Yannick Amirault: Eugene & Marcel
Speaking to Marcel’s grandson Benoît Amirault, in 2016, about Marcel, he put it thus:
“Marcel Amirault was my grandfather, and Yannick’s father. Marcel and Yannick never worked together. The two had very different philosophies, Marcel being very dependent on chemicals for his viticulture, whereas Yannick was just the opposite. So Yannick started out on his own. Unlike Yannick, I now have the experience and benefit of working with my father. Our approach to the work in the vines are much more in tune, and we work well together”.
Although Benoît denies his father and grandfather ever worked together, testimony from Yannick Amirault (pictured) suggests that this is not strictly true. Yannick recalls helping his father as a teenager, treating the vineyard with fertiliser, in 1975. The work was carried out under the orders of his father, but at the same time he was being discouraged from applying too much by his grandfather. These words had a bigger impact on Yannick than perhaps even Marcel Amirault imagined because, eventually, Yannick would turn his back on these modern treatments altogether, and instead adopt the ways of his grandfather.
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