Terra Vinea Wine Museum

I have recently visited a fantastic wine museum called Terra Vinea, near Narbonne in the South of France. The museum is part of a local wine co-operative, and they age some of their wines in their caves. The wine caves are down in an old mine, deep in amongst the mountains. The mines only shut in 1992, and since then a vast majority of the tunnels have been shut, and the rest have been restored. 

We started our trip on a little train that took us up to the entrance which was located near the top of the mountain. Below you can see the beautiful sunset, and the typical Mediterranean landscape of the south of France.

To enter the caves we had to walk down the old mine shaft, you can't really tell from the photo but above we are walking quite steeply down in to it. And below is a photo taken from the bottom looking back up to the entrance. 

Once we were inside the caves there was a light show which was very unexpected! But you can see that the caves are very special. This particular part of the caves is called the 'Cathedral' due to its very high pitch.

As you can see, some of the co-ops wine is stored here in barrels. As we walked around the other parts of the cave we could see more barrels. We then went back to the main part of the museum/co-operative to try their wines and in particular a 'Muscat Noel', which was a special Christmas Muscat that they were producing.

Definitely worth a visit! 
Their website:
http://www.terra-vinea.eu/pgs/visite.php


xXx

Corbieres Co-operative, Langudeoc

I recently visited a wine co-operative in Corbieres, down in the Langudeoc-Roussilon region of France. It was tucked away in the mountains, only accessible by winding mountain roads, weaving down in to valleys around vineyards - very beautiful! Co-operatives are very popular in France, they buy local grapes from various nearby vineyards and then make their own collection wines from it. At this particular co-op they buy the grapes by the vine rather than the quantity, this ensures that the quality is high and it is fair. 

We had a tour around the co-op and saw the vast fermenting tanks, oak ageing on a large scale and various other elements, such as the pressing of the grapes. 

As you can see the Co-op was situated in a beautiful location, up in the mountains but not far from the sea. 

Above, these are some of the fermentation tanks where the grapes are put in to. Below you can see the inside of an already emptied tank, whats left are the 'lees', a combination of the fermented skins and stalks. It is just like a very thick purple paint!

Below you can see the huge operation that this co-op carries out, even though it is a small co-op with only 64 Hectares of vines to harvest, it still produces a vast amount of wine.

Below you can see some of the stainless steel fermentation tanks, which are also very large!

When I saw this ahead of me I was very intrigued! I had never seen oak ageing like this before, as I usually see little caves with a few barrels in, but this was 10 times the scale! 

The oak barrels are stacked one on top of another. Some of the wines that the co-op produces are oak aged for a year in new oak, after a few years they replace the barrels to keep the oak scent strong in the wine. 

We then had a tasting in the co-ops own little bar. They had a fantastic type of 'wine vending machine', which was very fun! I wonder how long it will be before we start seeing them in our kitchens?! The open wines last for 15 days, and to access the wine you press a button and it comes out of a little spout - great! 

Below you can see how the machine works. The wines we tasted were really great, and inexpensive. We tasted a selection of red wines, the exact same wine, but half went in to oak barrels to be aged for a year, and the other half went straight in to bottle to age. The flavours were so different, the oak gave the wine smooth and spicy flavour, where as the bottled reds were less exciting.

A very interesting trip! 

xXx

Fete de Vin Primeur!

I was lucky enough to enjoy a wonderful Fete de Vin Primeur this week. This is a celebration held every year at this time, when the first wine of this year's harvest can be opened. Being France, a party is held to celebrate! I went along to a little party being held in Beziers in the Languedoc region with a few of my friends. It was at a lovely Wine, Charcuterie, Cheese and Chocolate shop (I don't think that combination can get much better!) by its owners and their family in their little barn at the back of their shop.

Their wonderful wine shop above and below Drew, myself, Fergus 

and Deborah with our wine! 

We tasted several new wines from 2013, a Chardonnay to begin with, a Sauvignon Blanc and 2 Red wines which were a mixture of various grape varieties such as Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Carignan and Pinot Noir. As they had only been fermenting for 2 months at most, they were very good wines. 

I preferred the white wines as they were very fruity and floral on the nose and palate which I think suits a white wine, rather than a heavy oaky taste. 

The red wines were very light, but had a strong woody flavour to them from their alcoholic fermentation in the barrel, but they were easy to drink and enjoyable with a light meal. 

We were treated to a plate of cured meats which the red wines went well with. We also had a plate of their cheeses, a Goats cheese, Roblechon, Gruyere and a Comte with some quince paste and some crusty sourdough bread. To finish we had some delicious chocolates which ended our evening perfectly! 

It was a lovely celebration of this year's wine of 2013! 

xXx

Visit to Noilly Prat, Marseillan

I recently visited Noilly Prat in a small town by the sea called Marseillan down in the Languedoc region of the south of France. I confess that I had never tried or, knew much Vermouth before I had been there so it was interesting to see how it was made. Vermouth is a fortified white wine, which is aged in barrels and has certain spices and herbs added to it during this process which gives it it's unique flavour. Vermouth was invented by a man called Joseph Noilly in 1813, and in 1850 he started producing Noilly Prat, and their process has remained virtually unchanged since that time. 

This is my group on our visit!

We had a tour around their premises and got to see various parts of the processes that go in to making their Vermouth. Below you can see the old still that was used to make the Vermouth back in the day.

These are some of the very ancient barrels that were used to make the Vermouth. To clear out the sediments from the bottom a man used to crawl in through the small door and empty it- a little claustrophobic I would think! 

They age their wines outside in oak barrels, in the sun as this helps with enhancing their flavour as the temperatures get quite high inside. They have been using these particular American Oak barrels for hundreds of years, and to keep them from splitting they spray them with water once a day to protect the Oak.

Once the wine is ready in the barrel, they empty the barrels by letting them 'free flow', which means the wine runs freely from the barrel in to the large tanks below.

The Vermouth is then aged again in these large barrels below, and this is when they have their unique spices added and they are left to ferment for longer here. They have different flavoured Vermouths, so they add certain herbs and spices to each one. 

They make 3 flavours of their famous Vermouth, the first is their original Dry Vermouth, then their Rouge and finally their Amber Vermouth.

The original Dry Vermouth has a very savoury, herbal taste to it. I didn't find it particularly pleasant to drink on its own, but it would work well for cooking.

The Rouge Vermouth was a little more to my liking but still with a savoury twang. This had a more spicy flavour that would work well with a twist of orange with it.

My favourite was the Amber Vermouth. This had a sweet, Christmassy flavour to it, with hints of cinnamon, orange and vanilla. This one is also particularly special as one can only buy it at their premises in Marseillan. I think it would work really well with a fruit cake or a mince pie, so I am saving my bottle until December! 

This is the beautiful seaside town of Marseillan. It is very small, but very beautiful with boats along the water and inciting looking restaurants. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend a visit! 

xXx

Pip's Tips: How to taste a wine

These are a few tips from me as how to taste a wine. They start with the appearance of the wine and then on to the nose and palate. If you try and taste some wines whilst looking at this list then it will allow you to appreciate the wines and help you understand them as they tend to be pretty complex things. So give it a go! 

Appearance

It is important to look at the wine before you smell it as it can tell you a lot about the wine before you even start!

1. Colour

-This can give an indication of how old the wine is.

- For White wines, a lemon/ light green colour means that it is a young wine, an older wine will be a darker yellow colour, verging on brown in some instances. This darker colour comes from the barrels that it is fermented in.

- The colour in Red wines can show the body of the wine. A light red colour will mean it is lighter and a dark red colour will have more depth and body. To see the colour of the red, look at the edges of the glass.

2. Tears/ Legs

When you swill the wine around the glass and let it settle you can see the wine marks on the side of the glass – these are called the tears or legs. They come from the amount of glycerol in the wine, so if there are more legs then the wine has more body and a higher sugar content. They are generally more apparent in Red wines. It shows how ‘heavy’ the wine is.

Nose

You can gather a lot about the wine just by smelling it. It helps to give the wine a swill around the glass first and also to have a sip of it as this allows the flavours to develop and change in your airways.

1. Smell

- Check that the smell is clean first and that it does not have cork taint or smell ‘off’.

- It is easy to pick up 2 aromas to begin with. These tend to be either fruity or floral scents. After your first sip of the wine, smell again and the flavours will change and become more apparent- you will be able to pick up other scents like vegetal/ spicy/ earthy etc.

- When you swill the wine you bring oxygen in to the wine which releases flavour but also the alcoholic scent.

- You can smell the age. If it is a younger wine it will smell fruity/ floral. For a white wine there will be green fruit notes like apple and citrus.

Palate

This is the enjoyable part! Really let the wine sit in your mouth for a little while rather than swallowing straight away. And try to take some breaths through your nose as this allows the oxygen to meet with the wine and intensify the flavour.

1. Acidity

The younger a wine is the more acidity it will have.

2. Dryness/ sweetness

If a wine has some acidity then it will usually be a dry wine with little or no sweetness. And the sweeter a wine is then the less acidity there will be.

3. Tannins

Tannins are mostly found in Red wines. These can either be light or heavy and they coat the mouth.

4. Alcohol

The presence of the alcohol is easy to detect, sometimes it can be a little too over powering. But it can be important in giving balance to a wine.

5. Finish

The length of the wine is a combination of the sweetness/ alcohol and acidity. It can either have a short or long finish. Usually light wines have a short finish, where as more bodied wines have a long taste that lingers on the palate.


xXx

Visit to my Wine Teacher's Vineyard and Winery

Every week on my wine course down here in the South of France, we have a visit to a vineyard to learn a little more about how things work and to get involved ourselves. This week we visited my wine teacher, Aymeric's, vineyard and winery in his home village of Montblanc, which is in the 

Languedoc-Roussillon region of France, close to my school. 

We spent the first part of the day picking Cabernet Franc grapes, which are a red variety with a white centre and they tend to make light red wines. We worked in pairs and then worked our way down the vines collecting grapes in crates ready to pack in to the back of their pick-up truck and take straight to their winery. Quite a few of the grapes were overripe and had noble rot (a little of which can be good as it gives a different taste to the wine, but too much is bad), so we had to select the bunches carefully. 

Here we are being taught about how to select the bunches of grapes and to see which types of rot are good and bad.

The grapes ready to go in to the back of the pick-up truck and then on to the winery.

Below is the wine picking team!

Once we had picked our rows we then went back to their winery which is in the centre of their little village of Montblanc. Their winery is in their old garage which they converted 3 years ago, and is underneath their house. Aymeric told us that his family has lived in Montblanc since the 15th Century, and 3 generations of his family currently all live in the house above the winery - amazing! 

Aymeric's house and winery, inside and out! 

Aymeric showed us how the grape press worked and his brother jumped in to start squashing down the grapes to allow for them all to fit in. The press is then turned on and the ends of the press come in to the centre whilst it is rotating. This then leaves all of the skins, pips and stalks in the middle. The process then starts again and the remaining grape pulp is then pressed for a second time, but the juice is much stronger and contains more tannins, as it is in the skin, pips and stalk that they lie, so it is not pressed for as long as the first press.

During this time the wine is being pumped from the press in to a tank where it will begin fermenting. 

Aymeric and his brother above are putting the grapes in to the press, and below are some of us who helped! 

We then saw the de-stemmer in action, which is a machine that removes the major part of the stem from the bunch. The de-stemmer is used when the grapes have been harvested by machine and therefore more stalk is removed as it is less accurate than harvesting by hand as you can be more selective. 
The de-stemmer works by 2 pieces of metal rotating around each other which pull off the stalks and releases the grapes underneath.

After the hard work we then went on to do some tasting! We tasted some 4 of their fermenting wines at different stages. We tried a white, rose and red wine about 3 weeks in to fermentation and then a merlot which was further along. 

Above Aymeric is giving me some of the fermenting white wine to try. 

Below is a close up of the fermenting white. It had a strong yeast flavour as it was early in the fermenting process, this also meant that it was quite sweet. As you can see it is very cloudy and the clarity will come as it ages.

Below is a rose wine, also about 3 weeks in to fermentation. As you can see the typical rose colour is there, but has a strong orange tinge. This was also quite sweet and yeasty.

Below is a fermenting red wine, also 3 weeks in to fermentation. The colour was almost luminous when held up to the light, with another strong sweetness to it. 

Below was a merlot that we tasted which was much further along in the fermentation process. As you can see, it has a much deeper red colour to it and you could really taste the flavours starting to develop. There was less sweetness and more acidity and tannins.

We then had a chance to try their finished product, which we enjoyed with some Comte cheese and some fresh baguette. Below you can see their label of wine, which is of Aymeric and his brother- a very fun idea! It was the perfect end to a very interesting day! 

xXx