The only event of its kind worldwide, “En Primeur” week allows professionals to taste the most recent vintage nearly two years before it is made available for sale. This year nineteen hundred negociants, brokers, journalists, sommeliers and clients from around the globe met at Cos d’Estournel between April 1 and April 5.
Cellar Master Angélique Meynieu offers a look behind the scenes of this exceptional event.
I have two roles to play.
Where the teams are concerned, a few days before “En Primeur” week, I meet with our winegrowing and winemaking staff to explain what will take place during the week, discuss how we will present our wines and assign the different responsibilities. Once the week begins, everyone knows what he or she must do and when to do it, from greeting and giving directions to visitors in the parking lot to serving wine in the tasting room beneath the Pagodes and cleaning the glasses. It is an intense week, and we must perform flawlessly, as if part of a perfectly synchronized ballet.
And then there are the wine samples. The wines were blended and barreled in December. Every element is essential to the aging process; we work with several cooperages and the different barrels do not interact with our wines in exactly the same fashion.
Every morning, Dominique (Arangoïts, Technical Director) and I arrive early to taste and prepare samples of the wines in barrel. We label each sample by hand, indicating the vintage, the date on which it was prepared and the name of the person who prepared it. These samples are then stored in a cellar at optimal temperatures.
Once the samples are prepared, we greet the staff members who will welcome and serve visitors. Then the tastings begin. Throughout the day I am constantly coordinating team members, ensuring that everything is going smoothly and answering any questions. I also regularly check the temperature of the wine samples.
As the day comes to a close, we begin setting up for the following morning.
Our winegrowing and winemaking staff are happy to participate in the event. They may not be used to looking after visitors since it is not their usual role but they know I am there to listen to and reassure them.
It is an important time of year for them, a time when all the members of the different teams come together: our vineyard staff and cellar employees do not necessarily cross paths during the year. During “En Primeur” week, we all work together, a bit like during the harvest, which is another very important period in the life of the estate.
They also know it is a crucial moment for Cos d’Estournel and that it is important for all those who contribute to the winemaking process.
During “En Primeur” week, they see the other side of things, especially the reactions of clients when they taste the fruit of their labor. It makes them proud!
There is also an impact internally: our staff members realize that after the vines have been tended to and the wines crafted and aged, we are working to promote their daily efforts.
I like the fact that the staff from the vineyard and the cellar work together. It creates a different ambience: everyone has a new task, a new role at the service of the wines of the estate. It truly is a precious moment.
Since I oversee the tastings, I get to see the reactions of our visitors when they taste our wines. It is such a pleasure to see how our wines and our efforts are appreciated by visitors from around the world.
There are so many tastings, starting at the beginning, then when the wines are in vats and again during blending. We taste the wines over and over. Once the wines are put into barrels, there is that final tasting in March during blending. Everything comes to a standstill and we discover what we have created. The wines reveal themselves to us and they are even better than we could have imagined. It is a beautiful moment, one that is filled with emotion.
All the choices we have made, all the decisions taken throughout the year, they are all there in the glass before us.
