Sancerre for the Wine Enthusiasts

Putting the wine into the bottles

In the Sancerre area, there are vineyards everywhere. Anywhere there is a slope there is a vineyard. We visited a winery in the nearby village of Chavignol, a community of 300 people but has 40 wineries! As you can tell, wine is big here and they are proud of their Sancerre label. Here they grow Sauvignon and Pinot Noir grapes and produce whites, reds, and rosés. At the winery we saw them bottling the wine and the cellars where it is aged. Of course the boys enjoyed watching the bottling and being in the stone cellars. Then of course we got an opportunity to taste the wine.

In the cellars

After a short lesson on how to taste the wine we set to trying a variety of reds, whites, and rosés. The boys did not do the tasting but Aaron took part in the swirling of glasses and smelling of the wine.  Susan tried all the wines but did not see a lot of differences with each wine as she is not a wine drinker. However, she is taking a liking to the Sancerre Rosé. 

Santé!

With a little bit of guidance, I began to better appreciate some of the different bouquets and tastes of the wine. It was amazing how wine from the same type of grape but grown in different soil could have such different flavours. Of course they were all good and after the fourth or fifth tasting, it all tasted fine to me.  

Later on in the week we had another small wine tasting as it was the release of the beaujolais nouveau. In France this wine is always released on the third Thursday of November. The beaujolais only comes from the Dijon area and is not known as good wine. Instead it is the first sampling of the years wine (perhaps a hint of what is to come), a celebration of the grape harvest, and of course an excuse for a party. At 2 euros a bottle we took up the cause.