Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/552044
6 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2015 first press "HOW DO YOU DIVIDE THE WORK BETWEEN YOU?" I ASK. "I work and he takes it easy" they both reply in unison and, fortunately, with a smile and a laugh. The "they" in question are Jean-François Ott and his cousin Christian Ott, who between them manage Clos Mireille—a 60-hectare (148-acre) vineyard and winery right on the sea about 20 miles from Saint- Tropez on the magical southern coast of France in the heart of Provence—as well as the two other nearby estates that make up Domaines Ott. The friendly banter immediately told me that these were people and a place that had something special about them, something that is more than just a wine-making business. Today the wines of Domaines Ott, par - ticularly their rosé wines, are recognized as some of the finest in Provence, perhaps in the whole of France, but it's taken the family 118 years and four generations to achieve that status. The story started back in 1896 when Marcel Ott, Jean-François and Christian's great-grandfather, left his native Alsace to undertake what they call a sort of "Tour de France." Marcel's objective? To find the ideal spot where he could make rosé wine. What he later achieved was proof of his pioneering spirit and determination, but Marcel's focus on rosé wine and his persistence at a time when the ravages of phylloxera were fresh in the memories of winemakers, were early indications that he was a man who knew his own mind and was not to be denied. Rosé wine was not highly thought of then; in fact it was just something of a curiosity, a by-product of the production of red wine—some juice was taken out of the press to concentrate the red wines and that excess juice made a lightly-colored wine which the vineyard workers drank, hence its nickname: vin de vignerons. Marcel's quest took him to many of the famous wine regions of France, but in the end he had whittled the choice down to two options. One was to take land in Algeria—where at the time the French government was practically giving away land in order to encourage people to settle there—and the other was Provence. Marcel opted for Provence and rented a vineyard in a place called Cavalaire. The rest, as the old saying goes, is history. But there's a bit more to it than that. By 1912 Marcel was doing well enough to buy his first vineyard, called Château de Selle, and the foundations of today's Domaines Ott were laid. The next significant milestone came in the 1930s by which time Marcel's sons, Etienne, André and René, were all involved in the family business. René, who obviously had an eye for design and marketing, came up with an idea for a special bottle and he made the first prototype out of plaster (you can still see the original mold on display at Clos Mireille). It was modelled on the clay amphorae used to store wine in ancient times, and René's idea was a master stroke. The distinctive bottle gave the wines of the Ott family their own visual identity and made them recognizable the world over. Marcel's legacy was not simply to start what was to become Domaines Ott; in many ways it was he who invented Côtes de Provence wines. The term didn't exist before he came on the scene and the offi - cial appellation would not be introduced until the 1970s, but Marcel used the term for his wines and set the example for oth- ers to follow. By the 1950s the third generation of the family had joined the expanding business, and in 1956 Jean-François and Christian's father and grandfather purchased the third estate: Château Romassan, a little further west and slightly further inland than Clos Mireille. Ancient and Modern Arriving at Clos Mireille the first thing that strikes you is the gracious marriage of the traditional and the contemporary. To enter, you pass under huge palm trees, tall slender cypresses and pines, which waft their cool, fresh scent on the breeze. The roofs of the restored farm buildings still have their distinctive Provence-style terracotta tiles; there's the almost obligatory area set aside for a game of pétanque, and tables and chairs ready for the apéritif under a spread - ing wisteria tree. Food and wine are never far away in this area of France and it was not too much of a surprise when, not more than 15 minutes after I arrived, I was invited to discover the wines of each domaine over lunch served in the dining room decorated with multi- Christian Ott: "We can never afford to be satisfied." PHOTO: JILES HALING PHOTO: JILES HALING Jean-François Ott: "This is not a profession for people who are in a hurry."