It was Robert’s father, Jean, a wounded veteran from the Great War, who married into a modest family of smallholders who happened to have a couple of hectares of vineyard.
Phylloxera had devastated what was once a very substantial vineyard, and it might have disappeared altogether if it wasn’t for Robert Sérol. He had left school early and took over from his father and slowly began to grow the business and improve quality. He began to bottle his own wine during the 1970s and his real break came in 1978 when he got his wine on the list of Troisgros, surely one of the best three-star Michelin restaurants. With that and his continued friendship with the Troisgros family, he was able to plant more vineyard. His next move was to work towards gaining full appellation status which finely came in 1994.
Côte Roannaise sits on the left bank of the Loire River but away from the flood plain. The soils are granite, like those of Beaujolais, about 50 miles to the east. Like Beaujolais, gamay is the only permitted black grape and the style of wine can favourably be compared to a Brouilly. I first came across the wines thanks to Jean Dépagneux whose father, Jacques sometimes bought Roannaise wines in bulk. Those were the days before appellation regulations.
Robert’s son Stéphane took over and built on his father’s success. In came a more sustainable approach to farming, organic and then biodynamic accreditation followed. Single-vineyard wines were created that show just how complex these wines can be. New varieties were planted such as chenin to reflect Loire heritage and viognier, Condrieu across the way in the Rhône is after all so close too.
I shall remember Robert, always a nimble figure in the cellar, inseparable from his neat trilby, telling a story or two of the past. The Troisgros connection is still there. A joint venture binds the two families together with a cuvée for exclusive use at the restaurant.
