It was raining cats and dogs on the Île de Ré on Thursday 29 August. A “lucky” day for the wineries. The large reception room at Uniré, the Relais winegrowers’ cooperative in Bois-Plage-en-Ré (forty members for 500 hectares of vineyards), looks like a supermarket on a back-to-school Saturday. Customers, by the dozens, rush to taste, discover… and buy. “We are very happy because the rain brings tourists to our cooperative. And often they discover our wines, surprised that there are so many vineyards on the island. explains Christophe Barthère, director of Uniré.
This winery, founded in 1950, produces around two million bottles a year, and also offers cognac (twenty thousand bottles) and the essential Pineaux des Charentes (four hundred thousand bottles). Another particularity of this winery is that it was born from the merger, in 2008, of three cooperatives, wine, supply (fertilizers) and potatoes – “Twelve of our members practice this double activity, wine and potatoes,” specifies the director.
We go to the Île de Ré for its beaches bathed by the Gulf Stream, its sunshine (two thousand six hundred hours a year, almost as much as Corsica), its salt marshes, of course, its seafood and its apples, of course. But if the gloomy weather attracts tourists to the wineries, it is the summer that boosts sales of Relais wines. “We sell 80% of our production on the island and the remaining 20% in the area around La Rochelle, with 50% rosés, 30% whites and 20% reds.” explains Christophe Barthère.
Prices range from €2 to €12 for the Ultimium vintage, a single-varietal Cabernet-Sauvignon red aged for a year in new barrels; the 2022 vintage offers beautiful aromas of vanilla, spices and black fruits. “We are not expensive and we have made good progress in quality.” He greets the director of the winery, which employs thirty-five people and announces an annual turnover of 15 million euros, of which 10 correspond to the wine sector.
Difficulty adapting
Uniré has been working hard to improve the quality of its wines. In 2004, a study of the terroir was carried out, which enabled winegrowers to be advised on the most suitable grape varieties. Although sand is present, it does not represent the majority of the soils, with clay-limestone being dominant. As for the grape varieties, we find mainly Merlot Bordeaux, Carbernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and, in white, Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Colombard, as well as Ugni Blanc for Cognac and Pineaux. Efforts were also focused on winemaking, with the winery having been renovated.
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