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High Honors from French Government Awarded to Vérité Winemaker
Pierre Seillan Honored for His Service to Agriculture
Contact:
Elaine Mellis
(707) 525-6295
elaine.mellis@jfamilyfarms.com
Healdsburg, CA (April 14, 2004)
The French Ministry of Agriculture has named Vérité's Pierre Seillan
a Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre du Mérite Agricole (Order of
Agricultural Merit). This prestigious honor is given to recognize an
individual's significant service to agriculture.
In bestowing this honor to a Frenchman at the helm of a California
winemaking team, the French government is acknowledging that the
integrity of Seillan's work has transcended borders. At Vérité, he has
taken the fundamentals of Old World winemaking and successfully
transposed them onto a New World landscape, producing Bordeaux-style
wines expressive of their California origins.
Seillan joined Vérité as its Vigneron in 1998. The specialized term
Vigneron was chosen by Seillan because it defines his role as crafting
the wine both before and after the grapes come off the vine. As
Vigneron, Seillan is making wine all year long, nurturing the mountain
vineyards with a vision towards the superior blends he will produce from
them. Central to his work is a strong sense of terroir, that elusive
concept referring not only to the vine, but the subsoil, sitting,
drainage and microclimate that all provide the fruit from which the
wines are born.
Seillan first learned the essentials of terroir at his family estate in
Armagnac, working with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. He then spent a
few years in Saumur-Champigny in the Loire Valley at Château de Targé,
where he learned to work with the temperament of Cabernet Franc.
Seillan then moved to Bordeaux and expanded his winemaking knowledge.
He spent two decades working at several châteaux for Raoul and Jean
Quancard and honed his extraordinary blending techniques. At a dinner
party in California in the mid-nineties Seillan met American wine
visionaries Jess Jackson and Barbara Banke. The pair convinced the
Frenchman to join them in a new venture in California. Together they
created Vérité where Seillan has the freedom to blend between varietals
and appellations. In addition to Vérité, Seillan also crafts Archipel
and Anakota wines.
"I am flattered that the French government recognizes French
expatriates," said Seillan. "With this award they are showing
their
support to New World wines." Edgar Pisani, former French Minister of
Agriculture, will present the award to Seillan in a special ceremony on
April 24th in San Francisco.
About Vérité
Vérité is dedicated to producing red wines along traditional lines,
using the finest fruit primarily from mountain vineyards throughout
Sonoma County. Seillan carefully selects micro-crus, stellar plots in
already outstanding vineyards, to form the base of Vérité's wines.
Vérité's vintages represent a carefully considered convergence of
grape varieties, climate, soil exposition and winemaking technique.
Seillan refers to that conjunction as droit du sol or right of the
soil.
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Note: Photos of Pierre Seillan are available.
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