The amber escape
Presentation
With the Moine brothers, visitors can get their fill of fresh air among the Charente vineyards and discover a whole new world, becoming a wine grower for a day.
With the “manual harvest” experience, you’ll have the opportunity to spend a half day working at one of the most important times of the year for a grower.
Armed with a pair of secateurs and a bucket, you’ll be tasked with carefully selecting the bunches of grapes that will be pressed and fermented.
The Moine brothers will take you under their wing, explaining the technique and the specific features of each grape variety, and tell you all about how vines are tended in Charente.
Once you’ve picked your grapes, stand back and watch Yann and Gabriel process the harvest in the cellar. The experience concludes with a meal.
Once the half-day is over, the Moine brothers will keep in touch and tell you about the work they’re doing on the vines that you adopted. If you want, you can also spend a half-day as a distiller during the distillation period, from November to March (the following year). Once the Cognac is aged, either 3 (VS), 6 (VSOP) or 10 (XO) years after your grape-picking experience, you’ll have your Cognac delivered to your door (or you can collect it at the estate).
On the agenda
- A half-day of grape picking:
– 08:15: visitors are welcomed with coffee and pastries
– 08:45: car-pooling into the vines, distribution of the tools of the trade and an induction into grape-picking
– 10:30: a mid-morning snack, a break and discussion with the growers
– 10:45: restart of the harvest
– 12:00: the grapes are sent to the cellars and the wine-making process begins, followed by a tour of the cellars
– 13:00: lunch and the end of the grape-picking experience - Possibility to experience a half-day of distillation.
