Tiphaine Pierlot & Corentin Le Bolloch
Autre Chose
Valanjou
Loire, France
Corentin was, by his own admission, a baroudeur - a wanderer - who after school, left his native Brittany and tried his hand at different trades around France such as construction and farming but it was only after working at Lestignac with Camille and Mattias in the Bergerac that he found something he wanted to stick at. He liked the working environment, the outdoors, the nature, and especially liked the mindset of the people working in the natural wine industry. It was fun! The wanderer was wandering less and worked at Lestignac for successive years from 2015 until 2018, by which time he had progressed from harvesting to assisting with the winemaking itself. The following year, Corentin started his own wine adventure with just one hectare of vines in the Anjou and he named his project Les P’tites Choses - Small Things.
Tiphaine is originally from the Paris region but was living on the Atlantic coast in Nantes working as a graphic designer. Unbeknown to both her and Corentin, they shared common friends in the Anjou and it was while visiting these friends that they met and new projects started to blossom. They decided to make wine together and it was only natural to change the name of Corentin’s original project so Small Things became Other Things - Autre Choses.
A couple of years down the line and Tiphaine and Corentin are now settled in the village of Valanjou, 20 miles south of Angers, where they live on a farm with the space to make and store their wines. They have eight hectares of vines, many of them old vines planted in the 1950s and 60s in nearby villages and the grape varieties include Chenin, Cabernet Franc, and Gamay. Their four wines - two pet-nats and two reds - are made without any additives, filtering, or fining. The pet-nats are fresh and lively while the reds are aged in neutral oak barrels for a period from four to nine months and have great texture and depth.
currently available
gaudriole 2022
Appellation: Vin de France
Farming: Certified Agriculture Biologique
Grapes: Chenin (50%), 70 years old, clay, Beaulieu. Cab Franc (30%) (same as in Bibelot), 40 years old, sandy/purple schist, Faye d’Anjou. Grolleau Gris (20%) (from the La Touche parcel belonging to Lé Thio Noots), 30 years old, clay, Faye d’Anjou.
Vinification: Co-fermentation for the Chenin and Cab Franc, which are pressed without maceration and put into fibreglass tanks. Whole-bunch Grolleau Gris has one week of maceration in fibreglass tanks. The Grolleau is then pressed and joins the fermenting Chenin and Cab Franc in tank. The fermenting juice is capped in October and disgorged in January 2023.
Fining: No Filtering: No Added SO2: No Production: 160 cases ABV: 13%
broutille 2022
Appellation: Vin de France
Farming: Certified Agriculture Biologique
Grapes: Chenin, 30 year old vines on purple schist around Faye d’Anjou.
Vinification: Direct press into fibreglass. Aged for 8 months on fine lees in both neutral oak barrel (40%) and fibreglass tank (60%). Blended one month before bottling in June 2023.
Fining: No Filtering: No Added SO2: No Production: 250 cases ABV: 12.5%
pompon 2022
Appellation: Vin de France
Farming: Certified Agriculture Biologique
Grapes: Grolleau Noir, 40 year old vines on clay around Faye d’Anjou.
Vinification: Whole-bunch carbonic maceration in fibreglass tanks for 9 days. Tanks drained every other day. Grapes are pressed and put back into fibreglass tanks where they stay on fine lees until bottling in June 2023.
Fining: No Filtering: No Added SO2: No Production: 110 cases ABV: 13%
bibelot 2022
Appellation: Vin de France
Farming: Certified Agriculture Biologique
Grapes: Cabernet Franc, 40 years old on sandy/purple schist near Faye d’Anjou.
Vinification: Whole bunch, semi-carbonic maceration 10 days in fibreglass. Pressed, then back into fibreglass tanks. Stays on the lees for 4 months until the soutirage, then back into fibreglass until bottling in June 2023.
Fining: No Filtering: No Added SO2: No Production: 250 cases ABV:13%
maintenant 2022
Appellation: Vin de France
Farming: Organic conversion
Grapes: Cabernet Franc (70%), 50 years old, clay, Champs-sur-Layon. Gamay de Bouze (30%), 50 years old, galets roulées & silex, Champs-sur-Layon.
Vinification: Gamay is pressed. Cabernet Franc grapes go whole bunch into the Gamay juice for 10 days of maceration. All pressed together into fibreglass tanks. No oak ageing. Bottled in November 2022.
Fining: No Filtering: No Added SO2: No Production: 180 cases ABV: 13%
