French Wine Grapes Grow Out of Former Coal Mine Slag Heap

This wine proves even a heap of waste can give you a reason to say “Cheers!” These 10-year-old vines were named ‘Charbonnay’ as a word marriage between the classic chardonnay grape and ‘charbon,’ which means coal in French. The grapes grow in lush land in northern France that is a former slag heap, the place where the waste from coal mines was dumped. The land is steeply sloped, making it difficult to use modern machinery. Most of this wine operation is done by hand.