Definition: Saint Marc

On the 25th day of the 4th month of the year, Saint Mark, one of the four evangelists (Saint Mark, Saint John, Saint Luke and Saint Matthew), is celebrated.
Four regions have chosen Saint Mark as the patron saint of their vineyards. Thus, in the middle of spring, processions are organised in the vineyards to implore heavenly protection over the vineyards, as in Nanteillet in Charentes or on the pontifical vineyards of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Saint Mark was also venerated, as was the custom in Franche-Comté, to ward off rain.
In Alsace, the procession marks the end of pruning and tying. In Katzenthal, as in Ammerschwihr, the procession stops at each of the four cardinal points of the vineyard. At each stop, an excerpt from one of the four Gospels is read. The four points of the compass, the four seasons, the four phases of the moon, the four elements, the four arms of the cross: all these have links with the quadrilogy relating to the ancestral ceremony of rogations. We have also selected four wineries that have chosen Saint Marc as their name and whose powerful and radiant wines are a delight to discerning buyers and satisfied consumers.

Clos Saint-Marc in Nuits-Saint-Georges (Côte d'Or) belongs to Bouchard père et fils, the exclusive distributor of excellent red wines.

Domaine Saint-Marc, in Cogolin (Var), located in the hills behind the bay of Saint-Tropez, offers white, red and rosé wines.

We entrust to Saint Marc the prayer once recited during a pious walk through the vineyard:
"O great Saint Marc, may our vines give us abundant grapes, may the sun that scratches and warms them give us wine that invigorates us as much as our daily bread. So Saint Marc, make sure that the vines, like wheat, always grow on this land."