M. Egron

Mr. EGRON, can you share with us the history of your Château?
At the beginning my grandparents and my parents were winegrowers but when the crises came my parents started to sell their plots. At this time I was a fireman in Paris but that was heartbreaking to see them sell their plots. With my wife we decided to install ourselves in the region and to become winegrowers in addition to our occupation. We installed ourselves in 2006 with 8Ha leads and in 2009 we ask for the denomination “Château”. Living in the place called Gardès, we decided to call the Château “Château Le Gardes”. At this time we were in classical agriculture and in 2011 started our conversion to organic winegrowing. Therefore our first harvest was completely organic in 2014. Today with my wife we are in charge of 31Ha in addition to our full-time occupation.

Why did you convert to organic agriculture ?
We convert to the organic agriculture by conviction. It’s not easy every day because it takes a lot more work and observation. All my spare time is consecrated to the vineyard. I am tremendously attached to it as is my wife!

Why are you part of the cooperative winery ?
We only see benefits in being part of the cooperative winery. Having two occupations is already complicate; we do not see ourselves dealing with the winemaking and the commercialization. The
Winery helps us also with some interest free loans that she can give us. At the beginning we were at the Romagne winery and today we are really happy of the merge with the Rauzan winery. It has allowed us to be stronger.