The day started in the fermentation hall, where Pierre explained how the grape juice is transformed into wine.  We saw the two vats that are currently ageing our vintage of the Boissonneuse!

We then headed into the hall where the wine is bottled, labelled and put into the crates.  As you would imagine with a winery the size of Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard, all is exceptionally well organised and laid out to work as efficiently as possible.

Back in the main building, we participated in a couple of workshops to hone our tasting skills.  One of the most difficult things when tasting wines is often to find the words to describe them.  Why do we like or not like them?

The first workshop was dedicated to the nose.  With the help of some small jars, we had to find the aromas most often found in white wines.  Not so easy, especially to correctly identify aromas from the same family of smells apart.  We learnt how to differentiate aromas that come from the fruit from those that are a result of the way in which the wine has been aged.

The next exercise had us working our mouths with a blind tasting of 4 different solutions; bitter, sweet, salty and acidic.  Each taste plays on a different area of the tongue, which helped us to identify each solution.

But enough of the exercises, the time had come to talk about real wines!  We tasted a number of different series of wines to differentiate between grape varietals, terroir, vintages and the methods used to make each wine.

After the meal, we headed out amongst the vines to get some fresh air and to enjoy the warm sunshine.  We stopped in the vineyard where the adopted vines are located so that we could each take a photo in front of our vines!

A final tasting session awaited us at the end of the day, that of our special vintage of Chablis 2011.

We tasted the two vats of the Boissonneuse separately, and then we made a blend to give us a better idea of how the 2011 will eventually reveal itself.  It still needs more time to round out, but we could already see that it has good potential!

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With Marc Plouzeau, the winemaker at the estate, by our sides we started the day in the chai. Here Marc showed us how the grapes are put into the vats at harvest time, and he then explained the fermentation process that has been happening since the last time we were here in late September.

 

We then headed into the depths of the winery's cellars which are located underneath the Château de Chinon in the galleries left behind when the stone was extracted to build the fortress. It's in these ideal and calm conditions where the temperature stays a constant 12°C all year long that the wine barrels are laid down to age, and the wine that has been bottled is stocked.

 

Back at Château de la Bonnelière, it was time to put our tasting skills to the test. The first challenge was to use our noses to identify the different smells to be found in wine. We had split the test into two parts to identify the aromas that come from the fruit and the terroir, and the second series to detect those that are caused by oak barrels. 

 

Now that our noses and taste buds were warmed up, we got down to the serious business of tasting the 2011 wines that are still in the process of ageing. We followed the same process as Marc conducts with his oenologist to follow the evolution of his different wines. For those that had also participated in the Harvest Experience Day, it was an eagerly awaited moment to see what had become of the fruit of their labour!

We started by comparing wines from three different vineyard plots situated on sandy and gravelly soils. These are the wines that Marc blends to create his Chinon "Rive Gauche" red wine, and so we set about making our own blend using the measuring cylinders.

 

Next up were three wines from the chalk limestone vineyards closer to the winery. The first had been ageing in a stainless steel tank, the second in an old oak barrel, and the third in a new oak barrel, which enabled us to compare the different impact of the terroir and wood on the wine.

Over a hearty stew shared around the kitchen table, we continued the tasting with some wines from 2010, 2009 and 2008.

After lunch we took in some fresh air in the vineyard so that we could see how our adopted vines were faring. Marc also showed us how to prune the vines, which is the task that is currently being undertaken in the vineyard.

 

We finished the day back at the chai to see the hall where the wine is bottled and the labels are applied. We have a few more months to wait though until our vintage will be ready for bottling, but we already have a much better idea of what it will be like, and that's worth the wait!

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Wrapped up from head to toe, we started the day in the vineyard so that everyone could (re)visit their adopted vines.

At this time of the year, the principal activity in the vineyard is pruning.  Christine and David from Château Beau Rivage explained why pruning is so important and showed us how to do so.  When you see the number of vines to prune, and realise that each is pruned manually, you have a much better understanding of the huge and manually intensive task that it is for the winery.

 

Next stop, the fermentation hall and barrel room where the wine is fermented and aged, to learn more about the vinification and wine making stages.

 

We then headed to the warmth of the kitchen to delve into the heart of the day's topic with a wine tasting lesson and some exercises to put our sense of smell to work.  We passed around some small jars containing the main aromas to be found in red Bordeaux wines, and we had to identify which aroma each flask contained.  It's not as easy as it at first appears!

 

Our tasting senses awakened, it was then time to start the wine tasting.  First up, three different wines were chosen to better understand the effect that wood has on the wine.  Each wine was 100% merlot from 2010, but each had been aged separately in a different type of barrel.  The first had matured in an old French oak barrel, the second in new French oak, and the third in new American oak.  The result, three wines with completely different aromas, structure and taste.  The marked difference between the three is really quite astonishing!

We then continued the wine tasting during the meal with some of the winery's finished wines to compare different vintages and blends.
In the afternoon, we concentrated on the different grape varietals grown in the vineyard to better understand what characteristics each brings to a blended wine.  Chrsitine had prepared samples of Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot from the 2011 harvest.  We tasted each one by one, and discussed their differences.

 

In small groups, we then mixed our own blends to learn how the different grape varietals and their percentages change the wine.  

We finished the day by tasting the blend that Château Beau Rivage had presented at the Millésime Bio organic wine fair the week before.

It's impossible to learn everything in a day, and as Christine remarked, she studied oenology for 4 years, but we each left with a better appreciation of the choices that the winemaker faces to create very different wines depending on the grape varietals, percentages and barrels used.

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For some clients, it was their first visit to the winery, and for others the second or third time. To ensure that everyone had the same foundation of knowledge, we started with a brief overview of the Burgundy region, its terroir, wines and a more in depth introduction to the wines and terroir of Chablis.

We then headed off to the fermentation hall to learn about what's been happening in the winemaking process since the grapes were pressed during the harvest, from the settling of the solids in the wine, to the alcoholic and malolactic fermentation of the wines.

We had a look at the fermentation tanks where our 2011 vintage is currently ageing.

In the preparation hall, we followed the production line to see the machines that clean the bottles, bottle the wine, and then add the cork or screw top to the bottles. At the end of the line, we saw the machine that adds the labels to the bottles. It's impressive to see the technology and organization that the winery has put in place to work as efficiently as possible.

Back at the winery, we delved into the heart of the matter with a wine tasting and oenology course. Without giving too much away for the next clients, we had prepared several tests to develop the senses used when tasting wines, mainly using the nose and mouth. The goal of the tests was to learn more about the differences in terroir, grape varietals, vinification methods and ageing of wines.

After the meal of regional specialties, we took in some fresh air and visited the vineyard where the adopted vines are located. 

The last part of the day was reserved for tasting the two vats of the "La Boissonneuse" Chablis 2011, which is the wine chosen for our clients. The last time we had the chance to taste it was the day of the harvest when it was just grape juice. The wine from the two vats comes from two distinct parts of the Boissonneuse vineyard, and we were able to taste a difference in the terroir and also in the stage of the malolactic fermentation.

Using measuring cylinders, we blended the two lots of wine to the same proportions that will be used just before bottling, and then we tried some other ratios to see the effect that it has on the blended wine.

So to sum up, a day with lots of information, but we hope with enough practical participation to make the world of wine more accessible and understandable. Many thanks to Céline and Pierre from Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard to have been by our sides on Saturday and Sunday, and to our clients for their humour and enthusiasm!

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Following the introduction from Marc Plouzeau, the owner and winemaker at Château de la Bonnelière, we started the day with another introduction, that of the adopted vines!  Included in each client's Wine Experience are a number of adopt-a-vines.  At the beginning of each row of vines, a small personalised sign indicates the owner of the adopted vines, providing a photo opportunity to immortalise the moment in front of the vines, laden with ripe grapes!

But we weren't there just to take photos!  Marc had brought us a van full of crates, which we then distributed among the rows.

Marc showed us how to harvest; which grapes to cut and which to leave behind. At Château de la Bonnelière, the sorting of the grapes is done in the vineyard at the time of harvesting, and not on the sorting table, as is the custom in some wineries. It's therefore very important to only harvest the ripe grapes to ensure the quality of the wine to follow!

Secateurs and baskets in hand, we spread out among the vines in teams of two to start the harvest!

The vines at Château de la Bonnelière are bursting with grapes this year and the fruit is looking very healthy despite the wet end to the summer that the region suffered. The smile on Marc's face showed that he was happy with the condition of the grapes. It's the end of another cycle in the vineyard, but many hours, much energy and devotion have been spent in the vineyard since the last harvest to get to this point. The vine is a creeper plant, and so can grow all by itself, but to ensure that the grapes contain enough sugar to make a quality wine, it demands lots of work, especially when they are cultivated organically.

The baskets filled up quickly! Once full, we transferred the grapes into the crates before moving onto the next vines in the row.

At the end of the morning, all of the crates had been filled! A tractor was waiting for us at the edge of the vineyard, and we loaded our precious harvest onto the trailer. We were surprised to learn from Marc that we our efforts represented roughly 1000 bottles! Not bad at all, especially as it was the first harvest for each of the clients!

Following our grapes, we arrived at the chai to put our harvest into the fermentation tanks ourselves!

Again in teams of two we emptied the crates into the de-stemming machine, which separates the grapes from the stalks. 

The grapes fall into a trolley underneath the machine and the stems fall the other side into a large bucket. The stems will be used as compost and spread among the vines to return some of the nutrients to the soil.

With the help of a forklift truck, the whole grape berries are then put into the top of the vats, where the fermentation will start to turn the sugar into alcohol.

All of this work had made us thirsty, so back to the winery to taste some of the estate's wines around a few old wooden wine barrels.  Accompanied by some locally-made rillettes, we tasted the Touraine Sauvignon 2010 white wine, followed by a Chinon rosé 2010.

We then sat down in the shade to savour the delicious meal, prepared by Madame Plouzeau, Marc's mother. The tomato salad will be remembered for a very long time to come ! The tomatoes were picked just a few hundred metres away, and were truly bursting with flavor!  She had also prepared a Blanquette de Veau, a selection of local Loire cheeses and an apple and rhubarb crumble. And of course we had some wine to accompany these delicacies; a Chinon "Rive Gauche" 2009, a Chinon "Château de la Bonnelière" 2009, and the 2009 and 2008 vintages of the Chinon "Chapelle".

After the meal, there was still some work to be done, so we headed back to the chai.  In the fermentation tanks, the grape skins rise to the top to form a cap above the liquid. It's the skin however that gives the colour and much of the wine's structure through the tanins that it contains. It's therefore vital to mix the liquid and the skins. There are various ways to do this. You can push the skin down into the liquid using the "pigeage" technique, or you can do the opposite by taking the liquid from the bottom of the vat and putting it back in the top so that the juice extracts the colour and tannins from the skin as it passes through the cap. This is method is called "remontage".

During the first stages of fermentation, Marc prefers remontage. To do so, we put a big bucket in front of the vat, and opened a tap to let the juice flow into it. We then put in place the tubes and pump to carry the liquid into the top of the vat.

We couldn't leave without tasting the fruit of our labour, so we ended the day by tasting a cabernet franc that had been harvested a few days before and so the fermentation had already started. This lightly fermented grape juice is called "Bernache" in the region. We then compared it to a cabernet franc rosé where the fermentation was already more advanced.

Sincere thanks to all those who came and particularly to Marc for having showed us behind the scenes during the busy harvest period.  We can't wait until the next Wine Experience Day!

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We started off with a little stroll through the vines.  Jean-François Chapelle explained what makes the Burgundy terroir so special, and showed us the geological differences between the vineyards that make up Santenay village, Santenay Premier Cru and the plots used for the Burgundy Pinot Noir.

We climbed up to one of Domaine Chapelle's Premier Cru vineyards, Beaurepaire.  Some of the old vines in this vineyard have recently been dug up, so Jean-François explained how his team removed the vines and roots, and how the plot will be sowed with mustard to regenerate the soil before the new vines are planted.

The first rain shower arrived a little earlier than expected, so we scurried back to the shelter of the winery to continue our discussions on the work carried out in the vineyard, and we also visited the fermentation hall where the grapes are received at harvest time and put into the fermentation tanks.

Next up was a wine tasting of some of the white Burgundy wines from Domaine Chapelle, a Santenay "Saint Jean" 2009 and a Chassgane Montrachet Premier Cru "Les Morgeots" 2009.  The wine tasting continued over our lunch of Burgundy specialties.  First, a Santenay "Clos des Cornières" 2006, the wine chosen for the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience, then an Aloxe Corton 2007, with a Santenay Premier Cru "Beaurepaire" 2002 to finish.

After the meal, we had a new bright patch, so we headed back amongst the vines, this time to the Clos des Cornières vineyard so that everyone could get acquainted with their adopted vines!

Back at the winery, we descended through the low door to the vaulted cellar which is a real labyrinth.  Here we saw where the ageing takes place in the oak barrels, and where hundreds of thousands of bottles of wine are stored!

The Wine Experience Day finished with a visit to the labeling room, where one day next year the bottles of the 2011 vintage will be dressed with the personalised wine labels of the clients of the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience.  But there's still lots of work to be done before then - you have to be patient in the world of wine!

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To get a better understanding of the terroir around us, we stepped out onto the terrace which overlooks the vines which encircle the winery.  It's an impressive view and the perfect spot to appreciate the difference in vineyard plots that make Petit Chablis, Chablis, Chablis Premier Cru and Chablis Grand Cru wines.

In the vineyard, Yvonnick explained to us all of the key stages in cultivating the vines, from pruning right up until the harvest.  As is the custom with our Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience Days, the winemakers had left us some work to do!  To concentrate the energy of the vines in the fruit bearing branches and the grapes, we needed to do some "épamprage", which involves removing unwanted shoots from the vines.  These are the shoots that won't bear any fruit this year, and won't be needed when it comes to pruning to generate next year's harvest.  The other advantage of épamprage is to improve the flow of air around the grapes to help defend the vines from mildew.

After receiving our instructions from Yvonnick, we spread out among the rows of vines to get stuck in.  But we soon found out that épamprage is not quite as easy as it seems!

Each Wine Experience client is the adopted owner of some vines in the vineyard.  Their vines are identifiable by a name board placed in front of them.  Once the hunt for the vines was declared open, we set off to find them and to check that everything was in order!

The Boissonneuse vineyard, where the adopted vines are located, was the first plot to be converted to organic and biodynamic cultivation.  Yvonnick explained the difference between these two approaches, and showed us some of the plants, found at the end of the vine rows, that are used in making the biodynamic infusions and concoctions that attract unwanted insects away from the vines, or are used to strengthen the vines.

After all our efforts and all the talk about wine, the time finally came to taste some of the wines from Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard.  To get a good appreciation of the range of wines, we started the wine tasting with a Petit Chablis Sainte Claire 2010, followed by a Chablis Sainte Claire 2010, before tasting the Boissonneuse 2009, the wine chosen by Gourmet Odyssey.  We then moved on to several Chablis Premier Crus and finished with a Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses 2009.

Once we had enjoyed a lunch from the highly acclaimed Chablis charcutier, Marc Colin, we headed down into the cool or the cellar.  Here, the Brocard family has left one of the walls exposed so that we can see the layers of limestone and marl which are the source of the distinctive aromas and taste of Chablis wines.

The day finished with a visit to the fermentation hall to see the tanks and oak vats that are used to ferment and age the wines.  After a final tasting, straight from the vats, we said our goodbyes, everyone hopefully leaving with a better understanding of the fascinating profession of a winemaker!

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The Vinification Experience Day is the most technical oenology course of the wine experience days offered by Gourmet Odyssey, and most of the time is dedicated to wine tasting.  We therefore headed straight to the cuverie (fermentation hall), and after a brief explanation of how the grapes are received and put into the tanks at harvest time, we learnt more about the fermentation process.

To prepare us for the wine tasting to follow, Yannick, the Technical Director at the wine estate, had prepared a little test: four numbered cups, each containing a sugary, acidic, salty or bitter solution.  The game was to guess which was which.  Not the most appetising drinks, but as Jean-François Chapelle, the owner of the winery, told us, wine tasting is a work tool!  He also explained the importance of the five senses when tasting wines; smell, sight, taste, touch and hearing.

In the cellar, we began the tasting of the 2010 vintages, using a pipette to draw the wine directly from the barrels.  The côte de Beaune region of Burgundy uses just one grape varietal in the makeup of its wines, pinot noir for the reds and chardonnay for the whites.  The wines we tasted were chosen to highlight the difference in terroirs and the impact that the choice of oak used in the barrels has on the wines.   The first comparison was between wine from the same vines, from the same vineyard plot, and of the same age, but aged in different barrels.  The second comparison showed us the difference in terroir, comparing two Premier Crus, Santenay "La Comme" and Santenay "Beaurepaire", which hail from two different vineyards with differing geology and relief.

Climbing back up from the cellar, we stopped at the bottling machine before arriving at the final test.  This time we were presented with three wines, each coming from different plots in the same vineyard, the Clos des Cornières, where the adopted vines of the Gourmet Odyssey clients are located.  As well as their situation, the vines also varied in age, so we could also compare the impact on the wine.  One of the wines was more advanced in the ageing process than the others, one more fruity, and the last had a longer finish.  Using measuring cylinders, we played with different proportions of these three wines to make our own blends.  We tasted some great blends, but unfortunately the doses were not always remembered!

We passed the labeling machine as we headed back to the reception hall for the aperitif of Santenay white wine and gougères, a local specialty.  During the meal we tasted other regional fare such as beouf boruguignonne, and Epoisses cheese, and continued the comparisons of the estate?s wines with a Clos de Cornières 2009 and 2006, an Aloxe Corton 2007, and a Chassgane Montrachet Premier Cru 2007, before ending with an old marc de Bourgogne with the coffee.

After all that, we needed to take in some fresh air! Off we headed into the vineyard to inspect the work, and to give each person the chance to (re)introduce themselves to their adopted vines!

Thank you to all for two enriching and enlightening Vinification Experience Days.

Link to video (video available in french language only) 

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