Laurent Agnès: Oak, Time and Passion in a One-Man Vinegar House

Laurent Agnès sums up his craft in three words: oak, time and passion. He works alone in Charente-Maritime, on the stretch of French Atlantic coast between Bordeaux and the Loire, making wine vinegars, a cider vinegar and a series of vinegars in which fresh flowers, fruit and herbs steep in the vinegar itself.

From the garden to the barrel

He did not start out as a vinegar maker. He spent his earlier career as a landscape gardener, and that close knowledge of plants, flowers and fruit shows in everything he does: the elderflowers go in fresh, the figs whole, with star anise, thyme and nutmeg. Self-taught, he has now been making vinegar for some twenty years and, by his own account, keeps a small part of the method to himself.

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The wine vinegars are made from single Bordeaux grape varieties. The Red Wine Vinegar is pure Merlot, aged three years before bottling, rounded and deep. The White Wine Vinegar is pure Sauvignon, pale amber, with the grape’s herbaceous, fruity notes and a hint of wood. The Apple Cider Vinegar, made the traditional way from organic apples grown in the Brie region, is gentler, at 5 percent acidity. No coloring, no flavoring and no preservatives go into any of them.

The gardener’s vinegars

The macerated vinegars are where his first trade comes through. The Elderflower Vinegar steeps fresh elderflowers in red wine vinegar for a floral, faintly sweet result. The Fig Vinegar adds fresh figs, star anise, thyme and nutmeg to the same base. The Raspberry Vinegar is bright and jewel-colored. The Shallot Vinegar follows the classic French recipe, and the Tarragon Vinegar, on a white wine base with cloves and cinnamon, is the one for béarnaise.

How we use them

• Elderflower vinegar with seafood and summer salads.
• Fig vinegar with duck, game or a cheese board.
• Shallot vinegar on oysters, or whisked into a vinaigrette.
• Tarragon vinegar in a homemade béarnaise.

Read the full story on our Laurent Agnès page and find all eight vinegars in the Laurent Agnès collection.