A Bespoke Curated VintageAn Immersive Experience
From plant to bottle, learn the entire process of winemaking, while helping you develop a unique signature wine blend. It includes 1 barrel of wine (approx. 280 bottles) and 3 years visiting the winery for participatory wine making.
It begins with a personal meeting and palate assessment. You take an aroma assay from Les Nez du Vin, volunteer a cheek swab for DNA testing (if desired), and take an aroma and taste palate threshold assessment. Here you receive your notebook, where you will keep records of the process, take tasting notes, and sketch potential bottle label designs.
Based on your personal disposition, you will be presented with a selection of wineries that promise high degrees of compatibility. At your discretion, you may visit them in advance of making a decision in order to meet the owner and understand the territory. After selecting the particular parcel to acquire, you will then gain access to a private, live dedicated HD feed via webcam, enabling you to monitor the development of the vineyard, as well as participate actively even via distance.
You will participate in creating your wine and managing your vineyard over the course of one year. This includes four visits, focusing on the following stages in the lifecycle of the vine
WINTERPruning
We cut-back the vines during the winter months to prepare for the upcoming growing season. Here you will learn the importance of pruning, proper technique, and the function it serves in regulating and storing the plant’s energy. During this visit we participate in a calçotada, location dependent on the selected winery. The experience lasts for two days.
SPRINGMaintenence
After capturing bud burst on the webcam, we begin work to maintain the health of the vineyard while it is vulnerable. Applications of different treatments in-line with the winery’s philosophy occur at various times during the initial months. You will be active in exploring the vineyard, seeking out indicators of potential distress, and correctly diagnosing the cause and appropriate remedy. You will also be advised when your vines are beginning to flower, which will likely coincide with your visit. Also during this visit we explain the importance of architecture and design in winemaking, and visit several wineries to better understand how architecture serves wines’ purpose.
SUMMERGreen Harvest
The vines’ flowers have turned to fruit, which is beginning to mature. You will continue to participate in choosing the continued minimum necessary treatments, and also help during the green harvest. Some unripe fruit is cut from the vine and left on the ground, helping to concentrate and intensify the remaining fruit for a higher quality wine. The work is paired with a culinary experience: cooking class/show cooking. The client participates for two days.
SUMMER-AUTUMNThe Harvest
The most intense time at a winery; all hands are busy and you will join right in, helping to select only the best grapes in the vineyard and bring them to the winery, participate in the sorting process, crushing the grapes, and conducting “punch downs” and “pump overs.” If the winery uses commercially cultivated yeasts, the you will select the best type for your wine. This is an intense time, and the you’ll participates for four days. You eat with the team at midday, while staying in luxury accommodations.
Additional inflection points continue in the following years, involving you in every decision as you develop your own signature wine.
LOREM IPSUMBarrel Ageing
You get to choose the size and type of barrel to be used to age your wine, and may even be present as the barrel is filled. The participatory stage during the second year is learning to do a barrel tasting. You will understand which salient elements are important, and what the desired development is of the wine. You decide the appropriate ageing profile.
SUMMER-AUTUMNBottling
You get to choose your own bottle style and shape, select a cork, and design your own label. On this day these decisions come together into the final product. The barrel is transferred, filling the bottles. You may choose to continue to bottle-age the wine on site, or take the wines to your home cellar for maturation.
Your JourneyTo Remember
In addition to 280 bottles of your own custom wine, you will receive a short film of the evolution of your vineyard over the year, and a custom-made bar made out of your own barrel. You will have a private page on our website describing your wine, and your personal enologist can join you for your unveiling party.