On Wednesday, the 22nd of July, I participated in my first radio show with the Keeper Collection team. The show was on Koop radio, which is a radio station in Austin, Texas. It was explained to us that the station is owned and operated by its members in a cooperative structure. There are only volunteers for most of the operations of the station.
First Radio Show Experience
Contributing Author: Clothilde Lafarge, Keeper Collection Intern
The show was called “Another Bottle Down” , and it was founded and is managed by Mark Rashap, Certified Wine Educator, Society of Wine Educators. The concept of this show is to interview people in the wine business such as Importers, Winemakers, and Sommeliers.
When I arrived at the studio, I was so impressed by the equipment, the microphones and the numerous button controls in so many places. I knew then that this would be an experience to remember!
To be honest, I was a little bit stressed, since this was my first radio show appearance, and this one was in English, which is not my native language.
The show was divided into two parts: presentation of Keeper Collection by the founder Diane Dixon and presentation of Burgundy and the Domaine Michel Lafarge by me.
Diane started with the presentation of Keeper Collection. She introduced her company which is focused around wine and food. Then she presented some of her different events like #SommChat and Somm Under Fire.
Then, I talked about Burgundy and my family vineyard: Domaine Michel Lafarge.
Here is a summary of what I said about Domaine Michel Lafarge and Burgundy.
First of all, I shared that on July, 5th 2015, Burgundy was listed in UNESCO for its Climats and that Burgundy covers 28,000 hectares (or about 69,000 acres).
There are two main grape varieties in Burgundy: Pinot Noir for red wines and Chardonnay for white wines. These two grapes represent about 80% of the surface area.
There are two others grape varieties, which are Aligoté (6%) for white wine and Gamay (10%) for red.
Burgundy is divided into 6 subregions:
· Chablis and Grand Auxerrois
· Châtillonais
· Côte de Nuits
· Côte de Beaune
· Côte Chalonnaise
· Mâconnais
The classification of wines is made by the level of appellation. There are 4 levels of appellations (from the least expensive to the most expensive):
· Appellations Régionales
· Appellations Villages
· Appellations Premier Cru
· Appellations Grand Cru
My family vineyard is called Domaine Michel Lafarge. We are located in Volnay, which is in Côte de Beaune.
The estate was established at the beginning of the 19th century. I represent the 9th generation. Currently, the estate is managed by my grandfather Michel and my parents Frédéric & Chantal. We have 12 hectares spread over 4 Villages, which are Meursault, Volnay, Pommard and Beaune. The production is around 60,000 bottles per year.
Our production is divided as follows:
- 1/3 Appellation Régionales
- 1/3 Appellations Villages
- 1/3 Appellations 1er Cru
The estate has been cultivated Biodynamically since 2000. The Biodynamic culture is based on the observation of nature's cycles and the use of a very natural treatment. For example, we use chickens to replace some insecticides. This method helps restore the ground and regenerate it. The Biodynamic culture consists to increase exchange between the plant and its environment in order to get better grapes and therefore better wines. Biodynamics seek to strengthen the vitality and resistance of plants to optimize the expression of terroir in grapes and thus in wine.
For more information:
Website: http://www.domainelafarge.com/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/domainelafarge?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DomaineLafarge
The entire broadcast is maintained on The Illuminated Bottle website for you to listen at your leisure. You can click here to listen. Hope you enjoy the show! I would love to hear your comments below about the show.
