What is a Vigneron?

Published by Gill Cox - 7th Nov 2018

Guest post from Cathy Howard, from Boots & All in Geographe – a wine region in Western Australia

Hi Angels, Wine Word Wednesday is back!

Vigneron – is a person who not only grows grapes, but also makes wine from their own grapes.

The term comes from the French word ‘vigne’ which means grapevine. So by translation, a vigneron is someone who is ‘close to the vine’.

In the wine industry, there are people who grow grapes but don’t make wine themselves. They sell their grapes to wineries, and are generally called wine growers, or simply ‘growers‘.

There are also many wineries that produce wine, but don’t grow their own grapes. They purchase grapes from growers, or buy grape juice and already-fermented wines from various wine producers for blending and selling under their own label.

Here at Boots & All, we do describe ourselves as vignerons, as we grow and make our own wines. (We do also buy in grapes from growers for some of our wines too!)

Have a wonderful day, and see out more vignerons when you next travel into a wine region!

Cheers,

Cathy

PS. This is one of my favourite photos of Neil – in his vines (Cabernet Sauvignon) that he planted, with a big smile on his face!

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