In order for the French team to finally see all the things Eric (one of our French winemakers) has been raving about over the past few years, they downed tools and abandoned the office to take a trip to the Rhône for a quick ‘team bonding’ session.
Roaming the Rhône
It was a whirlwind tour as they spent time visiting our Cairanne plots of vines and cellar, then it was off to the top of Gigondas (Col du Cayron) to visit the different places where we store our barrels. Of course, no training session would have been complete without sampling one or two of our barrels … good thing Eric was the designated driver for the day!!
In our thirtieth year and ten years since we made our first Cairanne, we have at last found our 'Home in the Rhône' and moved in...
The hallowed turf of Cairanne
For Bobby Moore it might be the turf of Wembley ('66 and all that), for Roger Federer, Centre Court at Wimbledon celebrating 15 Grans Slam titles, but for Boutinot, to those of you who have traded with us for a number of years, it will come as no surprise to say it is Cairanne. If we could buy a vineyard and cellars in France, we would seek out hallowed turf in the hills around the 8th century, fortified stone village of Cairanne, half an hour's drive from the fabled Châteauneuf-du-pape in the southern Rhône valley.
Well, that's just what we've done!
And we haven't wasted any time
Some of the Boutinot team have been breaking backs at vintage in the vineyards, with Syrah being the first to be brought in this last week.
We will post some pics shortly and keep you up to date with how the harvest is turning out and more details about the vineyards and cellars.
