Granhota
Granhota, "l'atelier du vinaigre", is a small vinegar workshop in Coursan, a village just outside Narbonne in the Languedoc wine country of southern France. Its founder, Laurent Faure, is a master vinegar maker who turns the region's wines into slow-fermented, oak-aged vinegars, and then infuses some of them with fruit, honey, saffron and rare peppercorns. Every bottle Clipperton imports from Granhota is made in this one workshop.
The house
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 is set in Coursan, in the Aude, and relies in part on its own vineyard for the wines it transforms.
The method is the traditional Orleans method, the eighteenth-century French way of making vinegar. Wine sits 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 system, borrowed from the sherry cellars of Jerez: as vinegar matures it is moved from higher barrels to lower ones, picking up tannins from the wood that soften its acidity. The vinegars are made without colorants, preservatives or added sulfites. Beyond wine, the workshop also transforms cider and beer.
For the balsamic-style condiments, 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 in Coursan is open to visitors, who can tour the barrel room and taste the range on site.
What they make
The range on Clipperton falls into three families. First, the balsamic-style condiments: a Plain Balsamic Vinegar of cooked grape must and aged red wine vinegar, matured two years in oak, plus versions built on Muscat grapes, Roussillon figs and apple juice aged five years.
Second, the classic wine vinegars, such as the Réserve Vinegar, aged three years in oak and rounded with fresh grape must, and the woody Walnut Vinegar.
Third, the infused vinegars that made Granhota's name: Lemon Vinegar made with Menton lemons steeped in white wine vinegar, Raspberry and Honey vinegars, a Saffron Vinegar with pistils harvested in the Corbières, and a trio of peppercorn vinegars using wild Voatsiperifery pepper from Madagascar, Timut pepper from Nepal and Tasmanian pepper. All are bottled in glass with a pourer. Browse the full Granhota collection.
Why Clipperton chose them
Clipperton is a family importer, and we look for makers who do one thing with real care. Granhota is exactly that: a single workshop, one vinegar maker, patient fermentation and no shortcuts in the bottle. We work directly with the house so that the vinegars reaching Canadian and American kitchens are the same ones poured at the tasting counter in Coursan. Their flavored vinegars also solve a real problem for home cooks: a spoonful of saffron or Timut pepper vinegar seasons a dish in a way no plain bottle can.
