The Garagistes
In the late 1980’s to early 1990’s there was some “stir” over the Bordeaux wines which are made in France. A Bordeaux or a Bordeaux-style wine is a blend of 3 or more of the 5 noble grapes; Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot. This delicious blend of wine is made by many winemakers across the world but it can only be called a Bordeaux on the wine label if it is made in the Bordeaux region of France.
The Bordeaux stir was twofold. A group of California winemakers were frustrated with the US government’s labeling regulations which require a wine be 75% of a certain grape to be labeled as a varietal. Long story short, these winemakers blazed the trail to add a proprietary name to their blend of the same 5 noble grapes used in Bordeaux. The name of this wine is Meritage. (More information about Meritage can be found here.)
At about the same time in the Bordeaux region, what has been described as a movement began. This movement was also related to Bordeaux, but this time the wine making process itself. Some winemakers in the Bordeaux region began making small amounts of wine using their own style of winemaking. A Bordeaux wine is made to age for many years before it is ready to drink. This new wine style is meant to be big, bold, and fruity and consumed much younger. This wine was assigned the name "vins de garage" or "garage wine". The winemakers were called “garagistes” and notably make much smaller batches of wine than the larger winemakers.
Some of the Master Sommeliers criticized this movement saying, among other things, that garagistes were a fad and that the vins de garage movement would end. Other criticism insists that the garagistes show no regard for the attributes of terroir in their wines, and that the smaller batch has nothing to do with the quality of wine. In the early 2000’s, even though some of these wines were selling at surprisingly high prices, the wine experts were claiming a decrease in the market and were beginning to say goodbye to the fad they felt would go away a few years before.
In 2011 the gararistes movement surfaced in Paso Robles, California where the Garariste Festival was held. This festival is annual and ongoing where over 127 winemakers pour their wines. Like the garagistes in Bordeaux, France, these winemakers make under 1,000 cases of wine a season and make very good quality wines.
While this movement is relatively young in the US, it is my opinion that the east coast will begin seeing a rise in vins de garage much like the rise in microbreweries over the years. A garagiste is defined officially as a small-scale, entrepreneurial, winemaker. As for me, I prefer the following definition:
Garagistes:
“A term originally used in the Bordeaux region of France to denigrate renegade small-lot winemakers, sometimes working in their garages, who refused to follow the ‘rules’. Now a full-fledged movement responsible for making some of the best wine in the world. Syn: Rule-breakers, pioneers, renegades, mavericks, driven by passion.”