How Does One Become a Winemaker?

By Laëtitia Allemand, winemaker at Domaine Allemand: How does one become a winemaker? Through a stroke of luck and a passion for the craft! At any rate, that’s how the Allemand family’s journey in winemaking began…

Louis Allemand: Discovering His Calling as a Winemaker During Military Service

It all began in the early 1950s. When my grandfather left for military service, he was stationed in Champagne—a region he hadn’t yet explored, but with which he would fall head over heels in love! What he loved about Reims were the outings with his winemaker friends, the camaraderie, the sense of community, and working the land… He didn’t know it yet, but he had just found his calling!

When he returned to the Alps in 1954, he was certain of one thing: he too wanted to become a winemaker, produce his own wines, bottle them on the estate, and make “quality” wines, as they were called at the time.

Domaine Allemand: Quality of wine above all else

At the time, this was not common in the Alps. Each family owned a few plots of vineyards for their own personal wine consumption, but the grapes were taken to the cooperative to be pressed and blended with those of other growers. The wines produced as a result were not of very high quality…

My grandfather was the first in the region to devote himself entirely to viticulture and to focus on the quality of his grapes and wines. His first vintages were sparkling white wines produced using the Champagne method. It was his way of paying tribute to the region that had inspired him so much and of staying true to his friends from Champagne, who would come to visit him regularly.

To this day, we continue this tradition by producing wine using a traditional method that yields an extremely fine and delicate effervescence, which is highly prized by our customers and friends.

The Domaine Allemand has been selected to study grape varieties suitable for mountain viticulture

In the 1960s, the journey continued. The estate expanded rapidly. The Ministry of Agriculture at the time selected our vineyards to conduct an experiment and study which grape varieties were best suited to mountain viticulture. It was then discovered—not surprisingly—that Mollard, the valley’s historic grape variety, is particularly well-suited to our terroir.

The tasting cellar at Domaine Allemand was designed by Mamie Marcelle

In 1964, my grandmother had the idea to open a tasting cellar… Once again, she was the first to take this initiative in the Hautes-Alpes. The estate then became a gathering place for all the region’s connoisseurs. Wine lovers came from far and wide to experience my grandmother’s legendary warmth and hospitality! Even today, we’ve kept this tasting room just as it was, and if you come visit us, you’ll taste our wines leaning on the vintage counter made entirely of Formica…

This is our way of honoring the memory of Marcelle and Louis, my grandparents, who founded the estate and made a point of putting a warm, welcoming spirit at the heart of their work. For three generations, we’ve kept in mind that, in our family, making wine is above all about having a deep passion for our craft and a spirit of sharing!