Jonathan Maltus & Château Teyssier
Jonathan Maltus had been living at Château Teyssier, and tending the vines of this little estate in Vignonet, one of the communes of the St Emilion appellation, for a few years before he began to feel something wasn’t quite right. The vineyard was not necessarily blessed with the greatest terroir in the world, sitting as it does on the sandy plains that run down to the Dordogne, but he was making a success of it, having invested in both vineyards and cellars. And yet, despite this work, which would benefit his estate and you might say the appellation as a whole, he still felt like an outsider.
Vignonet is only a few minutes from the town of St Emilion itself, which sits a little to the north, up on the limestone plateau, where the vast majority of the premier grand cru classé and grand cru classé estates can be found. And yet, as far as Jonathan could see, there might as well be an ocean between them considering the limited contact Jonathan had with his viticultural peers. There was no doubt he had started as an outsider, and perhaps something of a curiosity, the English businessman who bought a St Emilion estate, but he probably hadn’t expected to remain an outsider for so long.
With this thought in his head, Jonathan cornered his chef de cave and quizzed him on why nobody in St Emilion ever spoke to him.
“Is it because I’m English?” he asked.
“Oh no“, came the reply. “It’s not because you’re English. It’s because you’re from Vignonet“.
