The history of the carnotzet
We have the honor and pleasure of working in a 100-year-old building. It is part of the “Mathier Wine Park”, which is growing and changing. There are a lot of things happening right now. A new barrique cellar and a new room for the fermentation of our grapes in foudriers (wooden fermenting vats) are being built, we have put a solar system into operation and renovated the heating system. While in the deep cellar all the secrets surrounding our wines are guarded and less accessible to the general public, there was a room in our cellar that was known far and wide. The Carnotzet. A few months ago it was demolished and makes way for the barrique cellar.
The Carnotzet was built in 1964 on the site where washing troughs for the whole Mathier family used to stand and cows used to be watered. Although I have been in this building all my life, this was new to me. My older siblings told me their memories of this place. It is a mythical place. Each family member associates with him lasting, beautiful memories. The joyful beaming, the shining eyes and the sentence “If these walls can talk …” suggest a lot.
The Carnotzet was the economic backbone of our cellar from 1964 to 1995. Here our wines were offered for tasting and sale – with great success. Occasionally, an attempt was made to give the space a new purpose, but no sooner was the idea in the air than there were loud protests against it. The Carnotzet has always remained true to its basic purpose: Wine was drunk in it. In addition, it was also a meeting and negotiation room and for us young people at that time a room outside the public (where wine was served and as a test of courage now and then schnapps). Words about enjoying wine, tasting, replenishing one’s wine stocks, discussions around vineyards and life in general filled this room on a daily basis. Here lovers were brought together, friendships for life were made, existences were founded. In short, it was a central place for us and for our wine lovers.
People shaped him. This is one of the reasons why it took me until today to dare to make the decision to demolish it. But after the new Carnotzet with the new and modern infrastructure was put into operation in 1995, we gradually forgot about this small hidden room in the outbuilding. Hardly any of us have used it since. Now we are all looking forward to the barrique cellar.
