The French lawyer and wine expert Baron Pierre Marie Gabriel Le Roy Boiseaumarié (1890-1967) was a fighter pilot after studying law in the First World War from 1914 to 1918. In 1919, he married Emma Bernard Le Saint, the heiress of Château Fortia in the southern Rhône. In his new role as vineyard owner, he was confronted with major problems in the Département of Vaucluse. The devastation caused by phylloxera had led to a decline in wine quality. Adulteration with grapes from other regions, such as the Gard department, was the order of the day. As early as 1923, he defined an area that was best suited for viticulture according to his analyses (today one would say: ecological). His criteria were the wild plants thyme and lavender that grow together here. For this area, he determined the grape varieties that are still used today, which are best suited to the soil type and climate. This made him the founder of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation, which was not classified until 1935.
Boiseaumarié also tried very successfully to mobilise the winegrowers for his ideas. He therefore founded a winegrowers' association in Châteauneuf-du-Pape in 1924 and the Union Côtes du Rhône in 1929. In 1930, he founded L'Académie du Vin de France with the restaurateur and writer Maurice E. Sailland, alias Curnonsky (1872-1956), modelled on the Académie Française. And in 1935, with his friend and professor of agriculture Joseph Capus (1868-1947), the forerunner of today's INAO was created, with Boiseaumarié serving as its president for 20 years from 1947 to 1967. Boiseaumarié and Capus are regarded as the founders and pioneers of the French appellation system (see Appellation d'Origine Protégée). For his services to wine quality, Pierre Boiseaumarié was made an Officer of the Legion of Honour and elected President of the OIV (Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin).
Château: Château Fortia
Boiseaumarié: by Véronique PAGNIER - Own work, Public Domain, Link
