Le Clos De La Mesierie

One of the most incredible experiences on our trip was an our visit to Le Clos de la Mesierie, a wine making estate in the Vouvray Appellation of France. If the Chateau de Champchevrier was among the top five, Le Clos de la Mesierie was definitely in everyone's top two. The winery is owned by an American expat (burned out in the financial markets) and his French wife. There are four hectares of vineyards and it is completely organic. When they bought the vineyard, the prior owners were using pesticides. As soon as the new owners transitioned to organic, insects returned, followed by birds, deer and boar. Today, there is a great balance of predators. There are roses located at the end of the rows because roses are sensitive to mildew, which tells the owners when to spray with copper sulfide. All of the vines here are between 60-90 years old; in modern winemaking, you pull the vines after 25 years. The soil is clay and flint; the clay holds the water, which has been helpful as the summers get warmer. The winery makes about 8,000-10,000 bottles a year; they are authorized to make triple that amount, but to do so, they would have to refer to modern winemaking. The harvest lasts about three weeks, although they don't harvest every day, and the grapes are all handpicked. 

It was several days before we stopped talking about this experience. It was definitely unique and not something that we will soon forget.

The stone farmhouse was built in 1620.

This wine cellar is about 30 yards deep.

They use a manual grape presser that is more than 100 years old. This is very physical labor.

Owner Peter Hahn gave us an incredible hands on tour. I don't drink (especially wine) but everything he told us was fascinating and we were all deeply enthralled.

Most wine does not barrel age, but here it does. They can use the barrels for years, the key is to keep them clean. The wine is raised to music - classical music plays 24/7 and they change the composer every year.

We all the had the chance to listen to the wine "sing" - wine in barrels reveals a tiny, living orchestra of bubbling activity. During primary fermentation, yeast consumes sugars and releases carbon dioxide. One can hear this as a steady, gentle rhythm of pops, hisses, and gurgles escaping through barrel airlocks.

It takes 24 months for the wine to get to market.

After our tour, we had a four course luncheon, with each course prepared by Peter's wife and paired with a different wine. The members of our group who were wine connoisseurs ended up purchasing a case (or more) before we left. The food was incredible.