Restaurant
Fabrice Chevrier is an alchemist of plants and fruits. In his workshop in La Bresse, he likes to produce small vintages that are as fruity as they are unusual. Among its specialties, a surprising but delicious hay aperitif.
Latest edition : 28 April 2020
Fabrice Chevrier, I met him a few years ago. At the time, he roamed the markets with his very tasty “fruit wines”. He had just taken over his parents' small business. Or rather their production equipment because he quickly sought his own manufacturing technique.
Nothing surprising in this wish if we know the career of Fabrice who has a solid training in biotechnology and agri-food, who developed products in the laboratory of a brewery.
At the back of his shop, he was experimenting, combining fruits and plants, even distilling… wood. A drink that left me with very unpleasant memories. But success was there and he moved his production to a magnificent chalet in the Vosges. Its flagship product? A surprising hay-based aperitif. Which I didn't really want to taste! But since we can only talk about what we know, Hervé and I tasted the three cuvées. And there, surprise!
Hay of assembly, the unusual aperitif seduces with aromas of quince, pear, cinnamon, white flower. Fabrice Chevrier's advice: “Serve it with small toasts of foie gras, Comté, mountain tomme. Or even with melon, instead of traditional port.”
When his production unit and store moved in 2016, this wine merchant, not quite like the others, created the cuvée Le Grand apéritif du chalet , a blend of mountain hay and oak wood. With its notes of vanilla, caramel, brioche and thyme, it goes very well with charcuterie, smoked ham toast, raw ham. As for the Mystery
cuvée, with aromas of chestnut, warm chestnut, it is made with oak chips roasted like coffee. We dare it with a cheese fondue, to surprise our guests.
Despite the unexpected success of hay aperitifs, Fabrice Chevrier has not abandoned his famous small fruit wines such as the traditional raspberry, blueberry or even strawberry fruit wines. Also to be tasted is the beautifully fresh rhubarb-ginger blend or the mountain “mojito” with Vosges mint.
But why did you want to make an aperitif based on hay? the click came when Fabrice tasted a hay ice cream at La Table d'Angèle (an excellent restaurant in La Bresse). “The taste was extraordinary and I wanted to create a wine with these same aromas! Easier said than distilled! “The first concoction was undrinkable,” he recalls laughing. “So I looked: what hay, plain or mountain? We had to find the right quantity, the right infusion time..."
Finally, Fabrice chose mountain hay, "for its flowers and its wide variety of different plants". In all, it took him no less than 150 tries. !
The production process is relatively simple: infuse the hay in a copper cauldron in boiling water, add sugar and lemon.
After 2 to 3 weeks of fermentation, it must be clarified, filtered to remove the leaven. In short, Fabrice Chevrier takes care of his very special little vintages like a winemaker his cuvées.
Except that its small vintages are made from fruits, plants and flowers from the Vosges.
The Vosges cuvées
34 Route de Vologne
88250 La Bresse,
Tel. 06 82 12 44 75.
Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.