Award-winning photographer Jon Wyand tells the story behind his portrait of Frédéric Marc Burrier.
It was quite a dark and stormy evening when I arrived at Le Pichet de Solutré around 25 years ago on what was only my second visit to the Mâconnais. The chestnut tree outside was rocking and dripping as I hurried underneath it toward the misted-up, glowing windows of the front door. Inside, my main recollection registered upstairs; a room with a dim bulb whose illumination was not helped by a dark brown carpet that also covered at least two of the walls. The general style of the place was later reinforced by an expedition to the iconic horror of its period-piece, low-profile toilet.
Fast forward to my latest visit and having successfully arrived in the vineyards south of Mâcon despite the proximity of a stage of the Tour de France and its accompanying road closures and diversions, I succumbed to the temptation of a celebratory coffee under that chestnut tree in Solutré. The tree was still there, as was the front door, but inside all was changed, fresh, and friendly. The name, too, had changed and thankfully so had the toilet arrangements. On the wall alongside the toilet, there was now a framed piece of French philosophy, which, to me, translated as, “We all want to change the world but no-one wants to change the toilet roll.”
Suddenly “change” was becoming a theme. The weather changed—my route, and an appointment, too. After my break at Solutré I now had time to watch the sun briefly emerge from heavy cloud to add drama to the Rock of Vergisson, one of the day’s locations. One box ticked. To celebrate that unexpected success and in the mood for more than my frequent “sandwich in a vineyard” for lunch, I managed to find a table back in Solutré and enjoy the culinary changes that had taken place there. It’s no longer Le Pichet de Solutré but I’ll leave its discovery to you.
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It was a short drive down to Davayé where I switched on my GPS to locate Château de Beauregard on its own among the vines, two buildings astride the vineyard road. The longer one has a low, wooden front door with a brass plate and a date inscription of 1816 above it. But I was pleased to find that, on this side of the road anyway, things, particularly the cellars, remained “unimproved.” It may look as if time stood still here, but for me it was marching on. Frédéric Marc Burrier has two sons and a nephew working for him now but seems in no way to be slowing down. Having become President of the Pouilly-Fuissé growers union 20 years ago, he began encouraging other growers to seek premier cru classification for the best of the appellation’s vineyards. This is when time must have stood still, but in October 2020, after ten years of consideration, INAO finally said, “Yes.” Twenty-two sites were granted premier cru status. Pouilly-Vinzelles and Pouilly-St-Véran are now following in the same process.
An aquiline nose separates Frédéric’s alert brown eyes, which hold a steady gaze. But all those years leading Pouilly-Fuissé do not seem to have taught him the politicians’ way of playing to the camera. He is still simply himself, glad to have achieved what he set out to do for the wider community of growers and to be back focusing on the day job. Having changed Pouilly-Fuissé, I doubt he forgets to change the toilet roll, however busy he is.
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