Domaine Guiberteau: Captivity and Co-operative
The Guiberteau vineyards saw six sad years of relative neglect during World War II, as the unfortunate Robert Guiberteau spent the entire duration of the conflict in captivity. Unlike other notable prisoner-vignerons, such as Gaston Huet, Robert Guiberteau was not incarcerated in a camp but was instead put to work on a farm, not far from Berlin. This was, unexpectedly, a quite influential time for Robert the vigneron; it was during his time as a prisoner of war that he saw how useful a tractor could be on the farm (or indeed the vineyard) and after his liberation he was the first vigneron in Saumur to acquire one of these expensive machines for himself.
Robert was not merely a vigneron though, as he had designs that went beyond his little domaine. He was also a founding member of the Co-operative de Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg, in 1957, a vital lifeline to numerous young viticulteurs trying to resuscitate the vineyards they had inherited after the multiple devastations of phylloxera, war and economic depression. Of note, in more recent times this co-operative seems to have restyled itself under the brand Robert & Marcel, named for who else but Robert Guiberteau (and presumably one of the other founders). Subsequently Robert assumed the presidency of the co-operative for a while, and he also served as mayor of his commune for thirty years (just as Gaston Huet did in Vouvray, I suppose), an impressive length of time to wear the chain. For his dedication to the nation Robert Guiberteau was eventually awarded the Légion d’Honneur, although whether he was more proud of this or of his being made an Officier du Mérité Agricole has not been recorded for posterity.
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