My Grand Cru Enlightenment
Our guide leads us into a room where a large, rectangular glass box sits in the centre. Soft down lighting illuminates a walkway and limestone walls, surrounding the structure. I can’t recall what the guide of the Château was discussing, but before I could focus my attention on her voice, the sound of hydraulics and beams of light radiating from the floor broke me out of my reverie. Slowly, a glass elevator rose up out of the floor. Never had I witnessed anything quite like it, especially at a vineyard. Prior to this, my only exposure to the wine industry was a trip to wineries on the Leelanau Peninsula in upstate Michigan, which paled in comparison to this grand Château in Saint-Émilion on the right bank of Bordeaux, France.
Giddy with excitement, my best friend Sarah and I stepped inside the elevator and took a seat on one of the powder blue benches as the structure lowered us down into the dark and damp cellar complex of Château Soutard. Once off the elevator, we were taken down a corridor, lined on each side by small arches dug into the walls, where vintages of years past lay dormant, shrouded in darkness as the liquid inside matured and evolved over time. Each arch was closed off by an iron gate, so as not to disturb the sleeping bottles. At the time, I knew very little about the complexities of winemaking and the significance that bottle ageing can have on a wine. Our guide explained to us that bottle maturation was important to soften the tannins of a wine and balance the flavours, as young wines can often be astringent. She also noted that even the smallest fluctuation in temperature, lighting and vibration could alter a wine’s flavour and longevity. I was fascinated, and lingered a little behind our group to bathe in the magic that was happening in those glass bottles. As well as to scan the labels for approximately how old some of them were. The group’s voices became fainter and Sarah forcefully whispered at me to hurry up. I had to leg it down the corridor to catch up. She rolled her eyes at me, we both laughed, and followed the rest of the group into a terracotta coloured room with an oval-shaped bar in the centre.
On top of that glowing white bar was an object that looked like a metal hourglass, several sheets of paper, pencils, some small glass vials and two bottles of wine behind a row of elegant looking glassware. We paired off and were guided through a sensory test first. In each vial was a particular aroma and we had to guess what that aroma was. Our only guide was a colour wheel of flavours and aromas, no phones. We couldn’t really use them anyway as the cellars didn’t have much in the way of mobile phone reception. I brought the first vial to my nose and inhaled deeply. A bright, floral aroma wafted up. Initially I struggled to place the scent, having to tap into previous memories of aromas and flavours I was familiar with. And eventually I placed the aroma to something that was rather floral yet dark. Our guide explained that what we were smelling was a violet flower. We went through the same process with the other two vials, before she started pouring the first wine in our glasses. Turns out, the metal hourglass shaped item was a spitoon.
As soon as I brought that first glass of wine to my nose, aromas of berries, flowers and spices leapt out of the glass. The depth and complexity was unlike anything I had experienced before. And those first few sips completely changed my relationship with wine. As the liquid permeated my mouth, a headiness and excitement filled my body, and I instantly wanted another glass. I yearned to understand how something could taste that good. Back in the states, the wine I drank in my early 20s was jammy, fruity and highly alcoholic, almost to the point of clumsiness. Nothing like the elegance currently in my glass at this Château. Our guide proceeded to tell us that the wine we were drinking was a Grand Cru Classé from 2011, so it was already five years old, but still had further ageing potential for another 10–15 years. The history of the vineyard and the French concept of terroir were explained to us. Specific grape varieties are known to grow best in areas with particular soil types and climates. Saint-Émilion has a dense clay-based limestone soil, meaning that Merlot is well suited to grow there. Many wines in Saint-Émilion, including their own, are Merlot dominant, but Bordeaux wines are blends and other grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc among others are allowed to be blended in the final wine. The percentage of each is ultimately up to the winemaker and on which side of the river bank the vineyards are.
History of Château Soutard
Château Soutard began as a traditional Bordeaux farm with a windmill in the early 1500s, and is considered one of the oldest estates on the right bank. They established wine production in the 18th century and were one of the first estates to plant vines in rows. Fast forward to 2006 and La Mondiale, a French insurance company purchased the estate from the de Ligneris family and started making vast technological improvements to the winery, including installing a gravity-fed facility system and a vat room that is truly impressive to behold.
Part of our tour included a visit to the winery itself. Giant stainless steel vats and wooden barrels flanked the walkway, gleamy and shiny in the freshly cleaned space. As we made our way further into the winery a network of narrow metal walkways were suspended above the vats, where workers bring the pressed grapes into the winery through pumps and let gravity drop them down into the vessels for fermentation. At each stage of the winemaking process, some element of gravity is used, even when wines are transferred from vat to smaller barrels for maturation.
What amazed me was how the wine in my glass was already five years old, but still tasted like it was just bottled, all juicy fruit, expressive tannin and dark spices. This wine and the process it went through to be produced was seriously impressive; from being hand plucked from its vine at harvest, to its journey through the winery into barrel, fermentation, maturation and lastly to its bottle to rest in the dark cellar, we had previously walked through. Curiosity overwhelmed me, and I was thirsty for more.
The start of it all
After returning to London, I sought out as many wine tasting events, wine importers and educational materials that I could get my hands on. I spent hours combing through book shop shelves for literature on wine and winemaking. I attended French wine tastings, Italian wine tastings, frequented many wine bars and shops, asking questions and ultimately tasting as much wine as I realistically could. I hadn’t realised just how vibrant and unique the London wine scene was, and I knew that eventually I would want to find a way to be a part of it.
Spurred on by that one bottle of Bordeaux, I found out about the WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) and promptly registered for their introduction to wine course. Three WSET exams, one part time gig at a wine bar in London, a pandemic and countless vineyard trips later and wine still holds this genuine excitement for me. I credit that September day in 2015, in the vineyard at Château Soutard as the catalyst for this journey to find purpose within my professional life. A journey that has since led me to leave London and move back home to Michigan, bringing with me all of the wine knowledge I’ve accrued over the years.
As I’m sat reading the 2022 Bordeaux vintage report during the latest en primeur campaign, I’m suddenly transported back to that moment in the winery, with the heady aromas of yeast, grapes and water permeating the room. The sheer scale of the space with its tanks and barrels that could fit a pickup truck inside vertically, are remarkable. A shiver courses down my spine and instinctively I know that the trajectory of my life will never be the same. I snap myself out of my internal dialogue and speed walk towards the fading voices, desperately hoping I hadn’t missed out on some fact or explanation about the winemaking process of this impressive estate.
Sources:
Bordeaux Travel Guide: Château Soutard: One of the Oldest Estates of the Right Bank
Château Soutard: This History of Château Soutard
