Domaine Philippe Alliet: History
The Alliet family tree can be traced back to at least the 17th century, and to Laurent Aillette (died 1656). The family name evolved first to Aillet, and then during the 19th century to Alliet. Although some of Philippe’s many ancestors were noted to have been cultivateurs, this most probably related to crops other than the vine, and they may well have been smallholders. One, Jean Alliet (1817 – 1881), was a cabaretier (an innkeeper) as well as cultivateur though, so it is tempting to think it was vines he was tending, although this is pure speculation on my part. Of note, several of Philippe’s other 18th-century ancestors, including Jean’s father Jean Alliet (1770 – 1832) were masons and stone cutters, no doubt gainfully employed extracting and shaping blocks of limestone from the region’s many quarries.
The story of the Alliet family as vignerons, however, begins four generations ago with Philippe’s grandparents. On one side we have René Alliet (born 1886), his paternal grandfather, one of eight children born to Constant Alliet (born 1845), a cultivateur. René married Marthe Maurice (born 1893) and they had four children, including two sons named Pierre Jacques and Simon Stanislas, and two daughters named Renée (who married a Sourdais, a name that will be familiar to regular Chinon-drinkers) and Paulette. Of these four, Pierre Jacques is the most relevant to this history, this being Philippe Alliet’s father. On the other side of the family we have Philippe’s maternal grandfather, Marcel Henri Boissinot. He married a local girl named Alice Dubois and they had three children; these were Jean Paul Marcel, Micheline and Lucienne Colette Jeanne; the last of this trio, Philippe Alliet’s mother, married the aforementioned Pierre Jacques Alliet.
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