Winemakers Night - Weingut Cellar Acustic - 16. März 2018

6 questions to … Wendy Paillé

What was the craziest thing you tried about making wine?

I have to say that every year is a little crazy in the cellar. Does that count?

One of the inventive ways I have processed Viognier in Virginia was to have a 2 day skin contact before pressing. It gave the wine an amazing texture without the notes that we get from Orange wines as we know today.

What do you do differently from everyone else?

Give away our trade secrets? At Le Soula our terroir is so unique from anyone else. We have high altitude on granite in a very extreme climate. This adds vitality and freshness to a southern wine. We are fairly traditional in vinification.

Why wine and not liquor?

Wine I can drink everyday… Oh wait, does beer fall in the booze category. All winemakers love beer. Unfortunately the yeasts are not compatible in the same cellar so wine and beers can‘t be fermented together.

What has been your best wine experience so far?

A very tricky question. There are some wines that you have an emotion when you taste them, like a wine that matches perfectly with your mood, with your company, with the food you are eating. Its all these factors that contribute my changes in best wine experience, not to mention that I am a woman…

At the moment I love drinking a Vinho Verde that I discovered recently in Portugal from a cellar called Soalheiro – Nature Pur terroir without added sulphites.

Also a wine that rocks my socks is a Gruner Veltliner from Johannes Zillinger in Austria.

How would you describe the changes in viticulture over the past 10 years?

I am extremely excited about the organic and biodynamic movement. A lot of vignerons are finally realising how important organic farming is. And once you have made the conversion in the fields, it is evident to follow in the cellars.

4, 5, 6 glasses of wine and you…? 

More like 4, 5, 6 bottles! I love sharing wines. It is so constructive and fun to share wines with people that appreciate.

WINERY Le Soula

The winery Le Soula is situated west of Perpignan, in the hills of Fenouilledes at the foot of the Pyrenees. The 22 hectare of vineyards are located at an altitude of between 350 and 600 metres, barely 70 kilometres from the sea. In addition, one has a fantastic view of the Mont Canigou.

In the 1990s, wine importer Mark Gérard Gauby and biodynamist Roy Richards rescued the vineyard from ruin and full of charm. Together they created the Domaine Le Soula in 2001 and developed it into one of the most internationally renowned wineries. In 2008 the project became too big for the residents of Saint Martin. The cellars in the old wine cellar of Prugnanes, which they have just restored, have moved to the foot of the mountain. Gérald Standley joined the team, first to support Mark Gérard Gauby as co-manager and then to manage the property on his own. In 2012, Roy Richards and Mark Gérard Gauby sold their wine import business to Berry Bros & Rudd and Mark Gérard Gauby took over the management and marketing of Soula. In 2016, Wendy Paillé, with her extensive experience in wine-growing administration on the Loire and in the United States, took charge of the Le Soula team.

As the Le Soula winery is quite small, a small wine cellar was built to accompany it, regenerating the magnificent vines and converting them to organic farming. Since 2008, the entire winery has been biodynamic. It has granite soils that give the wine a mineral freshness, delicacy and finesse. The style of the region, completely different from that of the lowlands, conveys the originality of this environment: it produces superb terroir wines with vibrant freshness and exceptional complexity. The grapes ripen here about 3 weeks later than in the rest of the region.  Domaine Le Soula has since developed into a flagship in Roussillon. Le Soula wines are distributed in different countries all over the world, appear in many of the most famous restaurants and are on the list of the most famous importers in the world.