4-5-2016: Day 9, One More Day With Harry

Harry Takes Us On Another Learning Adventure

This is to be a half day with Harry and so we head to M. Chapoutier to start. It is raining but who cares - we are going to be tasting wine! Our guy is young but knows his stuff. "Want to see the vineyard in the rain" he says.  "Sure" we say and we grab some umbrellas and walk down the street to the vineyard. There is a lot of techtonic plates crashing together in this place that creates soil from Clay to limestone to  rocky. 

The exposure runs from South to North, so the possibilities are endless. At one time the old style wine makers would gather all the grapes together, stir well and let 'um age and work. Comes some new wine makers, such as M. Chapoutier and they wish to develop a single vineyard wine - a single variety wine - unusual blends and other innovations. But there are several layers of laws governing the wine to protect the quality and reputation of the area. Things change in France but those we meet explain, it takes time - a lot of time. 

Our tasting begins and before this is over we walk out shaking our heads thinking this is best ever! We run through the whites and we each have have a spit bucket and good thing because we are dumping and spitting like pros. We taste the first and declare it a very nice wine. "5.5 Euro upstairs" says our guide. "Get out of town" says we. Seems they are on a mission to attract and educate the young people so that the wine industry can survive into the future. Wine is losing the main buyers of wine - mature (as in diminishing) group.  M. Chapoutier is producing a good quality wine for young people with less money and bring them along eventually to higher quality and more expensive wines later on. Love the idea and logic! Impressive. 

We move through 8 whites and hit the Reds with the same philosophy. The more expensive vines are beautiful and we both purchased a $70 bottle of wonderful Chateauneuf-du-pape that they put in a box for us to take. But wait, that is not all. It is time for lunch and they host us. A lovely plate of fish and some of that wonderful bread and we thank them. But wait, comes our guide with a wonderful red wine to replace a great Riesling and a steak. But wait again, here comes a special sweet wine with desert and we are stuffed. Our half day has turned into a full day and Harry has been great to stick with us and the folks at M. Chapoutier are wonderful. We even got a visit from a family member. 

We love this place, but we must head back to our place in Vienne....

Such a good life!