For Lingua Franca’s Thomas Savre, making amazing wine is a talent that has been practiced and crafted from his early years.
Savre grew up in northeast France where food and wine are a major part of the culture. His family traditionally held big lunches including wine every Sunday.
“As a kid in France, you get a little wine mixed with water and get more wine as you get older,” explained Savre. “At about 16 years old you can have a glass.”
At a young 15 years old, Savre took up wine as a hobby. He even made his own cellar.
Of wine, he says: “It’s cultural, it’s history, it’s science, it’s kind of a little touch of everything.”
Though he briefly segued into medical school, his original calling eventually drew him back into studying winemaking. He moved to Dijon (the capital of Burgundy) and soon he’d earned two Masters degrees— one in winemaking and one in viticulture.
During this process, he completed a research thesis in California, in a large winery
After returning to France, he was offered an intern position with Romanée-Conti, who was the most prestigious Pinot producer in the world at the time.
This experience exposed Savre to the haute couture of wine and shaped his drive for excellence in the industry. On his last day at Romanée-Conti, the owner, Aubert de Villaine, asked him about his plans.
“I told him I would like to make Pinot Noir and chardonnay,” says Savre. “He told me he would happily help to give me references I needed to go work in the U.S.”
Villaine saw his ambition and advised him not to make wine in Burgundy because of the complications he would face starting a wine business there. Instead, he encouraged Savre to explore a more exciting region outside of France.
“France can very administratively complicated, as far as what you can do business-wise,” explained Savre. “There are old families that own vineyards and it’s very complicated to start your own business there.”
He briefly thought about returning to California, but then began learning about Oregon and the opportunities available there.
“This place seemed like a very interesting wine region in development, ” he says.
Though he was a fresh graduate with limited funds, he used his savings to buy a flight to Oregon. He began networking and expressing his seriousness about getting an internship and sponsored visa to stay in Oregon and carry out his plans.
He eventually began working for Evening Land Vineyards, which farmed one of the most iconic vineyards in the west— Seven Springs.
During his time there he saw another vineyard being planted across the street and asked who it belonged to. He was advised this was Larry Stone Vineyard.
Larry Stone is the ninth Master Sommelier in the United States and also the first American to win the prestigious Best International Sommelier in French Wines competition in Paris.
“He was in the sommelier for the famous Charlie Trotter restaurant in Chicago, then started Rubicon in San Francisco and FF Coppola. He was very much instrumental in the change of the wine industry in the 90s-00s,” says Savre. “He had the opportunity to buy a piece of land and the way he did it is by selling his wine collection. That’s pretty crazy. I said I’m going to meet this guy.”
Savre found a way to cross paths with Stone and soon after received a phone call.
“December 24, 2014 he called me and said hey, I want you to make wine with me.”
From this destined partnership, Lingua Franca was born.
“The idea for Lingua Franca is universal language. Putting different people under the same umbrella,” he explains. “Coming from the Western world, the Burgundy world, US world and making one [wine] under the same language of different places.”
The winery places emphasis on listening to what their customers want as well as respecting the environment. In-person tastings are by appointment only and feature a hospitality lead to take care of each guest.
“It’s a very 1-to-1 experience,” says Savre.
The tastings typically feature 5-7 wines as well as some surprises along the way. They even obtain information from guests like music preferences to make the experience as personal as possible.
“We try to make sure people feel like they’re home,” explains Savre. “We really want to make sure people have a feel for being treated to the top level, but also being in a comfortable space. Not overwhelming.”
The next exciting pursuit for Lingua Franca is two new very high end cuvées: Inspiras and Novo Vivo.
The wines will be created in a very small volume, but are not to be missed according to Savre.
“This is new, this is different, and very serious. This is very next level and a testimony to our hard work of the last 7 years,” he shared.
Comments are closed.