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The Terrasses du Larzac “Lansade” red from Château de Jonquières pairs perfectly with a smoked duck salad. Freshness on the palate with a nice long finish.
The colourful asian sautéed noodles with ginger, served with a fruity, aromatic Pinot Gris Rosenberg white wine from Domaine Stentz-Buecher in Alsace for your lighter dishes when it gets hot.
Wild sea bass or swordfish accompanied by a dry white wine next to the sea like the Santenay Village from Domaine Chapelle. This rich Burgundy wine will reveal its fresh side thanks to the saltiness of the fish.
A spatch-cooked chicken on the barbecue is perfect with the Santenay “Clos des Cornières” red, our 100% pinot noir from Domaine Chapelle. It’s a nice strong Burgundy with notes of liquorice that goes very well with a tarragon marinade.
Cold roast beef with home-made chutney is a fine match for our Clos de la Bonnelière red wine from Château de la Bonnelière. This refined Chinon wine mixes power and purity to give added elegance to your summer picnic.
And to finish in beauty, what better for the gourmands than a grilled côtes de bœuf served with glass of Château Coutet Saint-Emilion Grand Cru. The fruitiness and light touch of spice of this fantastic Bordeaux will bring out the best in the beef.
Just a few ideas of some great meals and wine to share or treat yourself to this summer!
Don’t forget to tag us on the social media and immortalise your food pairings with the wines of Gourmet Odyssey’s organic partners with the tag #SUMMERWITHGOURMETODYSSEY.
All the Gourmet Odyssey team wish you a great summer!
Get involved in making your own personalised bottles of wine with the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience.
Chéli and Jérôme, the passionate winemakers at Château Cohola, welcomed us warmly to their organic winery for a Discovery Experience Day. The aim of this wine experience day was to learn about the work required in the vineyard to nurture the vines and produce the best quality grapes possible.
Perched in the foothills of the Dentelles de Montmirail ridge, the winery has a stunning view over to the village of Sablet and the plain of Côtes du Rhône vineyards that stretch below. This was our backdrop for the introductions to the day by Mark, the founder of Gourmet Odyssey, and Chéli and Jérôme from Château Cohola.
We then headed out into the vineyards, pausing on the way for Jérôme to explain the work done in the vineyards during the winter months, notably the different pruning methods used for different grape varietals, and the organic methods used to nurture and protect the vines.
At this time of year, the vines grow rapidly, and it’s a very busy period to try and keep everything in order, and so the help of our winemakers-for-a-day was very much appreciated! As always with a Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience Day, we had some work to do to attach the staked vines, or “échalas” vines.
The vineyards at Château Cohola are spread among 15 terraces, some of which are fairly small and unpractical for tractors and heavy machinery to access. In such places the échalas system is used to provide support to the vines that would normally be done by training wires. A wooden stake is positioned next to each vine that has been pruned using the goblet method, and once the branches have grown to around a metre in length they are bunched together and tied around the stake using a piece of raffia. This will help the vine support the weight of the grapes to come and reduces the risk of branches being damaged by wind, something that is often present in the Rhone Valley.
Chéli and Jérôme demonstrated how to attach the vines, and then in pairs we spread out in the vineyard to have a go ourselves. Standing on opposite sides of the vine, we collected together all of the vine branches. One person hugged the vine to keep them all together, whilst the other tied a piece of raffia around the stake and branches to keep them in place.
It took us a few vines to get the hang of it, but we were soon experts, and we became much quicker. It’s also a very rewarding task, as you can instantly see the result of your work. When we arrived in the vineyard, the branches were falling in all directions, but at the end everything was very orderly, and we could walk easily around the vines. This also has the benefit of lifting the branches off the ground and from becoming entwined with the surrounding vines which would increase the risk of disease spreading.
Jérôme then guided us up the hill, explaining the different plants along the way, until we arrived at another stunning viewpoint looking over the Rhone Valley below. Here we enjoyed an aperitif of the Château Cohola rosé wine, with some local olives and cheese.
Back at the winery, we sat down to lunch in the shade of the platane trees. With the deliciously fresh crespou starter we enjoyed the Château Cohola Cuvée Fruit red wine. To accompany the filet mignon and ratatouille main course, we tasted the 2018 vintage of the Château Cohola Sablet, the red wine that is chosen for the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience. The local goat’s cheese was served with the delicious honey made from the winery’s own beehives and the 2021 Château Cohola Sablet white wine. Lunch ended with a strawberry tart and two more wines. First the Château Cohola TBF red wine, which is made using wine aged in a clay amphorae and oak and stainless-steel barrels, followed by the powerful and full-bodied Cor Hominis Laetificat Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
After lunch, we visited our adopted vines that will produce the grenache grapes used to make the wine that we will receive at the end of the experience.
Jérôme then explained the work that remains to be done between now and the harvest before we headed down into the village of Sablet for a quick tour of the chai.
Chéli and Jérôme showed us the press used to extract the juice from the grapes for the white and rosé wines, and the vats where the grape juice will ferment, and then the barrel room where the wines are aged. We’ll be spending more time here during the Harvest and Vinification Experience Days.
Many thanks to all for a fantastic day! We’ll think a little differently and will appreciate the work that goes into making wine a bit more when we open that next bottle of wine!
We’re delighted to present the wine-makers at the latest partner winery to join the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience. Cheli and Jerome are the owners and wine-makers at Château Cohola in Sablet and you can now adopt some organic vines in the Cotes du Rhone in the stunning setting next to the Dentelles de Montmirail.
Chateau Cohola is located on the slopes that make up the great terroir of the AOC Cotes du Rhone Villages Sablet. This boutique winery is organically certified and has 4 hectares of vines planted on 15 terraces, made up of Syrah and Grenache Noir for the red and rosé wines, and Viognier, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne and Marsanne for the white wines. The vines take up half of the winery, the other half being used for the olive, truffle, and cherry trees, and the bee hives for producing the winery’s honey.
We met up with Cheli & Jerome to ask them a few questions for our wine-maker profile series and to get to know them better.
Our journey has always been intimately linked to wine. We studied wine related courses at university and then pursued careers with Bordeaux and Burgundy wine merchants before finally ending up in the Rhone Valley. After creating our wine merchant business in 2002, we decided to buy a winery in Sablet in 2013, and so Château Cohola was born.
Since taking over the winery in 2013, we have developed the organic methods used, drawing on the natural habitat that surround us. Over the years, we have painstakingly restored the 15 terraces of the vineyards. Our other passion is beekeeping. We have around a hundred bee hives that produce delicious lavender and wild flower honey. We also have olive and cherry trees.
A few instantly come to mind. Perhaps the strongest memory, and one that was a turning point for the winery was meeting an exceptional shepherd which in turn led to us welcoming his flock of sheep to graze on the grass in our vineyards. The complicity between the animal and the vegetal showed us that nature was in equilibrium.
We also get a thrill at the end of June when the vegetation is in full development and the photosynthesis in full flow as the cicadas sing.
The harvest period is also a very exciting time in the year, a physical period, but also very motivating as it’s the result of a whole year’s work. It symbolises the unfaltering effort and diligence of each of us in nurturing the vines through to harvest time.
And more recently, welcoming the actor Jean Dujradin to film a scene in the vineyard for his latest film was an unforgettable experience. We were very happy to have been able to share some time with him on the set of “Les Chemins de Pierre”. One of the scenes was filmed just next to the plot where the adopted vines of the Gourmet Odyssey apprentice wine-makers are located.
The main challenge that our wine-making region is facing is how to adapt to the changing climate and the chronic water shortage that is setting in. Our organic vines are better prepared in periods of drought, but we need to go further in the research of the farming and wine-making techniques that we use. We have had very little rain since the beginning of the year, and that has repercussions that can delay the bud burst and reduce the yield. We need to study the use of irrigation, not to boost production, but to support the vines. By evaluating the humidity, the water storing capacity of our soil, and studying weather patterns, we will be able to determine the irrigation system that is best adapted to supporting our vines.
On the wine-making side of things, we are very happy with the launch of our new, limited series, “TBF” wine. It is a blend of our three types of ageing methods used. T for “Terre” (earth) because some of the wine is aged in an earthenware amphora. B for “Bois” (wood) and the 500 litre oak barrels from the Seguin-Moreau cooperage used for some of the wine. And F for “Fer” (iron), and the stainless steel barrel used to age the remaining wine. After blending and bottling, the bottles are sealed using the bees wax from our hives.
Time is always short, but rest is always necessary. To keep in touch with nature I do Nordic walking, and as a couple we regularly do pilates and yoga. We also like to cook and receive guests. Whether its family or friends, it’s essential for us to share our experiences and slices of life.
Learn more about adopting vines at Château Cohola
The perfect gift for a wine lover
Adopt a vine in France and let them follow the making of their own wine !
From € 169
Adopt-a-Vine Biodynamic Blending Burgundy Experience Fermentation Gift Grapes Harvest Making Organic Pruning Tasting Vine Vines Vineyard Vinification Wine Winemaker Winery