Visiting Pascal Jolivet
By Marisa D'Vari | October 8th, 2012 | Category: Loire, News | No Comments »
Clement Jolivet & Pauline Guillot
A fabulous visit to Pascal Jolivet in Sancerre - I had met Clement Jolivet (pictured above) a few weeks ago in New York and he kindly welcomed me to his winery for a tour, tasting, and lunch.
Clement is very charming and very active in the winery, especially now that he is representing the winery in the USA and the world. He showed me the procedure for sorting the fruit, the gravity-led system to keep the grapes as fresh as possible, and then the fermentation program in which they use only natural yeast.
At lunch I met Clement's equally charming father, Pascal .... and heard the fascinating story of how he was able to finance such a state-of-the-art winery. Also at lunch was Clement's friend Gauthier and his 15 year old brother Valentin, whom you are certain to see pouring wine at the Winebow event in about six years time.
After lunch we took a drive to see the workers picking grapes. They were Hungarians who sleep in their vans and have worked the vineyard in previous years.
My thoughts about this first visit to Sancerre was how much land is devoted to the vines, and how sophisticated the winery equipment is.
Terroir is a key concept here, with the Sauvignon Blanc tasting different depending on the soil. During our lunch we tried Les Calliotes 2011, Exception 2010, and some others, all very balanced.
Thanks again to Pascal and also export manager Pauline (pictured above) for arranging this visit.
Send to a Friend Twitter Facebook del.icio.us Digg StumbleUpon
Building Buzz: How To Reach And Impress Your Target Audience
Creating Characters: Let Them Whisper Their Secrets
