A timeless night
It's no ordinary thing to be able to experience the intimacy of nomadic distillation.
It's always a privileged, unique and cherished moment. Just picture it - after a year of hard work pampering his vineyards and grappling with the whims of Mother Nature, in the space of one night, or even just a few hours, the winemaker is getting ready to hand over the keys to his future to his distiller. But most of all, it's an honor to be here. After all, who would dare to impose in such a personal, dramatic, fragile moment? Each year brings a new birth, each harvest a newborn in its oak cradle. Only the closest friends and relatives should be invited at this sacred time to help the winemaker, even for just a short while, carry the weight of the world before finally giving birth. So I thought I should share this event with you and thank our guests Alexandre & Manon Ladevèze, fifth generation winemakers from Montreal du Gers, in the south of France, and Patrick Michalouski, nomadic distiller.
Tuesday 19 November 2024, a night on earth
The time is solemn and the worry is palpable. A year's hard work is at stake tonight. 365 days condensed in just a few hours. It's at times like this that one realizes just how much trust each party must place in the other.
Tonight the distiller's role is entrusted to Patrick Michalouski, who has 42 years of nomadic distillation under his belt. He learned the trade from his father, already a distiller during the Second World War. And, just like the few traveling distillers left in Armagnac, tonight he is on a mission. His trade is as fragile as it is ephemeral and, according to public opinion, on the brink of extinction. And if it weren't for his men's self-sacrifice, how many Armagnac producers would go bankrupt, not having the financial resources to buy a still or the time to operate it? Many. Far too many. The bond between traveling distillers and winegrowers is fragile yet invaluable. Crucial, even. Nomadic.
Tonight, as every night since 1996 at the Domaine de la Boubée, Patrick set up his small Armagnac still in the cellar, fired it up with wood from the estate and started making the first adjustments. He never takes his eyes off his precious still and sometimes even seems to disappear as if, in the blink of an eye, in a moment as fleeting as it is eternal, he had merged with his machine and become a hybrid creature half flesh and half copper, bubbling rhythmically, controlling the next breath, looking out for a clue, waiting for the signal that will mark the separation between the two bodies again.
Technically, a well-oiled machine
After a long natural fermentation of about ten days in concrete vats, each wine of each variety is left on the lees before Patrick takes matters into his own hands. Using his small 1000-liter wood-fired still, he patiently distills each grape variety, aiming for an output ABV between 52% and 54%.
Distillation is a continuous process and requires constant human presence, 24 hours a day. Patrick works part of the night and leaves the rest to his partner Oliver, before returning for another shift if the distillation volume requires it. It's demanding work requiring availability and attention seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
For the first time, Alexandre will separate one of his Ugni Blanc plots, where the vines were planted in 1947. It's his oldest parcel, an opportunity to see its direct impact by one day - who knows - producing a one-of-a-kind Armagnac.
dinner among the angels
The scene takes place in Alexandre and Manon Ladevèze's cellar-library, where each barrel tells the story of grape varieties that have largely disappeared. And this place has plenty of stories to tell. The Ladevèzes are the only ones to grow, distill and age nearly all of the grape varieties approved by the Armagnac AOC, that is, nine out of ten, soon to be all ten of them.
Tonight the angels won't be the only ones getting their share. They will be joined by both ghosts and the living, with a special thought for Alexandre's father Jean Ladevèze, who left us a year and a few days ago. The man who has never missed a single distillation session is no longer here to see what's happening, but he must be very proud of his son! Alexandre, with his better half Manon, is determined to write many more chapters of the family saga, and what better way to cheer him on than a large group of people gathered around the table? Tonight it will only be about smiles, laughter and memories. As always with distillation, it's a time to celebrate and share. We dine, drink and celebrate the incubating spirit, certainly to give it strength, but mostly to cherish this fragile moment.
And center-stage is Patrick the alchemist, the magician, the nomad of the moment, working to give a second life to the vineyards around us as he has been doing for the Ladevèze family for 28 years now. And as on every property, every estate he visits, he has lunch one-on-one with his still.
What's taking place before our curious eyes is the story of a couple - a heroic clash, a cosmic dance in the middle of an eternal night of fire. Don't expect a winner between man and machine. Victory is shared, inseparable and absolute, just like the hybrid creature that's still moving in front of us.
Talking has never seemed so pointless. Everything seems to unfold in what seems to us like dull silence. As soon as we think we hear a first noise the distiller is already at work, anticipating the slightest signal even before we hear its echo. We already knew that a good ear was essential, but now we are pondering the kind of sixth sense Patrick seems to have developed much more than the average person, anticipating the slightest adjustment as if he actually perceived it.
It clearly looks like magic to us, but he pragmatically explains that it's a habit he acquired in over forty years of work from his deep relationship with his still. The idea of couple comes back to mind as an obvious comparison, because it’s this strong, intimate relationship that has allowed such mastery to emerge.
Time flies and soon we will be the privileged witnesses of a birth, the fruit of someone else's work who for one night relies completely on you. For Alexandre and Manon Ladevèze, whose future is at stake tonight, there's no room for doubt. They know Patrick will be there for them once again. They share the same wavelength. The same urgency. The same duty. And neither party, at this time as in the past, doubts for a single moment.
As Manon likes to say, tonight is a bit like Christmas for them. Bringing as many gifts as their distilled grape varieties, which they will watch grow in the years to come. And grape by grape, drop by drop, they tirelessly continue rebuilding the history of Armagnac.
As simple onlookers, we will definitely need more time to understand the significance of this night and savor all of its nuances. We simply tell ourselves that the Blanche we will be enjoying tonight will not taste the same as any other, and that their fate will inevitably be linked to ours - without imagining their future, which will probably outlast us. As for the master distiller, he has already left. He has accomplished his mission once again, as he has now done for twenty-eight years and one night.
Note: A big thank you to our friends, their guests, and their smiles. Thanks to the distillers, Patrick and his partner Olivier. And thanks to the Trip In Your Shoes team for capturing the moment.
