Château Caronne St-Gemme Vendange Trip 2007

Piers Marter, Trainee Manager, Majestic Filton

I had only been a trainee manager at Majestic for two months when I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to go on a vendange trip. My store manager told me I would learn more about wine on a vendange trip than days reading the study manuals, so I put my name down for Château Caronne St-Gemme, a Cru Bourgeois producer situated on the left bank of the Gironde in Bordeaux.

A month later I flew to Bordeaux with Simon, manager of the South Kensington store. We arrived mid-morning and went straight to work in the vineyard, improving the quality of the crop by cutting grapes from overburdened vines.

At lunch we met Francois and George Nony, the brothers who run the estate. We were put immediately at ease by their welcoming manner, and by the glasses of Champagne pressed into our hands; Champagne being the ideal tonic after the morning’s work.

Francois told us that Bordeaux, like England, had experienced a similarly cold and wet summer, and this was why he was putting off his harvest for a few more days. In the meantime we would work on improving his crop and helping with the harvest in other chateaux whose grapes had ripened earlier.

Over the next few days we picked grapes at Châteaux Rouillac and Châteaux Loudenne and trimmed leaves from the vines at Château Caronne St-Gemme. Leaf cutting has the advantages of opening up the grapes to the sun and also makes the bunches easier to pick. We had time to do the normal tourist things too: we visited the Pyla Dune (the biggest sand dune in the world), looked around St Emilion, centre of the right-bank wine industry; and watched the France v. Georgia rugby world cup game on a giant screen in the middle of Bordeaux.

Most evenings we ate with Francois and George, and I learned a lot listening to them and Simon talk about wine. One night Francois told us about the barrels he aged his wine in and the process of buying them: you have to be careful dealing with a cooper, who will show you his best barrels for a trial but then, when you buy from him, deliver poorer quality barrels! Also, French oak (in which the wine is matured for a year before bottling) influences a wine more subtly than American oak, and barrels made from trees growing in the middle of a forest are better than those growing at the edge because the grain is finer.

The next day we had the opportunity to taste the differences ourselves in Francois’s cellar. In the cellar where the Merlot was ageing, we tasted wines from an American oak barrel, a French oak barrel, a barrel with a light toast, one with a medium toast and finally we compared wines from similar barrels but with different grains. The results were fascinating and in every case the subtle effects of the different woods could be tasted.

Another highlight was the dinner where old vintages of Château Caronne St-Gemme were opened. The 1969 had the slightly smoky flavour on the palate typical of the Caronne style but was a little gamey for being past its best. The 1975 however was glorious. Being new to Majestic, I’d never tasted old vintages before and this wine was, in the opinion of everyone at the table, drinking very well at the moment. The integration of fruit, oak, and peppery flavours was seamless, and the long, smooth finish was like nothing I’d tasted before.

The harvest at the Chateau began two days before we left and the estate burst into frenetic activity. Some grapes were hand picked and others were machine picked. The quality of the crop was high, vindicating Francois’s decision to harvest late. The day we left we were each given a magnum of Château Caronne St-Gemme. I’d learned a lot about Bordeaux and its wine, and when I drink my magnum in thirty years time will remember the trip with fondness.