Famille Rateau L.R.20.11 Edition 2.1

In the world of Cognac, some encounters feel less like a visit than an entry into an entire universe. Joël Rateau is one of those winegrower-distillers whose personality leaves as strong an impression as his eaux-de-vie. Curious, inventive and observant, he has always moved through life with a deeply personal way of understanding machines, nature and time.

The story of the Rateau family is rooted first in Malaville, then at Maine Frugier in Nonaville, where Joël settled with Annie in the mid-1970s. Becoming a young winegrower in 1980, he gradually took over the work of the vineyard and the family distillery. It was there that his resourceful spirit truly came into its own. At a time when modern automation did not yet exist, Joël devised an ingenious system using mechanical alarm clocks to trigger certain distillation operations. An invention very much in his image: practical, mischievous and free.

For À la Main, we selected six casks from the Rateau estate. Each one carries a singular expression of this house: attention to the wine, precision of the fire, patience in ageing, and the joyful intensity we find in Joël himself.

Lauriane Dupré, the illustrator-interpreter for this edition, chose to translate that spirit into a large, moving fresco. In it, we find Joël in the vines, the still as a living machine, the casks in motion, the bottles taking shape, but also signs of his other worlds: travel, hunting, Aubrac, Madeira, Thailand. Her drawing tells the story of a man who invents, adapts, observes and transmits.

Divided into six labels, this fresco accompanies the six selected casks. Each bottle stands on its own, but together they recompose the portrait of an estate, a Cognac, and a winegrower-distiller profoundly shaped by work done by hand.