• The Dates of our next Exhibitions

•In Belgium

Marche en Famene ( wine growers ehibition)
-Friday 16th November ,
-Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th November
-Monday 19th November

•In France

Domaine de la Chambarde (Open day)
-Saturaday 1st December
-Sunday 2nd December

On Saturday the 21st January in Letra we had the traditional festival of St Vincent (Patron Saint of Winegrowers).  The festival has taken place in Letra since the early 1900s. 

Every year two winegrowers either born or participants of the communal village life, organize this festival.  In 2006, Cyrill Danguin and Maxime Vaganay were the chosen pair to honour St Vincent.
Before the day of the festival they were invited to visit all the wine caves of Letra, a very hard job!

The schedule for the day of the festval :
10h Religious celebration.
11h The presentation of the new St Vincent wines and also the passing of the emblems of the winegrowers.
12h Tasting of the wines of Letra offered by the winegrowers to all the –people of the village.
13h A banquet in two sittings which was followed by dancing into the night and onion soup for the those who wanted.

Winter Work

From December to March is the time for pruning.
It is when we can restructure the vine to obtain the best quality grape and control the production.
It is our practice to carefully choose the size of the vine and the size of the new growth.
This year the size was affected by the snow and the cold temperatures in December and January.

The St Vincent wine was bottled.  

 

• News of the 2007 Harvest

Our grape harvest will begin around the 5th September. The picking this year will be very early in spite of the cool temperatures during the summer. Many hail storms have decreased the volume of the harvest, but with the careful hand picking of our grape pickers, we should ensure that this year should be a another good quality year. On Thursday 15th November you will able be to appreciate the new 2007 beaujolais. Do not forget to make your reservations for this new wine.

• The 2007 Harvest

• News of the 2006 Harvest

Inspite of an August cold spell, the harvest will begin on Thursday 14th September. The grapes are healthy. The 2006 vintage will certainly be of a good quality. The harvest is always done manually and a large number of our grape pickers will be returning once again this year to assist us with the harvest. The team will also once again be very international (Belgians, Chinese, English, Irish, Spanish, Quebecians and of course French!!!) and of all ages (20 to 80 years old!!!).

 

• News of the 2005 harvest

I can not remember collecting such a quality of grape before.

Faithful to the tradition of the soil, with a manual grape harvest, our work has borne its fruits: controlled yields, which we have tried to practise since 1982, well before labels such as "terra vitis" (certification, awarded for employing organic, sustainable viticulture) or others......

Output is normally controlled, but this year we have produced less than 0.5 litre per vine (usually the production is 0,7 to 0,9 litre).

This year we have obtained rich and concentrated musts (grape juice still not fermented), with a natural sugar content of 12°.

You will find that the 2005 wine will be truly different from the 2004 vintage.

I will let you be the judge, but I can tell you immediately that the "Domaine de la of Chambarde 2005" has an intense and purplish colour, a good red fruity body and the aroma of currants.

• The 2005 Harvest Photos etc .....

 

• Medals

• Selected for the Hachette Guide in 1996, 2000 and 2002

• "Coup de Cœur" for the Beaujolais 2000 for the FNCI (National federation of independant winemakers).

 

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