One thing I’ve learned after visiting a few wine regions in France is that popes really liked wine. Château Pape Clément was Clement V’s love. The vineyard was given to him as a gift when he was appointed Archbishop of Bordeaux. It was an ideal grant since the pope (well, back then he was known […]
Tag Archives | winery
Château Figeac, Saint-Émilion, France
This was the least-interesting wine visit of the week, but the wine was exceptional. There was nothing wrong with the tour; there just wasn’t anything about the operations or history that stood out. I guess that’s probably a good thing when it comes to turning out a dependable product year after year! Though the winery […]
Château Lynch-Bages, Pauillac, France
Since Pauillac is famous for its dense concentration of outstanding châteaux, we visited a second area winery, Château Lynch-Bages. Here, we toured the facilities, learned about the process and toured the cellars. A unique part, however, was the second-floor museum, situated over the steel vats, where old equipment including transport rails, presses and sorting table […]
Château Gruaud Larose, Saint Julien, France
I’d never tried a Gruaud, but during research this château came up a few times as producing solid, well-regarded wines. That sounded good, then I discovered that it is an organic winery, which set it apart in this region where production is steeped in tradition. Our tour group had eight people, and we received a […]
Simon Bize & Fils, Savigny-lès-Beaune, France
Simon Bize & Fils is a true family operation. When we visited, everyone was hard at work. Patrick Bize was putting labels on bottles and readying a shipment. His young son, who was on school vacation, helped out while wife Chisa educated us about the operations and poured tastings. The domaine has been around since […]
Domaine Michel et Stéphane Ogier, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, France
In small wine villages, we spend a fair amount of time looking for wineries down remote roads and showing up at places that are supposed to be open but are not, even though we called ahead of time. Most of the chateaux are staffed by only one or two people (in many cases, the owners) […]
Vignoble Klur, Katzenthal
Vignoble Klur is a small organic, family-run winery. When we stopped by, the tasting room actually wasn’t open. We didn’t know that when we rang the bell, but were invited in regardless. There is always family and staff on the compact grounds since in addition to offering wine tastings, there is an inn, cooking classes […]
Dopff au Moulin
The Dopff family has operated this winery for 13 generations. Today, three generations work side-by-side. Aside from award-winning wines, Dopff’s claim to fame was pioneering now-common Crémant d’Alsace. In the early 1900’s, Julien Dopff attended a seminar on Champagne-making and decided to give it a try with Alsatian wine. After training for two years in […]
Anton Hammes Wine Estate
We happened upon Anton Hammes one rainy morning. We were scurrying down the wet sidewalk searching for open wineries and saw someone emerge from this cellar-level tasting room with a few bottles. Jackpot! As is typical in many Mosel wineries, we were greeted by the owner. In this case, he was a very friendly man […]
