Vinicultural Envoy: David Pearson

Aniane's town council liked the idea and in the end gave Mondavi a 99-year lease on the land in return for promises of close relations with the local winemaking cooperative. But before then all hell had broken loose. When the deal was announced last May, wild rumors began to circulate: Mondavi was set to occupy about 740 acres of land, build an industrial winery and buy up all the best grapes in the region. Local vintners would be driven into bankruptcy, and hunters would be barred from traditional hunting grounds. Local communists organized demonstrations and denounced globalization and the spread of multinationals. "If I were from Aniane and I'd heard that stuff, I'd have been against the project myself," says Pearson, who spent the next nine months explaining what Mondavi's plan really involved and winning over the locals. "A year ago, I would never have thought he'd be able to get on with everyone as well as he does," says Aniane's mayor, Andre Ruiz.

If all goes well, ground clearance should begin this summer for a first harvest in 2006. Pearson will be in charge of cultivation and the production of wines under the current working title La Vallee de la Valcrose. Vines will be planted in 12-acre islands, surrounded by existing natural forest of green oaks and strawberry trees. Pearson insists that the new Languedoc label will succeed only if it's perceived as a genuinely French product. So as the Pearsons settle in for a lengthy stay, they are a study in cultural integration. They've bought a house in a village north of Montpellier, where the barber asks Pearson how the vineyard is doing as he cuts his hair. So far, he can say, "Ca va bien."