The family

The roots:

Descending from an old Provençal lineage, the Sumeire family has been established in Trets, at the foot of the Sainte-Victoire mountain, since the 13th century.  We owe the foundation and expansion of our wine-making estates last century on several sites in Provence to my grand-father, Gabriel Sumeire.

 

Gabriel Sumeire, Visionary and builder of empire (1880-1968)

Gabriel Sumeire was enterprising and visionary. At the age of twenty, he left Trets and founded his own wine business in Marseilles.  There, he married a young Provençal woman, Claire Delestrade who quickly bore him five children: four boys, Elie, Fernand, Raymond, Roger and one daughter, Paulette. Then came the Great War. He was enlisted. During the hostilities, his wife ran his business alone, while looking after her little brood at the same time… A perceptive wine trader, Gabriel had already sensed that the control of wine quality went hand in hand with the control of wine-making. He therefore purchased his first estate, La Grande Bastide, in the neighbouring Commune of Peynier, in 1922. This paved the way for a winemaking empire, which he was to build over the years in the Department of the Var.

Gabriel Sumeire always had an accurate vision of the future: a few days before his death in November 1968, he spoke about the modern world in these terms: “Large industrial concentrations are also going to reach the farming world… I have built an empire for you.   It is up to you to keep it”. After Claire Sumeire died in 1976 the estates were shared out amongst the family in November 1977, and the lots were allocated by chance draw.   Roger Sumeire got the “La Tour” lot with its 66 hectares of vines, and part of the Peynier property.

In 1985, part of the hitherto undivided Anglades estate was added to this. That is how Roger Sumeire’s family came to inherit the "Calignade" lot and its 23 hectares of vines (Hyères).

Roger Sumeire, a strong, silent type  (1916-1997)

Blessed with a pioneering spirit, Roger Surmeire, who rarely lost his temper, allowed people to achieve their potential in relation to their personalities, while guiding them unobtrusively in the direction in which he wanted them to go.

From 1946 onwards Roger Sumeire contributed enormously to the expansion of the vineyards. Roger Sumeire receiving the insignia of an award for services to farming in 1976 (French Order of Merit for Farming). After his death some of the most influential figures of the French wine-making community told me how much they admired the man and his quiet manner.

 

Today still a family story

Régine Sumeire, the daughter of Roger Sumeir, assure the continuity of the family work. She likes to say that it is her father who taught her gestures and care of the vineyard.The same father who said to her that he had lived a working life in accordance with her grandfather and who knew how to perfectly reproduce this model with his daughter.

The passion for wine-making they both instilled in Régine Sumeire still motivates her today.

Legend photo black and white: in the center, Gabriel Sumeire proud in front of his plow Nardi, surrounded with Bernard Maurel and Maurice Deguignes.