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French Wine Explorers Wine e-Newsletter
www.wine-tours-france.com - October 2004

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This month's wine explorations:

The Rhône Valley (by Robin Garr of www.wineloverspage.com, co-leader of our Northern and Southern Rhône Valley tour, June 6-12, 2005)

As much as I enjoy traveling through all the wine regions of France, there's something special about the Rhône Valley that brings a particularly warm feeling to this wine lover's heart ... and palate.

Offering an unparalleled mix of history, scenery, food and wine and friendly people, the Rhône has carved a broad valley from Switzerland through a swath of eastern France, hurrying past craggy hills and uniquely stony vineyards on its way to the Mediterranean near Marseilles.

The Rhône valley funnels the cold winter mistral wind down from the Alps to the sea. And in the opposite direction, the river valley served as a highway for conquest, affording Caesar's conquering legions an easy route north into the heart of Europe. Its exceptional promise for vine-growing wasn't lost on the Romans, who immediately recognized the granite Hermitage hill, embraced in the river's sweeping curve and facing the afternoon sun, as an ideal place to grow grapes and make wine.

More than a millennium later and perhaps 50 kilometers south, the Popes of the Catholic Church moved their capitol from Rome to Avignon through much of the 14th century, planting the warm, stony soil just north of the city in vines that produced a wonderful wine, Châteauneuf-du-Pape ("the new castle of the Pope").

From ancient Roman viaducts and a remarkable 2,000-year-old amphitheater in Orange to the hulking stone palaces of the Popes in Avignon and their summer palace overlooking Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the region is rich with historical sites.

And from that day to this, the Rhône pours out some of France's most full-bodied and amiable wines, and delicious food to match. It's one of my favorite wine regions, and I look forward to co-leading a tour there with French Wine Explorers in June 2005.

We'll be touring both the Northern Rhone and the Southern Rhone. Separated by geography and distinguished by quite different soils, the Northern Rhone is far smaller in terms of production, but its leading appellations - Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie - rank among the world's most sought-after red wines. Hermitage, which is 100 percent Syrah, and Côte-Rôtie, which "lifts" the Syrah with a touch of white Viognier, make memorable wines of great complexity, ageworthy wines that really require cellar time to show their full potential. Look to the North also for Cornas and St. Joseph, and the white, Viognier-based Condrieu and Chateau-Grillet; and for everyday drinking, Crozes-Hermitage.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape is the leading wine of the Southern Rhone, made from a historic blend of as many as 13 red and white grapes, although Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre usually dominate the red wine. Gigondas and Vacqueyras join the South's roster of memorable reds, as do the wines from the Rhone's broad hillside appellation, Côtes-du-Rhone, particularly those from the many individual villages authorized to add their name to the label: Rasteau, Cairanne, Beaumes-de-Venise and more.

All this rich variety of wine, food, history and heritage only touches the surface of this intriguing wine region. Explore it in person if you can, and in any event, don't miss exploring it in your wine glass.

Join Robin for our Northern & Southern Rhône Valley tour, June 6-12, 2005 or ask us to create a private, customized wine tour for you.

More News About "Wine & War - The Tour"

French Wine Explorers is very proud to present a one-time-only, exclusive event: Wine & War, the Tour!  Wine & War is the best-selling book that tells the remarkable story of the courageous French vintners who protected and rescued the country's most treasured commodity (its wine) from German plunder during World War II.  Authors Don & Petie Kladstrup (two American journalists) will co-lead the tour with myself and Jean-Pierre, starting in Paris and traveling for 9 days through Champagne, Burgundy, the Loire Valley and Bordeaux.  Along the way, we'll meet many of the prominent wine personalities featured in the book (who are also some of the most prestigious winemakers in France), and hear their amazing stories as we taste their great wines.  An unforgettable experience for World War II buffs and wine lovers alike, the tour will take place just before the 60th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day.

For wine lovers, this is a dream tour, a veritable "Tour de France" of the country's greatest vineyards.  For example, you'll have the extremely rare privilege of touring Domaine de la Romanée Conti and tasting its wines, accompanied by owner Aubert de Villaine.  Also on the program are First Growths Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Chateau Haut Brion, a luncheon with May Eliane de Lancquesaing, owner of "Super 2nd" Growth Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, a meeting, tour and tasting with Claude Taittinger (whose father prevented the Nazis from blowing up Paris) at world-famous Champagnes Taittinger, another with Robert Drouhin of the famous Burgundy négociant firm Maison Drouhin, and many others. Along with these exclusive opportunities, you'll enjoy first-class hotels, gourmet dining and the beauty of the French wine country.  A pre-tour extension is also offered April 3-5, with 2 nights in a 4-star hotel, a fabulous dinner and visit of the amazing cellar at 2-star La Tour d'Argent restaurant, and a day tour of the Normandy D-Day landing beaches with a WWII expert.

As members of our mailing list, you have the first opportunity to sign up for this special tour before we announce to the press (which will happen this week).  We fully expect this tour to sell out quickly (there is room for only 14 guests), so contact us today for more information and a preliminary itinerary.  See the Wine & War Tour web page on our site for full information.

Wood, Stainless Steel or Cement - How Winemakers Choose Their Vats

In most parts of France, the harvest is now over, and the grapes are now busy fermenting and macerating in vats all over the French countryside.  These days, you'll find many kinds of vats in common usage in France; in fact, the variety of materials used in making vats is something that often surprises guests on our wine tours.  In Bordeaux, for example, you'll see stainless steel, wood and cement vats, and often a combination of two or three of these in any one winery.  Sometimes there will be small fiberglass ones as well (used for overflow or spares), and in the Rhône Valley (in the cellars of Chateau La Nerthe), you can even see some that are carved out of the rock itself.  Why so many different types of vats?

Just as a chef has a choice between stainless, iron or copper pots and pans, winemakers these days have a choice of different materials in which to vinify their wines.  This was not always the case.  Back in the 19th and early 20th centuries, wood was pretty much the only thing available.  Aside from the rare use of stone vats as at La Nerthe, wine was vinified in small oak barrels, in very large oak barrels called "foudres", or in the large oak vats found to this day in Bordeaux and Burgundy.  In the early 20th century, poured concrete made its appearance, and winemakers started using it to build their vats.  Concrete had several advantages over oak.  First, it could be fashioned into convenient shapes, and so most winemakers made them square so that a row of vats could be created, sharing common walls and taking up less space than round oak vats.  Concrete was much less expensive than oak and easy to work with, as opposed to oak barrels which required many hours of highly specialized labor to build. Concrete was a neutral substance, and didn't impart any particular taste to the wine. Finally, it was much easier to clean and maintain than oak, which required sterilization with sulphur and special treatments before use each year.  Concrete therefore became the material of choice, particularly in less prestigious wine-producing areas where winemakers needed to minimize expenses, like the Rhône Valley, Beaujolais and some parts of Bordeaux like Saint Emilion and Pomerol.

In the 60's, the science of enology started making its impact on winemaking in France.  Enologists like the great Emile Peynaud (see our Newsletter of August 2004) began stressing the importance of good hygiene in the winery facility, including the need to keep fermentation vats spotlessly clean.  He and others recommended the use of stainless steel, which was already being used in other parts of the food industry, notably for dairy products.  Chateau Haut Brion's ground-breaking decision to install stainless steel vats in 1961 was greeted with shock and disbelief by other winemakers in the area; in fact, they were purported to have said that Haut Brion was no longer making wine, they were making milk!  But not too long afterward, other chateaux followed the trend, and stainless steel became the norm for wine production all over France.

In the past ten years, in the artisanal food and beverage industries, there has been an increasing nostalgia for older, more traditional ways of working.  With it has come a return to the use of wooden vats, particularly in Bordeaux and Burgundy, where skyrocketing prices have given winemakers the funds to be able to replace their stainless steel and/or concrete vats with oak ones.  The debate rages in these areas about which material produces the best results.  Proponents of wood tout the small amount of exchange between the wine and the air outside, which they feel helps round out tannins, particularly for Grand Cru's and other top-of-the-line wines.  Those who prefer concrete (which these days is lined with enamel, food-grade epoxy or ceramic tile) say that it maintains a more constant temperature than wood or stainless steel (nearly all modern vats are outfitted with thermoregulation devices).  And ease of maintainance, hygiene and built-in thermoregulation are the most-cited arguments for using stainless steel.  There really is no right or wrong choice of vat type.  As a painter chooses to work with oils, watercolors or pastels, the winemaker chooses the type of vat that best suits his way of vinifying and the type of grapes his vineyard produces.  It's just one of the thousands of decisions in the winegrowing and winemaking process that determine the quality and style of the wine we put on our tables. 

Join us on a Bordeaux wine tour (May 23-28, June 13-17 and Sept. 5-10, 2005), or a Burgundy wine tour (May 30-June 5 and Aug. 29-Sept. 2, 2005), and witness the amazing diversity of winemaking savoir faire in these two great regions.

Special Early Boöking Dïscounts on Selected Tours

Sign up by December 1st for one of our scheduled 2005 tours (except Wine & War and Bordeaux Prestige), and receive a dïscount of US$200 per person.  See our schedule of 2005 wine tours here. Please note: we will NOT be offering last-minute discounts, so be sure to take advantage of this spëcial ôffer!

Upcoming Wine & Food Events in France: Big Annual Wine Festivals

  • Nov. 11-14: Gastronomy Salon, Parc des Expositions, La Rochelle (Atlantic Coast): wine tastings and terroir food products.  For more info: www.parcexpo-larochelle.com. 
  • Nov. 18:  Launch of the Beaujolais Nouveau, all over France (and the world, for that matter): the official release of the Beaujolais Nouveau is always celebrated on the third Thursday of November, except in Beaujolais itself, where it is celebrated the night before (the wine is released at midnight)  We recommend two places in particular for this celebration in France: in Paris, where you can sip the new wine in any number of great wine bars along with hundreds of merrymakers (try the rue du Marché Saint Honoré in the 1st arrondisement for a huge block party Thursday night), or in Beaujeu in the heart of Beaujolais country, for their annual Sarmentelles celebration with piercing of the huge Beaujolais cask in the town square at midnight (with free Beaujolais for all) and dancing until dawn.  For more info:  paysbeaujolais@beaujolais.net, or www.beaujolais.net.
  • Nov. 20-22: Les Trois Glorieuses, Beaune (Burgundy): the annual wine auction at the Hospices de Beaune is accompanied by two other great events, a black-tie chapter meeting at the Clos de Vougeot with the Confrérie du Tastevin, and the down-home BYOB lunch called the Paulée de Meursault.  Big crowds, but a fun, festive time to be in Burgundy.  For more info: +33 (0)3 80 26 21 30, http://www.ot-beaune.fr. 
  • Nov. 22-29: Salon des 3G (Gourmand, Gourmet, Gourmandise), Hotel Le Palm Beach, place Franklin-Roosevelt, Cannes (Côte d'Azur).  Wine tastings, conferences by great chefs, demonstrations, everything to do with enjoying food and wine.  For more info: + 33 (0)4 97 06 36 90, http://www.lepalmbeach.com.

We're always happy to design a customized, private tour for you in the region of your choice, so you can take advantage of the many wine-related events available throughout the year!

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Contact Us

I'm always available to answer your questions about our wine and culinary programs, our company, and wine in France in general. Please feel free to contact me at info@wine-tours-france.com, or toll free at  1-877-261-1500.

Best regards,

Lauriann Greene-Sollin, Sommelier-Conseil
President/Founder

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FRENCH WINE EXPLORERS
info@wine-tours-france.com
www.wine-tours-france.com
Tel:  1-877-261-1500
Fax: 1-253-423-5316

© 2004 French Wine Explorers. Articles © 2004 Lauriann Greene.  All rights reserved.  WST #601 903 728.