Join Peter Hahn as he discusses his brilliant new book, Angels in the Cellar, about reviving a vineyard in the Loire Valley. Twenty years ago Peter Hahn had a breakdown while in the back of a London taxi. Emotionally exhausted by his corporate life, he no longer recognised himself, but knew he had to find a path out. Since then Peter has found his way to Le Clos de la Meslerie, a small ancient farm in the Loire Valley, where he grows and makes small-batch organic wines.
Angels in the Cellar invites us to spend a year in Peter's company among the vines, where he reflects on the land, his life, regenerative farming and the lives of the small group of people he works with. We join Peter through each season, pruning the wines and harvesting the grapes by hand, before we follow him to the wine cellar, where the alchemy begins - and the angels take charge.
An evocative, poetic account of a year spent working with nature, Angels in the Cellar is also a powerful repudiation of the global economy, its obsession with hyper-consumption and its impacts on the land and its ecosystems.
‘He’s cordial company in the precarious cycles of agriculture, and 16 harvests are behind him and his wife Juliette now, documented with a steady, thoughtful, pragmatic eye.’ - The Irish Times
‘…this book is more than a description of wine making, it is a celebration of nature and a love of the land, the seasons and the soil, and how these things can nurture the soul. ‘ -Caught by the River
‘…the book has a slow charm that crept up on me. As Hahn is reviving the vineyard, coaxing it back to life, he is doing the same thing for himself.’ - The Spectator
About Peter Hahn
Peter Hahn grew up in Australia and Asia, and for two decades has been a winegrower at Le Clos de la Meslerie, a small vineyard in the Loire Valley, rarely leaving it, growing grapes and making organic wine.
