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Introduction

Many winemakers in Bordeaux are examining possibilities of how to go further in sustainable cultivation in their vineyards. And the answer increasingly seems to lie in the philosophy of agroforestry, bringing trees, shrubs and hedges closer together again to the vine, a bold step to look beyond a grape monoculture that for so long has dominated the landscapes of the world’s wine producing regions.

This really is a new evolution, transforming a vineyard by planting fruit trees alongside a line of vines, surrounding different parcels of the vineyard with hedgerows to protect the grape, position flowering shrubs and bushes imbetween two vines to attract a new a vibrant biodiversity of insects, birds, bees and even nature’s alternative to chemical pesticides, the predatory bat.

This return to an environment of active agro-ecology, with cereals planted in the vineyard, weeds left to grow wild, the ground no longer disturbed by mechanical ploughing, can all contribute to an energetic regeneration of  the soil while fortifying the vine at the same time. This new agriculture ecosystem can induce a lower carbon imprint, create microclimates that combat global warming, and encourage biodiversity.

How does it then effect the quality of the wine? Well these are early days, but below are some of the pioneering agroforestry Bordeaux vignerons to both visit and see the dramatic visual impact on the landscape and then enjoy a tasting of their wines. 

Château d’Esther 

A narrow country road leads through fields and vineyards and it is only when you turn off into the drive of Château d’Esther that you see the bank of the mighty Dordogne river. The front garden is filled with camper vans, people sitting outside enjoying an alfresco breakfast while chickens run wild.

This small 5 hectare vineyard is the perfect place to begin to understand just what agroforestry is all about. Thomas Bastian and his wife Eva, purchased the estate in 2001, completely changing career but with very firm ideas and ambitions on how they wanted to run their property. “When we bought the domaine everything was in ruins. Since then we replanted 70% of the vineyard and purchased an extra 7 hectares, where we have no intention of extending the monoculture of grapes. When we began, no one used the term agroforestry, but what shocked me was I found there was no life left in and around the vine, and we have spent 20 years trying to change that. So apart from immediately implementing both organic and biodynamic cultivation, we started  planting trees, hedgerows and cereals. Between each line of vines we plant sunflower and buckwheat, not for commercial reasons, as we do not even harvest, but to bring life back to the soil. There are 250 fruit trees in the midst of the vineyard, along with hedges surrounding each side.

And finally we have placed 170 wooden birds nests inside the vineyard.” When asked what is the point of all this he replies immediately that, “I have a common thread that determines everything I do; to encourage a renaissance of life. And I am talking about general  ‘floraison’, flowering, rather than the grape to make wine. Everything begins with insects and then birds, beginning from January to March when the shrubbery and hedges are in flower. Once these blooms die the insects need something else for nutrition and move on to the fruit trees which are in flower from mid March to mid June. So there is a migration from the hedge to the tree and that is when the birds arrive. They nest in the tree boxes we have placed, start their families and nourish them with insects. Then, when the fruit season is over it is the cereals planted imbetween the vines that continues this cycle of ‘floraison’. And of course it also attracts bees to pollinate, owls and bats, both useful predators. So finally we achieve a year-long ‘équilibre’, a natural balance, which ends with the maturation of the grape on the vine and then the harvest. What does this équilibre bring to me, the winemaker?  The answer comes from our customers who tell us that our wines give a certain joy that they cannot find elsewhere. That is enough for me.” 

And his work does not stop here, as Thomas and his team are forever picking up dead leaves and plants to make alchemy-like infusions  to fortify the vine every two weeks.

In fact, the back of the garden resembles a sorcerer’s laboratory, with bunches of leaves drying beneath the eaves and huge blue plastic vats filled with the leaves soaking in water, slowly brewing like tea.

Vignobles Bardet

Arriving at the cellars of Vignobles Bardet is quite breathtaking as it sits on an ancient quayside overlooking a dramatic bend in the fast-flowing waters of the Dordogne river. As he sits on the waters edge looking across at a shifting sand island, Philippe Bardet nostalgically explains his family’s long attachment both to the water and the vine. “You have to imagine that up to the 19th century there was a bustling port right here, specialised in the water transportation of wine as far as England. My family were vignerons, wine merchants and ‘gabares’, running sailing boats along the river and out to sea. But it was a world that was turned upside down by the arrival of train transport, and since then we concentrate solely on producing wine on our 50 hectare Saint-Émilion estates.”

Rather than going the route of certified organic cultivation, Philippe engages in what he calls agro-ecology, and is the founder of Bordeaux’s SME, a collective of over 1,000 likeminded vignerons. “In 1998 I started planting hedgerows to bring back biodiversity. For sure, for the first few years the vineyard looks terrible, yields diminish, but you just need patience. I don’t use compost, peat or chemical fertiliser, creating a healthy vineyard where soil is alive, regenerating itself, while the vines are even more resistant to the effects of global warming. And for the last 2 years I have stopped ploughing the soil to protect the biodiversity, though I have not followed the agroforestry trend of planting fruit trees. But this year is the first ever that we will be digging up certain parcels of vines, and instead of replanting the same monoculture we will replace the vine with bushes and trees.”

Château des Annereaux

Sitting in the heart of the prestigious Lalande-de-Pomerol Appellation, Château des Annereaux is  pioneer of sustainable, responsible winemaking.

A single vineyard covering 23 hectares, this château has been owned by the same extended family for some 600 years. Benjamin Hessel represents the present generation, a dynamic, pensive young winemaker who took over from his father, Dominique, who converted the estate to organic cultivation back in 2007. Benjamin though intends going further, insisting that “organic agriculture is just a first step because a vineyard monoculture is not enough on its own. For a genuine balance the vineyard must be surrounded by a genuine biodiversity, and I would call my philosophy agro-ecology.”

Benjamin is planting over 1.5 kilometres of new hedgerows, putting up wooden boxes imbetween the vines to provide a habitat for birds and bats, while cereals and vegetables are planted between each line of vines, “because there is no use bringing back birds if they have nothing to eat. We don’t harvest these plants as they are just there to regenerate the ecosystem. And our beehives are not here primarily to make honey, but to bring these crucial insects back into nature’s cycle to pollinate.

This year we have planted 5 parasol pines and another 100 fruit trees, whose cherries and apples will either be eaten by the birds or fall to the ground and feed the earth. In the vine I have stopped ploughing the soil to respect it more, with no more weeding, though not many people who drink wine know that all this comes at a price, as a domaine’s production drops by around 20% with organic cultivation.”

Château Bournac

This intriguing Médoc wine estate is run by two single-minded brothers, Guillaume and Thibaud Secret, a new generation of Bordeaux vignerons. They come from a family of crop farmers in northern France, who actually planted cereals here when they purchased the estate in the 1970’s. Although they quickly and successfully turned to planting vines, today the Secret brothers are actually looking to return to polyculture, buying new land but to plant sunflowers for their honey production.

Guillaume philosophically explains that, “if you cultivate something like vines and grapes then you must not deviate from that to be successful. So that is what we do for our wine. But recently it is what goes on around the vine that interests me; a landscape that must move on from monoculture. We already have a lot of forest and fruit orchards around the vineyard, but I now have a project to plant 800 metres of hedges which we hope will protect the vine from frost. This single hedgerow will divide 30 hectares of vines into two, so that fauna returns here for the biodiversity but nests in the hedge and not the vines.” But walking through a parcel of vines he cautions against thinking that agroforestry is the answer to all their problems, explaining that, “just look at these trees I planted right alongside a line of vines. I need to be careful that they do not become so tall they take away sunlight and use water that the vine needs.”

And although he is passionate about apiculture, he insists that the first priority behind encouraging wild flowers to grow without pesticides “is essentially to safeguard an environment that attracts all pollinators – bees, bumblebees, butterflies, certain birds and bats. Then, when the flowers come back, the bees can do their work, and I can make my honey.”

Château d’Arche 

Arche is one of the Cru Classé 1855, with a history of wine production going back to the 16th century. This large domaine encircles the picturesque village of Sauternes whose church steeple rises out of the vineyards. Oenologist and technical director of the estate, Mathieu Arroyo, is a local boy whose grandfather still has a plot of vines in the village. He presides over a state-of-the-art eco wine cellar, complete with vegetal roof, while Arche’s grand manor house is being converted into a luxury wine resort that will respect and blend into the surrounding environment. Mathieu came here from France’s wine research institution, INRAE, and is already converting the large 75 hectare estate to certified organic, alongside a host of agro-ecology ideas for the future. “We have planted 2 kilometres of hedgerows this year, a four-sided ‘clos végétal’ of shrubs and trees around our vineyard. Between vine lines I am creating a permaculture by planting the likes of potatoes and sunflower, and I actually intend to harvest and use what grows.

In winter, a shepherd brings his herd of 80 sheep into the vineyards, and we have 4 work horses who plough 10 hectares of the vineyard – a genuine project and not for promotional snaps.  And my most important initiative will be planting a one hectare plot of new-generation resistant grapes that need no treatments at all. I worked on these experimental grapes at INRAE but even today, no one dares to plant them. Well I will. The parcel will become a haven of peace, encircled by  aromatic shrubs of thyme, lavender, even juniper”

Château Passe Craby 

Passe Craby means Passage of the Deer in the local Fronsac patois, and Jérôme Boyé relates how nothing has really changed here since the family arrived in the 18th century, as just a couple of days previously he saw a deer running right outside the château. Jérôme is the 7th generation vigneron, still aided by his supposedly retired parents.

Their 30 hectares of vines are bordered by 5 hectares of forest and small lakes, and his father was an early advocate of agroforestry beginning to take action ten years ago,  increasing the size of the forest, planting hedges and  fruit trees; cherry, apple, apricot, pear, peach. “We keep our 3 kilometres of hedgerows at the same height as the vine,” explains Jérôme, “so there is no competition between them. Today, almost all our parcels of vines are surrounded by hedges, and we let everything grow wild between the vines. You see more game – deer and boars – but also far more species of birds, and I can feel that a different  biodiversity has established itself. People ask me if this affects the quality of the wine. Well, I honestly don’t know, but I think that what is important is that we are making an effort to respect the environment. We also have preserved the ponds and wetlands because of the kaleidoscope of biodiversity that gather there – a nightly concert of frogs croaking, insects, butterflies.

And we are also planting flowers to attract bees with 13 hives on the estate. The next step is to find a shepherd to work with, so that in winter his herd of sheep can keep the vineyard clean, but only until the first grapes appear, otherwise the sheep will just eat everything.”

Château de Piote 

Driving up to the rambling farm buildings of Château de Piote you quickly realise this a unique winery. Sheep graze imbetween the vines, chickens, ducks, geese and peacocks wander around the grounds.

At midday a loud bell is rung announcing the communal lunch, where vineyard and farm workers sit around a long table alongside owner Virginie Aubrion and her son Corentin, who works full time on the estate. 

Corentin is a distinctive figure and describes how, “today we are looking at increasing the diversity of Piote by breeding cows and pigs, planting a vegetable garden, using a herd of 12 sheep for crop cover control in winter, and we also intend to start planting fruit trees, both in an orchard and inside the vineyard. So we have already achieved a degree of self-sufficiency, like ancestral farming.  Since 2012 we have had a programme to plant hedgerows, not just to increase biodiversity but to use the hedges and shrubs to protect the vines against frost and mildew. We are interested right now in purchasing the adjoining property, 15 hectares of woods and meadows. That land could then be planted with appellation grapes, but we would never do that, preferring natural diversity to vine monoculture. I was 5 when my parents brought the family here and I have grown up on the farm and in the vineyard. I genuinely believe we are constructing something responsible and respectful of nature.”

Virginie oversees their rock&roll garage wine cellar, a mix of old barrels, cement and steel vats, and a potpourri of different shaped terracotta amphorae that she often buys second-hand and then repairs. The wines are as unique as the domaine, certified organic and biodynamic, proudly proclaimed as ‘natural’ with barely any sulphites added.

Château Carsin

Imbetween the bucolic villages of Cadillac and Rions, Château Carsin has had a rollercoaster history since it was was purchased in 1990 by Finnish wine businessman Juha Berglund.

Running the estate today, his feisty daughter Nea was born the year he bought Carsin and she grew up spending summer holidays, then grape harvesting and now has settled here calling it her home, “ where I am accepted as a local, part of the family that is this wonderful winemaking community.” She recalls how, “the property was unliveable at first, with leaks everywhere, and wine had not been produced for over 15 years. So my father restored the buildings and created a modern cellar equipped with state-of-the-art tanks and machinery from Australia. The vineyard rapidly grew from 14 to 60 hectares and we were producing half a million bottles a year.  Well the world has changed a lot since then. Today we are back to a 18 hectare vineyard – as well as 6 hectares of fallow fields and woods.”

Inspired by an agroforestry course, Nea is now  busily planting trees and bushes with the clear aim of “enriching our biodiversity but also diversifying our production rather than just making wine. Changing a monoculture is not just about the landscape but your economic model too. So I want to make and commercialise jams, conserves, honey and pickles, bubbly organic fruit juices, balsamic vinegar, maybe a range of fruit beers. And with the extra production I want to be selling fruits and vegetables within the local community to restaurants and at markets.” Nea’s bubbly enthusiasm for biodiversity is infectious. She insists she has fun making her offbeat wines,  declaring that, “I am genuinely enthusiastic about nature, and in some ways, vineyards are actually unnatural, fashioned and formed by man. So it is important that the the vigneron pays more attention to what surrounds the vineyard, the landscape, flora, fauna and insects.”

Château La Peyruche

You do not discover Château La Peyruche by chance, as it is hidden away high above the bustling winemaker village of Langroin, at the end of a dusty dirt road that weaves through thick woodland before finally coming out in a panorama of vineyards, fruit trees and a grand 17th century castle and chapel. Bertrand Weisgerber and his son Charles bought the property in 2017, and are implementing an adventurous agroforestry programme. La Peyruche has never been just about  wine making as this was a genuine working farm growing cereals, breeding dairy cows, with extensive orchards whose fruits were sold directly in Bordeaux’s famous Capucine food market. Today the estate stretches over 50 hectares, whose  21 hectare vineyard is surrounded by a vast natural biodiversity of woods, meadows, a pond and fruit trees. Charles recounts how he and his father looked at vineyards in several different regions of France before settling on Chateau La Peyruche where “it was clear that the soil had suffered from decades of chemical treatments.

So initially,  rather than increasing the vineyard, we planted 300 trees, shrubs and hedgerows, immediately converting to organic cultivation.” They have attracted bees back to the land both to pollinate and produce honey, and have surprising plans for the local bat population!

“We discovered that there is are underground galleries of an ancient quarry beneath the château which is home to a large colony of bats. Our ambition to get the bats to come into the vineyard where they are the ultimate predator for insects. With their limited vision, bats need trees planted at a distance between 50-100 metres to be able to move around. So our plan is to plant a Bat Highway along hedgerows and trees leading from their nests in the cave to our vines, an ecological corridor. And don’t forget, every night a bat eats something like 3,000 insects.”

Introduction

Bordeaux wines may be renowned across the globe, but increasingly, international wine lovers are planning trips right here in the picturesque vineyards and ancient château cellars where unique vintages have been made for over 2,000 years. And each experience is different. You can to choose to stay in a rustic vigneron’s bed&breakfast and join the winemaker at sunset as he pulls the cork of his latest vintage of Bordeaux Supérieur and slices up a tasty saucisson for a simple but delicious pairing. Or choose the pomp and splendour of the historic châteaux of the Médoc, where a wine expert will lead you through an extensive tasting of different years on one of the original Crus Classés 1855, followed by an exquisite gourmet meal in a gastronomic Michelin-starred restaurant.

These are just two examples of a hundred different possible adventures that Bordeaux offers today. Fly in a small plane with the winemaker piloting you above his vineyards, take part in a blending atelier to understand the qualities of different grapes, book a wellness session of vinotherapy, grape massages and beauty treatments, sleep in a luxurious medieval château or enjoy a fun glamping night in a converted giant barrel. Everyone’s journey starts in the city of Bordeaux, one for the most exhilarating world wine capitals, where a day spent in the futuristic Cité du Vin museum is the perfect introduction to the world of wine and the possibilities awaiting in the Bordeaux region. There are a host of organised tours to choose from, where experts will plan every step of your trip, from exploring the vineyards to tasting with cellar masters. But there is another way to make your own discoveries. Hire a car, be sure to make winery reservations in advance for a visit, and head off the beaten track following your very own Bordeaux wine trail, with a selection of some of the top addresses below. 

Château Monconseil Gazin 

The ivy-clad medieval gateway of this rambling 14th century château is the entrance to a whole new world of wine adventures thought up by the inventive fifth generation owners, Jean-Michel and Françoise Baudet. They have a 30 hectare vineyard producing annually over 150,000 bottles of Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux, and aim to sell as much as possible direct from their cellar,  coming up with a host of ideas to attract people here.

Inspired by his father, who was one of the first Blaye vignerons to offer cellar tasting, Jean-Michel recalls how, “wine enthusiasts today are always looking for something new. As well as tasting, they want to be entertained, educated and discover the countryside. So we began in 2000 with our Initiation aux Vendanges, where visitors join the wine harvest and enjoy a meal and tasting afterwards. Then we started hosting wine dinners in the château, ateliers for cheese pairing, blending workshops. And in 2018, we launched our own Escape Game, inspired by Emperor Charlemagne who fought a famous battle just nearby. We had a big empty cellar and barn, learnt about the Escape Game concept and thought – why not? The experience is bilingual, lasts an hour and is led by a Game Master – my wife Françoise. The theme of course is our Blaye wine, but with lots of enigmas that must remain secret.

Finally, this year we launched the Wine Olympics – the 12 Tasks of Bacchus – with two teams competing in crazy outdoor events like barrel rolling.”And Jean-Michel is philosophical when he advises other winemakers that, “the key to wine tourism success is that everyone must be welcomed with the same enthusiasm, because a client may buy just 2 bottles but then become a regular for 20 years, while the one who buys 24 bottles you may never see again.”

Château Lagarde

 Paul-Henry Nerbusson has arranged an elegant tasting room inside his grand 18th century château, but admits that, “to be honest, if a couple of wine lovers pass by then I am just as relaxed to invite them into my sitting room, decorated with my favourite artworks, to  open a bottle to share and explain our different cuvées. Here in the Blaye vineyards of Bordeaux, it is easy to produce a young, drinkable wine, but that  is not why I came here. Since I bought the estate 20 years ago my ambition has always been to make quality, aged wines, increasing the vineyard from 2 to 12 hectares, investing heavily in the cellar with new oak barrels, giant wooden ‘foudre’ casks, and terracotta amphorae for the special cuvées named after my children.” This attitude is typical of the personal touch he puts to a series of wine tourism initiatives. “We have a gîte on the estate where people can stay, organise art exhibitions and events in our luxuriant garden for up to 50 people. And recently I had the chance to buy a traditional ‘carrelet’, this is the name of the square net that is lowered down from the tiny wooden cabins along the bank of the Garonne river. Once in the water,  you just wait for the fish to swim in!

But I did not buy if for fishing, rather as the perfect location to taste our wines. It is a lovely 5 minute drive along the river from the château. We pack a picnic to accompany the wine – simple sharing plates of local cheese, charcuterie and fruits – and a wooden walkway takes you across the water into the cabin which stands on stilts. I think with wine you must make people dream to appreciate the bottle and watching the sun set over the river in the Carrelet is the ultimate dream.”

Château de Reignac 

Arriving at this historic domaine is an emotional experience as you drive down a romantic tree-lined avenue to come face to face with a magnificent 16th century château, surrounded by manicured lawns and an ornamental lake, then vines as far as the eye can see stretching over 77 hectares. Since 1990 it has been the home of Yves and Stéphanie Vetelot, who over the years have renovated the château, meticulously cultivated the vineyard and created a state-of-the-art, thousand-barrel cellar under the watchful eye of world-famous oenologist, Michel Rolland. Yves remembers Rolland telling him he had bought an unbelievable terroir, “and we have used wine tourism to the maximum to draw people to our château to fully understand what goes into our marvellous wines.”

So today, the château’s  delicate greenhouse, designed by Gustave Eiffel, is planted with a fragrant olfactive herb and plant garden, while an ancient dovecote has been transformed into a unique tasting room, where carafes mysteriously descend in a metal cage  from the roof, and wine experts seated in a circle begin a blind tasting.

In addition to vineyard tours, picnics and fun after-work aperitifs, there is a unique emphasis on child guests, taking place in fun wigwam tents with educators leading playful but responsible games explaining ecology, sustainable development and the environmental impact of wine. And today, with their children no longer living at home, privileged wine tourists can even rent the Vetelot château as an exclusive place to stay.

Les Caves de Rauzan

The Entre-deux-Mers region has some of the most active Caves Coopératives in the Bordelais, and Les Caves de Rauzan has distinguished itself from many of its neighbours with a wine tourism programme aimed at promoting biodiversity and sustainability. While the numbers may sound large – 300 vignerons cultivating 4,000 hectares, producing an equivalent of 28 million bottles – Rauzan is very much a friendly, community-orientated cooperative rather than an anonymous big business. While visitors can stop off any time for a free tasting at both their main cellar and two shops, every Friday there is a pop-up café outside the cellar offering an evening aperitif, while their historic event is La Récréation Gourmande, a 6-7 kilometre hike through the vineyards with stop-offs for wine tastings, oysters, musicians and a BBQ grill of classic entrecôte steaks. For the locals, no one misses this, and the Coopérative also actively promotes the charms of the picturesque village of Rauzan with its grand château and the subterranean Grottes Célestines.

But their most important new initiative is the Parcours de Diversité, taking the visitor on an educative walking tour through the different ecosystems within and surrounding the vineyard. It traverses the properties of  half a dozen different vignerons, with informative panels along the way explaining the local  biodiversity. The Cave produces essentially Entre-deux-Mers, Bordeaux, Bordeaux Supérieur and Crémant de Bordeaux, with every bottle proudly displaying a label declaring it as Sustainable Wine. 

Château Paloumey

Martine Cazeneuve and her family purchased Château Paloumey back in 1989, and she oversaw not just the replanting of the vineyard and restoration of the château, but the Médoc’s earliest initiatives to attract tourists.

Today, there are some 5,000 visitors a year, attending diverse events like Afterwork en Médoc, a popular evening aperitif with tastings, food trucks and music, Atelier Vendange to experience a slice of life in the day of a harvester, picking and eating the grape, tasting early fermentation from the vat, and of course a convivial lunch, contemporary art installations, tasting workshops and blending experiences. Martine’s son Pierre, is now the exuberant winemaker, and his  infectious enthusiasm is best experienced when he takes visitors round on his latest project, ‘Nature et Futur’.

“I would say this is a mix of Slow Tourism and Environmental Awareness,” he excitedly claims, “a theme to make people Look Up, inspired by Leonardo di Caprio’s ecology film, where we explain our eco-stance for the future for Paloumey. During a 45 minute walk through the property we show what we have already done. These are  concrete acts like experimenting across 4 hectares of the vineyard, where every 25 vine lines we have dug up two and planted different types of trees – maple, lindens, acacia, Holm oaks. In ten years time there will be a lines of trees completely changing the vignoble’s landscape. When the group comes back to the cellar I show how the roof is now covered with solar panels, enough for self-sufficiency during the day, and who knows maybe we will have enough one day to power electric tractors ourselves. I call it the winemaking of tomorrow”

Château de la Vieille Chapelle 

Embark on an adventure to find this hidden jewel, as a narrow road meanders through tiny villages, meadows and vineyards of the Fronsac region, with the car’s GPS apparently leading you to the middle of the Dordogne river.

Fortunately, this rambling domaine stops right at the water’s edge. Frédéric Mallier and his wife Fabienne spent 10 years travelling around France looking for the perfect domaine  to make wine responsibly and sustainably. Their dream has taken form here around an 11th century Roman chapel, its rustic outhouses converted into B&B rooms, and a single 7 hectare vineyard producing certified organic and biodynamic wine.

Frédéric explains that, “the estate actually stretches for 22 hectares, with large swathes of forests. For me mixed landscape is crucial for biodiversity, especially as I also make honey. We have a greenhouse to grow vegetables and a nursery for new vine shoots. 

I have planted over a 100 fruit trees, let the forest run wild, and sometimes using a horse to plough the vines.” He is adamant that, “without the B&B revenue we would never have been able to pass to  certified bio cultivation, because that automatically means an immediate loss of about 30% of your wine production. And no one can increase the price of their wines by 30% to compensate.”

His economic model is far removed from grape monoculture and to create income. Fabienne cooks meals for guests and offers Ayurveda energy massages, and most recently they are hosting a magical outdoor guinguette, Les Amuse-Gueules, promoting their wines, sharing platters of local organic cheeses, vegetables and charcuterie, a barbecue and jazz concerts. It is the perfect occasion to discover Frédéric’s highly original wines; natural cuvées like Amis & Associés made with a unique gigantic 170 year-old pre-phylloxera vine of the forgotten Bouchalés-Merlots grape, or Les Merlots de Baudet, made from a 1940 parcel of Merlot vinified and aged in raw concrete vats. 

Château Boutinet 

Driving through the picturesque countryside between the Fronsac and Cadillac Appellations you cannot miss the dramatic façade of the ruined castle of Boutinet.

Take the side road that leads to the château and you quickly discover that this grand 18th century building may be in ruins but it is far from abandoned. Carefully tended plots of vines surround the property, and the entrance is marked by a giant white yurt tent, while one wing of the Château has been restored as the home and wine cellar of vigneron Jérôme Depoizier and his wife Nathalie. She explains how, “we met at a winemaking school,  both of us ambitious to produce our own wine, our own label. When we bought Boutinet and its 12 hectare vineyard we realised that wine tourism was the one way to achieve this dream, to finance an initial project of 12,000 bottles of our very own bottles.”

Nathalie was already an experienced educator at Bordeaux’s Ecole du Vin, while Jérôme had followed in his father’s footsteps as a cellar master but had never owned his own vignoble. “The first project was Rando Tapas, a trek through our vineyard, experiencing the whole biodiversity of the estate, followed by a tasting and tapas. We call it Walk, Wine and Dine. Then, to be able to operate year round, we invested in this immense yurt, where we can do wine pairing with products from local farmers, and host events and dinners for 80 people. I also conduct my blending ateliers here as well as classes that  combine yoga and wine.” While the bulk of their harvest is still sold to the local Cave Coopérative in the neighbouring village of Villegouge, future plans to convert part of the château into a B&B should allow them to increase production of the wines Jérôme experiments with in their garage cellar.

Château d’Arsac 

Although the splendour of Château d’Arsac sits perfectly alongside the grand domaines of Margaux, its owner, Philippe Raoux is not a typical Bordeaux vigneron. Arsac may have a distinguished history stretching back to the 12th century, but when Philippe bought the estate in 1986, “everything was abandoned; the château in ruins, only 4 hectares of vines, and somehow the owners had let pass the opportunity to enter the Margaux Appellation when that was created in 1955.

So it has been a long journey, restoring this fabulous manor, recreating an 108 hectare vineyard. And in 1995, we finally took our rightful place in both the Margaux Appellation and Cru Bourgeois Exceptionel. Amazingly, we are the only winery in France to have been upgraded in this way.” But Arsac is not just exceptional for its wines, as Philippe has put it on the world’s art map too as a unique exhibition venue. He tells the story of how, “our adventure began in 1988,  when the curator of the fine arts collection of the Peter Stuyvesant Foundation asked us to host a huge exhibition of their works in the château and its grounds. It was a great success, but when it ended and they removed all the artworks, well I felt bare and almost robbed. So I decided to organise our own exhibition each year, alongside putting aside a budget of 1 franc per vine to fund our own permanent collection. Well, we have 600,000 pieds de vignes, so it gave me a budget of €100,000 a year, and today the collection consists of over 30 monumental sculptures exhibited in our Jardin des Sculptures, across the Château’s cellar, vineyards and park.”

In addition to this unique Art and Wine tour, visitors can now also experience Songs of Arsac, a musical sound and light extravaganza screened in the barrel-ageing cellar, recounting the 1,000 year history of the château. 

 Château Bardins 

In the heart of the Pessac-Léognan Appellation, this fairytale château is set in a romantic landscaped park that has been in the hands of Stella Puel’s family since 1898. Producing predominantly elegant, red organic wines, the 10 hectare vineyard is surrounded by a natural biodiversity of woods, meadows, orchards and marshy wetlands.

Stella is a fifth generation vigneronne and recounts how, “we have always welcomed visitors here since the day I took over 25 years ago, when I just wanted to be able to meet wine lovers personally over a tasting in the cellar. Today  this part of our business has expanded enormously, and our numerous projects are handled by my close collaborator, Pascale Laroche.

She is a sporty wine lover and offers a guided tour by bike that begins here,  carrying on past half a dozen Pessac-Léognan châteaux before returning for a tasting. We also have tours of the estate by foot, including orienteering games and a wine quiz, and if it rains, well everyone decamps to the cellar and continues with a digital game using iPads. Pascale also runs blending ateliers, with regular  art exhibitions in the cellar. And I organise musical events 3 or 4 times a year in the château, concerts that have featured French and international musicians, performing piano recitals, chamber music, lyric performances, jazz bands and slam poets. The venue is right  here in the living room of my home for a limited audience of 50 people, followed by a tasting afterwards.  So we may have a pianist here who the week before was performing in Carnegie Hall in New York. I think they know they are well treated when they hold a concert in Château Bardins.”

Where to eat

L’Auberge Saint-Jean

In a picture postcard location by a bend on the Dordogne river, this ancient stone auberge has been tastefully renovated  while the refined cuisine of chef Thomas l’Hérisson is recognised by a prestigious Michelin star. The other side of the bridge, stop off at Cabestan, where David Durand, one of the Dordogne’s last professional fishermen, sells jars of the Lamprey eel that he catches in the river,   cooked in a delicious rich red wine sauce, à la Bordelaise.

Le Jardin

This romantic Jardin is the garden restaurant of Château Petit Faurie de Soutard a 200 year-old winery just outside the village of Saint-Emilion. The sunny terrace overlooks both vineyards and a vegetable garden where chef Stéphane Casset grows ingredients for his recipes like tuna served with a green pepper gazpacho and grilled fennel

Where to stay

Château La France

Just outside the wine making town of Fronsac, this magnificent 18th century chateau is surrounded by an immense vineyard, visible from miles around by its giant 12 metre high silver cockerel statue, Le Coq. Cottages by the cellar have been tastefully transformed into cosy B&B accommodation, with a spa and jacuzzi, wine tasting and casual dining area. For a really special occasion, it is possible to rent the entire château itself.

What to do

Rétro Tour Bordeaux

For wine tourists looking for a quirky, highly original guided tour around the vineyards of Bordeaux, rather than heading off independently, it is impossible to beat Rétro Tour who drive adventurous visitors in the sidecar of their retro motorbikes, discovering the chateaux of the Médoc and Saint-Emilion.

INTRODUCTION

The wines from Piedmont’s Asti region, the fragrant and frizzante Moscato d’Asti and bubbly, dolce Asti spumante hold Italy’s highest Docg designation for quality and may be known all over the globe, but to really understand their elusive secrets, a wine lover needs to make a pilgrimage to this region’s picturesque hills whose vineyards were the first to receive Unesco World Heritage recognition. Bordered by the towering peaks of the Alps on one side and the maritime influences of the Ligurian Sea on the other, Asti vineyards cover one of Italy’s largest geographical denominations, spreading over the provinces of Cuneo, Asti and Alessandria, a wine and food paradise renowned for highly-prized white truffles and hazelnuts, the home of the Slow Food movement, the prestigious red wines of Barolo, Barbera and Barbaresco.

But this Trail visits ten friendly, welcoming winemakers who  cultivate the unique aromatic Moscato Bianco grape that has been grown here for since at least the Middle Ages, producing what is simply one of the world’s most popular wines. In Italy, the traditional Christmas panettone cake must be accompanied by a light, fruity glass of Moscato d’Asti, while weddings and birthdays are always celebrated with the pop of a bottle of Asti spumante. And this surprising wine pairs also pairs just as well with cheese, spicy and salty food. Although different varieties of the Moscato grape have been planted across the globe, the wine made here has an unbeatable combination of limestone and sandy soil, steep, sunny vineyard slopes known as a ‘sorì’, predominantly manual cultivation throughout the year, ending in an obligatory hand-picked harvest. Then in the cellar, there is a genuine synergy between traditional and modern techniques, from fermentation in high-tec autoclave tanks to the ancient custom of small batch bottling throughout the year to ensure that every bottle, throughout its year of production could not be fresher, fruitier more aromatic, no matter when you buy it. Tasting with today’s winemakers, though, you will also discover a new movement away from the historic concept that Asti must be drunk solely in the year it was made, as a new amendment to the winemaking rules will allow a Riserva vintage that can be aged for upto 3 years. Wine tourism is already well developed in this part of Piedmont, with the website of the Asti Consorzio a mine of information to organise vineyard visits and discover for yourself the secrets of these seductive, subtle wines.

GHIGA

Run by two young brothers, 33 year-old Enrico and 26 year-old Davide, this is a 100% family affair as the parents work alongside their sons in the vineyard, while 96 year-old Nonna Maria cooks for her grandsons.

Ghiga is the perfect cantina to request a cellar tour to really understand the  complex production of Moscato d’Asti. Enrico patiently explains to visitors how “we initially press the grapes, then keep the mosto,  a mush of the crushed grapes and juice, in steel tanks at 0° Centigrade. Then we ferment batch by batch, only as and when there is a demand for bottles, so each bottle is the freshest, fruitiest possible anytime of the year. Very different from a normal wine that is bottled once a year. To begin fermentation, the batch of mosto passes into an autoclave tank that raises the temperature to 20° Centigrade, starting fermentation as yeast is added. The autoclave activates the natural gas to create the bubbles for a light frizzante, and the mosto takes one week to ferment to around 5° alcohol when the fermentation is abruptly stopped with the temperature dropping down to zero again. Then it is ready to be bottled.”

While 70% of their harvest is sold to industrial wineries, the brothers are open-minded for the future, because “for the moment, it would take too much investment to make our own Asti spumante or  a Metodo Classico, but in the future why not. And we are exporting our Moscato d’Asti as much a possible, approaching emerging markets like Uganda and Ghana who are more curious and where there is less competition.” They are similarly pragmatic over converting to organic. “As a small winery the financial cost to go certified organic would be too great to bear. But we are just as pleased to join a newer more flexible certification The Green Experience, which does not allow pesticides and encourages innovative agroforestry initiatives like fixing birds nests in the vineyards to encourage increased biodiversity of birds, bees and especially bats which are the perfect natural predator, eating around 3,000 insects a night.”

GANCIA

The name Gancia and the Moscato d’Asti grape are inextricably linked by history, as this was the family that created the first-ever Italian bubbly Spumante wine back in 1865, long before anyone had ever heard of Prosecco. Inspired by a long stay in Champagne, where he learnt the mysterious secrets of  ‘Methode Champenoise’, Carlo Gancia returned in 1850 to the region around Canelli and ‘Moscato Champagne’ was born. Today, Canelli could easily be renamed Ganciaville, dominated by the majestic Castello Gancia on high and the immense cellars right in the town centre. After 5 generations, the family finally ceded control of Gancia in 2011 to Roustam Tariko, the international businessman owner of Russian Standard Vodka. His goal is to return to the origins and heritage of Gancia.   A regular visitor to the cantina, he has prioritised Moscato d’Asti and Asti Spumante as the two foundation  pillars of the multinational drinks company that today produces over 25 million bottles each year.  And he believes in the traditions of Gancia, as the company remains committed to the traditional ‘dolce’ qualities of the Moscato d’Asti grape, especially for their historic Dolce Spumante. Although Gancia produce over 6 million bottles of Asti Spumante and Moscato d’Asti a year, they are essentially a ‘transformer’, similar to the famous Champagne houses, meaning they buy grapes produced on some 2,000 hectares of vines, closely following the work of smallholder cultivators, but do not actually  own their own vineyard.

Here in Canelli, their oenologist, Mario Borgogno, may have been with the company for 30 years, but he continues to experiment, and their recent Cuvée Asti 24 Mesi is an exceptional Metodo Classico with currently the 2012 vintage on sale to the public. No other cantina produces a wine like this. With their historic cellars soon to reopen to the public, this will be the chance to see the contrasting cathedral like cellars used for the Metodo Classico’s bottle fermentation and barrel ageing alongside the futuristic steel autoclave tanks holding the equivalent of 90,000 bottles of Spumante.

And then there is the famous Gancia museum,  an unparalleled historic collection of stylish, graphic advertising memorabilia that for a century promoted a unique Italian lifestyle.

BEPPE BOCCHINO WINERY

Beppe Bocchino cultivates vineyards across the hills around Canelli that have been in his family’s hands for over two centuries. He founded today’s modern winery, bottling and commercialising their first vintages in the 1970’s, “a time when there were only two choices of life here; working in the vine or the Fiat factory in Torino.” Today the day-to-day running is in the hands of his children, Daniele and Annalisa, but Beppe remembers the days when the azienda was a working farm with animals and cereals. “You can say that I was born with Moscato, it is the grape and the wine that represents our cantina, our identity.

Although the wine is technically more perfect today, I remember nostalgically the days before the technology of the autoclave that took over our cellars from the 1980’s. Before we put the Moscato grapes in oak barrels and filtered the wine through jute sacks – the Sacchi Olandesi. Back then, the big producers like Martini Rosso would employ over 50 women just to wash the sacks, and not in hot water either!”  Today’s modern cantina has a breathtaking terrace for wine tastings, overlooking part of the first-ever vineyards to be classified as Unesco World Heritage, and as Annalisa  prepares a perfect tasting of traditional plin ravioli paired with their latest Moscato d’Asti, Daniele describes how, “ Moscato d’Asti is a difficult wine to make, be under no illusions, and it has become more technical over the years.

The winemaker is like a pastry chef who follows the exact instructions of a recipe, treating the grape like a baby that has to be watched over all the time. But this unique wine  has incredible global recognition, opening the door to the whole world for us winemakers.” Despite a modern cellar filled with shiny steel autoclave tanks, Daniele still uses the traditional ‘crutin’, a damp underground grotto perfect for ageing, and insists on having each year’s harvest ready and bottled by December, “because Moscato d’Asti is everyone’s favourite Christmas drink with a delicious panettone.”

TERESA SORIA

It just takes a few minutes of conversation to realise that Emanuele Contini is an impassioned young winemaker. You need a head for heights driving up the steep lane leading up to his Azienda where builders are putting the finishing touches to a new wine cellar.

There is a vertiginous drop down into the vineyards, and Emanuele immediately points with pride across the valley to his cherished hillside plot, Vigna Monucco. “This is what we call here a Vigna Eroica, a south-facing steep slope that demands intense manual labour but yields grapes that produce an exceptional wine.” It is a genuine single vineyard, and for the moment, is the source of Emanuele’s only cuvée, that he started bottling in 2014, “because I am forced to sell the rest of my grape harvest direct to Martini Rosso to generate cash-flow to create my own wines. It makes me think that the old semi-feudal smallholder system of the Mezzadria has never really gone away  for all us viticoltori still obligated to sell our grapes.” Walking through the cellar, he recalls how, “my grandfather started the estate in 1949, making Moscato d’Asti with a mix of  the traditional Sacchi Olandesi jute sacks alongside what was then the latest technology, cement tanks. Here are the tanks, and I am delighted to still be using them. And we have not abandoned the Sacchi Olandesi either. We use them for the first filtration, immediately after the initial grape pressing. 

My Mamma is the resident expert for this as she grew up with his technique.  Originally the wine would be filtered every week through the autumn, then every month in winter then from April it was ready to be bottled.” He is convinced that Moscato d’Asti has a future as a quality aged wine, and he keeps 5% of his annual production in the cellar.

Opening vintages from 2021, 2017 and 2014 Emanuele admits the wine loses a little freshness, “but it becomes velvety, less bubbly, with a wonderful colour that subtly changes to straw yellow. Once wine lovers come here and taste these older vintages I am sure they will not end up going back to the younger, fresher wines.”

CAPETTA 

While Canelli may be the unofficial wine capital of Moscato d’Asti, the bustling market town of Santo Stefano Belbo is the beating heart of region, surrounded by steep vineyards where some of the most prized grapes grow. And driving into town, both sides of the road are lined by the immense modern cellars and towering steel vats of the Capetta winery. This is one of Italy’s most important independent family wineries, founded in 1953 and run today by second-generation Riccardo Capetta.

Holding court in the company boardroom, surrounded by dozens of awards from wine competitions around the world, he proudly recalls how “my father was  a peasant farmer, who decided to leave his vines behind and become what you can call a pioneer ‘transformer’ of wine. By that I mean the commercialisation on a large scale of our local wines, initially by demijohns and bulk sales, then bottling, then sophisticated commercial marketing, then export markets, while always investing in technology for the future.”

Today the cantina produces a staggering 5 Million bottles of Moscato d’Asti, which Signor Capetta describes as “the identity of our winery, a unique frizzante dolce wine. The strength of our azienda is absolutely this aromatic grape from the Asti terroir, producing a wine that allows us to enter markets the world over, and that includes countries that are already major wine producers in their own right like France, Spain, Portugal and of course the United States. Our popularity among consumers there has been created because their vineyards simply do not posses an aromatic grape that can rival Moscato d’Asti, our remarkable terroir, the rare mix of ancestral traditions and modern technology.” While admitting that Asti Spumante remains dominated by the global brands of Martini Rosso, Cinzano and Gancia, Capetta is committed to developing the dry Spumante, Asti Secco, because, “we have actually been surprised to discover how our grape can actually age very interestingly rather than always being consumed in the year of its  production as has always been the case. So we may well launch a vintage Secco in the future.”

TORELLI VINI

Even before you arrive at the Torelli family cantina you know you are visiting a very special azienda as the vines that line the roadside are decorated with colourful panels from a comic strip.

They are extracts from an immensely successful ‘fumetto’, comic book, that winemaker Gianfranco Torelli has written alongside a well-known cartoonist that chronicles in a fun but educative narrative the story of how in 1992, this cantina became the first-ever certified organic winery in Italy. Number 000001. “We actually started in bio in 1985,” he recounts. “It was my initiative and fortunately my father backed me up enthusiastically compared with many other cantinas that descended into a war of the generations, with the elders thinking it was madness to abandon pesticides. Their mentality was totally based on increasing production as much as possible whatever the cost to the environment. From our early organic days we began in the vineyard, nature and cultivation, but now the issue is also sustainability and the cellar is as important as the vine. We are all using too much energy, so our cantina runs off our own solar panels.” While this is a fourth generation winery, many things have changed since the 1880’s as the family grew from Mezzadri sharecroppers to landowners today of a 14 hectare vineyard.

“My father Mario still works at my side,” he recounts, “ but while he survived by  selling wine and mosto in bulk to larger cantinas, today I will not part with a single grape from my vines.”  Giancarlo gets very excited describing the upcoming changes in the Denominazione to create a Canelli DOCG Moscato d’Asti, “though I hope it will be see the emergence of an artisan vigneron’s cru rather than another wine dominated the big industrial producers, which is what has happened with Asti Spumante. Most exciting is the creation a  Riserva line, with at least three years of ageing. I have all my vintages ready in the cellar,  going back at least to 2010.” Tasting a glass from 2012 , Giancarlo points out that while a Barolo gets lighter as it ages, the colour of a Moscato d’Asti becomes more intense, and while the perfumes may be less floral they become marked instead by intriguing dried  apricot and peach, almost like a Riesling.

TRE SECOLI

Tre Secoli may mean three centuries but in reality this large Cantina Sociale, where 300 members cultivate some 1,000 hectares of vines, was created as recently as 2009,  a fusion between two neighbouring cooperatives with much longer histories. One is in the village of Monbaruzzo, specialising more in red wines, while five kilometres away across the vine clad hills of the Strevi region, lies Ricaldone, a  picturesque medieval village, whose winery is known as the Cantina dei Bianchi. Elio Pescarmona, a respected oenologist from Canelli, the capital of Moscato d’Asti, was appointed  director of Tre Secoli on the first day of its 2009 creation. A thoughtful, discrete winemaker, he is slowly moving the Cantina Sociale towards the production of quality bottled wine and away from selling in bulk to big producers like Martini Rosso. They now produce 500,000 bottles a year, largely Moscato d’Asti, but also an Asti Spumante Dolce and Extra Dry, and he says with a wry, proud smile that, “all the bulk we sell is mosto as we keep all the best grapes for ourselves”.

The cantina’s boutique is always buzzing with visitors, because, “wine tourism is important for us. We own an enoteca in the village, organise tastings, trips through the vineyards, and sell a great deal right here direct to the public, including faithful customers who still come with their glass demijohns then bottle their own wine at home after we have pumped them full.” Although the cantina makes Rosalina, a niche organic Moscato d’Asti, Elio explains that, “while many Soci would like to become certified organic, it is often because they know they will then earn more for the price of their grapes. So I tend to advise them not to do this if it is just for financial reasons, though I encourage them if they want to change for ecological reasons.” 

PIANBELLO

Although there is a new ultra-modern Pianbello winery in Santo Stefano Belbo, you have to take a narrow winding lane high up into the surrounding hills to the sleepy village of Loazzolo, to discover the principal cellar, surrounded by vineyards. This is where the Cirio family call home, and this tightly-knit clan are very proud of their humble rustic roots.

Pietro Cirio who runs Pianbello along with his brother and numerous nephews, nieces and cousins, emphatically insists that,” to understand Pianbello you need to know that we are a still very much ‘contadini’, even if we have grown significantly from the small 2 hectare plot of vines we had 50 years ago, when my Nonno Fiorentino survived with a mixed agriculture of vines, raising cattle and planting cereals.  All generations of our family work here together, where we have built up a 50 hectare property, and my 95 year-old Papa still lives right here next to the cantina.”

He admits that like many Asti wineries, economic considerations means they continue to sell part of the grape harvest to industrial wineries, “but I would be much happier marketing and bottling all my production if there was a bigger demand. I could produce twice as many bottles as I am at the moment.” While his three Moscato d’Asti cuvees range from a fruity, young wine to an elegant Moscato d’Asti di Canelli, Pietro holds out a lot of hope for his bubbly Asti Extra Dry, “as long as we can persuade bars and restaurants that it is the perfect aperitivo.”

CAVALLERO VINI

The Cavallero family have been present in this part of Piedmont since the 1550’s, and it is a very different landscape from the vine-clad hills of Canelli and Santo Stefano Belbo. Here in the Alta Langa Astigiana, on the border with Liguria, the vineyards are rivalled by thick forest and intensive plantations of hazelnut trees to meet ever-growing demand from Nutella produced  in nearby Alba.

The cantina is run by Lorenzo Cavallero and his 25 year-old son, Giacomo, a recently qualified oenologist, and they have been been giving a lot of thought about the future of Moscato d’Asti. “We have been conducting an ongoing analysis of Moscato d’Asti for the last 25 years, especially into the crucial Linalool molecule that gives Moscato d’Asti is unique aroma. And frankly, it is much less present today due to the effect of global warming. In the old days, when you opened a bottle of Moscato d’Asti the whole room was filled with its unique aromas and perfumes. But today you need to swirl and sniff the wine in the glass to get the same effect. So we are hoping to turn the clock back a little by planting high-altitude grapes. It is a radical solution; ripping up the Moscato d’Asti vines here around the cantina, which are at about 250 metres, replant them with red grapes which grow well on lower plains, and then replant new Moscato vineyards higher up at 500 metres to try and recapture its elusive aromas, freshness and fruitiness taking advantage of cooler temperatures and less sunlight.” Lorenzo pensively explains the ups and downs of being a Moscato ‘d’Asti winemaker, from the days they exported 100,000 Asti Spumante Dolce bottles to an American importer till the contact ended and the reality of today production of just 10,000 bottles of Moscato d’Asti.

“But it remains historically important for our cantina and has a special place in our hearts, because in 1978, my Papa was the first winemaker around here to stop selling his grapes, built his own cellar where the animal stables were, and vinified his wine. And that first wine  to be bottled was Moscato d’Asti.”

CANTINA LA TORRE DI CASTEL ROCCHERO

Driving through the bucolic countryside south of the Nizza Monferrato region, the horizon of vine clad hills is dramatically broken outside the village of Castel Rocchero by the dramatic 25 metre-high concrete wine tower of the local Cantina Sociale. The concept of these high-rise towers housing cement tanks for making wine was a popular trend in Italy dating back to the 1930’s, and although there are three still standing, this is the only one that continues to function on a daily basis since its construction began back in 1953.  This Cantina is an intriguing mix of tradition and modernity, because while the distinctive Torre has great historical importance as its heritage symbol, the dynamic community of 80 Soci who cultivate some 280 hectares of vines are decidedly planning for the future having just inaugurated  a smaller, modern wine tower, encased in glass  that is dedicated to wine tourism. There is a boutique on the ground floor, with a spectacular tasting room upstairs that opens out onto a panoramic terrace overlooking the vineyards of the cantina’s members. Wine lovers can drop by for the popular Friday afterwork apertivo, organise idyllic picnics beneath a shady oak tree in the middle of the vineyards, or head off on bike tours of the surrounding countryside. And while giant  modern steel vats stand alongside the tower, the cellar is covered with solar panels that make it virtually self sufficient in electricity. Many of the winery’s visitors want to go up to the top of the wine tower, despite the 108 steps, and it is certainly a memorable experience. A narrow spiral metal staircase winds up the Torre’s 4 floors, each with 14 cement tanks that are primarily used today for stocking the cantina’s red wines before bottling. The view when you get to the top, on a clear day as far as the Alps, is simply magnificent. 

Where to Stay

Relais San Maurizio

To splash out for a luxurious stay in the heart of Asti  nothing compares with this deluxe  500 monastery that offers a wellness spa, to-die-for swimming pool and gourmet cuisine in their Michelin starred restaurant 

Casa in Collina

Delightful family winemaker bed & breakfast, relaxing pool with spectacular vineyard views, delicious breakfast of homemade Piedmont specialities and the chance in the evening to try the wines  of friendly viticoltore,  Giancarlo Amerio.

Where to Eat

Casa Crippa

The red brick walls of Casa Crippa’s  underground cellar is lined with a stunning selection of hundreds of different wines including an unparalleled choice of Moscato d’Asti and Asti Spumante. The cuisine is exceptional with creative interpretations using fresh local ingredients like white truffles and porcini mushrooms.

Ristorantino Ca’ d’Basan

This discrete bistrot-style restaurant has a lovely outdoor dining terrace in summer, perfect to enjoy traditional Piedmont dishes like handmade plin ravioli, wispy tajarin pasta topped with a tasty wild boar ragù.And don’t miss the creamy bunet dessert, much more original than tiramisù

Ca’ di ’Ven

A great place to mix with local Asti winemakers, this casual bar and trattoria has just opened up right opposite the Cantina Sociale winery of Ricaldone, serving pizza, pasta and dishes of the day like vitello tonnato, carne battuta, the Piedmont take on steak tartare, or a rich brasato beef stew. 

INTRODUCTION

It is nearly ten years since I last toured and tasted my way through the vineyards producing Chianti Classico wine, and the changes I discovered today could not be more dramatic. From being the rare exception, wineries with certified organic cultivation now account for over 50%, and with so many in conversion, in 2 years the figure should rise to 70%.

While historic winemaking families like Antinori and Frescobaldi continue to hold an important place on the global marketplace, out in the vineyards there are more and more exciting younger winemakers, dynamic women vignaioli and independent, small cantine determined to valorise the emblematic Sangiovese grape rather than the international varieties that once marked the era of the Super Tuscans. While winemaking regions around Italy and the rest of Europe are finally  moving away from the mono cultivation of grapes to increase biodiversity and develop agroforestry rather than constantly planting row after row of new vines, driving around Chianti Classico it is immediately clear that a stunning natural biodiversity has always been here. Vineyards only make up 10% of the landscape, surrounded by swathes of dense forest, olive groves, cereal cultivation and tall cypress trees. The biggest change, though, is about to arrive; a revolutionary new classification, initially applicable for Gran Selezione wines, that will finally highlight the individual qualities, style and personality of each terroir in this diverse region. Using the bureaucratic term UGA, standing for Additional Geographical Units, this effectively divides Chianti Classico into 11 different zones, surrounding places like Radda, Gaiole, Lamole and Panzano. For the wine lover, this will quickly become known as a ‘village’ or ‘cru’, clearly marked on the label and identifying where his wine comes from. In terms of innovative wine tourism, Chianti Classico still leads the way compared to other Italian wine making regions; accommodation ranging from luxury vineyard resorts to traditional villas or rustic b&b’s, biking around the vineyards, wine tasting and cooking classes, with local dishes like a juicy Fiorentina T-bone steak or a steaming plate of tagliatelle smothered with fragrant truffle shavings, perfect to pair with a Chianti Classico. Plan a trip around the 8 wineries below to get a taste of all that is new in this ancient terroir, where wine has been made since the Etruscans and Romans, symbolised today by Chianti Classico’s iconic Black Rooster.

QUERCIABELLA

In the hills above Greve in Chianti, the hamlet of Ruffoli is no more than a couple of houses surrounded by forests and vineyards. This wild landscape of giant oak trees inspired wine loving businessman Pepito Castiglioni to buy what was then a ruined farmhouse surrounded by 2 hectares of vines back in 1974 and christen the estate Querciabella, Beautiful Oak. And from these small acorns has grown one of Tuscany’s most respected wineries, an innovative pioneer converting to certified organic cultivation more than 20 years ago, almost seen as heresy back then. 

Their Chianti Classico vineyard now extends to 70 hectares, stretching from Greve to Radda and Gaiole, and dynamic young South African winemaker, Manfred Ing, is excited at the prospect of identifying each wine’s geographical identity. “We have already been separately vinifying our different terroirs since 2010, and today’s consumer wants to know where his wine was grown. This will finally be achieved when we can put on the label the name of each particular cru, village or terroir, be it Panzano, Lamole, Greve, Radda. A big step for the future of Chianti Classico.” Tasting recent vintages with Manfred there is a marked contrast with many other Chianti Classico producers. Normally when you climb the pyramid from Chianti Classico to Riserva and then Gran Selezione, the wines tend to become, heavier, more potent. But here it is the opposite as the colour gets perceptibly lighter, the wines remain drinkable, fresh, full of crunchy fruits  and as Manfred says, “when I go to a blind tasting, before I even sip the wine I can normally recognise ours from the colour, the intensity of our 100% Sangiovese grapes.” The present owner, Pepito’s son Sebastiano, has also set a challenge to his winemaker. This  committed animal rights activist asked Manfred to eliminate all animal products from his winemaking, meaning that biodynamic certification, which should have been the logical progression for an advanced-thinking azienda like this, is logistically impossible.

So instead of using cows horns filled with manure and tisane treatments, “ we have opted for what I call Holistic Agriculture, plant-based biodynamics, sowing cover crops between the vines and using green manure.” A true Vegan wine. 

ISTINE

Just outside the hilltop town of Radda in Chianti, a road sign for Istine quickly brings you onto a long and winding dirt track that finally comes into an ancient stone group of farmhouses that resemble a tiny hamlet, isolated from the world and looking down on a stunning panorama of thick forests, rocky limestone, vines and olive trees. Angela Fonti’s family – granddad, father and uncle – bought the land in 1982, four hectares of vineyards and woods. They were smallholder farmers, ‘contadini’, who dreamed of their own vineyard, initially selling bulk wine and grapes to bigger cantine.

Today, Angela, a qualified oenologist, has taken over the estate, inspired by the cantina’s founders, but with firm ideas about how her wines should be, and converting to certified organic cultivation. The key thought she keeps repeating is “expression of the territory – not just the soil, but  climate, altitude, exposure to the sun, as well as the woods, the biodiversity that surrounds our vineyards. And that is symbolised by our Riserva wine.” But beyond that she has bravely followed her own trendsetting path since 2010, “to make what I call our Cru wines, each from what are essentially single, high altitude vineyards within the 24 hectares of the estate.” Lined up for the tasting are three very different Chianti Classico cuvées – Vigna Cavarchione, Vigna Casanova dell’Aia and Vigne Istine. Sipping the Vigne Istine it is certainly rustic, reflecting the untamed scenery surrounding the cantina where vines are bordered by wild orchids, buzzing bees and rambling bushes of juniper and blackberry.“Three different terroirs, all vinified the same way, concrete tanks and large barrels, but each has its own personality and traits,” she explains. “These wines are both a reflection of ourselves as vignaioli and of the terroir where the vineyard is, and I really feel that today,  people really want to know where their wines are made.”

CIGLIANO DI SOPRA

A few minutes beyond the bustling town of San Casciano di Pesa, you arrive at the foot of a verdant hill, first passing the grand Villa Antinori, then the road climbing upto the fattoria of Cigliano di Sopra. Maddalena Fucile recounts how, “it has been in the hands of our family for 150 years, but like many Tuscan properties was constantly being divided up. Then my father decided in 2007 to buy back the entire estate and all our family moved here.

There are 10 hectares of olive trees, lemon trees, an ancient church and a  7 hectare vineyard surrounding the farmhouse.”  Maddalena studied oenology in Florence and in 2016, together with fellow student, Matteo Vaccari, embarked on an adventure when her father  gave them complete control to run the estate, “a clean slate to create our own history,” she enthuses. And they are certainly having fun, this bubbly pair of new-generation vignaioli. Matteo insists how, “from the first day we followed certified organic, sowing cover crops on every other vine line, protecting biodiversity with three natural water sources.” They  plan to plant trees to combat global warming, have stopped using copper as a treatment and limit carbon footprint by rarely ploughing the soil. And the wines are very promising.

Inheriting a small garage cellar with ancient grape press, steel vats, old barrels and fifty year-old cement vats, they have increased production from 1,000 bottles in 2017 to 23,000 today. “We make a drinkable IGT table wine to avoid selling in bulk,” says Maddalena, “a Chianti Classico, and what  we like to call a Cru, from a single vineyard of old vines, once tended by one of the estate’s ‘mezzadri’, labourers, Signor Branca, which we have christened Vigneto Branca. The ambition is for it to become either our Riserva or Gran Selezione.”

FATTORIA VITICCIO

The wines and terroir of Chianti Classico attract aspiring winemakers from around the world with many tenute employing itinerant Brits, Aussies, Argentinians, Americans. But some people become seduced by the irresistible dream of owning their own vineyard here, like young Ukranian entrepreneur, Alexander Biba, who 7 years ago purchased the idyllic Fattoria Viticcio, a 37 hectare vineyard and luxury wine resort. “ When we bought Viticcio it was to make important wines, wines where you can both express yourself and this unique Tuscan terroir. So we moved the whole family to Florence and we are investing in the future; turning certified organic, buying new plots of vines, replanting and building a new cellar.” Continuity on the estate was ensured by retaining Daniel Innocente as the winemaker, who recounts how, “I was actually born right here in Viticcio’s farmhouse. My parents worked as metzarde on the estate. My guiding principle is to concentrate on the grape and the vine, but a new cellar is now under construction, drawing us in a new direction.There will be a series of raw concrete subterranean vats and I want to change the ageing of our Chianti, using the new tanks for ageing as well as fermentation.”

Viticcio was one of the pioneering 11 aziende to first present a prestigious Chianti Classico Gran Selezione cuvée in 2014, and Alexander remains a committed supporter of change for the future. “Like most winemakers here we made a quality Super Tuscan, but only because it was 100% Sangiovese grapes and could not be classified then as Chianti Classico. The moment Gran Selezione was created allowing 100% Sangiovese wines then it was an obvious decision that our Super Tuscan, Il Prunaio, should become Gran Selezione. And now with the prospect of a new village indication, then Super Tuscans may slowly disappear, which has to be good for the global image of Chianti Classico.”

BADIA A COLTIBUONO

First impressions take your breath away as your car emerges from dense forest into a clearing dominated by a monumental medieval abbey looking down from 700 metres across Tuscany to the Apennines. It resembles a backdrop of Lord of the Rings, and this vast estate has been in Roberto’s Stucchi’s family since 1846, after the abbey was deconsecrated by Napoleon. The thousand year-old Badia, its tranquil cloisters, and beautifully landscaped gardens are spectacular. This is wine tourism as its best as you can stay in a luxury room, enjoy a meal in the trattoria then take a cooking class, join tasting and blending ateliers, tuck into a hearty picnic after a hiking or biking wine tour. But there are surprises too. Grape cultivation was abandoned around the Badia in the 1980s, due to its high altitude and lack of sun, and todays vineyard and modern cellar are located some 20 minutes drive away, south of Gaiole. Roberto was an early innovator in sustainable agriculture when he took the estate into organic cultivation back in 2000, but he refuses to follow fashionable trends, so don’t expect to taste a Gran Selezione as he simply does not make one, “because I felt the concept lacked an ambition and an aim.”

Another surprise is that the wine travels from the cantina to the abbey’s labyrinth of ancient cellars to slowly barrel age, “because these dank, centuries-old vaults are simply perfect for ageing.”  Roberto also observes that, “since I have been making wine here there has been a 360° climate  transformation, quite literally from cold to hot. 50 years ago winemakers had to chaptalise with added sugar to raise the wine’s alcohol to 12°, now we struggle to keep the wine below 15°. Harvesting has moved forward from October/November to September, and one day, who knows, we may well plant vines right here by the abbey again.”

FATTORIA POMONA 

On the busy highway north of Sienna it is easy to drive straight past the sign for Monica Raspi’s tiny Fattoria Pomona. She cultivates just 6 hectares, producing a small selection of highly individual organic wines in her garage cellar, a wonderfully chaotic mix of ancient concrete tanks and old barrels, an amphora alongside a glass demijohn.

The walls are decorated with nostalgic images of her winemaking ancestors, vintage certificates of wine competitions, a1931 Chianti straw fiaschetta, something most Tuscan cantine hide away today. Not Monica. This feisty vignaiola has firm, sometimes provocative opinions about the Chianti Classico world.

Pouring a glass of her quintessential Chianti Classico Annata, she explains that, “this is my favourite wine, rather than the aged Riserva, and I am afraid you will discover that I don’t even make a Gran Selezione. The Annata 

is the genuine expression of my cantina, the terroir, a wine to drink over a meal with friends, not pompous or prestigious.” Talking about the future of Super Tuscans she pops the metal cap on her litre bottle of Piero Grosso, pure Sangiovese but made solely in steel vats. “Is this a Super Tuscan? You must be joking, but see how  wonderfully drinkable and democratic it is, light and low in alcohol. It would probably have given Robert Parker a heart attack.” Although Pomona was a 90 hectare estate when founded in 1890, it was all but abandoned by 2007 with the family ready to sell up. “I made the decision to give up my career as a vet and take over the winery,” she recalls. “I had no idea what I was letting myself in for, especially as we started to convert to bio almost immediately.” With no formal winemaking training, she is refreshing frank, recalling that, “initially I was almost scared of the vineyard, of the macho world of winemakers. But understanding organic cultivation has made me love the vines and now I spend almost all my time outside.”   

FONTODI 

Giovanni Manetti began working at the age of 16, just after his father had purchased the Fontodi azienda, while  his brother, Marco, began revitalising the family’s historic production of terracotta tiles and amphora at nearby Impruneta –  tiles chosen for the roof of Florence cathedral, their amphorae today a feature of many Tuscan cellars, including a spectacular 40 here at Fontodi. The vineyard has grown from less than 10 hectares to 175, but in spirit, Giovanni remains a down to earth, independent vignaiolo. And the intimate family feel here is even more noticeable today with the presence of his children, Bernardo, an enthusiastic oeonologist, alongside the dynamic Margherita.

The estate is inextricably tied with the village of Panzano, extending across the highly prized Conca d’Oro amphitheatre of sloped vineyards, for some 300 hectares that also includes olive trees, barley, cereals, and a herd of Chianina cows. Giovanni recalls how, “we started working organically as far back as 1990, though we were only certified in 1995 for our olive oil, then 2001 for the wine and finally for our cows. I honestly believe that organic cultivation means you will make a better wine. As simple as that. And a wine that allows a much better expression of the terroir. So I am in favour of bio not to improve ecology, sustainability, to save the planet. But to make a better wine.” As Giovanni starts a tasting by opening bottles of Fontodi’s exceptional  Chianti Classico range, it is impossible to separate this chatty winemaker from his post as president of the Chianti Classico Consorzio, where he is overseeing the realisation of a lifetime ambition; an official ‘subdivision’ of Chianti Classico, allowing producers to indicate on labels the name of the village or district where the grapes were grown. “We have been talking about this since the 1980’s when I was a young revolutionary winemaker, and now I am finally the President of the Consorzio to actually enact the changes.”

CASTELLO DI MONSANTO

This imposing 18th century castle, with landscaped gardens, and a maze of wine cellars, possesses a 72 hectare vineyard that since the 1960’s has been producing some of Chianti Classico’s most iconic wines.

The dynamism and commitment to excellence is embodied by the owner, Laura Bianchi, who is the first to admit that her father Fabrizio was the visionary to create this remarkable  winery. “I think you can say that we have actually been producing a Gran Selezione since 1962,  because we really are the only Chianti cantina with a single vineyard sold at the top our pyramid – Vigneto Il Poggio. My father always vinified, aged and bottled this separately, on a parcel at the highest point of the vineyard, made from 95% Sangiovese plus autochthonous grapes. Then in 2014 when Gran Selezione was created, well it was natural to choose Il Poggio for this.”

The history of these wines comes alive during a tour of the Castello’s cellars, which house a unique archive collection of ancient vintages, as since 1962, “my father had the foresight of putting aside 12% of each years production and commissioned three retired stone masons to dig a labyrinth of arched cellars below the castle to store this huge collection. Today collectors await the release of a small number of vintages each year, and it is certainly an emotional experience when Laura opens a perfectly preserved 1969 Il Poggio Riserva to taste over lunch.

As in many of the standard -bearers of Chianti Classico there is an irrepressible influence of the family here at Monsanto. The octogenarian  patriarch, Fabrizio, still lives in the castello, while Laura describes their multi-ethnic vineyard team as “a loyal band of immigrants who have settled on the estate with their families whom we have welcomed to live in houses dotted around the property. A rainbow mix of Romanians and Albanians, Indians and Afghans. Imagine that 20 Afghan children have been born here, and they all speak Tuscan!”

Where to eat

Casa Chianti Classico

This restored 18th century convent houses a museum dedicated to Chianti Classico, a wine shop and relaxed bistrot where you can dine in the shady cloistered courtyard or on a terrace overlooking rolling vine clad hills. Try the traditional bruschetta or pappa al pomodoro followed by pici pasta smothered in a hearty wild boar ragù.  

Officina della Bistecca

Dario Cecchini, Tuscany’s most famous butcher, has now opened a smart, foodie restaurant that does justice to the wonderful steaks he ages in his legendary shop across the road. Beef Carpaccio and tartar are the perfect starters before a massive Fiorentina, and since the Covid pandemic, Dario is producing his own Chianti too.

A Casa Mia

Ristoro Lucarelli

Be sure to reserve in this rustic 20 seater dining room where the friendly chef brings your steaming plate of pappardelle pasta with porcini mushrooms in a pan straight from the kitchen.

A young couple have just taken over this century-old trattoria, breathing life back by reopening as a general store for locals and serving tasting home-cooking dishes like trippa alla parmigiana and slow-cooked beef peposo stew.

Where to stay

Fattoria La Loggia

An artistic refuge hidden in midst of olive groves, vineyards and forest, this medieval farmhouse has a to-die-for pool, stunning contemporary art installations and the choice of elegant rooms or spacious appartments.

Borgo San Felice

The perfect choice for a relaxing stay, this ancient hamlet has been entirely converted into a luxury wine resort, complete with spa and pool, gourmet restaurant, while producing their own olive oil and an excellent Chianti Classico.

Palazzo Leopoldo

The labyrinthine mansion is right in the heart of Radda in Chianti, with comfortable rooms, small spa and jacuzzi, and above all, the perfect location for exploring Chianti Classico’s vineyards.

INTRODUCTION

Many people during my tour of Gérard Bertand’s Languedoc wine estates asked me which of the domaines were my favourites, which of his spectacular cellars impressed me the most. Successful winemakers across the world are known for building dramatic cellars – the wine cathedral of Alvaro Palacios in Priorat, the eco-cellar of Angelo Gaja in Barbaresco – and a work of art like Bertrand’s Clos du Temple, certainly ranks alongside these. But for me there is one clear element that stands out regarding the transformation of the Languedoc’s wine scene brought about by Gérard Bertrand. And that is quite simply the revolution of converting almost one thousand hectares of vines to both certified organic cultivation, certified biodynamic winemaking and an active promotion of biodiversity.

And all this over 16 different estates that span the vast geographical landscape of the South of France’s Languedoc region, encompassing vastly different soils and climates, where very single vine is harvested by hand. In travels to vineyards across the world I cannot remember the number of times a winemaker with an estate of over 20 hectares saying to me with a philosophic shrug of the shoulder, “well organic and biodynamic are all very well for small domaines but it is just not possible to implement on a large winery, either practically or economically – or, yes I am a great fan of organic but just look at the climate in my region, becoming certified is simply not feasible with the rainfall we have, imagine how many treatments I would be making each year.” But after achieving the goal in 2020, of finally certifying all his 880 hectares of vineyards, a project that has taken 20 years of commitment, this will serve as an example to vignerons everywhere. And the result is clearly there in the quality, the perfection, of his boldly-named ‘Grand Vin’ wines, which today reach a global audience across some 171 countries. This Trail offers a taste of seven key domaines where there is always an unshakeable respect for nature. Take a journey of discovery from maritime to mountainous terroirs, through the the iconic Languedoc appellations of Corbières and La Clape, past Minervois and Limoux across to the wild volcanic landscapes of the Terrasses du Larzac.

Château l’Hospitalet 

Hospitalet is the ultimate symbol of the world of Gérard Bertrand. Purchased in 2002 this property dominates La Clape Appellation, extending over an immense 1,000 hectares, from mountainous limestone hills to the Mediterranean, whose maritime winds give wines here a characteristic salinity.

His 100 hectares of small parcels of vines are surrounded by a powerful biodiversity; the Languedoc’s fragrant ‘garrigue’ scrubland of thyme, rosemary, sage, lavender, fennel, yellow ginestra, daisies and violets. And oenologist Guillaume Barraud explains that the estate was primarily planted with international grapes when Bertrand bought it. He immediately decided to make a signature wine for the Massif de la Clape highlighting the local Bourboulenc grape. Narbonne rightly describes itself as the birthplace of French vineyards as its importance as a port meant that the first vines planted in France arrived here. Not just from Greece and Rome but in Bourboulenc’s case maybe from Persia and Mesapotamia. The cellar lies beneath the château, blasted out of the stone by dynamite and features an ageing room of some 3,000 French oak barrels. That is certainly the trademark feature of Bertrand’s wines, but there is also surprising experimentation; terracotta amphorae, glass wine globes concrete tanks and ovoids. “The amphorae are perfect for our latest adventure, an orange wine that we hope will be the first to be included in an official Appellation.”

Having tasted many orange wines, the Villa Soleilla is certainly surprising. With a short maceration period of just 2-3 weeks, it has a pale orange colour and is a wonderfully elegant yet fresh blend of Roussanne, Grenache Blanc and Vermentino. But L’Hospitalet is a lot more than a vignoble.

The Château has been transformed into a pioneering wine resort, offering tasteful accommodation, gourmet restaurant, spa,  beach club and outdoor activities from golf to biking and hiking. And the Château draws huge crowds each year for its international jazz festival and major art exhibitions.

Château de Villemajou 

Located in the heart of the rugged Corbières region, just outside the village of Boutenac which gives its name to the Appellation’s prestigious Cru, Château de Villemajou was the original Bertrand family vineyard, where Gérard experienced his first harvests, working alongside his father Georges, a pioneering independent vigneron. Since he  took over after the sudden death of his father in 1987, the estate has grown to a vast 200 hectares, stretching for some 14 kilometres around the château. Christophe Sournier, oversees the cultivation of the vines, and walking through the vineyard, explains how, “we are in the heart of the Massif des Corbières, influenced both by mountains and the sea, with strong winds that provide a natural protection agains diseases like mildew.

And the other crucial element is our  soil, what we call ‘galets roulés’, round pebbles that are lying above first a layer of limestone clay and then a layer of molasses that looks like soft sandstone and shale,  but is actually as hard as cement – you can see a cross-section right here below a vine. This mineral soil is very poor for agriculture but perfect for a vineyard because the vines push their roots to find water when the top soil becomes too arid.” The white wine blend uses classic Corbières varieties of Grenache Blanc, Roussanne and Marsanne, while the four different reds are made from Carignan, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah. Many of the estate’s vines are old, some over a century, often the distinctive free-standing ‘gobelets’ bush vines, a symbol of the Corbières.

While Christophe is a locally born and bred vigneron, the cellar master, Arnaud Saulnier, comes from the north of France andchanged his life to retrain as an oenologist,  bringing a different kind of passion to the wine. So while oak barrels may dominate cellar, there are also experiments using both raw and vetrified cement tanks for maceration and vinification of the red grapes, as well as cement ovoids to age the top level La Forge cuvée.

Château La Soujeole

Although La Soujeole’s modern oak barrel and steel tank cellar dates back to 2015 when Gérard Bertrand took over the domaine, there is a long history of wine being made here since 1740 by nine generations of the same family. The last descendent, Monseigneur Bertrand de Soujeole is rector of the nearby Basilica of Carcassonne, and still lives in the château. Soujeole is located in Malepère, a tiny Appelation dating back only to 2007, producing only red and rosé wines in contrast to the whites of its more well known neighbour, Limoux. Planted with only Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the estate produces just a single blend of the two grapes which Christophe Medinilla, who oversees the vines and cellar here, describes as, “ a wine that is the embodiment of the Languedoc – intense, fruity, full-bodied, perfect with a traditional cassoulet or a rich wild boar stew.”

Christophe is of Andalousian descent, and before coming here worked in the Roussillon, where, “it was already obvious long ago that everyone should be working in organic cultivation, and I think you can say that before coming to La Soujeole, I practiced my own personal biodynamics, whereas here we all follow Demeter rules and regulations. Our domaine is a good example to demonstrate how each of Gérard’s estates practice their own particular biodynamics to reply to their specific needs.

Over in La Clape they benefit from strong winds so do not need to treat against mildew, but here we have more rain and less wind, so we always need to be ready to react to the danger of mildew striking. Each parcel of our vineyard  is vinified separately to keep the different expressions of soil and exposure. Then the key moment comes during the blending, where Gérard is always present and decisive, because at the end of the day it is he who decides what kind of wine he wants – ‘c’est lui qui crache le vin’ as we say around here.”  

Clos du Temple 

After climbing high above the picturesque village of Cabrières, the road enters what looks like a lost forested valley of oaks and pines, eventually coming out at the futuristic cellar of Clos du Temple, overseen by Benjamin Gaddis, a bubbly, enthusiastic winemaker, originally from Toulouse. This tiny 12 hectare vineyard has been cultivated at least since 1177 by the Order of the Knights Templar, crusaders who were known for choosing land on a high level, with good water supplies and filled with energy, almost like Chinese Feng Shui. And that is just the start of the ethereal vibrations here. The first decision was to make a single wine on the estate, a rosé blended from Cinsault, Grenache Noir, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Viognier. The cultivation was organic and biodynamic from the first day, dividing the vineyard up into 11 parcels of vines, mostly at least 40 years old with some upto 80 years, all vinified separately.  

Since 2018  the soil is worked using a mule, the rather noble BanzaÏ du Roc, with his muleteer, Jérome Diette, choosing to work behind the animal walking with a hand plough. “For us this is more than just a symbol but concretely reflects the fundamental concept of our biodynamics – connecting man, animal and the soil. Banzaï ploughs and lays biodynamic treatments across the whole estate, and we just use a tractor for copper treatments which would not be very healthy for the mule.” Benjamin then explains that “to complement the work in the vineyard, a whole new cellar concept has been created for this wine. Inspired by the world’s pioneer winemakers over 6,000 years ago, the cellar pays homage to the ancient Egyptians, with 11 pointed stainless steel tronconic  vats, one for each parcel,  encompassed by dramatic bauxite pyramids. For us this is a continuation of the harmony that begins in the vineyard, and the pyramid brings a unique energy to the wine.

The fermentation begins in these inox tanks, then the wine is aged in oak barriques before being returned to the pyramid to await the crucial blending. The result is a wine that has the taste of the terroir – mineral, flinty, fresh, saline and high acidity, each year an exceptional, highly individual vintage that has already garnered an award as the World’s Best Rosé.”

Domaine de l’Aigle 

Even the most modern GPS has problems locating the hidden Domaine de l’Aigle once the winding, narrow lane disappears into the rolling hills and valleys that surround the historical winemaking town of Limoux. While the Aigle’s cellar sits  beneath the pretty village of Roquetaillade-et-Conilhac and its medieval fortress castle, the estate itself ranges over 53 hectares, rising up to the signature Cabane de l’Aigle plot that sits at 500 metres. It is the first of many surprises that await wine enthusiasts that arrive for a  tasting with Thibault Haentjens, a pensive, discrete oenologist who has been running the domaine the last 11 years. Don’t expect to find vines growing Chenin or Maziac, the emblematic grapes used in the region’s celebrated bubbly Blanquette de Limoux. Instead there are essentially Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with the reputation of Domaine de l’Aigle resting squarely on these still wines. And they are most impressive.

This traditional chai is all about ageing in small oak barrels, around one thousand of them in total, and the passion of Thibault is to conduct a tasting direct from the wood using a pipette, which is a stunning exhibition of the extreme variety that each parcel brings to the blend, be it for Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. Thibaut explains that, “although we produce single grape wines rather than the blends that are so much  Gérard’s trademark, what I say as I take people round on a barrel tasting is that we have so many varied parcels that the wine is still an assemblage.” That is certainly true when I try a selection of Pinot Noir barrels – some light, almost Gamayish; intense younger wines; supple, elegant older vines with more tannin like a Burgundy; Mediterranean style parcels intense in alcohol. “Ours are simply not typical Languedoc wines,” explains Thibault. “Just look around here from the Cabane – a 360° arena, one side the Mediterranean, the other the Atlantic, the Languedoc climate but the snow-capped peaks of the Pyrénées, different soils, different biodiversity, cultivated fields, other filled with sheep grazing. And hot days contrasting with cool nights, ensure wonderful freshness for the wine.” 

Clos d’Ora

Arriving at the beautiful village of Laville, a tiny side road heads off towards Clos d’Ora, a twisting and turning journey of around 3 kilometres that eventually becomes a rough track lined by ancient stone walls through which a small car barely passes. Then you suddenly come out at the foot of the vineyard in a landscape marked by wild flowers and herbs, olive trees and ancient oaks. Tucked away in the small Minervois La Linière Appellation, this was the second domaine that Gérard Bertrand purchased back in 1997, the only vigneron to imagine the immense potential of this terroir. It is difficult today to imagine what the landscape must have looked like then – rough scrubland, woods, barely an hectare of vines. He cut everything own, pulled up the vines and planted 8 parcels to create a 9 hectare single vineyard.

This genuine clos produces a single wine, an exceptional red blend of Syrah, Grenache, Carignan and Mourvèdre.

It is no understatement to say that the domaine is personified by two irrepressible personalities, who carry out almost 90% of the work on the soil; Vanina the mule and Nicolas Fabrié , her muleteer, who enthuses how, “I have worked here with Vanina for 10 years now, since the start of the Clos d’Ora project. For me it is the perfect job. I love working with horses and mules, I love working the soil, preserving the vineyard’s biodiversity every day. What else could anyone ask for.” The young winemaker, Bastien Dutour, has only been here a year, and opening bottles for an exceptional vertical tasting going back to the first vintage in 2012, and he is clearly still  under the spell of Clos d’Ora’s zen cellar, designed following biodynamic principles, and a surprising mix of not just barrels and steel vats but cement tanks and futuristic ovoids. 

Château La Sauvageonne

Located in the heart of the lunar landscapes of the Terrasses du Larzac Appellation, this wild volcanic country is a very different face of the Languedoc, and the winemaker running the estate, Antonio Cortes, is a passionate, down-to-earth vigneron who began working at the Sauvageonne back in 1992, when the then owner, a rather eccentric Englishman, “really did not know anything about making wines.” The sprawling 75 hectare vineyard is split up into 70 parcels, some up to 6-7 kilometres apart, with two very distinctive volcanic soils; Permen Gris and Ruffe. You really need to get out of the cellar and into the vineyard to understand the very distinctive wines made here.

Antonio explains that, “the big schist stones of Permen Gris date back over 250 million years. People think the vineyard looks like a rock garden, as if we placed the stones around the vines as decor. But the opposite is true as the stones were here first and we planted the vines in them. This makes it very hard to walk through the vineyard, to do  treatments or during harvest, as you can easily slip and twist an ankle. At these high altitudes, it is perfect for our Grenache Blanc and Roussanne white grapes. You then enter the very different world of Ruffe red clay soil that creates a distinctive landscape of canyons that could be in Colorado.

We call them Les Terres Rouges, the Red Lands. It is a deceptive soil as it looks soft and sandy from afar but is actually compact and almost as hard as rocks. And here in the dry, dusty Ruffes, it is perfect for developing the tannins of our red grapes.” Their signature red blend of Syrah, Grenache, Carignan, Mourvèdre and Cinsault is an outstanding elegant wine, fruity yet potent. Then, as he sips the exceptional – and  eminently drinkable – La Villa rosé, Antonio enthuses that “this is a genuine Languedoc wine whose taste stays in your mouth afterwards, a wine by Gérard Bertrand marked by late maturation, intensity, a wine of the sun and summer heat.” 

Where to eat

La Petite Fringale

This old-fashioned village bistrot with a cool shady terrace beneath towering linden trees actually offers a cuisine with a very modern take on traditional dishes like tempura-fried artichokes with confit pigs trotter.. Note that guests have to order the fixed gastronomic menu and turn up on time otherwise they miss the first dishes.

Les Halles de Narbonne

Narbonne’s historic 19th century covered market is foodie paradise; wine bars, bistrots and tapas counters, fishmongers where you can feast off freshly-shucked  oysters and shrimps, butchers who also grill giant entrecôte steaks and spicy merguez sausages.

O Vieux Tonneaux

Peyriac-de-Mer is an idyllic fishing village looking out on a  tranquil lake. At O Vieux Tonneaux diners sit around cheery red-checked tablecloths awaiting generous dishes prepared by chef-owner Christelle Sarraud, ranging from bourride d’anguilles, using eels fished from the lake, to a gargantuan cassoulet, with duck confit, sausage and white beans, and thick chunks of cuttlefish and tasty chorizo.

What to do

Abbaye Saine-Marie de Lagrasse

Halfway between Carcassonne and the Mediterranean, the isolated hamlet of Lagrasse, one of France’s renowned ‘Plus Beaux Villages’ is dominated by its eponymous abbey. The village is surprisingly lively with Le Bastion, an avant-garde gourmet restaurant, a medieval wooden market, artisan boutiques and a literary cafe, while the 7th century Benedictine Abbey is an oasis of peace and meditation. 

Carcassonne

This wonderfully-preserved fortress citadel is one of France’s most impressive monuments with a stunning Roman basilica and medieval cathedral. The walled city dominating the surrounding countryside, is surrounded by vineyards and recognised as an Unesco World Heritage Site.

Le Salin de Gruissan

Salt has been harvested here for over 2,000 years and a visit to the traditional salt flats and wetlands is always memorable as the water changes colour from pink to blue, while the heaped mountains of salt resemble an Alpine landscape. Try sea bass baked in salt on the water’s edge at the restaurant La Cambuse du Saunier