Chateau Thivin Visit

7.11.2008

Today we headed to the Beaujolais region to visit the family winery of an alumni from the Changins campus, at Chateau Thivin, in the Mt. Brouilly sub-appelation. We got a tour of their vineyard, which was much further along than any others we had seen. The area is warmer and dryer, and you could see that the vines were slightly stressed from water shortage. More on that later.

They have a wonderful old world cave where they store wine in barrels. The mold growing on the walls was pretty scary. They had several old basket presses on display.

Their fermentation area was one of the more unique I have ever seen. The grapes are dropped down through hatch covers in the floor, and into either concrete or stainless fermenters. Winemaking in Beaujolais often uses the some form of the carbonic maceration technique (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonic_maceration) to enhance the fruity characteristics in their wines.

Once the wine had finished fermenting the available sugar, the bottom door is opened and the must is allowed to drop down into the press, which is mounted on rails, in a very efficient design.

We then headed to the tasting room to taste through the wines, and they hosted us for a very nice lunch, where every table got a bottle of every wine they make. Wow. The menu consisted of pork and sausages that had been cooked for 4 hours in a kettle containing last falls pomace (grape skins and stems). Very flavorful and a nice meal. A local musician came in to provide fantastic entertainment, albeit in French. We also enjoyed a very nice cheese plate, and a wonderful desert. Wow.

We then made a stop by their office to purchase some wine, during which time the skies opened up and it absolutely started raining cats and dogs. Lots of very wet people on the bus, and most people took a nice nap on the bus ride back to Lausanne.