Staying on a Vineyard in the Loire Valley

Staying on a vineyard in the Loire Valley means opening your windows and filling the house with the rich smell of wine!

This October which has been the hottest on record for France since 1954 afforded lots of open window time for enjoying the smell of the fermenting grapes. We stayed in a gite that was located on a vineyard.  Our gite (holiday house) was at one end of a long building which I can only assume may have been a barn in a former life and the vigneron (grape grower) and his wife lived in their house on the other end of the building.

Between the two houses was the building which housed the large tanks for the wine.

Da Costa Domaine

The Domaine is Alain Da Costa Domaine. He sells directly all the wine produced from his grape harvest here in France – ie no middleman distributor. Da Costa Domaine is classified as a   viticulteur indépendant (independent wine grower).

A bottle of a very nice Da Costa red wine awaited us at the gite complements of the Da Costa family. At the end of the week we purchased a bottle of rosé and another bottle of red wine to take with us. Staying on a vineyard in the Loire Valley definitely has its perks!

Our gite was a delight: roomy and pristine with our very friendly hosts to welcome us. One of my favorite reasons for renting a gite instead of staying in a hotel is getting to know the people that are your neighbors.  In our case, staying on a vineyard in the Loire Valley meant that we emjoyed frequent interaction with the vigneron. Monsieur Da Costa’s enthusiasm about what he did was definitely contagious.

As the crushed grapes were loaded into the pressoir, the juice began to rain down.

What an Experience!

Staying on a vineyard also meant that we got to experience part of the grape harvest in the Loire Valley. Now, every time I have a glass of wine I have an amazing memory to go with it.

We were lucky to be able to be present for the pressing of the grapes as we just missed the fête de la vendange (festival of the grape harvest) in the village. This fête took place the weekend before we arrived. However, the harvesting of the grapes continued so we were excited to get in on the process.

A large tank  held the crushed grapes that were being loaded into the pressoir.

Crushed grapes being moved from the tank to a large bucket to be transferred to the pressoir.

Into the pressoir go the crushed grapes.

When we arrived on Saturday, our host, the vigneron, invited us to watch the pressing of the grapes on the following Friday morning! We planned our week around this part of the grape harvest.  Quelle chance! (What luck!)

How the Day Began

Friday morning started out cloudy and very foggy but that didn’t stop the process. Monsieur Da Costa and his friend were both very nice about explaining everything, letting us get right in the middle of the process.

The smell was incredible. The handpicked grapes waiting to be pressed had already rested in the tank for at least a week. The fermentation process was nearing the end which accounted for the luscious smell that wafted through our windows that day.

The grapes are first processed through a de-stemmer/crusher that removes the stems and leaves and then crushes the grapes which initiates the fermentation process. Thus the air was rich with the smell of red wine – I’ll never forget that amazing smell!

Pressoir filled and ready to press the grapes one final time.

Dégustastion

After loading the grapes into the pressoir à vin (winepress) and setting this well-used machine into motion, the vigneron offered a dégustation (tasting) of the Da Costa rosé wine.

It was 9:00 in the morning and I was expecting the usual small “tasting” amount in the wine glass. When I was handed a FULL glass of rosé, I was surprised! I must say that was definitely the first time I have ever had wine at that hour of the morning. However, that tasting t definitely convinced us to purchase their rosé. It is a delightful wine.

The pressing process continued all day. At regular intervals, he removed the pips and crushed grape skins and loaded new batches into the press. I was amazed to find that what was left after the crushing was very nearly completely dry!

This was definitely a memorable experience!

Video of the Grape Pressing

Please enjoy the short video below of the pressoir in action or
view the video on Youtube.
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