Vincent Pinard

Standing on the slopes overlooking the village of Bué, not too far from the town of Sancerre, in whichever direction I looked there were vines. The vineyards radiated life and energy, the leaves still a verdant green despite it being October. The vines were still busy, absorbing every last possible ray of the autumn sunshine as they soldiered on, valiantly ripening their fruit, somewhat against the odds at this late stage. They did not have much time left to do their work though; the harvest was now well underway, as was evident from several groups of pickers moving with great speed through the vineyards, stripping each one clean of fruit as they went. Once finished, they and their harvest all piled into a waiting convoy of vehicles to deliver the fruit to the cellars, before moving on to the next parcel of vines.

One of these little convoys caught my eye; like all the others the predominant vehicle was the ubiquitous white van, but one vehicle in this convey was different; sandwiched between one white van and the next was a small Citroen Méhari. While not one of the truly iconic cars of France, less instantaneously recognisable than the Citroen 2CV or Citroen Traction Avant, the Méhari is still quintessentially French. Utilitarian, with a plastic body and loose-fitting canvas roof, it was for many years widely used by the French army, this perhaps being reflected in the range of available colours, which included beige, beige or beige (or green). Nevertheless this particular model was not being driven by a member of the French Foreign Legion, on secret assignment in Sancerre, but was clearly being pressed into service to ferry both pickers and grapes around.

I had watched the convoy (pictured below) disappear behind a hill but then, suddenly, it reappeared over the crest, and it was soon upon us. And who should lean out of the window of the lead van but Vincent Pinard. I was secretly disappointed that he wasn’t being chauffeured around in the Méhari, like some dubious dictator, but that would appear not to be Vincent’s style. Even then – this was during the 2013 harvest, so some years ago now – he was something of an emeritus vigneron, actively involved in the running of the Pinard family domaine but in the process of handing this responsibility on to his two sons, Clément and Florent (these days Vincent has fully retired, and the next generation run the show).

There was no time to chat though; although the weather was fair, there had been rain, and rot was a real threat to the thin-skinned berries. Vincent and his team, complete with his Méhari-driving pickers, were on their way just as quickly as they arrived. It had been a fleeting encounter with one of Sancerre’s leading vignerons.

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