Wine historian Yann Grappe is a proper wine nerd. Not only does he know a great deal about the history and culture of wine, he also knows how to taste and experience it to the fullest. He even teaches about it. His wine selection can be savoured at Tortue, a snug wine bar located on a quiet street in the southern part of Brussels, where food, wine and music come together in joyful and creative harmony.
Working in the food and wine scene, how do you experience this environment when you go out in Brussels?
I find the gastronomic scene in Brussels very interesting and could mention a long list of lovely places. At the moment, I tend to go for the simpler spots, like Au Repos de la Montagne in Saint-Job, for the quality of their ingredients, the simplicity and the friendly service; and La Cigale in Saint-Gilles, to drink an Orval with a typical brasserie meal. These places have the character of an old bar or café that makes you feel relaxed, like you’re at home.
I grew up in Brussels, next to the Étangs d’Ixelles, and back in the day this area was rather rough. When I was young, we always went to the brown bars that smelled of cigarettes. With the renovation of Place Flagey and the introduction of new bars like Belga and Vedette, the area changed and a much-needed revitalisation followed. Around the year 2000, a new energy came to the food scene in Brussels, a wave carried by a small group of people. At the time, the new establishments were still low-key and enjoyable, but unfortunately gentrification has brought about a system that caters to chains and larger companies.
Being a small independent bar or restaurant owner in Brussels is difficult today. The expenses are high and it’s costly to hire trained staff. You have to be very passionate about what you do and accept that you won’t earn a lot of money. Many small places, especially the older ones with that unassuming feel about them, have had to close down in recent years as it has become too expensive and difficult to keep them going.
When did you start getting interested in food and wine?
Even as a child, I loved cooking – helping out with the Christmas meal or just making a good béarnaise sauce. I would cook on my own initiative or together with a neighbour friend. I was quickly attuned to the satisfaction of making something you can share and enjoy with others, and it stuck with me. In 1999, thanks to the European Erasmus Programme, I went to Bologna to continue my history studies. I wanted to study in Italy, and I’d heard Bologna was a popular Erasmus destination. After nine months of regular history classes, I met a professor who had launched a new discipline: food history. That immediately appealed to me and became decisive for what I’ve done ever since. I didn’t speak a word of Italian at the time, but the course was so interesting that I learned it quickly.
My final thesis was written on the history of wine. I was so absorbed by the subject that I went on to do a PhD. I looked into the culture and representation of wine in contemporary and historical literature. For a long time, historians didn’t accept literature as a legitimate scientific source, but through literature you can find considerable factual information about the history of food, dating back to the 12th century. In much of the contemporary literature I read, specialists claimed that early wine was too sour and that we’ve only had good wine since the 1980s. I found this conclusion rather odd, as wine has existed for around 8,000 years. With a critical anthropological approach, I discovered a rich and diverse historical culture of wine.
Perhaps we wouldn’t have liked the wine they drank in the past, but did they like it? When we give voice to the drinkers of the past, we realise that the joy of wine was shared by all. From peasants to lords, people knew how to appreciate it, differentiate it and describe it with talent. Wine culture was much richer than ours: it permeated social, political, commercial and religious life, and was also a key element of preventive medicine in pre-industrial times. This importance of wine in society led to the creation of a great diversity of grape varieties and wines — and consequently, many excellent beverages and great gourmets throughout time. Wine gastronomy is not the privilege of our age; quite the contrary, we should thank them!
Your wine bar, Tortue, is known as a place to drink natural wine. How did your studies bring you to open a place like that?
Before opening Tortue, I spent several years in Pollenzo, just outside Turin in northern Italy, at the University of Gastronomic Sciences, established by the founder of the Slow Food Movement, Carlo Petrini. I was teaching history of wine and food. I travelled a lot in France and Morocco, organised gastro trips and spent countless hours visiting vineyards. After my university experience, I decided to work in restaurants as a sommelier in the centre of Turin. Banco and Consorzio, with whom I collaborated, taught me a great deal. I’m very close friends with the owners, and thanks to them I was able to fully immerse myself in the world of artisanal wine. After this wonderful year of experience, I decided to return to Brussels to create Tortue.
This was six years ago. How did people first react to your wines?
When it comes to presenting new tastes and products to customers, I think you have to introduce them gently, be smart about it and take it slow. People are often in their comfort zones when it comes to food and wine; it can be very emotional. In natural winemaking, there are many different approaches. I try to find good products that are quite easy on the palate. I don’t write anywhere that our wines are natural. For me, it goes without saying. A good wine can only be natural. Wine is fermented grapes, that’s it. After all, it’s culture — not chemistry and oenological science — that allows you to make good wine. By culture, I mean a terroir that we respect and get to know, and the skilful gestures of open-minded and curious winemakers. There are no magic recipes; all that matters is experience, the sharing of knowledge, an intelligent interaction with one’s environment, and a sensitive dialogue with the wine one is trying to create.
I’m not a fan of labels, in wine or otherwise. Calling it artisanal is probably more appropriate. It’s both a simple and a complex product: wine grapes fermented without adding any substances in the process. To make good wine like that, you have to know what you’re doing. When I started visiting winemakers, I gradually understood how there isn’t just one way of making wine, every region has its own approach. I love the beauty of the savoir-faire and the passing on of knowledge. It has a lot to do with gestures as well; it’s almost philosophical. You don’t need to be an expert to experience this. I learned it just by visiting winemakers, talking to them and watching them work. For me, the turning point came at a wine tasting in the enoteca where I worked during my studies in Italy. By that time, I had already started drinking more artisanal wines and had become slightly sceptical about conventional winemaking. It was an important wine testing, serving very expensive wines, but when I tasted it, I didn’t like it. I simply felt bad afterwards, heavy-headed and not well in my body. Sensing that physical difference was when it really clicked.
When you look at all the wine produced since the 1970s and 80s, it’s been turned into a commercial product with one taste. No wonder it can be difficult getting used to wine that tastes different. For decades, the wine industry has controlled and manipulated wines, adding various substances to preserve them and produce a certain flavour. This isn’t good for our bodies or our taste buds. Rather than calling it natural wine, conventional wine should be called chemical, considering how much is added to it.
Referring to your own revelation during a wine tasting, do you offer this type of experience to your customers too?
Yes, on the first floor at Tortue we have a room for tastings. Around one large table, we share and talk about the wine. The wine experience is really important to us at Tortue. In medieval times, they said that good wine guides your senses. Like the term ‘ivresse’ in French, referring to the state of great excitement brought on by alcohol, wine can be a medium for creativity. It can offer you an aesthetic experience, creating beautiful images. People are often intimidated by wine because they think you have to be an expert to understand it. That’s not true — you just need to put in a bit of effort and concentration. Like dreams, we only remember them if we make the effort in the morning when we wake up. It’s the same with wine: it needs openness and attention. You feel the wine working in your body. I have an inner scanner now; I can sense immediately if it’s an industrial wine, for example. At Tortue, we make sure to offer wines from many different European countries — not only France, Italy and Spain, but also Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia and Hungary. In recent years, people have been drinking less alcohol, which is of course slightly worrying when you’re running a wine bar, but we’ve realised that many people simply want a lighter alternative, so we make sure to offer a good selection of wines with a lower alcohol percentage.
Some of the people who come to Tortue ask for a wine that doesn’t smell of ‘farm’, which just shows how accustomed we’ve become to wine all tasting the same. I love the surprise people feel about the wine we serve. It’s an experience linked to freedom and aesthetics, being nudged out of your comfort zone. When I host a tasting, I always ask people to wait before judging, to let their impressions sink in. Like when you visit a lovely vineyard, you even forget to talk about the wine itself; you talk about all the stories around it. We don’t need to judge so quickly. Be curious and open. Don’t think only in terms of good or bad, like or dislike, use your senses! Activate your emotions and sensitivity; have a sensory experience every day. It’s a wonderful way to meditate and be creative in a world that needs it.
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Yann is one of the 73 locals who has generously contributed to our city guide 'Brussels by locals' by sharing her favourite spots in town.
Interview: Sisse Bro
Photography: Stephanie De Smet