Granhota: A Vinegar Maker’s Workshop in the Languedoc

Coursan is a village just outside Narbonne, in the wine country of the Languedoc, and it is home to Granhota, a small vinegar workshop. Its founder, Laurent Faure, turns the region’s wines into slow-fermented, oak-aged vinegars, and every bottle we import is made in this one workshop.

From a student’s hobby to a workshop

Laurent Faure did not start out as a vinegar maker. In 2009, while still a student at ENSAE ParisTech, he began experimenting with vinegar out of a passion for wine and gastronomy. The trials became a career change, and the workshop went into commercial production in 2013. It relies in part on its own vineyard for the wines it transforms.

The Orleans method, and a solera

The method is the Orleans method, the traditional French way of making vinegar since the eighteenth century. Wine rests in oak barrels at ambient temperature, without heating or forced oxygen, while natural acetic bacteria do their work over anywhere from five weeks to five months. Granhota also uses a solera, borrowed from the sherry cellars of Jerez: as the vinegar matures, it moves from higher barrels to lower ones, picking up tannins from the wood that soften its acidity. The vinegars contain no colorings, preservatives or added sulfites.

For the balsamic-style condiments, Laurent Faure follows the traditional Modena approach: grape must is cooked down slowly and blended with aged vinegar, then left to rest in oak. Nothing is added to thicken or darken it, so the syrupy texture comes from the must alone. The workshop is open to visitors, who can tour the barrel room and taste the range.

What we carry

The balsamic-style condiments start with the Plain Balsamic Vinegar, cooked grape must and aged red wine vinegar matured two years in oak, alongside versions built on Muscat grapes, Roussillon figs and apple. Among the wine vinegars, the Réserve Vinegar is aged three years in oak and rounded with fresh grape must. Then come the infused vinegars that made Granhota’s name: the Lemon Vinegar, made with Menton lemons steeped in white wine vinegar, the Languedoc Raspberry and Honey vinegars, and peppercorn vinegars with Timut pepper from Nepal and wild Voatsiperifery pepper from Madagascar.

How we use them

• The Plain Balsamic over grilled vegetables, strawberries or a vanilla ice cream.
• The Lemon Vinegar in a vinaigrette for fennel or avocado, or over a fish carpaccio.
• A few drops of Timut pepper vinegar over a salmon tartare or oysters.
• The Réserve over bitter leaves and walnuts, or to deglaze pork or duck.

Read the full story on our Granhota page, browse the Granhota collection, and read our guide to French vinegar.