A few days before All Saints’ Day, in the streets of the wine-growing towns of Burgundy, the smells of fermenting grapes have given way to those, even more intense, that emanate from the stills. Once the vinification is finished, the vats are emptied. What remains is a dry material – skins, stems and seeds – called “gen”, useful for another product from the region: pomace. Promoted by Cistercian monks at the end of the 17th century.my century, this brandy had its moment of glory at the beginning of the 20th century.my century, to the point of inspiring Picasso for one of his paintings (Old Marc’s bottle, 1913) and being recognized as a controlled designation of origin in 1942 and then in 2011.
Almost anecdotal since the 1970s, used more to mature regional cheeses, such as Epoisses, than as a digestive, Marc de Bourgogne is awakening renewed interest thanks to some enthusiasts, including Mathieu Sabbagh, who currently distills 95% of the appellation . In 2018, this dynamic fifty-year-old, former Pernod Ricard salesman, decided to change his life by acquiring the Pigneret distillery, created in 1941 in Beaune but whose activity was in decline. A traveling distiller, the neo-distiller has renamed the company Alembic Bourguignon and travels with his apparatus to the surrounding winegrowers (Meursault, Volnay, Pommard, etc.), to collect the gene and distill it on site.
“The most difficult thing was to motivate them again to provide me with raw materials, he says. The argument that most convinced them was the virtuous aspect of the pomace: we are recycling it. Especially since, after distillation, the gene can return to the earth and propagate. » It started with a single still and another fellow distiller. Six years later, he is waiting for his third device and his company has four traveling boilers, including himself. Today, Alembic Bourguignon distills marc from 250 winegrowers in the region and from several commercial houses, such as Joseph Drouhin, Louis Jadot or Albert Bichot, and even that of the Hospices de Beaune. “At the moment, only about twenty winegrowers come to collect the pomace after distillation to sell it in their name. But it’s a start.” believes Mathieu Sabbagh.
Continuity of the winemaker’s work
In 2020, the entrepreneur created his own spirits brand, Sab’s, launched with 5,000 bottles of pomace, gin, fines (wine brandy) and other fruit spirits. This year it produced 15,000, mostly gin, closely followed by pomace (sold at 49 euros a bottle). The particularity of the latter is that it requires a minimum of two years of aging to claim the Marc-de-Burgundy designation. “My spirits brand is clearly not the main part of my business today, because it takes a long aging time for the products to reach a high level,” explains Mathieu Sabbagh.
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