History
Since several generations, the Alary family is
Since several generations, the Alary family is
linked to Cairanne.
It was during the reign of Louis XIV that the story of the wine estate starts. 1692, André Alary settled in Cairanne for cultivating land. Mix farming was essential in the wine estate in the last centuries: silkworms, grace, wheat, and arboriculture. However, at the be beginning, the vines had a considerable place. The first agricultural land-register of the commune dates back to 1414, when there were already 100 parcels of vineyard. The other crops have all, at a given time, dwindled and disappeared from the local landscape for various reasons. If the vine have almost disappeared with the phylloxera at the end of the 19th Century, it is become, since the 20the Century, the backbone of the village. The recognition of the wines of Cairanne has contributed to the development of the viticulture on a favourable territory. Associated to exceptional terroirs, the vine fills all the hills until the plains. The diversity and the characteristics of the Cairanne’s terroirs offer fine white and red wines.
1981, Denis Alary catches up his father Daniel after oenology studies in Montpellier, in the South of the France. Tenth generation on the wine estate, he manages a human-scale domaine, in which the winegrowers' spirit has always been the cornerstone. The Alary wine estate affirms its convictions in shifting toward organic viticulture at the beginning of the 2000’s. The wine estate is certified “organic agriculture” in 2009. Wine passionate, Jean-Etienne, the Denis’s son, has naturally integrated the wine estate in 2016, after a journey in Australia and in New-Zealand. Together, they ensure the management, marketing, including sales directly from the cellar, vinification and viticulture, assisted by two employees. The results of this cooperation are wines whose quality is steadily improving: the freshness, the lightness and spicy and fruity aromas of a beautiful maturity are detected.
The team
DENIS ALARY
Grand idealist and perfectionist, Denis want to control his land and his cellar. He wishes each day give improvements to a wine estate already highly recognised. Beyond the familiar wine estate, Denis dreams to enhance stuffs and accompany everyone. Acting in solidarity is truly his way of life. That is the reason for which Denis has accepted the direction of the Syndicat des Vignerons de Cairanne, to defend common interests of the winegrowers and to develop together the Cru. If today Denis let the direction after 30 years of services, his implication remains. The ongoing activity is well suited to Denis, his wife Sabine qualifies him as a “long-distance runner”. Not necessarily a fast runner, but a long distance runner, possessing great stamina, even Sundays or holidays, “except when we are outside”. Denis has chosen this life and, if the pressure becomes too much, he releases it by working in the vineyard all afternoon, “alone and without his cell phone”.
JEAN ETIENNE ALARY
After working and vinifying in several countries, in New-Zealand at Seresin Estate, In Autsralia at Henschke Estate and in France at Confuron-Cotetidot Estate in Burgundy, Jean-Etienne works now with his father, Denis, who, at the beginning, let him the wine making. Wine passionate, Jean-Etienne grew up within and devotes today the major part of his time. According to him, the elaboration of fine wines depends, before everything, to the quality of the fruit. In the cellar, if he destems few or not the harvest, he looks certainly for producing wines established on the finesse. Thus, he introduces more and more his style in Cairanne. Ambitious and determined, Jean-Etienne gives incessantly new ideas, preserving the traditions of the wine estate at the same time. If his oenology studies and his different journeys abroad had given knowledges and an open-mindedness, he accords much importance to the transmission by his seniors, imbued with local cultures. Between modernity and tradition, the future of the Alary estate sounds promising.
