How does one become a winemaker?

Diary entry #4 of Laëtitia Allemand, winemaker at Domaine Allemand : How does one become a winemaker? By a happy accident and through passion! That's certainly how the Allemand family's winemaking adventures began…

Louis Allemand: the vocation of winemaker found in military service

It all began in the early 1950s. When my grandfather left to do his military service, he was stationed in Champagne . A region he didn't yet know, and one he would fall madly in love with! What he loved about Reims were the outings with his winegrower friends, the conviviality, the sharing, the work in the fields… He didn't know it yet, but he had just found his calling!

Upon his return to the Alps in 1954, he had one certainty: he too wanted to become a winemaker, to produce his own vintages, and to bottle them on the property and make "quality" wines as they were then called.

Domaine Allemand: Wine quality above all

At the time, this was not common practice in the Alps . Each family owned a few plots of vines for their own wine production, but the grapes were transported to the cooperative to be pressed and blended with those of other growers. The resulting wines were not of very high quality…

My grandfather was the first in the region to dedicate himself entirely to winemaking and to focus on the quality of his grapes and wines. His first vintages were sparkling white wines made using the traditional method. It was a way of paying homage to the region that had so inspired him and of remaining loyal to his friends from Champagne who would regularly come to visit him.

Today we continue this tradition by vinifying using a traditional method with extremely fine and delicate bubbles, highly prized by our customers and friends.

The German estate was chosen to study grape varieties suitable for mountain viticulture

In the 1960s, the adventure continued. The estate quickly expanded. The Ministry of Agriculture at the time chose our vineyards to conduct an experiment and study the grape varieties best suited to mountain viticulture. It was then discovered, unsurprisingly, that Mollard – the historic grape variety of this valley – was particularly well-suited to our terroir.

The tasting room at Domaine Allemand was designed by Mamie Marcelle

In 1964, my grandmother had the idea of ​​opening a wine tasting room… Once again, she was the first to initiate this approach in the Hautes-Alpes . The estate then became a meeting place for all the bon vivants of the region. Wine lovers came from far and wide to experience my grandmother's legendary welcome and hospitality! Even today, we have preserved this tasting room exactly as it was, and if you come to visit us, you can taste our wines leaning against the vintage 100% Formica counter…

It's our way of remembering Marcelle and Louis, my grandparents, who created the estate and wanted to place conviviality 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 great passion for the craft and a sense of sharing!

Laetitia Allemand (German Domain)