Alphonse Vautour, Jean-Marc Autran’s great grandfather, made his wine in a cellar at the top of a little hill to the south of Sablet – called ‘Les Briguières’ – where he owned 6 hectares of vines. The winery was named ‘Ténébi’, after the old owner of the house.

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Alphonse had to go down the hill, his mules loaded with barrels, to wait for the wine merchant to come by. If the merchant didn’t come, or didn’t buy his wine, he had to climb back up with his reluctant mules. So in 1947 he decided to build a new winery on the road below, where the Piaugier cellars are to this day.

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Jean-Marc Autran, Alphonse’s great-grandson, took over the winery from his father Marc in 1985. He acquired more vineyards and, with the assistance of his wife Sophie, developed the sale of his wines in bottle. The winery soon became too small and they extended it in 1995 to enable them to mature and store the wines in the best possible conditions.

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In homage to this family history, Jean-Marc has dedicated a wine to his ancestor, the ‘Réserve Alphonse Vautour’, which is made from grapes grown in his original fields. 

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Today, wines from Domaine de Piaugier, this little family estate, are sold as far away as the United States, Japan and Brazil.