Tour de vis à l’Obédiencerie !!

Capsules à vis Une évolution inéluctable. Dear all, I am honoured to be invited at 20 000 kms from my home town of Chablis, as a spokeperson of the Old World in this Symposium. I am particularly glad to testify that even the most traditional and historical region of production, Burgundy as a whole, is the first to announce its commitment to a new technical improvement that will probably change our vision of winemaking. One of the Old World producers is here to say that we have been too many time facing disappointing experiences opening jewels that revealed being destroyed by a packaging failure… It is screwcaps time.

Le liège est Traditionnel… L’usage des bouchons en liège naturel remonte à la nuit des temps… Les Grecs et les Romains les utilisaient pour fermer leurs … amphores. Les premières bouteilles en verre furent scellés liège dès le 17ème siècle. Cork is also traditional. Let us not forget that Ancient Greek and Roman civilisations used natural cork to seal their clay bottles. As my old friend Hugh Johnson noted in his 2004 pocket wine guide, natural cork is a 17th century solution.

Le bouchon en liège est Naturel… En conséquence, ses variations : en aspect, en odeur, en couleur en structure, sont vécues positivement...

célèbre pour son mauvais goût ! Le bouchon en liège est Traditionnel Naturel mais… célèbre pour son mauvais goût ! But imagine one car out of 20 unable to start every morning in your neighborhood ! Which business activity could face such a headache ??? Wine is. And is « proud » of it !!!

L’étendue du désastre… Il est reconnu par les producteurs de bouchon que 5 à 10 % des vins sont affectés par le goût de bouchon… Source Oneo/Sabaté Internal tastings revealed that 4 to 5% of our wines were adversely affected by TCA. A further 6 to 10% were prematurely oxidised. It is important to note that 74% of my wines from the South of France are already sealed with synthetic closures and have been for the past 4 years. We are convinced that more than 10% of our production reveals unappropriate qualities when drunk ! And that our winemaking style is spoiled by uncontrolled/unsafe sealing technique. Have you ever smell wood or cork ? Is it this odor you want inside your glass ? Or the talent of a refined vinification, delicate aromas and freshness…

étaient victimes du goût de bouchon. Au Domaine Laroche : 4 à 5% de nos Chablis étaient victimes du goût de bouchon. 6 à 10% révèlaient une tendance particulièrement marquée d’oxydation ou un caractère boisé liégeux. Internal tastings revealed that 4 to 5% of our wines were adversely affected by TCA. A further 6 to 10% were prematurely oxidised. It is important to note that 74% of my wines from the South of France are already sealed with synthetic closures and have been for the past 4 years. We are convinced that more than 10% of our production reveals unappropriate qualities when drunk ! And that our winemaking style is spoiled by uncontrolled/unsafe sealing technique. Have you ever smell wood or cork ? Is it this odor you want inside your glass ? Or the talent of a refined vinification, delicate aromas and freshness…

Imaginez-vous Sur une caisse, 1 à 2 bouteilles bouchonnées et encore 1 à 2 autres douteuses ! Internal tastings revealed that 4 to 5% of our wines were adversely affected by TCA. A further 6 to 10% were prematurely oxidised. It is important to note that 74% of my wines from the South of France are already sealed with synthetic closures and have been for the past 4 years. We are convinced that more than 10% of our production reveals unappropriate qualities when drunk ! And that our winemaking style is spoiled by uncontrolled/unsafe sealing technique. Have you ever smell wood or cork ? Is it this odor you want inside your glass ? Or the talent of a refined vinification, delicate aromas and freshness…

Des progrès considérables ont été faits en matière de viticulture et de vinification. Il était temps d’accuser le maillon faible. All these changes of the wine landscape have been encouraged, witnessed and benefited from tremendous progress in all areas of viticulture and vinification over the years. In ALL areas apart from one … and that is the incredibly important issue of finding a guaranteed method of hermetically sealing our precious bottles. It is time to face our responsabilities and sell products that reflect the ability of our wineries…

L’oxygène n’est pas nécessaire au vieillissement des vins. Cf: Emile Peynaud (1984), Connaissances et maîtrise de la Vinification P. Ribéreau-Gaillon (2000), Manuel d’Oenologie It is time to strongly communicate about a certain number of stereotypes like the unsane benefit of oxygen… for bottle aging. Because, in reality…

Inconvénients lors du débouchage: Bouchon résistant Bouchon brisé dans le goulot Bouchon humide Bouchon odorant… Do you believe bottle opening is a good and safe experience ? In fact, it is quite scary….

Le bouchon en liège n’est pas un agent neutre : il agit sur le résultat final en « ajoutant » : de la pollution sous forme de TCA, de l’oxydation prématurée, des goûts boisés inopportuns… It is a source of conflicting times no so easy to handle during a busy night… And at the very end, everybody looses confidence, money and time….

Variations du brunissement après 28 mois en cave To give you a visual representation of the degree of browning, here is a photo of one bottle sealed of each of the closures, taken last week. It is actually relatively easy to rank the bottles with the naked eye, even between 0.16 absorbance units in this range….and 0.14 au here. However, the real power of Georges method is that it can also distinguish such small changes in brown colour with closured bottles. Thus this technique has proved to be an excellent tool in rating closure performance, and provides objective and quantitative results. From: P. Godden, Australian Wine Research Inst.

Contamination de l’eau après 15 jours

Protéger la qualité de nos vins est essentiel Protéger la qualité de nos vins est essentiel ! Avec 25 ans de recul, nous avons découvert que… “au delà de la suppression du gout de bouchon, la vis valorise le vieillissement en prolongeant la fraîcheur aromatique, la précision et la vivacité des vins.” The winemaker chooses the date of harvest, the vinification methods, when the wine should be bottled. Why shouldn’t he also be allowed to chose the type of closure which he feels best preserves the quality of his wines ? Would an architect accept that buyers decree which type of clay should be used for their houses ? As a producer, we discovered that ScrewCaps, apart from avoiding cork taint, provided a superb protection of aromas and freshness to our most delicate white wines. Why our Old World consumers would miss this quality improvement ?

Historique de la Vis 1960: Début des Test 1968: Agrément officiel 1980’s: Généralisation en Suisse et ¼ avion 1990: Test comparatif en Australie et NZ 2000: Généralisation en Australie et NZ

Comment ça marche ? Une coiffe en aluminium vient appliquer un joint avec une pression de 120 kg sur le goulot de la bouteille en verre. Le joint hermétique absorbe des hautes pressions et est insensible aux chocs thermiques. Etanchéité réglable en fonction des vins.

Schéma de sertissage Avant Pendant Après

Résultat Final

Qualités essentielles de la vis Ne pollue pas le vin (oxydation, couleur, gout) Meilleure conservation des qualités d’origine (fraîcheur, arômes, acidité) Confère une nouvelle dimension au vieillissement

Qualités essentielles de la vis Résiste aux changements de température Facile à ouvrir et à refermer (vin au verre) Facilite le transport et le stockage dans toutes les positions Fermeture garantie à long terme Simple et facile d’emploi

Protéger la qualité de nos vins est essentiel Protéger la qualité de nos vins est essentiel ! La vis est la réponse technique la plus aboutie Despite monitoring cork taint in internal tastings, it is true we didn’t receive any negative huge market feedback. I am sure hundred of Laroche clients drunk tainted wines without noticing it… Today, we will no longer accept consumers drinking wines that do not reflect the real flavor of origin. It is important to explain that Screwcaps are not a ‘revolution’ but a logical ‘evolution’. Producers have decided to use Screwcaps to improve the state of the wine “for the consumers”. I believe that that is key – we have done this FOR them.

Maintenant, nous devons faire passer le message à nos clients.» « Avec le bouchage à vis, je suis capable de garantir la qualité de mes vins… ce que ne me permet pas le liège !  Maintenant, nous devons faire passer le message à nos clients.» Michel Laroche / Conférence sur le vin / Nov 04

Les Pros évoluent… Nos importateurs… Leurs clients… Les critiques et journalistes… Whenever our salesforce has been able to talk face to face with restaurant buyers, we see an immediate … positive … reaction. We have already managed to sell screwcapped Chablis to some of our best clients including two 3 star Michelin restaurants (La Cote Saint Jacques in Joigny, France and Parkheuvel in Rotterdam, Holland). Anyone who tastes several bottles of wine per day – whether they are sommelier or wine writer – can not fail to be convinced of the need to find an alternative that protects the wine from TCA. Perhaps Screwcaps are not the panacea, but they certainly appear to be the best option at the moment.

Les faits sont là : Accueil favorable du discours… Dégustations éclairantes… Leaders d’opinion convaincus… Notre approche par les Grands Crus plébiscitée… As of today, the results are encouraging – Do not forget our clients had always the choice between different closures – Our strategy was extremely well received and 100% clear cut ! We sold 180 000 bottles and 30% of our Boutique turn-over is made with ScrewCaps. Tastings always turned in favor of ScrewCaps. Since Spring 04, all bottles used for PR purposes throughout the world are sealed with ScrewCaps. Well known journalists like Bettane, Dessauve, Devaz, Hugh Johnson, Robert Joseph, Antony Rose, Steven Tanzer, Gert Crum… are really going forward in the direction of ScrewCaps. We have a bench of Michelin listings like : La Cote St Jacques, l’Oenothèque de Monaco, Barnabé, Juvenile’s…

En quelques chiffres déjà 60% du volume produit expédié en Capsule à Vis 50 % de nos ventes Caveau 10% des volumes commercialisés en France. As of today, the results are encouraging – Do not forget our clients had always the choice between different closures – Our strategy was extremely well received and 100% clear cut ! We sold 180 000 bottles and 30% of our Boutique turn-over is made with ScrewCaps. Tastings always turned in favor of ScrewCaps. Since Spring 04, all bottles used for PR purposes throughout the world are sealed with ScrewCaps. Well known journalists like Bettane, Dessauve, Devaz, Hugh Johnson, Robert Joseph, Antony Rose, Steven Tanzer, Gert Crum… are really going forward in the direction of ScrewCaps. We have a bench of Michelin listings like : La Cote St Jacques, l’Oenothèque de Monaco, Barnabé, Juvenile’s…

Offre Vis Chais du Nord La totalité de la gamme Domaine Laroche en bouteille et demi-bouteille Le Chablis L en bouteille et demi-bouteille L’offre bi-cépage et Mas la Chevalière blanc A court terme le Carmenere Punto Niño

Thanks you…