Nick and Caroline have set off on a new adventure - Wining & Diving. We hope to bring you some of the most wonderful wines, along with great diving, from different countries around the world. Our first trip in the series was to France, in our VW Caddy, along with Caroline's mum and Paddy the golden retriever. We toured all around France, and will relive all our tasting and diving experiences here on this blog, we will also let you into some of the small "incidents" we encountered along the way. But first, we want to share a very special vineyard with you.
Chateau Montdoyen can be found on the sunny hills of Monbazillac in the Bergerac region. We first visited this vineyard about 13 year ago. We were doing a wine tour of France in our TVR Tuscan sports car and had pulled into a small village in search of some coffee. Having wondered round and found nowhere providing such refreshment, we headed back to the car. We found a frenchman leaning into the car and looking at the inside. We greeted him, and he wanted to know where the car was made, why were here in this tiny village, and in France in general. Having established that we wanted coffee as an emergency and then wine as the main reason for the trip, he introduced himself as the owner of the vineyard. Jean-Paul Hembise then invited us to his kitchen for morning coffee, and followed this up with an extensive tasting of his range of wines. We liked then so much, we bought 200 bottles for our wedding!
We were delighted that our route on this trip was going to take us right back to Chateau Montdoyen again, some 13 years after that first visit. On this visit, we discovered, to our delight, that they are now completely organic. They have an affinity with the natural wildlife that is really pleasing to hear about. They have insect houses to encourage plenty of bug life, have completed surveys to increase the number of bats roosting in their cellar and use no chemicals at all to protect the vines. To keep the deer from eating the vine leaves, they mash up herbs and spray the vines to put the deer off!
The wine is even better. They are a range of wines that vary in price from their entry level wines called "Un Point, C'est Tout!" which means "A point, that's all" which they describe as party wines to share with your friends. "Ainsi soit-il" which translate as "So be it" which are very good mid-range wines and then their best wines are individually named, with the red being as good as any of the neighbouring, and more revered, bordeauxs.
The range of wines is excellent with red, rose, white and sweet wines in each of the price ranges. Even the most expensive, and very deliciou,s red "Tout Simplement" is a bargain at only £15. Alas, it is not available in the UK market just yet - so you will have to head over to France and fill up your car! Or watch this space as we are in discussions with a UK organic wine importer to bring this wonderful range into the UK.
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