Prehistoric Origins of Lieux-Dit “Pierres Frites” told by Laurent Charrier, Domaine du Pas Saint Martin a translation of Laurent’s (pre)historical explanation of the place-name “Pierres Frites”, the name of his Saumur Blanc and Saumur Rouge bottlings. MENHIRS During the neolithic era, our distant ancestors erected megaliths (or menhirs) in very particular locations. Blocks of hard stone were placed at points of convergence of water currents and telluric currents (points of energy currents emanating from deep earth). They became objects of radiant force, of revitalization. Men and women would come to these menhirs, to rub themselves against the stone, in order to capture the energy coming from the ground. Oral legends preserved the memory of this ancient period, and today we still have the place-name “Pierre Frite”, coming from the Latin “fricta” meaning to rub (against). The existence of sandstone slabs in the wood by our vineyards, confirms, in the eyes of specialists, the hypothesis of the existance here of an erected stone. visit this link to the website for the original (click the neon-moss green bar at the bottom of the page): https://www.lepassaintmartin.fr/fr/le-terroir-p3.html#prettyPhoto Domaine du Pas Saint Martin has been Ecocert certified since 1997 and is devoted to the cause of biodiversity. Also check out this link : https://www.lemondedepierrefrite.fr/familles.htm to their site “La Monde de Pierre Frite”. Since 2009 the Domaine, teaming up with other skilled artisans in its community, has devolped an interactive teaching program for children to encourage awareness and understanding of biodiversity. The Domaine was awarded the 2012 Eco-Trophy by the Parc National Loire-Anjou-Touraine. On the site you can watch videos of kids in the vineyards learning, seeing, photographing the fauna and flora populating the vines and neigboring woods. There is a “galerie” of photos taken by the children that is not to miss!