All posts by travels_alexandre_petit

Château DEDIEU – Bordeaux – France

I discovered this wine of ‘Château DEDIEU’ from Bordeaux a few years ago,  and it’s always a real pleasure to rediscover the land and the quality of work of this young winemaker.Vignes_Dedieu

 

The wine comes from 21 ha of land, on 3 different villages, 25 minutes from the main city of ‘Bordeaux’. Grapes comes from 3 different places with some specificities for each village. The final high quality wine comes from all these differences and becomes very balanced with lots of flavors. The land from Aubie Espessas is located on clay-limestone soils, land of St. Andre de Cubzac lies on gravelly soil, and the Salignac is on sandy soils. Very few Castle have so many differences which permit to mix grapes in order to have huge quality red wines.

Chateau_Dedieu

 

This Castle is directed and owned by the actuel winemaker, from 1996. Before, his family had this Castle for a very long time, in the ‘Bordeaux’ and ‘french’ tradition. Artisanal production is in the continuity of cultivation and vinification of his ancestors. This winemaker is very close to nature and works very intelligently. For example, he cuts his vines as directed “double Guyot”, which has the advantage of spreading the grapes very evenly on the vine.

Cuves_Dedieu

Artisanal winemaking is followed several times a day to control the evolution of the wines very precisely to find exceptional quality each year. Several small stainless steel tanks tailored to the size of the vineyards are used to vignifier black varietals merlot, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc. The fermentation takes place between 25 and 28 degrees to retain maximum fruitiness. At the end of fermentation, the temperature is increased to 30 degrees to increase the strucure.

The wines of Château DEDIEU are very representative of the Bordeaux vineyards and artisanal tradition, with a producer who works very seriously. The wines are always a great taste quality, balanced and fruity, very pleasant in the mouth.

Harvest in Champagne

These following pictures have been done in a Champagne vineyard, during the 2014 harvest. This producer raises some Chardonnay white grapes, in a 17 ha vineyard. The village is on the ‘Grand Cru’ appellation, only 2 % of the Champagne villages have the best ‘Grand Cru’ appellation. Champagnes are ‘Blanc de Blancs’, it means they are only made with Chardonnay white grapes (no Pinot Noir, and no Pinot Meunier, both red grapes). Area of ‘Côtes des Blancs’ is one of the best area in Champagne. It’s near ‘Epernay’, a small city which is the capital of Champagne.

Chardonnay White grapes, during the harvest in Champagne 'Grand Cru' Area
Chardonnay White grapes, during the harvest in Champagne ‘Grand Cru’ Area
Presentation of the fresh Chardonnay grapes, before being pressed for making Champagne
Presentation of the fresh Chardonnay grapes, before being pressed for making Champagne
In front of the big barrels, making a high quality Champagne, 'Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs'
In front of the big barrels, making a high quality Champagne, ‘Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs’

Tour in Grignan les Adémar – France

Grignan les Adhémar is a small village in France, 30 minutes from ‘Chateauneuf du Pape’ by car, with very interesting red wines!

I visited this 200 ha vineyard and i discovered wines of high quality. Red wines and pink wines. Owners and salaries of this Castle are very nice and they work every day with passion. It was a big pleasure for me ti visit them during a whole day.

Interesting discussion with the owner of the Castle
Interesting discussion with the owner of the Castle
In front of the vineyard with the technical responsible
In front of the vineyard with the technical responsible
Alexandre Petit with the commercial responsible of the castle
Alexandre Petit with the commercial responsible of the castle
Picture with the owner of this castle of 200 ha in Côtes du Rhône, France.
Picture with the owner of this castle of 200 ha in Côtes du Rhône, France.

‘Premier Cru’ Champagne small Producer

Great time with this champagne producer, located in the Premier Cru area of Champagne, in France. I visited all the facilities of the cooperative that owns the winemaking equipment and produce wines of great quality. All is very clean and they do extremely serious work in this village of Champagne Premier Cru.

The wines are made at 90% of black grapes and 10% white grapes. The black grapes provide a very fruity wine, while white grapes are used to provide better care in the long term.

Dégustation des Champagnes Premiers Crus
Premier Cru Champagne tasting in the company of Producer
La cave coopérative où sont vinifiés la plupart des champagnes du village
La  The cooperative winery where are vinified most Champagnes of the village producers.
Les pressoirs vus du dessus, utilisés pendant les vendanges
Les Presses viewed from above, used during the harvest.
Visite des installations
Le The underside of the presses, where the white juice springs.
Les cuves géantes ultra modernes
Giant vats, ultra modern!
Toujours les cuves, avec système de régulation thermique nouvelle génération
Always tanks with new thermal control system generation
Les barriques de vieillissement des meilleures cuvées
The barrel for the best vintages
L'ancienne méthode de tournage
The old method of turning bottles
Les nouvelles machines pour le tournage, plus rapides, 5 jours au lieu de 15 jours, et meilleures performances
The new machines for turning bottles, faster, 5 days instead of 15 days, and better performance.
Quelques stocks de champagnes !
Some stocks of Champagne…
L'ancien pressoir
Old presses!