The busy day started with by introducing ourselves to one another over coffee and croissants, and enabled us to meet the winemaker, Marc Plouzeau, who had opened the doors of Château de la Bonnelière to us.

Marc gave us an overview of the 2018 harvest and vintage so far.  It’s looking to be a very good year, in terms of both quality and quantity!  The first wines that have been bottled from this year are already pleasing on the palate, whilst other wines are still ageing in the cellar.  We’ll get to taste them later on in the day.

After a quick visit of the adopted vines and a few quick souvenir photos, we split the group in two, one to go with Marc to learn about what happens in the chai, and the other group with Louise to identify the different aromas found in wine.  Of course, we then changed groups later on in the morning!

In the chai, Marc explained how the vinification process is managed at the winery.  The grapes are handled as gently as possible using gravity to transfer them into the vats, no other elements are added, how the fermentation takes place in the vats and barrels…  It’s the combination of all of these factors that make Marc’s wines unique and reflect the different vineyard plots of the left bank.

In the caveau, Louise got everyone busy scribbling away with paper and pens!  We learned how to identify the different aromas found in Chinon wines.  Young and old, everyone did well for a first attempt, even if some answers left us a little bit puzzled!!

We then headed to the winery’s cellar underneath the Chinon Fortress, where the wines are aged, and stopped in the courtyard next to the entrance.  The sun and temperature gave us a taster of the summer to shortly come, and even gave a few of us a little more colour than we would have liked!

We tasted the different red and white Chinon wines from the winery over lunch, and put our newly acquired wine tasting skills to the test.

The day finished in the cool of the cellar, where the temperatures remains a constant 12°C all year round, ideal conditions for ageing wines.  Marc explained the history of the cellar, it having been excavated to extract the stone used to build the fortress overhead.  We then set about tasting the wines that are still in the ageing process.  We were very pleasantly surprised as the tannins are already silky, and the aromas very present.  The 2018 vintage looks set to be a big hit!

Re-assured by this tasting, we left at the end of the day longing to taste the wines again when they are finished!

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We enjoyed the welcome coffee in the sunshine of the courtyard, with the temperature being unusually warm for the season. So warm that it’s as worrying for the vines as for us, as Céline explained. 30 years ago the norm was to harvest around mid-October, but the last couple of years it has been more usual to harvest in the beginning of September, and this year even saw the harvest start at the end of August.  Céline reminded us that the 2018 vintage however had been exceptional, both in terms of quality and quantity.

The vines are developing earlier than usual this year because of the warm temperatures, as we could see when we visited our adopted vines. This is worrying because the pruning and attaching of the vines to the training wires isn’t yet finished everywhere, but the sap is already flowing through the branches and the first buds are just about to start bursting. The problem is that frost is still a distinct possibility in April, and new buds are particularly sensitive. If they freeze, the quantity of the 2019 harvest will be adversely impacted.

But for now, under the lovely blue skies, it’s time to enjoy and take a few souvenir photos with our adopted vines, and marvel at the valleyed Alsace landscape around us.

Back at the winery, we got down to the serious matter of the day with a little test of our ability to detect the aromas that can be found in Alsace white wines. There are first of all the primary aromas that hail from the grapes themselves, and the secondary aromas that are a result of the fermentation. Most of the aromas are fruity and floral. For example Riesling wines are often noted for their citrus fruit aromas such as lemon or grapefruit, whereas litchi or rose are found in Gewurztraminer wines, and Muscat wine smells of… Muscat grapes! Then come the tertiary aromas that are to be found after the wine has been aged in oak barrels or casks. Not all Alsace wines are aged in wood, but it’s a good occasion to talk about the different aromas that barrels can bring depending on the type of wood and way that they have been toasted.

We then visited the cellar where Stéphane explained the choices that he makes to vinify and age the wines to extract the maximum aromatic potential of each one. We picked up where we had left off at harvest time, and talked about the alcoholic and malo-lactic fermentations, how long they take (at this time, not all of the wines have finished fermenting), the strange gurgling sounds that emit from the vats as the carbon dioxide escapes from the must, racking the wines, transferring the wines to casks or stainless steel vats… The questions flow, and Stéphane replies with humour and passion.

To better understand, we tasted the 2018 Pinot Gris Rosenberg wine that is still ageing in the oak cask.  There are still a few months ageing left to go and it’s fairly closed for the moment, but we can already get a good impression of the potential to come.

We returned to the courtyard for an aperitif in the form of a blind tasting of the wines. Céline served three Riesling wines from three different terroir and vintages. A 2017 Riesling tradition, a 2013 Riesling Tanenbuehl, and a 2016 Riesling Steingrubler Grand Cru. We had fun describing the aromas we could identify and the difference between the wines. We then tasted two Pinot Gris Rosenberg wines, the wine chosen for the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience, from the 2010 and 2017 vintages. The difference was astonishing, so much so that the majority of us thought that they were two completely different types of wine.

With all of the work our taste buds were doing, we started to get a little hungry, which was just as well, as our local caterer had prepared an excellent choucroute, followed by regional cheeses and a Black Forest gateau.  During lunch we tasted the winery’s Who Am I white wine with the choucroute, an unfiltered Pinot Noir with the cheese, and the Ambre wine with pudding, another Pinot Noir, but made like a white wine (pressed, without any maceration) and which has a little residual sugar, making it slightly sweet and perfect with dessert.

After the gargantuan meal, we needed some exercise to help with the digestion!  So we returned to the cellar to find out what happens at the end of the wine-making cycle once the wine is ready for bottling.  Stéphane explained how the wine is bottled, and the conundrum of choosing corks that enable the wine to age well over time whilst being protected from oxidation.  We then had a go at labelling some bottles and packaging them into boxes.  We were proud to have labelled and packed 300 bottles in about 15 minutes.  It takes just two people at the winery to label and bottle 1200 bottles an hour.

The day drew to a close and we left thinking about how we will name our wine once it is ready, and of the good time that we had spent learning about the work that goes into making a good bottle of Pinot Gris!


Interested in participating in a Vinification Experience Day at one of Gourmet Odyssey’s partner wineries?  Learn more about the Wine Experience.

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After a welcome coffee and brief introduction to the day and the idea behind the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience, Jean-François and Simon Chapelle recounted the history of their family and explained the structure of the Burgundy wine-growing region.

They told us how the vineyards had been organised, and the transition of the commercialisation of wine from merchants to the winemakers who took the step to bottle and sell their own wines.

The wines from Domaine Chapelle are organically certified, and Jean-François talked to us about his reasons for embracing organic winemaking and the challenges that it entails.

We then embarked on two different workshops:

One of the workshops taught us how to taste wines and put our noses to the test.  We tried to name the different fruity and floral aromas and the tertiary aromas that are brought through ageing in oak barrels.  It’s a much more difficult task than you at first think.  We also tasted four different solutions that were acidic, sweet, salty and bitter to explain the importance of balance in a wine.

We then made our way into the fermentation hall and admired the different sections that had been created by the successive generations of the family from Jean-François’ grandfather, his father and then the work that he carried out to extend the hall and re-organise the way that the grapes are worked during harvest time.  We learnt about the vinification process before heading down into the vaulted cellar below, where the wines are aged in oak barrels.

The wines are put into the barrels once the alcoholic fermentation has finished, and stay there for 9 to 12 months depending on how they evolve.

The choice of barrel is very important and varies from winery to winery depending on the taste and objectives of each winemaker.  Various factors come into play such as where the oak comes from, how the inside of the barrel was toasted, and the age of the barrel.  The skill of the winemaker is to choose a mix of different barrels that enable a harmonious wine to be produced.

To illustrate the impact of barrels, we compared the same wine that was in the process of ageing in different types of barrel, and marvelled at the big differences aromatically and taste-wise.

Once the ageing period is over, all of the various lots of wine from the same plots will be blended together to prepare the wines for bottling.

The bottles will then be labelled at a later date depending on the regulations of the country that they will be sold in.

After a busy morning absorbing lots of new knowledge, we enjoyed the aperitif in the vinification hall.  To quench our thirst, a Santenay Saint Jean white wine with gougères, a local cheese shoe pastry speciality. 

For lunch we continued the regional theme with some parsley ham, Gaston Gérard chicken, Burgundy cheeses and a three chocolate dessert, accompanied by some of the winery’s red wines, including the Clos des Cornières red chosen for the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience.

It was difficult to get going again after lunch!  But the walk in the vineyard was good for the digestion!  We went to the Clos des Cornières vineyard and visited our adopted vines.

Simon explained the different plots within the vineyard.  Originally, there were three distinct zones.  The oldest one saw the vines removed last spring, and is currently lying fallow until 2021. The two remaining plots were planted in the 70s and 90s.

We then returned to the cellar for a final wine tasting session of the 2018 Clos des Cornières vintage that is still in the ageing process.  We tasted wines from the two different plots to better understand the impact that the age of the vines has on the characteristics of the wine.

It was then time for this day, rich in information and tasting, to draw to a close.  We left with a few bottles that we’ll appreciate differently now that we know a little more about what goes on to make wine, and having met the people responsible for making it!

We hope that everyone had a good time, and we look forward to welcoming you again soon!

Learn how you can adopt some chardonnay or pinot noir vines at Domaine Chapelle and participate in the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience.

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At this time of year, the buds start to unfurl to reveal the first young leaves on the vines.

After the introduction to the winery by Ghislain, the winemaker, we headed out into the vineyard to visit our adopted vines, which are now getting ready for the 2018 growth.

We made a little detour to visit a new plot of vines that has been planted with carignan blanc, a new grape varietal for the winery. We’ll be able to taste the first wine from this plot in 3 years time.

After meeting our adopted vines, we returned to the cellar to discuss the vinification process. We picked up where we had left off after the harvest and talked about what goes on during the first fermentation phase. There is much more to do than you would think to prepare the wine for the ageing period., and Ghislain answered many questions regarding the use of sulphites and other technical matters.

We then visited the barrel room, where the wine is aged, and talked about the purpose of ageing, and the choice of the different containers used, and their influence on the taste and structure of the wine.

To prepare us for the wine tasting and blending sessions to come, we gathered around some wine barrels for a fun game to try and identify 12 aromas found in red wine. They were all scents that we knew well, being everyday aromas, but when you smell them blind, it’s much more difficult to put a name to each one!

During the morning, Delphine, the winemaker and wife of Ghislain, had prepared a tasty lunch, made from local produce, of great winemaker salads, the first asparagus of the season, and some exceptional bread that had been cooked that morning by the local baker, Jean-Marie.  We also enjoyed some goats cheese from the local Mas Roland, and finished with a delicious home-made chocolate cake and coffee.

Lunch was accompanied by a tasting of the wines from Domaine Allegria; the new vintage of the Dolce Vita rosé wine, the 2015 Carignan Gourmand, the 2015 Tribu d’A white wine and 2016 Tribu d’A red.  We finished with the 2016 Cousu Main and 2015 La Belle Histoire.

After lunch, we participated in the much awaited wine blending workshop, where we discovered and had a go at blending three 2017 wines of differing grape varietals. It’s not a good exercise for mathematicians, as you learn that 1+1 should equal 3, the idea being that a successful blend should be better than each of the wines used individually. It takes trial and error to learn what works, but by adjusting the percentages used, tasting and re-tasting, we refined our blends. 

The day ended with us gaining a good idea of how the 2017 vintage will be, but we must still wait a few more months until the wine has finished the ageing process and is ready to be bottled. We can’t wait to taste it!

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After a welcome coffee, Jean-François, explained the family history of the winery and the way that the Burgundy wine region is structured. We then split into two groups. The first group stayed with Yvette for a workshop to hone our wine-tasting skills with a couple of exercises to put our noses and taste buds to the test. It was very difficult to name the different aromas, but it was a fun moment nonetheless!

The second group, accompanied by the Technical Director, Yannnick, started the immersion into the world of vinification and ageing of wines. After an explanation of the fermentation process, we descended into the magical cellar and tasted some wines directly from the barrel to appreciate the impact that different types of barrel can have on the sensorial characteristics of wine.

We spent a great moment admiring the beauty of the typically Bourguignon vaulted cellar and tasting the treasures that is holds! The groups then switched before being reunited in the cuverie for the aperitif and time to match a Santenay white wine with some gougères, a local cheese shoe pastry delicacy from the village baker.

We continued the wine tasting over lunch of parsley ham, chicken gaston Gerard, local cheeses and a chocolate desert with a Ladoix “Les Vries” 2013, a Santenay “Clos des Cornières” 2012 and a Chassagne Montrachet 1er cru “Morgeot” 2014. After lunch, the weather had improved, and we headed off to the Clos des Cornières vineyard where our adopted vines are to be found. Here Jean-François pointed out the geology of the surrounding hills and explained how that relates to the hierarchy of Burgundy wines. He also showed us the three different zones of the Clos des Cornières vineyard that had been planted at different times. Each of the resulting wines from these different zones is vinified separately before being blended just before bottling.

We then took a few minutes to visit our adopted vines, and to immortalise the moment by taking a few photos!

It was then time to return to the winery to end the day by tasting the wines produced from these three different zones in the Clos des Cornières vineyard. Many thanks to Jean-François, Yvette and Yannick for their passionate explanations, and thanks to all who came for sharing a great day!

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After the initial introductions, Eric started to tell us about his work as a winemaker. He told us about the important choices that have to be taken in the vineyard, how to choose when to harvest, and about the steps taken to transform the grapes into quality wine.

The winery is both organically and biodynamically certified, and Eric explained the impact that this has had on the estate’s wines over the years. There is a big difference not just in the working techniques used, but also in the quality of the wine that is produced.

We then gathered outside for a workshop to awaken our senses. We had to try and identify the aromas that can be found in wine through the fruit or the way that it has been made.

Eric then told us all about how to blend wine, and we tasted different wine blends from the 2015 vintage that are still in the ageing process to see for ourselves.

We then enjoyed an aperitif before sitting down to a meal prepared by Marie-Pierre. An endive, lentil end turmeric salad, beef stew, local goat’s cheese, and some almond cake to finish. During the lunch, we tasted several of the estate’s wines starting with the Colline rosé 2015, then proceeding with the Garance 2014 Massif d’Uchaux red wine, the Gabriel 2014 Massif d’Uchaux red, and the Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2014 red.

In the afternoon, we took a short stroll to visit our adopted vines and take some photos. Eric talked some more about the specificity of the different soil structures found in the Uchaux area, and the impact of biodynamics.

We now have to wait patiently until the 2015 vintage of our Garance wine has finished ageing. Many thanks to Eric and Marie-Pierre for their warm welcome, and to all of the participants for making it such a good day.

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Céline, who runs the winery with her brother Stéphane, kicked the day off with an introduction into the family history and the production of Alsace wines. And then we made our way to the Rosenberg vineyard where the Gourmet Odyssey adopted vines are to be found. On the way we talked about the surrounding terroir and the different soil, vegetation and methods used from one plot to another, notably the differences between organic and conventional farming.

Jean-Jacques, Céline and Stéphane’s father, briefly explained what had happened since the last harvest to prepare the vines for this year’s campaign. Then, back at the winery we picked up where we had left off at harvest time. We saw where the harvested grapes had been put into the press, and where the first fermentation had taken place. Stéphane told us about the work during the fermentation process and the decisions that the winemaker must take. We had a pre-tasting of the 2015 vintage of our Pinot Gris Rosenberg wine, which is still in the ageing process. We compared this to a wine that has yet to finish fermenting to better understand the changes that the wine goes through as it slowly matures.

In parallel, we put our noses to the test during a workshop to help us develop our wine tasting skills. We had to identify different aromas found in wine that result from the grape varietals or the way that the wine has been worked. A few of them sparked some lively debate about what they evoked!

We then descended into the cellar to visit the “oénothèque”, where the oldest wines at the winery are stored. Here, we tasted a series of different wines, accompanied by a traditional savoury Kouglof. The first wine to be tasted was the Who Am I blended wine, followed by the Riesling Tradition, the Pinot Gris Flavien 2010, the Pinot Gris Grand Cru Pfersigberg 2004, and the Pinot Noir Old Oak 2011 red wine.

Lunch was a very local affair of choucroute, local cheeses and blackforest gateau, accompanied by some more of the domaine’s wines, finishing with a Crémant d’Alsace. There was some very animated discussion as to whether the base of traditional Alsace tartes flambées is made of bread or not, and what topping to put on it!

In the afternoon, we finished the cycle of work in the cellar, learning how the wine is bottled, and the choice of the winemaker in the different quality grades of cork used. The 2015 vintage will continue ageing until at least August in the cellar, so we need to patiently wait a little longer until it is ready!

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