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Vinification Experience Day in Burgundy at Domaine Chapelle


The start of the winter holiday season in France was the occasion to immerse ourselves in the world of oenology and winemaking at Domaine Chapelle in Santenay.  During this Vinification Experience day spent at the winery, we learnt about all the stages in making wine from the harvest up to bottling.

Wine Experience Gift in France. Learn how wine in made at the winery.

The day started with a workshop to put our sense of smell to the test, by trying to identify some of the aromas to be found in Burgundy wines.  Primary and secondary aromas, floral, fruity...  There are many aromas to be found in wine.  If only it wasn't so hard to put a name to them!  By using small flasks containing different aromas, the aim of the exercise was to help us express in words what we experience when tasting wine.

Wine gift idea. Smelling the aromas found in wine

After a brief stop in the labelling room, we learnt how to recognise the sensations that wine can have on our taste buds.  Acid, salty, sweet, bitter...  How do you identify these different tastes on your tongue?

The morning continued with Jean-François in the fermentation hall, then in the cellar to follow the wine's evolution since the harvest.  We learnt about the richness that the different terroir brings to the wine and how the age of the vines impacts its quality.

We learnt more about the oak barrels and how they impact the taste of the wine.  He gave us an insight into the difficult task of trying to predict how a particular year will turn out, and how to marry the right type of barrel with the wine 

Through a series of wine tastings directly from the barrel we experienced firsthand the differences in terroir and barrels used to age the wines.

Wine tasting direct from the barrel

The morning ended in the fermentation hall with a tasting of the Santenay and Meursault white wines.  Jean-François and Yvette explained how the estate had converted to become organic.

Wine Tasting

After lunch, the weather finally warmed up a little, and so we headed out into the vineyard.  The vines are in the process of being pruned at the moment, and so we learnt how this is done and how the winery is trying to encourage the vines to develop their root structure.

Before visiting our adopted vines, Jean-François showed us the different terroir of the surrounding vineyards. 

Understanding the different Burgundy terroir

Back at the winery, a few people had not just stocked up on some wine, but also filled their cars with some of the used barrels!

An early taste of the 2012 that is still ageing

The day ended back in the fermentation hall for a tasting of the Clos de Cornières wine, harvested in 2012, and which is still going through the ageing process.  Another occasion to put our new found tasting skills to test!  We were able to taste the differences that the differing ages of vines from the same vineyard have on the wine, and to get a first glimpse of how the 2012 vintage might turn out!

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Original St Valentine Gift Idea for Wine Lovers


Short of gift ideas for an original St Valentine's present?  Give an unexpected gift to the special man or woman in your life that lets them discover the fascinating world of organic wine making.

St Valentine's organic gift. Rent-a-vine in France Wine Experience.

Short of gift ideas for an original St Valentine's present?  Give an unexpected gift to the special man or woman in your life that lets them discover the fascinating world of organic wine making.

Much more than the usual wine tasting gift or oenology course, Gourmet Odyssey offers you a much more authentic idea - adopt your own organic vines in an award-winning French vineyard!

The Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience enables you to rent your own micro-plot of vines in a leading winery, located in one of France's main wine producing regions (Alsace, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Languedoc, the Loire and Rhone Valleys).  By following each of the key steps in making your organic wine, you will become an apprentice wine maker for the wine making year.

The Wine Experience days are a great excuse to plan a romantic weekend break in France.  These hands-on and practical wine courses create a bond with the winemakers, let you discover their great wines, share their knowledge and passion for their profession, and enable you to explore the local area and cuisine.

You will receive the welcome pack to give as a gift on St Valentine's day.  Your loved one will follow the evolution of his vines and the making of his wine by newsletter.  At the end of the Wine Experience, he can choose the name of his wine, and will receive a personalise bottle of wine for each adopted vine.

The Wine Experience is the ideal gift for St Valentine's day for any wine lover, and is a present that is sure to be remembered for many years to come.
Follow this link for more information and to order your St Valentine's Wine Experience Gift.

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Oenology Course in Chablis


Last Sunday we were at Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard in Burgundy for a Vinification Experience Day.  During this hands-on wine course, we learnt more about the key stages in making wine that happen between harvest time and bottling.

The day started down in the cellar where one of the walls has been left bare.  Here you can clearly see the strata of kimmeridgian soil and rock that help to give Chablis wines their unique taste.

Wine Experience Gift in Chablis, Burgundy. Visit the winery and discover the terroir

We then headed outside and followed the same path as the grapes take during the harvest to arrive at the fermentation hall.  Pierre showed us the presses that are used to extract the juice from the grapes, and explained how the juice in transferred to the vats, and the sugar turned into alcohol.

Original wine gift for a wine lover. Hands-on vineyard visit in Chablie. Wine Press.

The wine that is made from the Boissonneuse vineyard, the plot chosen by Gourmet Odyssey, is vinified in 3 different vats.  We stopped at each one to taste the 2012 vintage to see how it has been getting on since we harvested the grapes in October.  It's interesting to see how each vat has evolved differently, with one being much further behind than the other two.

Wine tasting gift Chablis, France. Tasting the wine directly from the fermentation tank.

In the next door hall, Pierre showed us the machines and the line that is used to bottle the wine.  After the wine is bottled, it is then passed through the labelling machine before being put into the cases and dispatched to the four corners of the globe.

The bottling line

Back at the winery, we started the first of the workshops.  Often, one of the most difficult things when tasting wine is to find the right words to describe the sensations that you are feeling.  We set up an exercise using flasks containing different smells to help us identify the variety of aromas that can be found in white wine.

Oenology gift. Nez du Vin aroma wine course.

The tongue also helps us when tasting, and different zones are sensitive to different tastes.  During the second workshop we tasted five different types of water; a control test, and one each that had had an acidic, bitter, sweet and salty flavour added to it.

By this stage, we had earned our right to start tasting some finished wines!  Pierre had prepared a few different series of wines to help us appreciate different characteristics.  We started with a blind tasting of the three different white grape varieties used at the winery, Aligoté, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

Wine Tasting Gift in Chablis, France. Tasting the different styles of Chablis wines.

We tasted others series of wines to identify wines aged in stainless steel vats and in wooden casks, and how to identify a corked wine.

We continued the tasting over lunch with a Boissonneuse 2010 and 2003 to get an idea of how a wine ages, and we also tasted a magnum of one of the red wines made by the winery, the Irancy "Les Mazelots".

Some fresh air was in order after lunch, so we headed over to the Boissonneuse vineyard where the adopted vines are located.

Adopt-a-vine wine gift experience Chablis, France. Adopt a row of vines.

We finished the day with a visit of the old fermentation hall where some of the more prestigious wines are aged in oak casks and barrels.  We also had one last tasting in store - that of two lots of the Boissonneuse 2011 which will very shortly be blended and bottled.  We tasted each wine separately before blending the two together in a measuring cylinder.

Wine making experience gift in Chablis. Visit the oak casks in the fermentation hall.

So lots of discussion and lots of tasting!  We hope that the day taught gave a little more insight into the life of a winemaker and the important choices to be made during the winemaking process.

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Wine blending during the Vinification Experience Day at Château Beau Rivage


We spent last weekend in Bordeaux at Château Beau Rivage for a couple of Vinification Experience Days.  The aim of this hands-on wine course is to learn more about the vinification and ageing stages in winemaking.  Considering the amount of rain that had fallen during the preceding days, luckily it was planned to spend most of the time inside!

Original Wine Lover Gift Experience. Blend your own wines in Bordeaux

The day started in the fermentation hall.  Here, Christine, the winemaker and owner at Château Beau Rivage, explained to us how the grapes are received during the harvest, how the grape juice is transformed into wine during the first fermentation, and why the second malo-lactic fermentation is important to soften the taste of the wine.

Wine Making Experience Gift. Visit the winery and blend your own wine.

We then moved into the barrel room.  Christine's family have been coopers for several generations, and so Christine talked passionately about the influence that the barrels plays on the wine, and the large choice that the winemakers have in the choice of their barrels.

Visit the wine barrels in the cellar. Behind the scenes winery tour in Bordeaux

But the Wine Experience Days aren't just for listening and discussing.  We had organised several practical workshops to help us learn more about wine and winemaking.

Lots of wine tasting happens during the Vinification Experience Day, so to help us find the words to describe what it is we are tasting, the first workshop concentrated on the nose.  With the help of little glass flasks, we had to try and name the aromas found in wine that are brought by the fruit and the barrel.  It's often harder than you would think to correctly put a name to a smell!

Wine Gift for wine enthusiasts. Identifying the aromas found in wine.

For the first series of tasting, we tasted three wines that are still ageing.  Each wine was the same grape variety, picked on the same day, the only difference being the type of barrel it has been ageing in.  The difference is unbelievable - you would think that they were three completely different wines.  This exercise clearly shows the impact of oak on the wine.  The first barrel was made using Eastern Eurpoean oak, the second with American oak, and the third with French oak.

Wine Tasting Experience Gift in Bordeaux, France.

During lunch we savoured some South West French specialities, accompanied with different wines and vintages produced at the winery, including the "Château Beau Rivage" Bordeaux Supérieur, the wine chosen for the Gourmet Odyssey clients, and the winery's "Clos la Bohème" Haut-Médoc wine.

south west France delicacies during the winemakers meal

The afternoon was taken up with blending.  To start, we first tasted four grape varieties separately to better understand what each brings to the wine.  The fruitiness of the Merlot, more spice from the Malbec, the length of the Cabernet Sauvignon, and the acidity of the Petit Verdot.

Make your own wine gift. Blend your own wine.

In small groups, we each then mixed our own blends to see firsthand how the taste of the wine differs depending on the grape varieties and percentages used.

To finish the day, Christine gave us a taste of a blend that she had put together, which showed us that 20 years of experience in blending wines does indeed count for something!

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The Harvest 2012 Finishes in Chinon


The 2012 harvest has now finished at all of our partner wineries.  We had our final Harvest Experiences days of the year at Château de la Bonnelière in Chinon last weekend.  The winemaker, Marc Plouzeau, had left us a couple of plots of vines to harvest, so come rain or shine, it was up to us to finish the job!

Original wine gift. Harvest Experience Day at Château de la Bonnelière, Chinon, Loire Valley, France

On Saturday, we headed off to one of the oldest vineyards in France, the Clos du Maulevrier, where the vines survived the phylloxera disease that ravaged the vast majority of the French vineyards in 1860.  Here, all of the work on the vines is carried out by hand.

Harvester in action

After the distribution of buckets, secateurs and cases, we spread out among the rows to start harvesting!

On Sunday, we finished the Clos de la Bonnelière vineyard, where the adopted vines are located.  Each day we took some time to visit the vines and to take the odd photo or two!

Visiting the adopted vines

A morning harvesting makes for thirsty work, so the wine tasting session at midday was most welcome, starting with one of the winery's sparkling wines, Perles Sauvages.  We continued the tasting session with the red wines during the harvesters' meal in the old barn.

Wine tasting and harvesters meal

After lunch, we headed over to the chai to rejoin our harvest and participate in putting it into the fermentation tanks.  We took the crates out of the van and tipped the grapes into the de-stemming machine which separates the berries from the stalks.

Putting the garpes into the de-stemming machine

The grape berries are collected in a trolley which is then raised by a forklift truck and emptied into a vat.  This method of putting the harvest into the fermentation tanks ensures the maximum number of intact grapes enter the vat, which improved the quality of the wine.

Putting the grapes into the vat

We then set about cleaning the material to keep the chai and equipment hygienic.

Cleaning the material

Marc explained to us how the sugar in the grapes will be turned into alcohol during fermentation, and how he will work in the chai over the coming days to nurture the wines.

We finished the day with a final tasting, this time of two grape juices at different stages of fermentation to compare their evolution.

Tasting the grape juice

Many thanks to Marc for sharing his knowledge and passion with us, and to our clients for working so well despite the odd drop or two of rain!

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Harvest Experience Days 2012 in Bordeaux


We spent last weekend in Macau-en-Médoc for the Harvest Experience Days at Château Beau Rivage. We had to be flexible due to the changeable weather, but we managed to harvest three different plots of vines, merlot, malbec and cabernet sauvignon.

The days started with an introduction to the château and the winemaker, Chrsitine Nadalié, before heading straight out into the vineyard.

Original Gift for a wine enthusiast. Harvest Experience Day at Château Beau Rivage, Bordeaux

Before getting down to the real work of harvesting, we paid a visit to the part of the vineyard where the adopted vines are located!

Harvest your adopted vines in an organic Bordeaux vineyard

Then secateurs in hand, and having received our instructions on how to harvest, we spread out between the rows to start picking the grapes.

Harvest Experience Gift. Porter emptying the harvested grapes into the trailer

On Saturday we harvested using porters with baskets on their backs to carry the grapes between the harvesters and the awaiting trailer.

Harvesting the grapes into cases

On Sunday the weather forecast was for some showers, so we harvested the grapes into some crates to give us more flexibility.  And luckily we did too, because shortly after we started harvesting the second plot of vines, we had to rush back to take shelter in the chai!

Wine Tasting of the winery's bordeaux superieur and haut-medoc wines

We stopped at lunchtime to taste the wines from Château Beau Rivage and to eat the harvesters' meal.  After the morning's effort, it was most welcome!

Sorting Table

During the days, we also participated in putting our harvest into the fermentation tanks.  On Saturday, the bunches were pushed from the trailer into the de-stemming machine to separate the grapes from the stalks.  Then, gathered around the sorting table, we removed any unripe or rotten berries before they were pumped into the vats.

Emptying the crates into the de-stemming machine

We worked a little differently on Sunday, emptying the crates into the de-stemming machine which then placed the grapes directly onto an escalator to be put into the vats.

The cleaning team!

And we also had a few helpful volunteers who got stuck into cleaning the material afterwards!

Oxygenating the wine

In the chai, Christine explained how the grape juice will be transformed into wine during the fermentation stage.  We also saw how the juice is drawn from the bottom of the vats and pumped back into the top, a process which helps oxygenate the wine and extract more tannin from the grape skins.

 

Tour of the barrel room

We then went into the barrel room for an introduction into the vinification and ageing side of wine making.

Tasting the grape juice

The day finished with the tasting of a grape juice that has just started to ferment.  Very sweet and a little effervescent, but the first taste of the wine to come!

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Harvest Experience Day in Chablis


Last weekend we were in Chablis with some of our Wine Experience clients for the Harvest Experience Days.  We followed the grapes journey from the vine to the fermentation tank!

Adopt a vine Gift. Harvest Experience day at Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard, Chablis, France

We started the day in the vineyard, where we received our instructions on which grapes to harvest and which to leave.

Harvest Experience Gift for wine lovers. Harvest your own grapes in the vineyard.

Having been issued with our pair of secateurs and bucket, we spread out in twos between the vine rows to start harvesting.  The grapes this year in Chablis are very healthy and the buckets were quickly filled.  It wasn't long before the cries of "Porter" started ringing out in the vineyard.

Porter emptying his basket into the trailer

We took it in turns to be a porter.  Carrying a basket on our back, we went back and forth between the harvesters and the awaiting trailer.

Wine Tasting session of the estate's Chablis wines

A few hours harvesting makes for thirsty work, and we had well earnt our wine tasting at lunchtime!  We started with a Petit Chablis, and then tasted a few different Chablis and Chablis Premier Cru before finishing with a Chablis Grand Cru Valmur.  The tasting of the estate's wines continued over lunch.

Photo session of the adopted vines

In the afternoon we went to the Boissonneuse vineyard where the adopted vines are located.  We took a few minutes to take a few souvenir pictures!

The harvesting machine

On the Saturday afternoon, some harvesting machines were in operation nearby, so went and took a closer look!

Loading the harvested grapes into the press

Back at the winery, we went to the cuverie to pick up the trail of the harvest.   The grapes are loaded into a press which then extracts the juice form the each berry.

The fermentation tanks

We then followed the pipes to the fermentation tank where the juice will start its transformation into wine.  Here we learnt how the sugar will be broken down and turned into alcohol overt the coming weeks and months.

Tasting the grape juice

A final tasting to end the day - this time the juice from our harvest.  At first sight, it's not the most appealing of prospects as you look at a murky brown liquid, but even those who hesitated to try were agreeably surprised! Sweet with a fresh taste, we just have to wait patiently until next winter until the wine will finally be ready!

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2012 Harvest in Burgundy at Domaine Chapelle


This year's harvest at Domaine Chapelle is now over, and it was the clients of Gourmet Odyssey who finished it off!  The Harvest Experience Days were spread over four days, and with the exception of a few minutes worth of rain on one of the days, we miraculously avoided the worst of the very variable weather that Burgundy has seen in the past few weeks.

Wine Experience Gift for a wine enthusiast. Adopt a vine and harvest your own grapes in Burgundy, France

The Harvest Experience days each started directly in the Clos des Cornières vineyard, the plot where the adopted vines are located.  As is the custom, we took a few minutes so that everyone could introduce themselves to their adopted vines, and we have already received a few entries for the "My Vine" photo competition.

But to more serious matters - the harvest!  Once instruction had been given, secateurs and cases distributed, we spread out in twos among the vine rows to begin the harvest.  Our objective was to reach the wall at the far end of the clos, something that none of our clients had achieved to date.

Harvest Experience Gift in Burgundy

But 2012 isn't a year like the others.  In the vineyard it's been a very difficult campaign.  A mild winter followed by a few weeks of arctic conditions, cold and wet weather during the flowering season, and then the subsequent passing of three hailstorms have each played their part in lowering the yield.  In a normal year (if such a thing exists!), you would expect perhaps one of these events, but never all together.  As a result, there were considerably less grapes on each vine than normal, and our harvesters positively galloped through the rows.  Where several cases were filled per row last year, just one case was needed this year.  Fortunately with wine though, a lack of quantity doesn't necessarily mean a lack of quality, as those who tasted some of the grapes instead of putting them in the basket can attest to!

Back at the winery, the wine tasting was just reward!  For the aperitif, we compared a Santenay St Jean 2011 white wine with a Meursault 2010, accompanied by a few gougères, the local cheese puff delicacy.

Wine tasting session of the Burgundy white and red wines from the Côtes de Beaune

Over the harvester's lunch, we tasted some of the winery's red wines.  We started with a couple of different vintages of the Santenay Clos des Cornières to taste the red wine chosen for the Gourmet Odyssey cuvée, and to see how it develops over time.  We then finished with a fine Aloxe Corton.

Harvester's Lunch

From the vineyard, we picked up the trail of our grapes.  First stop the reception hall where the harvested grapes are delivered.  Here, we took up our station around the sorting table to remove any unripe grapes or bunches that had started to develop fungus.

Sorting the grapes on the sorting table

At the end of the sorting table the grapes fall into the de-stemming machine, which separates the berries from the stalks.  The grape berries then continue their fall by gravity down a slide into a waiting trolley below.

Inside the fermentation hall, we followed the end of the grapes journey into the fermentation tanks.  Here we learnt how the sugar will be transformed into alcohol, and how the tannins and colour are extracted from the grape skins during the maceration period.

Putting the grapes into the fermentation tanks

Then a quick tour of the cellar to see where our wine will rest during the malo-lactic fermentation and age for the necessary time in the oak barrels.

Cellar tour

We ended the day by sampling the grape juice that we had just harvested.  It's nice and interesting to taste, but the end product will be even better!

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Sunny Harvest at Domaine Allegria


And we're off again - the harvest has begun!  Last weekend saw us welcome our first harvesters of the 2012 vintage at our partner winery in the Languedoc, domaine Allegira.  We were blessed with sun and blue skies for the Harvest Experience Day, so the winemakers, Ghislain and Delphine d'Aboville, put us to work straight away!

We spent the morning in the vineyard.  Ghislain showed us how to harvest the grapes - which bunches to cut and which to leave on the vine.  Secateurs in hand, we then spread out among the rows to get stuck in!

Wine Lover Gift. Harvest Experience day in the south pf France at domaine Allegria, Pezenas, Languedoc-Roussillon

We harvested the plot of Carignan vines, a grape variety that is particularly liked by Ghislain and Delphine, placing the grapes in cases to later transport the harvest to the chai.

Wine Experience Gift. Harvesting grapes in the vineyard.

With the sun now directly overhead, the aperitif was particularly welcome!  We headed back to the winery to find some shade and sit down to the harvester's meal, accompanied by a tasting of the different wines that Allegria makes.

Harvester's Meal

In the afternoon, our task was to put our harvest into the fermentation tanks.  First we emptied the cases into the de-stemming machine that separates the grapes from the stalks.   The grapes are then gently pushed through a pipe into the tank where the fermentation begins to transform the sugar into alcohol.  Ghislain explained the fermentation process and talked about the different methods used in making white and rosé wines.

Putting the harvest into the fermentation tanks

A huge thank you to Ghislmain and Delphine for their welcome, and to our clients for their enthusiasm and hard work!  We harvested more than a ton of grapes!

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Wine Discovery Experience Day in Burgundy


The vines are growing and the grapes are forming, which also means that the winemaker's work in the vineyard hasn't finished yet! We spent last weekend at Domaine Chapelle in Burgundy with some of the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Discovery Experience Day clients. The aim of the days were to better understand the effort and time spent in the vineyard to assure the best quality grapes come harvest time.

Discovery Experience Day at Domaine Chapelle, Burgundy, Wine Experience Gift

In the garden overlooking the vines, Jean-François Chapelle briefly told us the history of the four generations of winemakers in his family, and explained to us the different appellations to be found in Burgundy.

When we start to talk about vines and terroir, it's always easier to understand when you can look around and see with your own eyes. We therefore headed to the Clos des Cornières vineyard where we could see the different terroir that make up and surround the estate, and are used for the regional, village and premier cru wine appellations.

Adopt-a-vine in Burgundy, Terroir, Wine, Vines

From pruning to de-budding, Yannick and Jean-François showed us all of the key work that has already happened in the vineyard. We learnt and could see that it is proving to be a difficult year so far. The winter frosts, the wet and cold weather during the flowering season, and the hail storms more recently have each reduced the quantity of grapes that will eventually be harvested. But all is not lost, as the next few weeks will help determine the quality.

Grapes Vines Vineyard

At the moment, the main work in the vineyard is to train the growth between the wires. As the vines grow, we need to raise the wires to better support all of the foliage, place the vine shoots between the wires, and ensure that they are well spaced by using clips and ties where necessary.

Wine Gift Burgundy Adopt-a-vine

We took a few minutes to become acquainted with our adopted vines. A small sign designated each micro-plot of vines, and as always the cameras started clicking away!

Wine experience gift adopt-a-vine

The vines at Domaine Chapelle are organically certified, and so we also learnt how the work and treatments differ compared to traditional farming methods.

The couple of hours spent in the vineyard had made us thirsty, so we returned to the manor house to start the wine tasting. Talking about the work needed to produce the best wine is all well and good, but you have to taste the end product too! We started with two white wines produced at the winery, a Santenay St Jean and a Chassagne Montrachet Premier Cru Morgeot.

Wine tasting, vines, Burgundy, vineyard, winemaker

The wine tasting continued over lunch which was served in the harvester's refectory. We compared three red wines, a Santenay "Clos des Cornières", which is the wine chosen for the Wine Experience, a Santenay Premier Cru Beaurepaire, and an Aloxe Corton.
In the afternoon, we were happy to find some cool in the fermentation hall and the cellar. Here we were introduced to the wine making side of things and saw where the wines are fermented, then aged in oak barrels in the cellar. We will be spending more time here during the Vinification Experience Days.

Fermentation hall, cellar, wine, wine tasting, vines, Gourmet Odyssey

Many thanks to Jean-François and Yannick for having shared their passion for their profession with us. The next day at the winery will be for the harvest.

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Summer work in the Bordeaux Vineyard


It did a whole lot of good to be out amongst the vines under the sun last weekend, and we finally felt like summer has at long last arrived! We were at Château Beau Rivage in Macau-en-Médoc for a couple of Wine Discovery Experience days to learn about the work that goes on in the vineyard. 

Vines Vineyard Winemaker Gourmet Odyssey

Accompanied by Christine and Guillaume from Château Beau Rivage, we headed straight out into the vineyard. Here Christine showed us the differences between the 5 grape varietals that are grown on the estate, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot. 

Vines Wine Vineyard Winemaker Gourmet Odyssey Bordeaux

Since December, there has already been much work done. Christine explained how the vines have been pruned, the trellis repaired and the soil worked. 

Vines Vineyard Château Beau Rivage

The vines at Château Beau Rivage are cultivated organically, so we also learnt how to protect the vines from disease without the use of synthetic products.

At the far end of the vineyard, we arrived at the plot of Merlot, where the adopted vines are located. As is custom, we took a few minutes to whisper sweet nothings to our vines and to snap a couple of pictures! We have already received a few photos for the My Vine competition

Adopted Vines Vineyard Bordeaux Beau Rivage

But we were also there to work!  It's a very interesting time in the vineyard at the moment because the flowering is reaching the end and the first berries are starting to form. The vines are growing prolifically and must be kept in check. There's therefore a lot to be done, and Christine and Guillaume showed us how to de-bud, train and de-leaf the vines. We then rolled our sleeves up and spread out in pairs between the rows!

To start with; de-budding. We had to remove all growth from the vertical part of the vine foot, as this takes away energy from the rest of the plant. 

De-budding the vines

Next we made sure that any vine branches that were falling into the middle of the row were placed in between the training wires. This helps support the vine and makes it easier for the tractor to pass down the rows without damaging the vines, as well as helping to reduce the risk of disease. 

Winemaker Vineyard Vines

And finally we removed some of the leaves on each vine from around the grapes so that they will be able to ripen more quickly. It's a delicate operation because if there is too much sunlight and heat, then it's sometimes better to keep the leaves to provide some shade for the grapes. For this reason, we only removed the leaves from the east facing side of the vines, so that the west side is better protected from the stronger afternoon sun. Removing some of the leaves also helps reduce the risk of rot and mould forming on the grapes as better circulation of air dries them quicker after rainfall. 

Adopted Vines in Beau Rivage Bordeaux

After the work, the reward, and we had well earned our chilled Clairet rosé wine! We ate outside in front of the château and tasted several of the winery's red wines over lunch, including the Château Beau Rivage Bordeaux Supérieur and Christine's Haut-Médoc, "Clos la Bohème", which has just been selected as a Cru Bourgeois wine. 

Wine Winery Vines Vineyard Gourmet Odyssey

During the afternoon we were happy to find the relative cool of the chai. Christine showed us where the grapes will be received at harvest time and where they are put into the vats to begin fermenting.

We finished the day in the impressive barrel room where the wines are slowly aged in the casks that are made by the cooperage owned and run by Christine's family.

Many thanks to Christine, Guillaume and Pauline from Château Beau Rivage, and to our clients for two fun days. We'll now be leaving the vines alone for a while so that the grapes can ripen, before returning for the harvest in October!

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A rainy day in Chinon


The sun doesn't always shine in the vineyard as we well saw last Saturday! But a few drops of rain weren't going to get in the way of our Wine Discovery Experience Day at Château de la Bonnelière.
To work around the weather as best as possible we changed the order of things slightly, so instead of starting in the vineyard like we normally do, we began the day with a visit to the cellar.

Vines Wine Winemaker Vineyard Cellar

The impressive cellar at Château de la Bonnelière lies directly beneath the Chinon Fortress. Marc Plouzeau, the winemaker and owner, showed us the scars left in the rock from the picks used by the miners when the cave was dug by hand to extract the stone used to build the castle.

The cellar

Marc explained to us how the wine is aged in the cellar, and also how he makes his sparkling wine.

Wine Tasting at Château de la Bonnelière

We had our first taste of some of the wines from the winery in the cellar, enjoying a couple of Touraine and Chenin Blanc white wines as well as a Chinon rosé.
Back at the winery, we visited the shed where the tools and machinery used in the vineyard are stocked. Here, Marc told us what each piece of machinery is used for and why.

Winery Chinon Bonnelière Winemaker

In the chai, we saw where the grapes are received during the harvest and Marc enlightened us as to how the juice from the grapes is transformed into wine. We had the opportunity to taste the 2011 vintage of the Château de la Bonnelière directly from the vat. This Chinon red wine, still in the process of ageing, is the wine that the Gourmet Odyssey clients from last year will receive in a few months time.

Vines Grapes Wine Chinon Chai

We continued the wine tasting back at the château with the range of different Chinon red wines that the winery produces, and we sat down to eat in the old barn. 

Red Wines Winery Wine Tasting Grapes

The rain eventually let up a bit in the afternoon, allowing us to get out amongst the vines and finally meet our adopted vines!

Meeting with the adopted vines

Marc explained the work that has already been down in the vineyard and talked us through what remains to do between now and the harvest. The vines are growing quickly at the moment and are in flower. To help the vines support all of the growth, Marc showed us how to raise the training wires and place the branches between them. It was then time for us to work a few rows on our own!

Vines Vineyard Bonnelière

Marc also explained how to go about debudding in the adjacent plot of Sauvignon Blanc vines.
The day finished in front of the dynamizer that is used to prepare the biodynamic treatments at the winery. Marc talked us through the biodynamic philosophy and how it differs from organic cultivation.

Debudding Biodynamic Winery Wine Organic cultivation

So, despite the weather, we managed to cover many aspects of winemaking during the day. Fortunately we were accompanied by a passionate winemaker, and hardy clients well equipped with wellies and cagoules!

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Working in the Vineyard


There's much to do in the vineyard at this time of year, and the rainy weather that we've had for the past couple of weeks hasn't helped matters. Fortunately we were lucky enough to have a window of sunshine last weekend to accompany us in the vineyard during the

The Wine Discovery Experience Days at Domaine Chapelle in Burgundy

We gathered in the château's garden, overlooking the surrounding vines, for the introductions. To get our bearings, Jean-François, the winemaker and owner, briefly told us the history of the region and of his family that have been making wine here for four generations.
In the Clos des Cornières vineyard, where the adopted vines of the Gourmet Odyssey clients are located, we learnt about the difference in Burgundy terroirs. It's easier to understand when you can look around you and see the differences rather than reading about it in a book or looking at a map.

 

Vines Winery Winemaker Domaine Chapelle

To make quality wine, you have to have quality grapes; something that involves much hard work and tender loving care. From pruning to the harvest, each task is important to try and obtain the best possible grapes and to limit the risk of disease. We learnt about the many tasks, often manual, and passages that are necessary. 

Quality Wine Grapes Harvest

The vines at Domaine Chapelle are organically certified, so we also learnt about the differences that entails compared to conventional farming.

In front of the adopted vines, a small chalk board identified each separate micro-plot. We took a few minutes out so that the introductions could be made with the new owners, and the photographs taken! 

Meeting with the adopted vines at the vineyard

Then the time had come to roll up the sleeves and lend a helping hand to the winery to catch up some of the lost time. The jobs of the day: de-budding and raising the training wires.

De-budding involves removing some of the non fruit-bearing shoots to better concentrate the fruits energy in the ones that will produce the grapes. Once we had been given our instructions on how to do it, we spread out among the rows and got stuck in! 

De-budding

The other task to be done was the "relevage". The vine is a creeper plant and if its growth isn't controlled will spread everywhere. We had to raise the training wires and make sure that the shoots were supported on either side by a wire, and so grow upwards. It is also important to separate the shoots from the neighbouring vines, using clips when necessary. Relevage helps to protect the branches from the passing tractors, and reduces the risk of disease and rotting of the future grapes by improving the flow or air around the plant. 

Vines Relevage

By this time the thirst was beginning to set in, so we headed back to the winery to start the wine tasting. For the aperitif we tasted a Santenay white wine and compared it with a Meursault on the Satrurday and a Chassgne Montrachet on the Sunday.

Wine Tasting

Lunch was served in the harvesters refectory, and we continued the tasting with some of the estate's red wines, a Santenay Clos des Cornières, a Santenay Premier Cru and an Aloxe Corton. 

The meal of the winemaker at Chapelle

We started the afternoon in the cuverie. It's here that the grapes are received at harvest time and we were introduced to the various stages of fermentation that will transform the sugar into alcohol. 

Cuverie Wine Grapes

The day ended in with a tour of the cellar. It's a real labyrinth of passages and rooms full of wine ageing in oak barrels and thousands of bottles resting the calm. 

Visit of the cellar
Many thanks to Jean-François and Yannick for having shared their passion of being winemakers with us. We'll appreciate the next bottle of Santenay that we open differently!

 

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Debudding in Bordeaux


Last weekend, we were at Château Beau Rivage in Bordeaux for a couple of discovery days with some of the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience clients.

Discovery Experience Day at Château Beau Rivage

The main aim of the Discovery Day is to learn about the winemaking profession, and more specifically, about the work in the vineyard.  We therefore started the day amongst the vines!
We were accompanied by Florian and Mike, who explained the tasks that have already been completed such as pruning, and the work to repair the posts and training wires.

Vines Vineyard Beau Rivage

At the far end of the vineyard, we stopped in front of the plot where the adopted vines are located, so that the introductions could be made and the photos taken!

Meeting with the adopted vines

For the next few weeks, the principal work in the vineyard will be debudding. This involves removing the shoots that have begun sprouting too low down on the vines. There are two main reasons for doing so, the first so that the vine can concentrate its energy on the fruit bearing branches, the second to help lower the risk of rot. As soon as we had received our instructions, we split up amongst the row, rolled up our sleeves and got stuck in with some de-budding!

De-budding

The vineyard at Château Beau Rivage was organically certified in 2011. Florian and Mike explained what being organic entails, and how it differs from conventional farming.
Back at the Château, we had earnt our wine tasting session, and with the rising temperature, the chilled clairet was most welcome! We continued to taste the red wines from the estate over lunch, which we enjoyed outside.

Wine Tasting

In the afternoon, we headed back into the vineyard to learn about the work that remains between now and the harvest, taking note that there is still much to be done!
The day ended in the fermentation hall and barrel room, where we will be spending more time during the Harvest and Vinification Experience Days.

Visit of the fermentation hall and the barrel room

Read more blog posts regarding Château Beau Rivage.

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Debudding and Biodynamics in Chablis


Last weekend we were once again in Chablis for a Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience Discovery Day. On the agenda: working in the vineyard, the difference between organic and biodynamic farming, and an introduction to the vinification side of things. 

Chablis Vineyard Vines Wine Making

The day started in the "Boissonneuse" vineyard plot, where the adopted vines of our clients are located. Once the photos in front of the vines were taken, we were quickly able to get straight into the heart of things to better understand the key stages in cultivating the vines.

Chablis Brocard Vines Wine 

To explain to us the work carried out in the vineyard, we were accompanied by Andrew from Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard.  He took up from after last year's harvest, describing the steps that have already been taken before revealing the task that he had saved for us, de-budding.

De-budding is an important job at this time of year that will improve the quality of the grapes to come. It entails removing the non fruit-bearing shoots and double buds so as to better concentrate the vine's energy. Andrew showed us how it's done, and then we spread out among the rows to give it a go!  We found ourselves surrounded by vines for as far as the eye can see, which helped us appreciate the enormity of the effort that is taken in looking after the vines. 

De-budding Vines Vineyard 

The Boissonneuse vineyard is not only cultivated organically, but is also biodynamically certified by Demeter. We headed to the domaine's priory, where we were joind by Julien Brocard, son of Jean-Marc, who initiated and developed biodynamic farming on the estate.  

Biodynamic farming 

Julien explained to us what biodynamics is, and how it is different from organic farming, before talking in more detail about one of the core treatments used in biodynamic farming, the Preparation 500. For the past 6 months, several hundred cow horns, filled with cow dung have been buried in the priory's garden. During this time, the cow dung has been transformed into super concentrated humus of a high quality. At this time of year the cow horns are dug up, and the humus that is collected is then mixed with rainwater and sprayed on the vines to improve their strength and well-being.

Biodynamie 

Back at the winery, the time had finally come to taste the wines. Pierre served us a wide range of the estate's wines, starting with the Petit Chablis, before moving on to several Chablis and Chablis Premier Crus, before ending with a couple of Chablis Grand Cru. 

Wine Tasting Chablis Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard 

After lunch, we returned to the vineyard, where Andrew took us through the work that will be carried out on the vines between now and the harvest. 

Vineyard Winemaker Vines 

The day ended in the winery building where the grapes will be received during the harvest, the juice fermented, and the wine aged.

Many thanks to Julien, Pierre and Andrew for having given us an enlightening glimpse into the world of a winemaker!

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Debudding the vines in the Languedoc


Last weekend we headed to the south of France for some welcome sunshine and warmth.  We were at the Allegria winery near the Languedoc town of Pézenas for a Gourmet Odyssey Wine Discovery Experience Day.

Wine Experience Gift in south of France. Adopt-a-vine and get invovled in making your own wine.

Ghislain d'Aboville, Allegria's owner and winemaker, welcomed us and recounted the journey that he and his family took before finally settling in this tranquil and idyllic Mediterranean setting.

The main purpose of the Discovery Experience Day is to learn about the work undertaken in the vineyard.  We therefore started with a little tour of the vine plots where Ghislain explained and showed us the different soils, grape varieties and pruning methods used, as well as describing how he cultivates his vines organically.  Watch the short video.

Learning about the terroir and grape varieties in the organic vineyard

At the other side of the vineyard we arrived at the plot where the adopted vines of our clients are located, a small chalkboard indicating each micro-plot.  It didn't take long for the cameras to come out, especially once the opportunity to win a magnum of wine in the "My Vine" photo competition was announced!

Photo shoot of the adopt-a-vines

It's currently the time of year when the vines start to develop rapidly, and they can grow several centimetres a day.  Without any intervention, the vine will try to grow as much and as far as possible to the detriment of the quality of grapes.  It's therefore important over the coming months to keep on top of the vines to control their growth.  The work to be done at the moment is debudding.

Debudding consists of removing the excess buds and shoots which will drain the vine's energy.  And so with so many pairs of hands available, Ghislain welcomed our help with this manual task!  Most of the time, it's fairly easy to see what needs to be removed and what should stay, but there are always a few exceptions to make the job more intellectually stimulating!

Debudding in the vineyard

Working under the sun at 30°C makes you thirsty, so luckily a chilled magnum of rosé was waiting for us in the shade of the mazet.

Wine Tasting in the shade

Back at the winery, we continued the wine tasting session during the meal, trying the various white and red wines produced by Allegria, including the Tribu d'A Côteaux du Languedoc Pézenas red wine chosen by Gourmet Odyssey.

Wine Tasting over lunch

In the afternoon, we visited the fermentation hall and cellar.  Here Ghislain introduced us to the vinification side of wine making, something that we will go into much more detail with during the Harvest and Vinification Experience Days.

Tour of the fermentation hall and cellar

Many thanks to Ghislain for sharing his passion for winemaking with us!

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Décavaillonage during the Discovery Experience Day in Chinon


We spent a very enjoyable Wine Discovery Experience Day last Saturday in the vineyard at Château de la Bonnelière in Chinon.  This hands-on wine course enables you to roll up your sleeves and get involved in discovering the winemakers profession.

Wine Experience Gift in France. Rent-a-vine in an organic vineyard in Chinon.

We're approaching the end of the cold months, and so at this time of year in the Loire valley, we start to slowly work the soil again.  To protect the vines from the freezing winter temperatures, the winemakers heap soil around the vines stocks in a process called "cavaillonnage".  At the end of winter, this extra soil is removed again during the "décavaillonnage".  And this was what was in store for us today!

Marc Plouzeau, the winemaker and owner, joined us in the vineyard with his tractor.  With the help of some of our clients, he had attached a mechanical "décavaillonneuse" (a special type of plough) behind the tractor.  The décavaillonneuse has a fairly flat blade on either side which tills the soil between the vine stocks, and removes the extra soil from around each vine, returning the soil to the centre of each row.

Décavaillonnage in the vineyard

The machine has a semi-automated mechanism that enables it to plough around each vine.  Most of the time it works fine all by itself, but every now and then needs a little helping hand!   We took turns guiding it to ensure that the vines weren't dug up in the process!  You can better see how it works in the short video.

Some clients also had the chance to drive the tractor - a few childhood dreams becoming reality!

Driving the tractor

Despite the efforts of the décavaillonneuse, a few heaps of soil and some grass remained around the vines.  For the more energetic, the hoes enabled us to finish the job properly!

Hoeing the weeds

Throughout the morning, Marc explained to us all of the steps taken and to be taken in the vineyard to ensure the best possible grapes come harvest time.    The vineyard is organically certified, so we also spent time discussing the differences between organic, biodynamic and conventional farming methods.

A Wine Experience day isn't complete without a visit to the vineyard plot where the adopted vines are located.  As usual, out came the cameras to take a few snaps, and we have already received a few photos for the "My Vine" photo competition.

The rent-a-vine plot

Our hard work in the morning was rewarded with some wine tasting back at the château, starting with the winery's Sauvignon Blanc and Chinon rosé.

Wine Tasting Gift at the winery. Adopt an organic vine and follow the making of your own wine

Lunch was served in the barn, where we continued our tasting with some of the red wines, including the Château de la Bonnelière Chinon red, which is the cuvée chosen by Gourmet Odyssey.

Winemaker's lunch in the barn

We started the afternoon in the fermentation hall to see where the grapes are received during the harvest, and where the juice is turned into wine.  We will spend more time here during the Harvest Experience Day.

Fermentation Hall

The day finished in the magnificent cellar which is found in the centre of Chinon, directly beneath the Chinon castle.  It's a magical and impressive place, even more so when we learnt that the huge galleries where dug by hand!

Visiting the wine cellar below the Chinon fortress

It's here in the cellar that the barrels quietly rest, and the bottles are stocked before being dispatched to be enjoyed near and far.

As always, many thanks to Marc for welcoming us so warmly and giving us a tiny glimpse of what it's like to be a winemaker.

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Springtime in the vineyard


We spent a sunny weekend amongst the vines in Burgundy for a Wine Experience weekend at Domaine Chapelle.  The aim of this hands-on wine course is to learn more about the work in the vineyard, a stage which is so important in making quality wine.

Wine Experience Gift. Rent-a-vine and vineyard visit in Burgundy, France

The day started in the vineyard, where Jean-François Chapelle, the owner of the winery, and Yannick Jacrot, the Technical Director, showed us the difference between the local terroir, something which is always easier to appreciate in situ than looking at a geological map! 

Tour of the vineyard with the winemaker

Yannick and Jean-François then explained the different steps taken to nurture the vines from pruning right up to the time of harvest.

The warm and sunny spring that we have enjoyed has meant that the vines are ahead of where they would normally be, and the buds have already started to appear. 

Vine buds

The vines are organically certified at Domaine Chapelle, so we spent quite a lot of time learning how the vineyard is managed and the differences involved compared to conventional farming methods.

Each Wine Experience client is the adopted owner of some vines, and so before getting down to some work, we left some time free so that everyone could introduce themselves to their vines! 

Rent-a-vine gift in a French vineyard

Yannick had left us a few rows of vines to prune, so that we could see how to do it for ourselves.  It seems easy when you listen to the explanation, but once you're confronted with a vine, secateurs in hand, it's not that simple! 

Original Wine Enthusiast Gift. Hands-on wine course in a French vineyard.

Another task that we got involved with was to use a hoe to remove the weeds from between the vines that the plough had missed. 

Weeding 
After the morning spent in the vineyard, the aperitif was most welcome!  We tasted a couple of the winery's white wines before lunch.  During the meal we continued the wine tasting with some of the red wines to compare different vintages and terroir.
Wien Tasting Gift in France. Wine Experience at a French winery

We started the afternoon in the fermentation hall with an introduction to the wine making side of things.  This is where we shall spend more time during the Harvest and Vinification Experience Days.

Visit of the fermentation hall

  The day ended in the cellar where we toured the labyrinth of barrels and bottles where the wine is matured and stocked. 

Visit of the cellar

 

Many thanks to Yannick and Jean-François for sharing their passion for their profession, and giving us a brief glimpse into the life of a winemaker.

 

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Wine course in Chablis


Last weekend we finished the series of Wine Experience Days for the 2011 vintage at Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard in Chablis.   The weekend was dedicated to the Vinification Experience Day, where we learn about wine making by following the wine's progress since the harvest back in September.

Wine Experience Gift and wine course in Chablis at Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard

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!

Fermentation vats in the fermetation hall
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.
Wine bottling machine

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.

Identifying the main aromas found in white wine

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.

Tasting sugar, acid, bitter and salt solutions

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.

Tasting the Chablis Wines

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!

Photo call in front of the adopted vines!

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

Tasting the unfinished 2011 vintage

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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Oenology course to discover the art of blending


Last Saturday we spent a thoroughly enjoyable day at the Allegria winery with some of the clients of the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience. We were there for the Vinification Experience Day with the objective of finding out how the grapes that we harvested during our last visit are fermented to make wine, aged, and then blended before being bottled.

Wine Experience Adopted Vines Allegria Gourmet Odyssey

We started the day by heading straight out into the vineyard to see the source of the wine. Ghislain d'Aboville, the winemaker at Allegria, showed us the different plots and grape varieties that are grown in the vineyard, and explained how the vines are tended to and nurtured. At this time of year, all is very orderly as the pruning has just finished and the plough had just tilled the soil to remove the grass and weeds.

Wine Gift Rent-a-Vine Gourmet Odyssey

At the far side of the vineyard lie the adopted vines of our clients, a small sign in front of the vines denoting each micro-plot.

Wine Experience Gift for wine enthusiasts. Adopt your own vines in an organic vineyard

Back at the winery building, Ghislain showed us the vats where each vine plot and grape variety is vinified separately.

Visit of the fermentation hall

We then visited the cellar where the wines that are being aged in oak barrels rest.

Visit of the cellar

But enough discussion, it was high time for some work! To warm up our noses, we passed around some small flasks containing different aromas that are to be found in wine. Our task was to identify each one.

Wine Course with teh winemaker. Identifying the aromas found in wine

For the wine tasting session, we started by comparing two syrahs from 2010, the first of which had been aged in one of the vats, and the second in an oak barrel.

Wine Tasting the Languedoc wines

We then tasted some of the wines that had already been bottled, starting with the Petits Bonheurs rosé 2010 and the Tribu d'A white wine from 2008. During the meal we tasted several of the red wines, the Tribu d'A 2008 red, the Carignan Gourmand 2008, and the Cousu Main 2008 from a magnum to finish.

In the afternoon, we focused on the 2011 vintage. First of all, we tasted the main grape varietals that are grown in the vineyard to make the red wines, syrah, mourvèdre and carignan, so as to better understand what characteristics each bring to a wine.

Tasting the main grape varietals

We finished the day by making our own blends in measuring cylinders. It's the best way to appreciate the art of blending, and as Ghislain explained, the objective being to blend a wine that is greater in quality than the sum of its parts.

Blending the wine

Many thanks to Ghislain and to our clients who shared such a stimulating day with us.

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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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