Sustainable Wine Culture Practices in France by Ruth Paget
When I lived in France, I was able to witness several sustainable wine culture practices in the Touraine and Bordeaux wine regions. (My husband Laurent’s grandfather was a wine salesman for these regions, who kept several of these traditions alive in his family.) There is money to be made in all these practices that also create jobs.
*Making wine vinegar throughout the year
Unfinished red wine that has become sour can be made into vinegar with the addition of apple cider vinegar. I like how Normandy, which has apples, but no vineyards, is linked to the wine trade through the making of wine vinegar for both red and white wine.
The following youtube.com video shows the procedure for making red wine vinegar with measures:
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/u_SOgZWRxcs
*Making Salade à la Tourangelle with wine vinegar
This is a spring and summer recipe that makes use of the abundant baby greens that grow in the Touraine, the organic cendré chevre goat cheese from the Touraine, tomatoes for which the Touraine is famous, and wine vinegar.
My recipe for this salad follows:
https://ruthpaget.blogspot.com/2025/10/salade-lavtourangelle-in-salinas.html?m=1
*Drinking Marc Eau-de-Vie
Marc is a French equivalent of Italian grappa. Marc is an eau-de-vie made from grape skins, seeds, and stems that remain after grape juice is crushed out of the grapes at harvest to make wine.
These leftover items are further crushed to make a bitter eau-de-vie. The most famous marcs in France are Marc de Champagne and Marc de Bourgogne, but technically every winegrowing region could make marc.
*Gathering and Using Grape Leaves in Several Kinds of Food Dishes
Once the harvested grapes are crushed and marc is made, grape leaves can be harvested for use in salads, sautéed like spinach, and stuffed with rice and/or meat.
My blog follows on how to work with grape leaves as food:
https://ruthpaget.blogspot.com/2025/11/greek-grape-leaf-recipes-reposted-by.html?m=1
*Using Twigs from Pruning for Various Paper Products
The most immediate use of twigs from pruning is grilling. The twigs from grape vines are supposed to impart a good flavor to grilled meat.
Twigs can also be made into paper products like toilet paper, tissue, paper napkins, paper tablecloths, paper towels, writing paper, post-it notes, and paper bags.
*Eating Boar Stew
Boars are wild pigs with curled tusks that live in vineyards and eat grapes and leaves. They are considered pests. The French have no qualms about eating one if they capture it. They can make boar stew with chicken, if they have not boars on hand.
Many variations of boar stew exist, but they usually include some winter root vegetables and maybe mushrooms along with a bottle of red wine in the recipe.
*Using Old Wine Barrels to Finish Tennessee Whiskey and Kentucky Bourbon
Old cognac barrels are routinely sold to the US for Tennessee whiskey and Kentucky Bourbon. The seasoned barrels add to the flavor of these beverages.
*Using Old Wine Barrels as Planters
Wine barrels cut in half make good planters. If you plant roses in them and place them by vineyards, they can provide early signals of blight and mildew that might affect the fields.
*Possible Use of Old Barrels to Make Paper Products
Old Barrels might be able to be made into paper products before using the option of burning them for heat.
These sustainable wine culture practices in France can be reproduced in the US, especially in California, to make money and create jobs. Some of these sustainable practices are centuries old, but not fully adopted in all regions where wine is grown. Adopting them might have the side benefit of helping reduce food insecurity by using grape leaves as food.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games
