BOJALIEN?
In 2012, Mathew Lapierre asked Denny to organise the first Fringe event of the biggest wine fair of the Beaujolais: the BBB.
tell us more Denny ?
“Bien Boire en Beaujolais” wine fair is composed of 3 different philosophies of wine making: the Beaujoloise, created by Marcel Lapierre, one of the founders of the Natural Wine movement; the Biojolaise, representing the organic wine growers, and the Bojolart, which is a funny inspiring name but actually represents the c******l i*********l wines.
So, with the help of a few trusted colleagues, I organised what we named the “BojAlien”: pyramid tent, world music, local organic food, sofas all around and in the centre, 3 barrels, where all of us, wine growers with a different approach to farming, were not presenting our various bottles of wine but a way of living, a spiritual mission in seeking an out of the box mind and heart. No fancy words, just honesty and transparency which was very appreciated by the 'tasters'.
We called ourselves the Aliens of the Beaujolais: we had painted our hands green to proudly state we connected to Gaia and that we had to come back in contact with Nature to fulfill our life purpose. I spent my day asking all the wine professionals to be part of our movement. How? A little symbolic green dot to manifest the need to reconnect with Nature. Lots of them lit up and asked me for a green dot between the eyes in the Indian style, others just a dot on the hands.
The success of this BojAlien and the apparent need people had for this became very obvious at the closing dinner. I walked inside the gym, transformed for the occasion in a dining room, and so many people there, proudly pointing at their dots with a spark of complicity in their eyes.
It was definitely clear to many that even though we were green like Aliens and sometimes treated so, the real out of the Earth people were not us but the industrial system forcing the roots of the vines out of the soil in search for more of their outworldly drugs.
Really emotional moments to see people realise, in such a simple way, society's Alienation to Nature.