Romans planted vines here in 50 BC. The mass of amphora fragments uncovered by the plow all over the valley confirms vines presence BC.
During middle-age, an energetic bishop seemed to play an important part in the development of the wine of Cahors by sending some as presents to other bishops in France.
The river Lot, that flows on to the Atlantic port of Bordeaux, also allowed easy wine transporting which promoted trading.
In 1225, the Cahors wine was quoted on LondonÆs market place. It was also one of the favorite wine of Tsar Peter the Great and Russian Orthodox Church chose it as its Mass wine back in the 13th century. In 1876, the phylloxera epidemic annihilated the Cahors vineyard success story.
The JOUVES family has been settled in Cournou (center of Cahors vineyard area) for over three centuries. Land and vines go from father to son since these ancient times.
Legend says that a family ancestor has brought wine to the king of France or may be the Tsar of Russia, and because he saw the king, the villagers nicknamed him after the Prince (lou prince in local ancient language). This nickname is still used by old farmer families of Cournou.
The family used to live from the mixed farming and breeding as common at that time until 1947 when a phylloxera resistant grape variety is planted in the soil.
Vines put then other cultures into the background.
It is the ôRenaissanceö of the Cahors wine.
The harvest of the Jouves family, led by Jacques Jouves is then vinified in the local winegrowers coop.
In 1971 the AOC (French quality certification) rewards winegrowers for their quality devotion. At that moment Jacques Jouves decides to commercialize his crop in bottle by himself.
Jacques is now retired
but his advices
and recommendations
are always listened.
He left to his son a quality estate
Didier is the estate
main ceo.
He runs the vines,
the human resources and
the customer relationships
with great care.
It helps to approach future with serenity for his son Leo.
Bruno's way of life gives him
some poetry when
elaborating the wines.
Keen on evaluating in a
different way, he is waiting
for his nephew to leave
all his secrets.
Léo is studying to become
a great wine maker and
carry on the family tradition, bringing new techniques
and modern visions..
