Anso’s earliest memories were of the vineyard at Béziers. Vinis vinifera had been grown on the vast estate for centuries; the family legend being that Greek sailors planted the fields with sacred vines blessed by priests of Apollo to grant the fruit and subsequent products healing powers.

The family recipes had been handed down for generations, the complete process documented by his father’s father’s father on cracking, brittle parchment and kept in a small red box in a secret vault below the wine cellar. Along with the more well known effects of wine, the family claret was said to be able to cure: pains of the joints, ague, catarrh, consumption, malaise and infertility.

Anso’s father Donát grew wealthy from sales of his delicious potions. Parisian merchants imported huge quantities and King Louis l’aragne himself ordered that one hundred bottles be brought to him and kept in the palace for emergency purposes. This notoriety enabled the idyllic childhood that Anso and his four sisters enjoyed.