Finishing our Wine Tasting

Kathy in the aging room
 

We continue our day with  a visit to the Reffault Winery.
Rudolph comes out and introduces himself. He is a delightful Frenchman with a very nice accent! :)   He is concerned about his English and we are again grateful for the fact that he actually speaks English and we assure him that his English is very good.  He spends the first half hour telling us about the history of his family and how they have been involved in the wine
making industry. We talk about the size of the vineyards and are quite amazed to find out that most families have many vineyards of varying sizes throughout the region.  We begin the tour tasting many of the fine wines that he has to offer.  We get a lesson about the different terrain and how it effects the subtleness of each wine. There is so much science to wine making it is truly amazing.

Interning for the bottling job
 

We then move to the aging and bottling rooms.  Terry is anxious to help. 
We leave the bottling room and drive 5 miles to the Caves to barrel taste.  Obviously, Rudolph is very comfortable here and leads us to his barrels.  He extracts wine from a barrel with a syringe and fills our glasses.  We continue to taste several different wines and are more delighted with each successive taste.  What a treat. 

Rudolph, Karen, Kathy & Terry...Cheers

After leaving the caves Rudolph wants to share with us the beauty of one of his family's vineyards that sits atop the cliffs of Chinon.
He unlocks the gate and we follow him into the beautiful setting.  We walk among the rows of grapes that are almost ready for harvesting. There is a rose bush planted at the end of each row and we find that they are planted there as a first indicator of disease.  The fruit of the vine is very tasty.  Rudolph assures us the grapes need to ripen a week maybe two before they are ready. From this point on it will be a day to day decision as to the exact time the grapes will be ready to be picked.  It has been a fabulous day and it is time to say good bye to Rudolph.  He has been a wonderful ambassador for the wine community here and we will continue to enjoy his wine when we return to the states. 


The Vineyards above Chinon

Karen & Dan Barrel Tasting!