BELGIUM: Brussels' only wine maker vows to defy the bulldozers to save his vineyard from a local plan to destroy it
Record ID:
1532374
BELGIUM: Brussels' only wine maker vows to defy the bulldozers to save his vineyard from a local plan to destroy it
- Title: BELGIUM: Brussels' only wine maker vows to defy the bulldozers to save his vineyard from a local plan to destroy it
- Date: 2nd July 2010
- Summary: SCHAERBEEK, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (RECENT - JUNE 2010) (REUTERS) BELGIAN WINEMAKER AND IMPORTER, ARMAND ELL ENTERING HIS VINEYARD IN THE PUBLIC PARC JOSAPHAT ELL SURVEYING THE VINES VINES AND YOUNG GRAPES (SOUNDBITE) (French) BELGIAN WINEMAKER AND IMPORTER, ARMAND ELL SAYING: "We don't use fertilizers, it's like the monks, 1000 years ago, 'vivus humus' in Latin. It is the living humus, 'living compost,' like in forests" YOUNG GRAPES (SOUNDBITE) (French) ALBERT ELL, ARMAND'S SON AND VINEYARD OPERATOR, OVER PICTURES OF HIM TALKING AND THEN HANDLING THE SOIL AND COMPOST, SAYING: "When you see this humus, it filters and dissipates -- perhaps not 100 percent, but definitely -- the pollution that is affecting us" (SOUNDBITE) (French) BELGIAN WINEMAKER AND IMPORTER, ARMAND ELL SAYING: "As I am sure you know, I am a wine importer and my own wine producers tell me that what we produce here is better than what they produce." ELL OPENING CLOS JOSAPHAT WINE BOTTLE ELL POURING WINE IN GLASS WINE IN GLASS ELL WITH FRIENDS FROM THE LOCAL COMMUNE AND NEIGHBOURS AROUND A TABLE WITH WINE FRIEND PICKING UP WINE GLASS FRIEND SMELLING AND TASTING THE WINE AND SHOWING APPRECIATION FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS AND PEOPLE LIVING IN THE COMMUNE AROUND TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (French) EXPERT ORGANIC WINE TASTER, JEROME VAN DER PUTT, TASTING THE WINE AND SAYING: "As far as I can judge I find the nose absolutely delicious, it really is a nose that is full of little red fruits, exactly everything we like. A tiny little touch of volatile acidity, which I personally quite like. It allows for the aromas to come out. Its just perfect. Spicy, slightly peppered." VAN DER PUTT'S ORGANIC WINE GUIDE AND CLOS JOSAPHAT GLASS OF WINE ON THE TABLE
- Embargoed: 18th July 2010 00:30
- Keywords:
- Location: Belgium
- Country: Belgium
- Topics: Industry,Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVACT4FWHZR2CNWLFUMNVO9N4HGN
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: Armand Ell is a Belgian wine importer who 37 years ago decided to grow his own vineyard in the public park Josaphat, in the heart of the Belgian capital of Brussels.
The local community of Schaerkbeek gave him the permission to grow the grapes but he never bought the land which Schaerbeek say belongs to the local district.
And now they want it back so they can grow organic vegetables instead.
Over my dead body, says Ell, who is proud of his organic wine.
"We don't use fertilizers, its like the monks, 1000 years ago, 'vivus humus' in Latin. It is the living humus, 'living compost,' like in forests" Ell says.
The Clos Josaphat vineyard is not only rare for its inner-city location, but rare for the country as a whole, as Belgium produces only a fraction of the wine grown by its neighbours France and Germany. Ell is one of, at most, a handful of vintners in the city of Brussels itself, and the only one who makes his wine without additives.
Ell believes his wine to be amongst the finest in the world.
"When you see this humus, it filters and dissipates -- perhaps not 100 percent, but definitely -- the pollution that is affecting us" says Armand's son, Albert Ell.
"As I am sure you know, I am a wine importer and my own wine producers tell me that what we produce here is better than what they produce," says Armand.
Ell produces around 200 to 250 litres of wine a year. He says he doesn't do it for profit and shares it freely with the local community who occasionally come for wine tasting at his house.
Armand and Albert also say the wine has travelled the world, and even claim the wine's been tasted by world leaders like former French president Jacques Chirac.
One wine taster, Jerome van der Putt, who has written a book on organic wines, was on hand to give his expert opinion.
"As far as I can judge I find the nose absolutely delicious, it really is a nose that is full of little red fruits, exactly everything we like. A tiny little touch of volatile acidity, which I personally quite like. It allows for the aromas to come out. Its just perfect. Spicy, slightly peppered" says van der Putt.
But Schaerbeek Alderman Michel de Herde doesn't care one bit about the quality of the wine. He plans to send the bulldozers to clos Josaphat on October 15 to pull up the vines for ever.
The local commune's logo, emblazoned on the front of the town hall, may go some way to explain the face off: 'Stubborn like a donkey, Fertile like the earth where the cherry tree grows' De Herde says this is public land, owned and managed by the local commune for the people of the commune. He resents Ell's claim on the land and refuses to enter any discussion with him.
"Legally speaking things need to be very clear: Parc Josaphat is a public space. And that is inalienable. It's as if someone, who had been given the right to set themselves up in Hyde Park in London or in the Castle of Versailles. It is not because you have the authorization to set up that that he becomes the owner," he says.
De Herde believes Ell is a self promoter and that his duty as an Alderman is to answer the needs of the local community rather than those of an old eccentric.
"And now we have a lot of demand from a lot of schools, local committees, citizens, who want us to have organic vegetable plots. And therefore, we had to make a choice between continuing the wine growing, by a private, or to answer the demand of the people living here, the school children, to grow organic vegetables" he says.
Relations appear strained beyond repair and Ell says he will not budge. His argument is that after working the land for more than 30 years it may well be his by right.
His son, Albert, simply doesn't understand why they want to grow vegetables on that particular plot.
"We are in a 20 hectare park, there is plenty of space available. One vineyard like this is the only one in the capital of Europe. It's a jewel, known worldwide. We have the support of many people, there are vegetable everywhere, and we don't have anything against vegetable plots, we ourselves started with a vegetable plot. Now this is a vineyard and what we need to do is not to destroy it but to make it bigger," Albert says.
And it is hard to see how the local commune can win against such a romantic as Ell who says that at his age, he has nothing to lose.
"If the bulldozers attack me, I'll stay here. We all have to die anyway. Since I'm 82, I'll die in front of the bulldozers" Ell says. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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