The mass wine for the reopening ceremony of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on December 8 is the
natural wine from a small vineyard on the Loire. For the opening mass, the Archbishop of Paris chose a
cuvée of
Chardonnay,
Grenache Blanc, and
Clairette Blanche from the 2022 and 2023 vintages. It is produced by Régis and Anne-Reine Anouil on the Loire. Both are devout Catholics and were employed in Catholic organizations until 2017. Since then, they have been winemakers and manage a 2.6-hectare vineyard. They produce about 10,000 bottles of red, white, and
rosé wines per year according to the principles of agroforestry and biodynamics. The wines are made without additives,
fining,
filtration, and sulfites. They meet the requirements for mass wine, which must be "naturally pure" from grapes and free from additives such as sugar, color, or flavoring agents. The red wine
Cuvée Laudato Si' from the Anouils was served to Pope Francis during his visit to Marseille in October 2023, while the
Blanc Cuvée Grange was already used as mass wine at that time. The church, a landmark of the French
capital, was severely damaged by a fire in April 2019. The reconstruction and renovation cost around 700 million euros. Billionaires Bernard Arnault, owner of
LVMH, and François Pinault, founder of the luxury goods group Kering, contributed significant sums to this. The two families own some of the
most prestigious wineries in the country, including the Châteaux d’Yquem, Latour, Cheval
Blanc,
Clos des Lambrays, and
Clos de Tart. (al / Source: decanter; larvf) More on the topic: 25 cases of
Château Mouton auctioned for the reconstruction of Notre Dame.
