The spirit of the blacksmith

Published on: 19 April 2016 La mutation Ripeau englais

“In the depths of wine lies a soul,” wrote Theodora de Banville. A soul that time has shaped, according to the seasons, according to the laughter and tears that cross all life. The soul of wine is so deeply linked to the soul of its winemaker, who directs down here the riches of the soil towards his vine, hopes from above the clemency of the sky, and, the lost look on his vineyard, a dream with passion to the always unique stories that this wine will write, around good tables, entered friends, between lovers …

To the one who gives the beat of his heart to that of the vine, nature quickly learns humility. The greatest science cannot compete with a sky filled with ice or fire. It is less a question of fighting than of philosophizing.

“Sing, sing as soon as your forge comes on,

Strike, a good workman, cheerfully, on your anvil!

It is less a question of weighing things than of entering into a hymn with nature. A hymn certainly more diffuse than that, offered in concentrate, in a bottle of good wine, which seems to open passages to the sky. It is about creating, little by little, surrounded by children and good friends, on a land of choice, a way of life.

Sing, good worker, sing while dreaming, work

Set your love songs on the anvil, and beat your song.

When their grandfather patiently hammered the metal on the anvil to give shape to his dreams, there was already this love of nature, simple and true, unburdened with all artifice. And this quest spreads to Beauty. The mass has turned into secateurs, the metal has turned into a vine. The blacksmith became a winemaker. The quest has remained the same, but the Grégoire brothers have come closer to their goal: there is in the wine a mystery so great …

The blacksmith is the new emblem of Ripeau. It is a reflection of passionate work. It is above all the expression of filial love and homage.

Golden sparks in all slender senses,

It’s the fire of your heart and your good thoughts. “*

Photo: © Lionel Lizet
* Excerpt from The legend of the blacksmith (Jean Aicard)