About
Tom Fiorina
My circuitous communication career has included having worked for Silicon Valley start-ups, helping international companies to market their products in foreign lands, and, while employed at Europe’s largest Coca-Cola bottler, trying to convince employees that selling bottled, sugary fizzy water was some sort of divine mission. But my most rewarding job, bar none, was being probably the only American walnut farmer in France’s southwest with an MBA. And probably the greatest compliment that I’ve ever received was when my 75-year-old neighbor, who had been a farmer all of his life, told me that I worked like a true Périgordin.
And it’s in that spirit that this wine blog was created. The 21st century is a tumultuous period for French winemakers. Declining wine consumption in France, stricter alcohol restrictions for drivers, the pulling up of old vines, and competition from New World wines are altering its wine landscape. Some French winemakers are thriving, however. The most common characteristic of their wine is the use of low-yield, low-interventionist techniques that result in original, well-crafted wines. This blog is dedicated to these men and women.
Recent news: My wine tourism guides about Corsica are now online at Wink Lorch’s WineTourismGuides.com website. You can review them for free here, or, for a very reasonable £5 download fee, you can obtain a PDF guide of your own.
In October 2010 I entered the DNO (Diplôme National d’Œnologue) program in Toulouse. I’ll be sharing my thoughts about the two-year study program on these pages.
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Contact me at tomfiorina (at) thevineroute (dot) com to discuss wine, France or any related subjects.
All content Copyright Tom Fiorina
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Tom
I checked out your blog and will check in again! I just wanted to wish you the best with it. When I have time, I’ll write something about your new blog on mine (ProvencePost.com). Bravo and Good luck!
Julie
Thanks, Julie. As you write about one of my favorite areas in France, I’m going to take a close look at your blog. Tom
Great articles…Beautiful pictures.
It’s a pleasure to visit here.
Rob, I appreciate your comment about the blog. Ever since I read the Andrew Jefford “Rockyards and stonejuice” entry in his blog that talked about Terrasses du Larzac wines and where he mentioned you, I’ve been interested in the area. I’ll contact you the next time that I’m in that area. It would be nice to meet you and to taste your wines.
Hi Tom
Seeing as you local (ish) and you obviously love the wines and people of this region, I wondered if you would like to come and visit me and my colleague Matthew Stubbs MW at our wine school based just south of Carcassonne. We run a wide range of courses on wines from the region to wine and food pairing to professional courses to bespoke weekend breaks.
We tasted a wine the other week that would work beautifully with your walnuts, Aimé Cazes Rivesaltes 1975, superb!
All the best
Emma
Emma, I actually met Matthew at a barbecue that was given for some Roussillon vignerons last year. He may not remember me, but I took his card and have been meaning to contact him. I’ll definitely try to visit you both in the near future. Limoux is not very far from Toulouse. Finding a wine that goes well with walnuts is not that easy.
Hi Tom,
Having spent 5 or 6 weeks in Roquessels in Faugeres a couple of years ago, I’m pleased to find your blog and look forward to reading about wines from the Languedoc.
Murray
Thanks, Murray, for your comment. I’m glad to hear that you’ve been to one of the Languedoc’s most scenic areas.
Hi Tom,
I found your blog from the http://www.armagnac.fr page as noted in the latest issue of France magazine. (wow, that was quite a sentence!)
My husband and I own an old farmhouse in the Gers region. We are quite inspired by Americans who have taken the big step to live and work in France. Our status is still ‘tourist’, perhaps someday.
Linda
Thanks for writing, Linda. I’m glad that you found my blog through the BNIA website. We know other Americans who own property in the Gers, so we’re familiar with the sensation of having one foot in the U.S. and one foot in France. My email address is on my ABOUT page. Write to me, if you want. I would enjoy meeting you and your husband. Regards, Tom
Hi Tom,
I’ve got to your blog quite accidentally, nevertheless I’ve found it very interesting. I can absolutely understand that you left the Coca-Cola type of business life and exchanged it with being a walnut farmer. I see the similarity to my life. I’ve been working also in the multinational environment being the regional CFO of a large chemical company for 4 countries, but after a while I’ve been thinking what am I actually doing? I started my private business years ago but more importantly I’ve bought a piece of forest, some acres of vine and a cellar built in the 1930′s. The area is in the Badacsony vine region of Hungary (myself being a Hungarian). So I am at the beginning of this new life but it brings me a lot more joy than what I have been done before. We are renovating the cellar, buying equipments and cultivating the vine with a local young winemaker. It is hard but it is fun!
I really wish you all the best and success with your wine blog as well as with your walnut business!
Best regards,
Gabor Adam
Hungary
Gabor, I am pleased that you came across my blog. We sold our walnut farm in 1999, so I’ve been out of the “walnut business” now for almost ten years. I hope that you’ll keep me informed through other comments about how your wine-making endeavors progress. Bravo to you for doing something that brings you and others so much pleasure.
Hi Tom,
If you haven’t visited Rob Dougan at La Peira inTerrasses du Larzac yet, it’s worth the trip. I met Rob’s business partner, Jeremie Depierre, last April. Their wines are astounding, a result of their commitment to quality in vineyard and the cellar.
Found your blog when searching for info on Didier Barral after reading about hm in Cork Screwed.
Thanks for your suggestion, Jack. Visiting La Peira has been on my wish list for awhile, as I’ve read some interesting articles (particularly Andrew Jefford’s piece in the Financial Times) about these vineyards and their owner. Some of southern France’s most interesting wines come from the Terrasses du Larzac region. I’m glad that you found my blog through Cork Screwed and Didier Barral. Robert Camuto’s portrayal of him in his book is absolutely superb.
Hi Tom
Very nice to meet you. I appreciate a lot by your passion in the wine world. A bientôt!
Hi Tom,
First, my sympathies to you and your family about Enzo. He looked beautiful and I know how much happiness dogs can bring to life.
Apologies if I’ve missed the relevant posts (I have searched I promise) but I was wondering if you’ve written at all about your wine studies in Toulouse (I’ve read your posts about your placement work but not the rest of the course).
My husband, Jack, and I have recently moved to the Gaillac region and at the end of this month will complete on the purchase of our vineyard which shares borders with the inspiring Domaine Perez Roses which I know you know. Jack has a UK viticulture and winemaking degree and has worked in other vineyards and wineries including the 2010 vendage in Clos du Val , Napa. I however am a very enthusiastic novice wine student. I’ve been taking the WSET courses (have my Level 3) and the next logical step would be the WSET Diploma but I thought I should look at other options and saw that you were well on your way to the Diplome in Toulouse.
High on my priority list, after years of not very patient waiting, is to get our own vineyard dogs – still deciding on breed – and our own white van with Domaine Clair Massy written on the side!
Best wishes. Thanks for the blog. Margaret.
Margaret, thanks for your comment and your kind words about Enzo. We miss him every day.
I haven’t written much about my oenology studies, other than, as you mentioned, my internships with various winemakers, including your future neighbors Olivier and Astrid Bonnafont at Peyres Roses in Gaillac. They’re wonderful people, and I know that they’ll be great neighbors for you and your husband Jack. Curiously enough, I have tweeted some about the oenology classes, as the density of the subject matter (overwhelmingly chemistry-based) doesn’t fit very well with the subject matter that I cover on this blog. Chemistry, at least for me, is more easily digested in 140-character bits. But the studies are interesting, and they’re helping me to understand wine and winemaking at a new level.
Good luck with your new vineyard. I hope that I can get the opportunity to visit you and to taste the Domaine Clair Massy wine someday. And please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any specific questions about the DNO studies in Toulouse.