Yes, that’s my head poking out of the enormous wine cask. If you’re wondering what I’m doing and how I got there, read on and I’ll tell you the short version of the story.
How it Started
What does a girl do when she graduates from college with a degree in History of Art and doesn’t know what she wants to “be?” Well, this girl packed her backpack, Eurail Pass, and a copy of “Let’s Go Europe” and took off for the old country. I didn’t come back to live in the USA for twelve years.
For ten of those twelve years, I lived in Burgundy, France and worked in the wine business. My sister’s friend’s sister (!) was married to a winemaker there, and when they offered to put me up for a couple of nights, I couldn’t refuse. Though I didn’t speak French and knew nothing about wine, the winemaker’s parents, Jean et Thérèse Dupont, invited me to come back in September and work the grape harvest, or “les vendanges.” I jumped at the opportunity. As it turned out, I loved the work and the Duponts. Apparently, the feeling was mutual, because they took me on as an apprentice.
My two years with the Duponts were a combination of immersion course in French language and culture and deep dive into the world of vineyards and winemaking. I worked full-time in the vineyards and cellar. I also took classes at the Lycée Viticole of Beaune and earned a certificate in oenology. The Duponts were traditional and did many things the way their parents had done before them. In addition to the winery, they had two large vegetable gardens, and they purchased their meat directly from friends with farms. Mme. Dupont cooked all of our meals from scratch using local ingredients. I was living “farm to table” long before that movement had a name!
While working for the Duponts, I participated in a wine-tasting group composed of local winemakers my age. There was one other foreign apprentice in the group: Jean-Denis Perrochet, from Auvernier, Switzerland. We became great friends, and Jean-Denis and his wife asked me to be their son’s godmother. Today, my godson and my own son are friends, and the ties between our families continue to grow stronger. The giant wine cask I’m peaking out of in the photo above is in the Perrochets’ cellar in Auvernier. Voilà!
How it’s Going
In 2019, with grown-up kids and few constraints, I lost no time in getting back to Switzerland to jump back into the fray of the vendanges, but this time with a twist. Jean-Denis’ wife, Christine, cooks a home-made, sit-down lunch for the harvesters every day, and she needed help. When the picking is in full swing, there are 30 to 35 harvesters, so it’s really like running a little restaurant for a couple of weeks. I was happy to sign on as her sous-chef, and it turns out that we work very well together. I’ve been part of the team ever since!
The harvest is intense. Winemakers are farmers whose livelihood depends entirely on the grape harvest, so there is a lot of stress. Our job in the kitchen is to produce nourishing meals that make the harvesters happy and inspire them to work hard in the fields. Christine and I get up early and immediately begin our food prep.
We cook a main dish and a dessert each day. The vegetables come from the garden or from their daughter’s biodynamic farm down the road. There’s usually lots of ripe fruit on the trees, and we transform it into tarts, crumbles, and cakes.
In the afternoons and evenings, I join the cellar crew and help out there. Winemaking involves a lot of hosing down and cleaning equipment.
Occasionally, weather permitting, Jean-Denis likes to bike down to the Lac de Neuchâtel to take a dip in the evening.
By the end of the harvest, the vines have begun to change color. It’s a beautiful and bittersweet reminder that my stay will soon be coming to an end. Fortunately, with Thanksgiving and the end of year holidays just around the corner in Austin, I won’t have time to be sad, and the next harvest will be here before I know it!
About the author, Ellen Cartsonis is a Board Member and Treasurer at the Alliance Francaise and loves helping AFA to find ways of engaging the French community.
