Vine growing was traditional in the Isle valley, either in full plots or in joualles with other plants. Despite the phylloxera crisis between 1870 and 1880, the production of « common » white and red wines for local consumption did not disappear.
The winemaking process changed little in the 19th century. The practice was simple: from the grape harvest, to crushing, pressing, fermentation of the must in the vat, clarification by racking into another vat or filtering the wine, then maturing in oak barrels or in the bottle. The evolution of wine-growing took place when traditional grape varieties were replaced by American plants resistant to phylloxera and when the scale of production of some farms changed.
In 1902, Jules Honoré Sécrestat, an alcohol industrialist in Bordeaux and inventor of Bitter Sécrestat and Toni Kola, had the winery of the Lardimalie wine estate in Saint Pierre de Chignac built in 1902 for the semi-industrial production of white and red wine. The exclusion of the Perigordine « haut pays » from the Bordeaux wine appellation in 1907 and competition from Bergerac wines did not prevent production until 1967.
Illustrations :
– Postcard of a hillside planted with vines in Saint Louis en l’Isle in the 1950s (Escarment Collection)
– Photograph of the Borie grape harvest at Saint Astier in the 1930s (Private collection in Hervé Mercier, Saint-Astier, 1900-1950, volume 2, La vie Astérienne, Imprimerie IOTA, 2015)
– Photograph of the grape harvest at the Rougerie in Saint Astier in 1938 (Private collection in Hervé Mercier, Saint-Astier, 1900-1950, volume 2, La vie Astérienne, Imprimerie IOTA, 2015)
– Photograph of the Lardimalie winery. (Private collection)