Adopt a Vine and Make Your Own Wine

with the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience

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Working in an organic vineyard in the Loire Valley


Throughout June, we had the pleasure of organising the Gourmet Odyssey Discovery Experience Days again at Château de la Bonnelière and to get to meet our adopted vines once more!  After this chaotic year, we were very happy to enjoy and share these fun times!

 

Rent-a-vine gift in the Loire Valley

 

The welcome coffee, taken in the château’s barn, enabled us to get to know the winery and its owner, Marc Pouzeau.  Château de la Bonnelière is a family run winery which Marc has been running since taking over from his father in 1999.

 

Wine-maker gift experience

 

To help get us acquainted, Marc explained the Chinon appellation system, and the location of the winery’s different vineyard plots, all of which are to be found on the left bank of the River Vienne.  He also explained his philosophy for working organically, and how he strives to produce wines that express the uniqueness of each plot of vines.

We then headed into the Clos de la Bonnelière vineyard, where our adopted vines are located. We started by taking a few photos to remember the moment by!

 

Organic adopt-a-vine gift experience in the Loire Valley

 

The aim of the day was to learn about all the different stages of work in the vineyard.  Marc brought us up to speed on what his team had been busy doing since the last harvest, with particular emphasis on the most crucial task of pruning which kept everyone busy at the start of the year.

 

Get invovled in working in the vineyard alongside the wine-maker

 

Marc then showed us our task for the day to remove some of the leaves from the vines, and to de-bud them.  De-budding is necessary to remove the small unwanted shoots that have grown, and won’t produce any grapes.  And to help the grapes ripen better, we take away some of the leaves east-facing leaves in front of the grapes on the side facing the rising sun.

 

De-budding the vines

 

One of the groups also had the pleasure of weeding a plot of young sauvignon blanc vines.  In May, Marc planted one hectare of vines opposite the winery.  Young vines demand much attention to water them and weed around them.  With the rain of the previous weeks, watering wasn’t a problem, but the weeds had grown rapidly and were starting to suffocate some of the vines.

 

Weeding in the plot of young vines

 

The morning finished, it was now time to taste the organic wines produced at Château de la Bonnelière, and sit down for lunch, which we enjoyed outside whilst continuing our conversation with Marc.

 

Wine-tasting gift experience with the wine-maker in the Loire Valley

 

As is often the case in Chinon, after a big wholesome meal, the urge for a siesta was strong!  But we still had some more to see and discover!  We made our way to the cellar for an introduction into the wine-making side of things, something that we will cover in more in depth during the Vinification Experience Days.  But before then, we’ll be back to harvest the grapes in October. Many thanks to Marc for these really interesting and informative days.

Comments

  • Many thanks to Marc and Louise for the very memorable day on the 26th June, when we were immersed in the vineyard and the magnificent world of a winemaker.
    Everything was perfect from the initiation into the work in the vineyard, the visit of the cellar; the tasting of the wines, to the delicious lunch and friendly atmosphere.
    We wish you all the best in the future.

  • We really appreciated the organisation of the day and the warm welcome of Louise and Marc, who were both able to answer our questions very precisely.
    We're not particularly wine experts, and at first we weren’t sure what to make of this gift that we received from our daughters. But we needn’t have worried and found the approach to be very interesting.
    Marc & Louise are very passionate about what they do, and taught us a lot. We'll continue to follow the progress of the vines and the winery with great interest.

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The Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience

Adopt a Vine in France and Follow the Making of Your Own Wine !

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