Vegan Wines for Veganuary
Denim Organic Rhone Wine Weaves a Wonderful Story
The fun new limited edition wine Denim by Beaubois Organic Rhone Wine by Chateau Beaubois pays homage the weavers of Nimes, complete with a denim-style label. With their new wine Denim by Beaubois, Fanny and François Boyer, winemakers at Château Beaubois in Costieres de Nimes, present an organic red wine which has an important cause at its core: to bring awareness of the true birthplace of denim in Nimes, and to the weaving process of the fabric in the eponymous town.
Denim is the latest creation of Fanny and François Boyer, winemakers at Chateau Beaubois in Costieres de Nimes. “Denim comes from our finest organic plots and is vinified with great care,” says Fanny. The wine is a delightful red with a dark purple rim, fruity and fresh clean aroma, with silky tannins. Denim is a fine representation of the Rhone Valley, with a unique mission: to help the return of Jean to Nimes.
How Organic Rhone Wine Weaved into the Story of Denim
The idea of Denim by Beaubois was born in 2015 while Fanny Boyer came across Guillaume Sagot, co-founder of Ateliers de Nimes. “I have a crush on this project whose goal is to relocate the manufacturing of Denim to Nimes. We have, with the creators, the same connection to the land and to the city of Nimes. We share the same belief about the benefits of the local production and the advantages of Made in France,” explains Fanny. Château Beaubois created an initial “collector’s label” called Ramenons le Denim à la maison (bring our Denim back home) made in association with Atelier de Nîmes. The bottles were hand-labeled with actual denim, with only 1,000 bottles of this limited edition sold through a crowdfunding campaign. The proceeds of the sales went to help financially support the Atelier de Nîmes project, with all profits transferred to this Nimes company to help resurrect the Denim weaving skills that were left behind in the 1950s.
The second label, Denim by Beaubois, was created to bring the wine and the story to a wider audience in France as well as the United States and other export countries. The special wine celebrates the Denim fabric, born in Nimes many centuries ago, as well as the French ingenuity of its weavers that is equal to the skilled winemakers of the Rhone region. We are very excited to be able to offer this wine to the U.S. market.
Château Beaubois Producers of Denim Organic Rhone Wine
Château Beaubois covers a total of 60 hectares in the Costieres de Nimes region of the Southern Rhone Valley. Sister and brother Fanny and François Boyer are the 4th generation of their family owning the vineyard. They bring out the best of their unique terroir, producing wines of pure freshness, elegance and depth. Château Beaubois truly embraces this unique AOC of the Rhone Valley known for its innovation and commitment to sustainability. Château Beaubois is one of the Top 3 wineries in the Costières de Nimes. The Boyers are pioneers in this appellation, first to go Terra Vitis (20 years ago) and first vineyard in HVE3 (10 years ago) on the department when this certification is starting to bloom in France since last years. The winery has been certified organic since 2009.
The History of Denim in Nimes
As told by Ateliers de Nimes: “At the crossroads between truths and falsehoods, denim is a legendary fabric. Both historians and aficionados have their own versions of the story. There is however an indisputable fact: Nîmes is the city where the legend began.
It is in the heart of the old town and its sun-drenched streets, in the shade of the courtyard of a town house, that one can uncover the scattered clues of its glorious past. Here, on the iron bannister, a coat of arms was ripped out during the city’s dark ages. On this coat of arms there were two letters: J.A. The initials of a prominent 17th century businessman from Nîmes, Joseph André, who brought fame to the city by establishing trading posts all over the world. The Andrés, who were a prominent protestant family in Nîmes, built their fortune in the silk industry and the commercialization of the Serge de Nîmes, the famous “de Nîmes” – or denim.
This renowned fabric, made in the region with wool and silk since the 16th century, was used to make fustians and casaquins for locals. Following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV in 1685 (a decree which protected the protestants in the region) the André family had to go in to exile. It’s in Genoa that they found refuge, at one of the many trading posts.
As well as this emblematic family from Nîmes, many other French protestants left the country for Italy, but also America, England, the United Provinces, etc… exporting the de Nîmes fabric with them. Later, a famous American trader, along with his tailor associate, got hold of the fabric (which they found more comfortable than the tarpaulin sheets they were using), attached rivets onto the trousers and adapted them to suit American workmen.
According to The Good Life France: “Legend has it that in 1853, Levi Strauss, a 24-year-old German immigrant, left New York for San Francisco where the California gold rush was in full swing. He took with him a small supply of dry goods with the intention of opening a branch of his brother’s New York dry goods business. A prospector who came to the shop for supplies asked what was for sale. Strauss told him he had rough canvas to use for tents and wagon covers and the prospector said, “You should have brought pants!” saying he couldn’t find a pair of pants strong enough to last. Strauss created pants out of the cloth he had sourced from France. The trader called his trousers “jeans” – named after the blue dye that was used called “Genoa” and the cloth was called “denim” from shortening the fabric name “serge de Nimes.” The blue jeans were a hit initially with prospectors and eventually manual workers across America. The blue cloth from Nimes was adapted for work wear in France in the late 19th Century and became the uniform of the manual working classes.”
Today, Ateliers de Nîmes is behind the new revival of the original denim factory in Nimes, and their French-made high-quality blue denim jeans with street savvy style are highly sought after around the world.
Denim by Beaubois Organic Rhone Wine is Made with 100% Organic Grapes and is Vegan friendly. The wine is available now for distribution nationwide in limited allocation.
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