Vigneron father to son
Parnac, at the end of the 1990’s: Bernard Bouyssou, son and grandson of cooperative members, dreamt of producing and selling is own wine himself.
2 more profession to learn: oenology and business. At least, one thing he was sure about, knows his vineyard, all essentially planted of Malbec, main grape variety of Cahors region.
His philosophy “1 grape variety Malbec, different terraces, different Cahors”.
He knows everything about Malbec, and he owns few terroirs. That’s how, in 1998 in took the big step and built his winery.
Bernard is a self-taught person and learnt fast with the help of friend’s oenologists and winemakers. “I wasn’t really worried; since roman’s time, we know that the grape turn to wine by itself whatever we do. The difference between my cuvees, I knew they will come from the grapes itself, even if it’s almost only Malbec, they won’t have the same taste simply because they come from different soils. Because I have no training in oenology, I bet everything on the quality of my vines.”
Bernard knows a lot of people and is well appreciated so with help of others winemakers and oenologists, he learned the wine-making process very quickly. “I wasn’t too worried, as since the time of the Romans, we know that grapes turn automatically into wine as a natural process. And as I mostly use Malbec, the only difference between my wines will come from the different soils. I have a strong belief in the importance of the grape’s quality.”
His first cuvee “Diamant Rouge” (Red Diamond), will quickly become a success. “I really started to worry when the time came to sell it. Now, the other thing I’m worried about is to not be able to supply all the market we have opened”.
In addition to his cuvee AOP CAHORS, Bernard also produces white wine from the Chenin’s grape (variety which have growned in this area a long time ago), a rosé wine made of Malbec as well as an aperitif (kind of Porto) that he leaves in barrels, in the sun during the summer.
“I love fleshy wines with volume and ripe tannins.”
After all the process of production & vinification, he kept going on with business and started to travel to find export’s market. “You can only make business by meeting with people, we cannot sell just by sending out e-mails.”
L'oenotourisme,
an invitation to live tourism otherwise.
Enjoy traveling, breathing