occur in certain areas.
And almost ten years after the merger, what are your current projects?
- Organic, precisely and more broadly sustainable development in all its dimensions, environmental but also social and economic. Within three years, we want to have the organizational or technical tools that allow those who wish to engage in a conversion process with complete peace of mind and comply with the Sustainable Development Winegrowers convention.