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LE GOUT DU TERROIR The Wine of Reuilly : Historic outline
Among the most reputable
wines of Berry, Reuilly has one of the best wine productive place from an
time immemorial. The legend told that King
Dagobert gave the village to the Royal Abbey of St-Denis in 638, "with
its fields, meadows and vineyards". During the Middle Age,
the charters of 1202, 1365 and 1466 fixed the quantity of wine, that
inhabitants had to pay as taxes to the seigniory, represented by a prior. The
charters imposed also the dates of sales reserved only for that seigniory.
However, concerned by the right of
justice, the winemakers were entitled "to see, to taste and to control
"weather the wine is marketable ". In 1567 ,in the
"General description the dukedom of Berry", The author, geographer
of Catherine of Medicis, considered the wine of Reuilly as "the best of
the country of Berry". In 1701, in his
"customs of Berry", famous jurist Thaumas de la Thaumassiere
ranked it N°1among the local wines. In 1864, a white wine
barrel from Mister Martin, owner and mayor, was given to Emperor Napoleon the
third. In 1884, the phylloxera
devastated the 400 ha of vineyards. But thanks to the courage and tenacity of
the winemakers, the vineyard was build up again in 1905. On 09/09/1937, The wine
of Reuilly got its letters patent of nobility with the "Appellation
d'Origine contrôlée -AOC ( a decree with a guarantee of origin) for its white
wine and for its red and rosé wine in 1961. In the early third millennium,
the vineyard of Reuilly is stretched on seven districts with a production of
8000 hectolitres out. Hugues Lapaire, a
well-know poet from Berry did dare to assert : "I bow to the ground in
front of this "honest" wine. Look at this wine! Smell it! Savour
it! It gaves us our mischief, our mind, our flame and our great spirit".
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This website has been designed to introduce the Tourism
Office of Reuilly For further information, please contact the Office :
5, rue RABELAIS ; 36260 REUILLY FRANCE Tel : 02.54.49.24.94. (between 9h/12h and 14h/18h pm) E-Mail : reuilly@fnotsi.net Webmaster : François NERRAND and Arnaud LHOTE Translation : François Nerrand (thanks to Adeline
Chauveau for her advices and corrections) |
