The day started with a short presentation of the winery by the owner, Jean-François Chapelle. He talked about the history of his family and the path he took to convert the winery to being organic. The viewpoint from the winery over the surrounding vineyards helped us to understand the make-up of the Burgundy terroir, and their influence on the wines.
We then made our way to the Les Crais and Clos des Cornières vineyards to meet our adopted vines, the first planted with Chardonnay, the second with Pinot Noir vines. We learnt about the vegetative life cycle of the vines and the work necessary to nurture them from when they wake up after winter to harvest time.
We were accompanied by Jean-François, and Yannick, the Technical Director of the vines and cellar. Between the harvest and December, the winemaker’s time is mainly taken up with the vinification of the vintage that has just been harvested. But then from December to March, they are very busy in the vineyards, pruning each and every vine manually. The cut branches are then pulled away from the vines and either crushed in the rows or burned, usually by a different team than those who pruned. It’s a tough job that takes around 4 months, and must be finished by around mid-March, the time when the first buds start to burst, and the vines spring back to life.
The vines shoots and branches grow quickly at this time of the year, some 30 or more centimetres in a month. It’s therefore important to manage the growth. This is also done manually for the most part by de-budding or removing some of the leaves, which also improves the air flow around the vines.
It’s the de-budding that keeps the team busy at the moment. This task enables the quantity of fruit produced by the vines to be reduced, and thus improve the concentration and aromatic qualities of the remaining grapes. Reducing the yield helps the grapes to reach optimum maturity, and also helps to increase the life expectancy of the vine plants in the long term.
We’ll be able to see the result of this spring work in September when we reach harvest time.
After this full morning, we returned to the winery for the aperitif and lunch, served with some of the winery’s wines. A Santenay Saint Jean white wine to start with, followed by a red Burgundy, Santenay Clos des Cornières, and Santenay La Comme Premier Cru. We compared the wines and enjoyed the fine Burgundy dishes.
In the afternoon, we visited the fermentation hall and cellar for a little insight into the wine-making side of things, something that we will learn more about during the Vinification Experience Days.
We hope that everyone had a good time, and we look forward to welcoming another group soon to Santenay!
