Wine Tour at Château Luchey-Halde for 1st year students

As part of their curriculum, Vatel students have a wine course every year to learn the basics of oenology.

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[column size=”2/3″]Being in Bordeaux, in the heart of one of the world’s most famous wine growing regions, is obviously a major advantage to students.

It was thus only natural for Catherine Vlimant, professor at Vatel (as well as an oenologist, consultant, and manager of Verre et Vin) to take her first year students to visit a Bordeaux wine château.

The twenty-seven M1C students toured Château Luchey-Halde in the Pessac-Léognan appellation on Wednesday, 23 October. Located in the heat of Mérignac, a suburb of Bordeaux, this château has rather an unusual history since the 29-hectare estate belonged to the French army for nearly 80 years. Bought by ENITA (a school for agricultural engineers since renamed Bordeaux Sciences Agro) in 1999, Luchey-Halde is a marvellous “research laboratory” in the fields of viticulture and winemaking. Twenty hectares were planted with vines in 1999 and a new cellar built in 2002. This combines traditional methods and state-of-the-art technology.

After a look at the vineyards, students toured the ultra-modern vat room with its 28 stainless steel vats full of new wine, three weeks after the 2013 vintage, as well as the two barrel cellars with the estate’s red and white wine. The visit ended with a tasting of the second white wine, 2009 Les Haldes de Luchey, and 2007 red Luchey Halde.[/column]