Bistro Freres Wines           OUR STORY | home | area | history of its wine | our story | vineyards | purchase | contact | | 2004 harvest | 2005 harvest | early 2006 report |   Our Story Put simply, we are from Annapolis, Detroit, NYC and Napa, and we all love good food, the wines that should accompany it, and the enjoyment and hospitality of the table. We fell in love with the stark beauty of the region, the welcoming people who live there, and the potential of the wines of the Fenouilledes. Infatuated and, perhaps inebriated, in April 2004 we leapt at the opportunity to pursue our own previously latent dream to own a vineyard and make good, food-friendly wines. For the first harvest, we formed a working partnership with the French owners of three other small vineyards sharing the cost of the field work, the harvest, the pressing and winemaking. Call it a  “détente du vin”. Beginning in 2005, we have allied our group with Richard Case, an exceptionally talented young winemaker from England who owns Domaine Pertuisane. Why the boar? The boar…First, the wild boar (sanglier in French) is a prevalent pest coming out of the woods at dusk to munch on the grapes. Richard Case, an Englishman who makes Pertuisane from vineyards near ours told us the boars ate 30% of his grapes in 2004. Second, wild boar has fed central Europe for centuries, even when it was Gaul and Hannibal was passing through. Boar makes a delicious civet (stew) or roast and is a perfect companion to our red wines. Third, when Jeff and Art first called home from Maury to report the purchase of the Bistro Freres vignoble, their wives cried in unison, "When pigs fly!" We are  happy to report that all parties are now on board and delighted with our flying, thieving little boar, and especially our wines. Our label Finally, the image is also fun and makes our label easily recognizable. It was created by Annapolis artist Moe Hansen who spends part of each year in France on her husband’s family farm. Some of her other works are @ www.portraitsbymoe.com