French wine
Picardy is not an official wine region anymore. Yet it has a rich history related to grapegrowing and winemaking and has recently been demonstrating a revival of its . 40 villages of Picardy (south of the Aisne department) are now part of the area and several small recreational vineyards were established in the last two decades e.g. in Coucy le Château, Gerberoy, Gouvieux, Clairoix, etc.
Château de Pécany
Jean Siegler (second cousin to the de Courssou Family) bought the property in 1926, and, over time, enlarged the vineyard by buying surrounding land and plantation rights. The Pécany wine was first offered for commercial sale during this time. The château and vineyards remained in the Siegler family until, in the spring of 1973, a local farmer and vintner Jean Saladin bought most of the vineyards for his son Gérard Saladin. Under G. Saladin's relatively poor management and lack of attention, the quality of the vinification gradually decreased until, in 1998, Gérard Saladin opted to convert to the less time consuming, and less profitable, path of selling bulk wine to the local vintners co-operative. During this past year, G. Saladin did not vinify any wine, but instead sold the Pécany grapes in bulk.