Behind the vine

Tessa Laroche - Domaine aux Moines - Loire Valley, France

When do you think you fell in love with wine, enough to make a career of it?

It was fate. I’ve watched my mother make wine since I was a little girl. I would look at her working and think ‘wow’ - she can make a hard job look natural. She was at one with the process and even during hard times of harvest - with children and everything - she was always smiling. She really enjoyed it and liked to meet a lot of people and explain the wine and her passion. She gave me that passion.

So for me, I was always meant to be a winemaker.

What story does your wine tell?

Working in wine gives me a lot of pleasure and I make my wine to share that pleasure. When people write to me and say: 'I tasted your wine and it was wonderful', it's a real pleasure. I want to transmit the savoir faire: the know-how and expertise of wine and the joy it can convey.

A lot of observation of nature and the planet goes into our wine. When I work in the vineyard, I work with nature. At 6 am, the birds are singing and it's magnifique. If you work in agriculture you must look at everything. You must be respectful to the vines and ensure good, healthy earth. To be biodynamic is an obligation to look and observe the land, the moon - all of nature. We work along with the moon in the vineyard, the cellar, while bottling. When you drink the grapes, they should be natural.

What misconceptions about wine do you think people should forget?

People have a misconception about alcohol and that it's dangerous. It's all about moderation, never drink in excess.

Also, there’s no obligation to drink wine. If you don't like wine, you won't like wine. Before you learn about it, you have to really enjoy and appreciate all the pleasure you can get in the whole experience. The first choice is pleasure.

What great things about wine do you think people should remember?

The joy. The pleasure. It's not about drinking a lot. You can open a bottle and have a glass because you get a lot of pleasure out of it. It's important to have and enjoy a lot of different wines, especially with different kinds of food. In the Loire, it's great to have with fish.

What is a piece of advice you would give to a woman interested in breaking into the wine world?

If you want to work in wine, you have to have passion and energy. It's really important to keep sharing your passion and energy about the wine. Women have to be more subtle. You can't be super straightforward. You have to explain what you're doing, and be really knowledgeable, more so than the man.

Who is a woman in wine you think everyone should know about?

Pascaline Lepeltier is a woman I really admire. She is a sommelier with a passion for wine and food who works in New York.

Where can women find your wine?

You can come to visit our Domaine, or find us in local wine shops. In the UK we are at Caves de Pyrene.