A short trip over the Jura Mountains, and coach Jean-Vincent Ridon picks me (Captain Chris) up from the Geneva Airport. We meet each other at the "Kiss and Fly" (what a beautiful name for a drop-and-go zone), and off we go.
It’s not long before we see our first vineyards, and in true Team South Africa fashion, we make a U-turn, find a reasonable place to park the car, and off we go to explore. We’re unsure of what the grapes are, but what we did manage to figure out is that the vineyard is still on the Swiss side of the border (even though we have already entered the French territory via road), leading us to believe that it is probably a red hybrid of some sort.
We grab a coffee, set the GPS, and off we go to Burgundy.
A couple of hours later, and we find ourselves in the village of Fuissé geeking out about the slopes, aspects, soils, and just how incredibly varied the region is. Soil variations are visible mere meters between the different blocks, and slowly you start to understand why Burgundy is so special.
Pouilly Fuissé.
We leave the slopes of Burgundy behind and head towards Beaujolais. To say that Burgundy and Beaujolais are close to each other is an understatement. We drive past the last block of Chardonnay, past a fallow field and immediately encounter the first bush vine Gamay vineyard. We see a small sign for directions to Caveau de Moulin à Vent, and off we go.
The Caveau de Moulin-à-Vent showcases the producers of the region, having five wines available for tasting, which are on a weekly rotation. They treat us to a mini masterclass of the different soils in the region and open a very special 2005 Moulin-à-Vent for us to taste.
Caveau du Moulin-à-Vent, Moulin-à-Vent, Beaujolais.
From here, we make our way to Dominique Piron to taste his wines. We are met with a big smile, and after catching up a bit, he takes us through his cellar. Dominique is farming 35 hectares in Beaujolais around the Crus of Morgon and Regnie, focusing mostly on Gamay Noir but also producing a lovely Beaujolais Blanc from Chardonnay. The wines are incredibly pure and focused, and it’s very easy to pick up Dominique’s passion for the region, his vineyards and the Gamay grape.
We could easily have spent more time with Dominique, but we had one more stop for the day: L’Atrium in the Village of Solutré. As was the case with Caveau de Moulin-à-Vent, L’Atrium showcases the wines from the Crus in Pouilly Fuissé. We taste wines from all the Crus in the region, finishing with the Pouilly Fuissé 1’er Cru. The tasting was excellent, emphasising the differences in soil type, and winemaking techniques used in the cellar. The wines from vineyards facing west or on heavier soils were produced without malolactic fermentation, preserving the freshness of Chardonnay. Where there is more limestone influence we find a bit more use of oak, and here malolactic fermentation will be completed. The wines were focused and complex, and a pure joy to taste.
It was a great start to our trip. Tomorrow we will be joined by our other team members, Benthe and Gavin, and we will spend most of the day training together as a team. Until our next update, santé.