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The Teams

When tasting a glass of wine, it can be hard to imagine the stages the vine, then the grape, had to go through to achieve these fragrances. Nor the amount of work and how many people were involved in achieving this end result. And like the vines themselves, it is work that spans more than a single growing season and is part of a long-term process.

The soul of the estate lies not only in its philosophy but also in those who embody it. It is the women and men who, through a wide variety of professions, keep the estate alive and moving forward.

We are fortunate to have dedicated and committed teams of people, each with their own mission. They cultivate the vines, make the wine, and oversee the distillation. From bottling to maintenance to order preparation and administrative and commercial expertise, each team, each person, is an integral part of the company. They are all complementary and equally essential in helping us make every bottle of our wine or Bas-Armagnac.

It begins with work in the vineyard: matching each grape variety with a particular terroir; monitoring each step of development of the vine; pruning in winter in order to allow the vine to produce the highest quality fruit; lifting the vegetation in spring so that the sun can nourish the vines; pruning in summer to allow for enough air flow to protect the growing bunches from mildew; and all the while not forgetting that we must care for the soil itself, which requires work throughout the year to maintain and preserve this most valuable of resources.

This rigorous work extends over the four seasons, no matter what the weather, and in harmony with the plant’s vegetative cycle.

Harvest at the end of summer and beginning of autumn, a high point in the estate’s life, represents the culmination of a full year of work in the vineyards. It’s then time for vinification and distillation which demand a diverse array of technical aptitude and know-how.

For example, the estate has its own laboratory to perform oenological analysis and gained along the right skills to improve responsiveness and quality control. Samples from different tanks and barrels are regularly analysed by the estate’s cellar masters. The investment in this internal laboratory allows us to analyse at will, as we want, at any time, and get immediate results.

Bottling also requires its own specialised team. But all the while, the teams responsible for administration, marketing and order preparation are there in the background, supporting all our activities at the estate. They are, in fact, our ambassadors to the outside world and contribute to the reputation of Domaine Tariquet in France, Europe and all of our markets.

Continuing on the theme of support, specialised teams are on site to resolve technical issues with respect to cellar installations, agricultural equipment, and the bottling line. All this requires constant maintenance as we must be able to resolve any problem quickly. They are also invaluable sources of inspiration and ideas on how we can innovate or improve our current equipment.

At Domaine Tariquet, there are close to 120 permanent employees, two thirds of whom are dedicated to working in the vineyards and the cellars. From December through July, a period when vineyard work is particularly intensive and requires a lot of manual labour, the estate employs between 120 and 150 seasonal workers, depending on the requirements of the season.

These seasonal workers come from France and also, due to the shortage of agricultural labourers, from abroad. Most of the time, several workers come back from one year to the next.
Foreign seasonal workers are directly employed by the estate, under a French contract and work under the umbrella of the same collective agreement as permanent employees.
In addition, all seasonal workers, if desired, benefit from free accommodation and transportation to the workplace.

The Grassa family recognise the importance of their employees, so they are constantly looking at ways to improve the working environment. They strive to implement the best and strictest safety standards as possible; Specialised training is made possible, just like finding new ways to make certain tools more ergonomic to reduce the strain on the body of the more arduous jobs.

It’s not rare that our employees stay at the estate for many years: 10, 30 and even 35 years of seniority! It is not uncommon for several members of the same family to be employed at the estate. Despite its size, Domaine Tariquet remains a family run business with family values. Trust is a key-word between the Grassa family and those who work for them.

A permanent protection against oxidation at the domaine :

the use of cold is preferred throughout the vinification and ageing processes to the bottling.

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