To surprise a wine lover this Christmas, adopt some vines for their Christmas present.  You can choose from our 8 partner wineries, all of which are organically certified.   For a wine-making year, they will follow the making of their organic wine, right up until the bottling of their personalised wine bottles at the end of the experience.

And to make the wine gift more hands on, you can add a Discovery Experience Day in the vineyard with the winemaker to learn all about the work on the vines to prepare them for harvest.  Or you can include a Harvest Experience Day to pick the grapes and follow their journey into the fermentation tanks or a Vinification Experience Day to learn about what happens to the wine once it is in the cellar.  All of the days take place from 09:30 to 16:00, and allow a total immersion into the life of a winemaker by getting involved in the work and by sharing a meal and tasting the wines.

All of our partner vineyards are organically or biodynamically certified, and all of our winemakers are selected for being passionate about their profession.  They will welcome you with open arms to share their knowledge and passion!

Our personalised Christmas wine gift boxes are sure to delight, and the welcome gift pack includes some presents to use straight away, a wine cooler bag, a re-usable glass wine stopper, a DropStop to make sure you don’t spill any of your precious wine, and a personalised vine adoption certificate.

 

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Château de la Bonnelière

Château de la Bonnelière, near Chinon in the Loire Valley, received a rating of 15.5/20 in the Bettane + Desseauve wine guide for the 2014 vintage of the Clos de la Bonnelière.  This is the red wine chosen by Gourmet Odyssey for the adopt-a-vine Wine Experience.

And many more of their wines were also mentioned in the guide, such as the Clos des Roches Saint-Paul 2014, the Chapelle 2014, and the Rive Gauche 2015.

 

Domaine Chapelle

Domaine Chapelle in the picturesque Burgundy village of Santenay had two of their wines selected for the 2017 Guide Hachette; Les Petites Lolières 2013 Aloxe Corton Premier Cru red wine and the Saint-Jean 2014 Santenay white wine who has “an intense nose of white flowers and yellow fruits, and a smooth, buttery finish on the palate with a good mineral freshness.”

 

Domaine la Cabotte

In the Rhone Valley, Domaine la Cabotte was also honoured.  Their Garance wine, the organic red wine also chosen by Gourmet Odyssey for the Wine Experience, was chosen by the Bettane+Desseauve wine guide, receiving a rating of 12.5/20 for the 2014 vintage. 

The wine was also selected for the Guide Hachette in which they described it as having “a harmonious nose with lovely black fruit, violet and spice aromas.  It is well balanced on the palate, at first smooth, but then becoming stronger with a lengthy finish.  Good potential.”

 

Domaine Stentz-Buecher

Domaine Stentz-Buecher in Wettolsheim, Alsace also had a number of their wines chosen for the Bettane + Desseauve 2017 wine guide.  The Who Am I? 2014 was rated 16/20, the Riesling Tannenbuehl Flavien 2014 received 13/20 and the Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Hengst 2014 scored 16/20.

 

Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard

In Chablis, the wines from Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard were chosen multiple times in the different guides.  The Bettane + Desseauve 2017 wine guide included the Chablis Côte de Lechet Premier Cru 2014 and the Chablis Montmains Premier Cru  2015 wines among their top picks.

In the Meilleurs Vins de France wine guide, the Chablis Sainte-Claire, which was recently selected by Gourmet Odyssey, was the star.  It was rated 14.5/20 and described as being “fine and distinctive with a nice freshness.”  

So another nice spread of awards this year to recognise the hard work and talent of our partner winemakers.  Well done!

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Congratulations to our medal winning winemakers at Challenge Millésime Bio
Our partner winemakers selected for the 2016 wine guides

 

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More than just a wine course or wine tasting gift. By adopting some vines, your dad will become an apprentice winemaker and follow the making of his own organic wine at one of our partner wineries in France.

Our Wine Experience gift pack will allow your dad to keep up to date with the news and work at his winery, and keep track of what his happening to his adopted vines via the newsletters and photos. At the end of the wine-making year, your father will receive a bottle of wine for each adopted vine. He can even choose the name of his wine and personalise the wine labels!

And for an even more participative experience, include one or more of the days at the winery to meet the winemakers, see the adopted vines, and get involved in working in the vineyard, the harvest, or one of the wine-making workshops.

Each day is a full day, lasting between 09:30 and 16:00, and includes lunch and a tasting of the wines from the winery. They are each valid for two people, so your dad will get to share a good moment over a glass or two of wine!

All of our partner wineries are chosen for the quality of their wine, the passion of the winemakers in sharing and talking about the art of winemaking, and they are all organically or biodynamically certified.

To have something for your Dad to open on Father's day, each gift pack contains a sommelier's apron, a DropStop, and vine adoption certificate. Standard delivery takes two working days in France, and between 3 and 6 days for the rest of Europe. For last minute Father's Day gifts, we can also send a copy of the adoption certificate by email .

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The quality of the wine depends also on the work carried out in the vineyard, and so after the introductions, we headed to the Rosenberg vineyard, to see where our adopted vines are located and to get a better understanding of the local terroir. Céline pointed out the different plots of Grand Cru vines around us, and we also took a few minutes to take some pictures of our adopted vines.

We were also accompanied by Jean-Jacques, Céline’s father, who founded the winery with his wife, Simone, in 1975.  With the hot weather of the past few days, the vines have sprung to life and Jean-Jacques briefly explained the work that will shortly be keeping them busy to de-bud the vines.

But the principal purpose of the day was to learn about the wine-making side of things, so we headed back to the winery.  To prepare us for the different wines that we would taste throughout the day, the first workshop was designed to develop our senses and help us describe our appreciation of the wines.  We talked about how the different senses can be used to help us identify the characteristics of the wines, and we put our noses to the test to try and name some of the aromas that can be found in white wine.  Not always as easy as you would think!

We then descended into the cellar with Stéphane, who manages the wine-making process at the winery.  He talked to us about how the grapes are received and pressed at harvest time and how the fermentation process then transforms the sugar into alcohol.

We had the chance to taste the 2015 vintage of our Pinot Gris Rosenberg wine directly from the cask, and to get a first impression of the potential for our wine.  The wine had finished its malo-lactic fermentation and was very concentrated both aromatically and on the palate.  Very promising t this stage!

Stéphane then took us into the barrel room and talked to us about the difference in vinifying and ageing red wines.  We tasted a wine made from Pinot Noir grapes that those of us that had participated in the Harvest Experience Day had helped to pick.

Alsace is a wine-growing region where, for the most part, the wines are defined by their grape varietal and the terroir in which the vines are located.  To better understand these differences, there’s no better way than to taste the wines!

To start with, a blind tasting test of three different wines, where we had to identify three different grape varietals.  In the second series, we again tasted three different wines, but this time each were Riesling wines, the only difference being the terroir.  The first wine was a Riesling Tradition wine that had been blended from different plots, the second a Riesling Ortel that contains the grapes from one single vineyard, and the third a Riesling Steingrubler Grand Cru, from one of Alsace’s most sought after vineyards.

We then tasted a Crémant d’Alsace with a savoury Kouglopf before sitting down to lunch where we tasted some more of the wines produced by the winery.

In the afternoon, we returned to the cellar, and saw the where the wines are bottled and labelled and talked more about the choices of the winemaker in using cork or alternatives.  Time for a few more questions, and the day drew to a close.

Many thanks to all the participants for a very interactive and lively day, and of course to the Stentz-Buecher family for welcoming us and sharing their passion for winemaking.

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The Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience is a great Mother’s Day gift idea that will let her in behind the scenes to learn all about the art of winemaking.  She’ll receive an adopt-a-vine welcome gift pack to have something to open straight away, and then thanks to the newsletters and photos from the winemaker, she’ll follow all the key stages in the vineyard and cellar, and will be able to personalise the labels for her bottles of wine.

And if you think she’ll enjoy a short break in France to explore one of France’s wine growing regions, and actually get involved in helping to make her wine, you can include, or she can add at a later date, a Discovery, Harvest or Vinification Experience Day at her chosen winery.  Each Experience Day is valid for two people, with a winemaker’s lunch of regional delicacies and wine tasting included.

All of our partner wineries are organically certified, and are selected for the quality of their wine and the enthusiasm of the winemakers to share their passion for wine and how it is made.  One thing is for sure.  At the end of her Wine Experience gift, your Mum will appreciate wine in a whole new light, once she has learnt about all of the hard work, skill, love and effort that has gone into making her personalised bottles of wine.

Our welcome gift packs are delivered within two working days in France and 2-5 days for the rest of Europe depending on the country and delivery option selected.  For those last minute Mother’s Day gifts, a personalised adopt-a-vine certificate can be emailed.

So go on, and spoil your Mum this year with her own mini plot of vines in France.  It’s sure to be a Mother’s Day gift that she won’t be expecting!

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After a welcome coffee, the day started with a workshop in tasting wines, led by Yvette Chapelle. This session starts with an exercise to identify the different aromas that can be found in wine.

We put our sense of smell to the test, first with the primary aromas of fruit and flowers, and then we tried to name a series of tertiary aromas that can be found in wines that have been aged in oak.

The wine tasting session finished with a gustative test to identify the differences between sweet, saline, acidic and bitter solutions.

Jean-François Chapelle took us on a tour of the fermentation hall and the cellar. In the fermentation hall he explained how the wines ferment and worked in the period immediately following the harvest.

In the cellar, we then learnt how the wines change when aged in different types of oak barrel. We tasted some wines direct from the barrel to see firsthand the differences in some of the 2014 wines that are currently ageing. Then it was time for the aperitif. A Santenay 2013 village white wine, accompanied by some gougères before sitting down to enjoy lunch.

We headed out into the sunshine after lunch, and made our way to the Clos des Cornières vineyard, where our adopted vines are to be found. Jean-François taught us a few more things about the local geology and the vines in general.

We finished the day back at the winery with a final tasting of the 2014 Clos de Cornières wine which is currently ageing in oak barrels in the cellar. The vineyard is made up of three distinct zones with three different ages of vines which are referred to as the Park, Young and Old. We tasted each of these wines separately, as the final wine will be made up of a blend of the three. Many thanks to the team at Domaine Chapelle for their warm welcome, and to our clients for their good cheer.

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Adopt some vines this Christmas for someone close in one of our 7 organic partner vineyards in France. For a winemaking year, they'll follow the evolution of their wine and will end up with their own personalised bottles of wine.

To complete this gift idea, you can also include one or more of the 3 Wine Experience Days at the winery. Participate in the work in the vineyard to help produce the best quality grapes during a Discovery Experience Day, or join the Harvest Experience Day to pick the grapes and follow their journey into the vat. The third option is the Vinification Experience Day to learn about the work in the cellar to ferment, age and blend the wines. Each day allows you to get involved in the work of the winemaker, to share a meal and taste wines from the winery.

All of our partner winemakers are organically certified and are passionate about their profession. They'll welcome you with pleasure and will let you in behind the scenes to learn more about the fascinating world of wine.

This unique and authentic approach to wine makes a great personalised Christmas gift. To have something to put underneath the Christmas tree and open on Christmas day, the welcome pack contains a sommelier's apron, a DropStop, personalised certificate and more information about the chosen experience.

 

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More information on the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience

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One of the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience gifts will enable the newlyweds to understand all of the work that the winemaker undertakes in the vineyard and the cellar when making their personalised bottles of wine. They will follow all of the key stages via newsletters and photos as their vintage unfolds.

 

The newlyweds can roll up their sleeves and get involved themselves if you include in their Wine Experience one of the Discovery, Harvest or Vinification Experience Days. They'll get to visit one of our seven partner vineyards to participate in the pruning, de-budding, harvesting or discovering the art of ageing and blending wines in the cellar. The winemakers will be there to explain their work, share their passion, and of course to let you taste their wines during the winemakers meal.

All of our partner wineries are organically certified, and are chosen for the quality of their wines, and the enthusiasm of the winemakers in explaining the intricacies of their profession. This means that the newlyweds will embark on an unforgettable experience to follow the making of their wine, from the same year as their wedding.

 

The welcome gift packs are delivered in 2 to 4 working days depending on the country of delivery, and for any last minute gifts, we can email the adoption certificate ahead of the welcome pack.

The Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience is an original idea for a wedding present for wine lovers and those curious to learn the secrets behind making a quality wine. An original wine gift that will last long in the memory.

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To start talking about the fermentation and vinification stages, there is no better place than the chai, and it was here that Christine Nadalié, the winemaker at Château Beau Rivage, explained all about the alcoholic and malo-lactic fermentation.

Christine comes from a family of coopers and as she says, she fell into a barrel at a very young age! The barrel room at the winery is very impressive, and Christine talks with as much passion about her barrels as she does her wines. She explained the importance of the source of the oak used for the barrels and the different toasts that are used to influence the structure of the wine. With the stirring of the lees, topping up the angel's share, and racking the barrels, there's more than enough to keep the maitre de chai busy!

We then took a few minutes to venture into the vineyard and enjoy the sunshine. With a week to go before Easter, instead of hunting for the Easter eggs, we searched for the adopted vines!

The Vinification Experience Day is the course where we taste the most wine. To better prepare us for the wine tastings, we organised a workshop to identify the aromas found in wine. When tasting wines, finding the words to describe our impressions is often the most difficult thing.

The first tasting was blind, and we had to find the difference between two wines. They were both however identical wines, the only difference being the type of barrel that they had been aged in. The comparison showed us the aromatic and difference in taste of a wine aged in French oak and a wine aged in American oak.

At lunchtime, we dined in the 1902 restaurant, located at the family cooperage. During the meal we tasted wines from the range made by Christine.

Blending wines is a true art form, and we set aside the afternoon to better understand it. First of all, we tasted wines from four different grape varietals separately - merlot, cabernet sauvignon, malbec and petit verdot to appreciate the characteristics of each.

We then made several blends to see how the wine changes when different combinations of grape varietals are used. Even a small change in percentage can have a big impact on the final wine. We gradually honed our blends to try and find the best wine.

Many thanks to Christine and Guillaume from Château Beau Rivage for sharing their passion for their profession with us, and to all of the participants for their enthusiasm. We now just have to wait patiently as we give the wine the time to age sufficiently before knowing the blend that Christine will choose for our cuvée!

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As soon as the grapes are harvested, they start the vinification process to extract the different compounds from the grapes and to optimise the quality of the wine produced. Once the grapes are brought to the chai from the vineyard, the grape must starts to ferment to transform the sugar into alcohol with the help of yeast. The juice then becomes wine. Often a second fermentation then takes place to turn the malic acid into lactic acid, making the wine rounder and softer. The wine then enters the ageing period in vats or oak barrels.

The general principle seems fairly straightforward, but there are different processes according to grape varietal, colour and wine producing regions. And at each step, the winemaker takes decisions that are crucial in influencing the aroma and taste of the wine. These choices are personal and so there are as many different ways of vinifying and ageing wine as there are winemakers!

Without going into specific vinification details for rosé, sparkling or sweet wines, there are two principal details for vinifying white and red wines.

First the white wines. Once the grapes have been picked and sorted, and have arrived in the chai, they are put into a wine press to extract the juice from the grapes. The time that the pulp and grape skins are in contact with each other is very short for white wine, explaining why the wine is lightly coloured. Next the juice is clarified by removing the solid particles present in the must, such as skin, pip or stalk particles. This is done by letting the particles settle or by centrifuge. The juice then ferments to become wine and enters the ageing phase which can be just a few weeks or a few years for wines that are made for keeping. Ageing can be in barrels or vats.

For the red wines, the process is slightly different. Once the grapes have been picked and sorted, they are put into a vat, either whole or having been separated from the stems. Sometimes the grapes are lightly crushed to set free some of the must. In the vat the grapes are left to macerate so that the juice can extract the tannins and colour from the skin and pips.

The alcoholic fermentation starts at the same time and generally lasts between one and three weeks. Once it has finished we draw off the liquid. The remaining solid matter is known as marc and is then pressed to extract the wine that has been soaked into it. This is known as press wine, and the winemaker can choose whether or not to blend it with the rest of the wine. The wine is then left to finish the fermentation, alcoholic and malo-lactic, before being aged in barrels or vats.

At each step of the way, the winemaker tastes the grapes and wines, analyses them, and then makes a multitude of decisions such as how strong to press, whether to de-stem the bunches, how long to let the wine macerate, how long to age the wine, whether to use vats or barrels... As many important choices as there are different wines!

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In the morning we visited the cuverie to follow the path that the grapes, juice and wine take.  First we saw the area that the grapes are received during the harvest and put into the presses.  Pierre, from Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard, explained how the presses work and how the juice is then put into the vats.

 

 

Pierre told us about the alcoholic and malo-lactic fermentation processes.  The 2013 wines have all finished their first fermentation, and are now starting the malo-lactic fermentation which will soften the wines.   We stopped in front of the vat containing this year's Boissonneuse wine for a first taste of the wine that the clients of the 2013 vintage will receive next year, once the ageing has finished.  At this stage, the wine is still a little cloudy, which is completely normal.  The wine is far from being finished, but we could taste a nice concentration and equilibrium.

 

 

Once the ageing has finished, the bottling takes place in the next door building.  Pierre showed us the line of machines that are used to clean the bottles, bottle the wine and insert the corks.  The bottles then move to the labelling machine before being boxed, ready for transit.  It's a very impressive set-up to see!

 

 

We also organised several workshops around wine tasting.  To hone our skills, we started with a workshop to help identify the aromas that can be found in white wines.  This can be quite frustrating when you know you know a smell, but can't put a name to it!  We then tasted some sweet, salty, acidic and bitter flavoured water to feel how these different tastes act on the tongue.

 

 

We were now better prepared to taste the wine.  We blind tasted three series of wines to try and identify the differences.  The wine tasting continued over lunch with different vintages of the Boissonneuse, the Chablis chosen for the Wine Experience.

 

 

After all of the wines tasted, it was good to get some fresh air!  We walked to the Boissonneuse vineyard to see the adopted vines and to take a few pictures.

 

 

Back at the winery, we went down into the cellar to see the exposed cut of the ground to better understand the kimmeridgian soil that gives Chablis wines their specificity. We finished the day with a tasting of the 2012 Boissonneuse wine.  This wine is almost at the end of its ageing process and will soon be bottled.

 

 

Many thanks to all you participated in the day.

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We started the day in the chai with Christine Nadalié, the château's winemaker.  She explained how the grapes were received during the harvest and how the grape juice was transformed into alcohol during the fermentation process.

Next door, in the barrel room, Chrsitine told us about the work done whilst the wine is ageing such as stirring the lees and topping up the barrels.  Christine comes from a family of coopers, and so she let us in on the fascinating world of barrels and the harmony between oak and wine.

Once we had visited the chai, the plan was to visit our adopted vines.  However on the Saturday it started to pour down with rain at that point so we changed the plan.  On Sunday, we got booted up and braved the mud to take a look at our vines!

The Vinification Experience Day is where we taste the most wine.  To help us describe what we are tasting, we organised a workshop to help us identify the aromas that we can find in the wine.  It's not as easy as you would think!

We then tasted three wines that are still in the process of ageing.  Each wine was from the same grape varietal, Cabernet Sauvignon, picked on the same day from the same plot of vines, but each had been aged in a different type of barrel.  It's amazing to smell and taste the marked differences between the three wines.

To accompany the lunch, we tasted several of the Bordeaux Supérieur and Haut-Médoc wines produced at the winery.

 

The afternoon was dedicated to blending, using the four principle grape varietals grown at Château Beau Rivage; Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malbec.  First of all we tasted each grape varietal separately to appreciate the individual characteristics that each brings to a blended wine.

 

In small groups, we then made several different blends to understand for ourselves how we can make completely different styles of wine.

At the end of the afternoon, each group chose their best blend to present to Christine and the rest of the group.

All in all a day rich in information, aromas and tastes!

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All week, the Gourmet Odyssey team anxiously monitored the weather forecast as Jean-Franois, the winemaker at Domaine Chapelle, was predicting rain for the weekend. In the end, the wet conditions didn't dampen the spirits, and we had a great group who were fully motivated to participate in the harvest. Those lucky enough to have chosen the Monday even saw some sunshine!

 

Each morning we welcomed the adoptive owners of vines in the "Clos des Cornires" vineyard. After a coffee and a short introduction to the winery, we set off to the vineyard. With a few explanations from Jean-Franois and plenty of good humour, we set about harvesting the grapes.

 

We then followed the grapes to the reception hall to sort the grapes and track their journey into the vats.

 

Whilst some got stuck in around the sorting table, secateurs in hand, under the instruction of Yannick, the Technical Director, others watched the grapes climb the conveyor belt and fall into the vat. Jean-Franois talked us through the first stages of fermentation and how the grape juice will gradually transform into wine.

 

After a busy morning, it was time to taste some of the estate's wines, accompanied by one of the local specialties, gougres, before sitting down to lunch in the harvesters' refectory. The conversation, food and wine flowed, and it was difficult to get going again afterwards!

 

The days finished with a visit of the cellar, an impressive labyrinth of barrels and bottles.

 

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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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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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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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