Garagiste
Definition - What does Garagiste mean?
The term garagiste, or garagistes, originates from the Bordeaux region of France referring to a group of winemakers who produced wines in their garage.
In Bordeaux, these wines are vins de garage or "Garage Wines." This group emerged in the mid-1990s to present a different style of wine to that of traditional red Bordeaux wines.
WineFrog explains Garagiste
The original garagistes were two Belgians, Marcel and Gerard Thienpont, who produced wines at Chateau Le Pin from two hectares of vineyards in late 1970. Others also emerged making wine from small vineyard plots and were considered a new movement of a different style of wine.
In the region of Bordeaux where most wines consisted of low alcohol and focus on terroir, garagiste wines were higher in alcohol and were bolder, fruitier wines. These wines were also ready-to-drink, whereas their counterparts required a few years of aging to be ready for consumption.
