It hads become somewhat of a tradition at Château Palmer, and the estate once again decided to welcome several trainees this year. During their mutually beneficial internship, they acquire know-how and experience, while the technical team will benefit from the experiments performed by these highly motivated future viticulturalists.
Twenty-five year old Lucie Lauilhe joined the château's team in March to undertake the work- experience part of her studies. A recent graduate of Montpellier University with a degree in agricultural engineering, Lucie continues her studies towards a Diplôme National d'Oenologie (DNO) in Bordeaux while working in the Palmer vineyard and cellars. A true lover of fine wine, she perfected the cartography of the vineyard begun last year in order to limit the use of chemical inputs.
Another trainee, 22 year-old Lorenzo Pasquini, is a dyed-in-the-wool Italian who can spend hours explaining the differences between the Tuscan vineyards and his new second home in the Médoc. After obtaining a bachelor's degree in viticulture and winemaking from the University of Pisa, Lorenzo decided to broaden his experience by training at Château Palmer. This provided ideal practical applications to accompany the DNO studies he is undertaking in Bordeaux. Lorenzo's experiment dealt with the effects of biodynamic viticulture on both the vines and wine at Palmer.
Céline Carrion has been in charge of tours at Château Palmer for the past 9 years. She took advantage of the period during which the cellars and winery are closed for renovation to prepare a BTS advanced vocational course in viticulture and winemaking - while applying what she learned at Château Palmer. For example, among her numerous activities, Céline helped in devatting the new wine as well as measuring must density during alcoholic fermentation. Thanks to this hands-on experience, our guide will soon know everything there is to know about winemaking techniques at Château Palmer!
While Lucie imagines a future career as a winemaking consultant, Lorenzo dreams of going to Australia or California in order to discover new techniques, very different from those in the Médoc. As for Céline, she will be delighted to welcome you starting in July to take you on a tour of the newly renovated estate.
In order to thank our three new future professionals, Château Palmer invited them to a unique meal prepared by our Chef, Olivier Guibault.
The icing on the cake (or, rather, the strawberry parfait in this instance...), was when Thomas Duroux, who hosted the meal, decided to open wines from their birth years. Château Palmer 1986 and Château Palmer 1989 were thus tasted with enormous pleasure, keeping in mind the challenging, but unforgettable times during the vinification.
We would like to raise a toast to our three trainees, and wish them the best of luck with their careers !
Jeff Leve has written a very nice and complete profile of Chateau Palmer on his website : The Wine Cellar Insider.
Starting with an introduction of Chateau Palmer's history, he enters in the memory of our VAT room and finally describes the characteristics of our wines.
Have a look at it : http://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/?p=12303
Château Palmer has a yearly tradition of welcoming one or more interns to our team. In 2010, three interns joined our team with goals of developing their skills, putting their knowledge into practice and also giving us some extra support during key moments of harvest and wine making.
Marie Thomazo, 22, has a degree from the Ecole Supérieure d'Agriculture in Angers. Marie arrived at the Château in April 2010, after having spent a year abroad at a winemaking university in Chile. Her main mission is to develop a map of the sensibility of the vineyard to developing mildew. The aim is to then better plan treatments to combat disease. Marie also greatly participated in the winemaking process that began during harvest, just like our other two interns.
Estabin Fortin and Jimmy Herbert, respectively 22 and 21, are both in their last year of studies for the Diplôme National d'Oenologie, in Dijon and Bordeaux. They arrived in June for the first part of their internship, during which they assisted our vineyard director, Jacques Dupin, with pruning the vine. An important exercise in team management, "which allowed us to grow and learn" according to Jimmy.
From September to December, they took part in the wide range of duties associated with the winemaking process in order to have a global and comprehensive vision of this particularly important phase in the making of our wines.
Their feedback at the end of their internships was unanimous. They were enthusiastic about such a rich experience, bringing to light the importance of terroir in expressing the intrinsic qualities of wine: requiring a great deal of work in the vineyard throughout the year, to be exploited in the cellar in order bring out the best.
Esteban is hoping to find new winemaking missions, and eventually become a cellar director. Jimmy would like to continue his education with the aim of becoming an agronomist. Marie would like to head to the United States to continue her education in Californian wineries.
We wish all 3 of them the best of luck in their upcoming adventures.
Excerpts from the article written by Rodolphe WARTEL, published in Sud Ouest, on October 28, 2010.
Ensure the Legacy. Improve and continue to rise through the ranks. Since 2004, Thomas Duroux has been the CEO of Château Palmer, in Margaux. He has successfully completed the first of his missions, which was not the easiest. For the favorite wine of Claude Debussy, as for all the grands crus, each note counts in the subtile balance between vine and wine. "Over the past six years, we've worked on what needed to be questioned", without ostentation, in the cold silence of the cellars, analyses Thomas Duroux. The team notably conducted an in-depth study "to enter into the intimacy of the terroir". 55 hectares make up Palmer... its soil has been scrutenized. 30, 60, 120 centimeters deep, infrared pictures of the vines... a very scientific approach, this ENITA engineering alum, with a passion for biology, wanted to uncover the secrets of this terroir.
Reception quality The shareholders of Palmer (the heirs of the wine merchants Malher-Besse and the Maison Sichel) have now given him new tools: as of this autumn, 8 million Euros will be invested over the next two years to "adapt the equipement, streamline it, and improve the identity of Palmer's village". Again, no cellar/cathedral but an investment entirely devoted to improving quality. The harvest reception area,which is still set up, as on many Estates, under a tent, will be installed in a 350 square meter hall within two years. The pumping system will give way to one that uses gravity. A mini cellar will house experimental winemaking projects. The construction of a new barrel cellar will allow a vintage to age without it being moved. Lastly, the accesibility of Palmer will be reviewed, with the aim of highlighting the "village", with re-landscaping and a modification to the entryway (access will be through the vineyard).
Determination to develop wine tourism? Not in the least! Palmer simply wants to focus on the hospitality of its guests. "We want to remain open to everyone, but each person must be received individually. That requires preparation." As a result, two visits per day, by appointment only, are now possible.
Jeff Leve, a wine enthusiast who has been tasting, collecting and
traveling to wine regions in France and in America for over 15 years,
has launched his website : The Wine Cellar Insider.
It is updated in a very regular basis with new tasting notes and
wine news, and is very rich in information about Bordeaux regions and
Châteaux : history, vineyard, equipment, and other key facts.
This is the english version of the video realized by Millésima SA, a major wine merchant of La Place de Bordeaux. The video presents the vineyards and the wines with wonderful images.
Frédéric Durand-Bazin, journalist at Le Figaro and at the Journal des Finances, presents for few months the wine section on Le Figaro website with passion and success.
His video section, "Un verre avec..." is a really appreciated initiative from the wine lovers.
This time, Bernard de Laage presents the history of Palmer and the marvellous vintage 1998.
On a very special At The Root of It, Erin Fitzpatrick is joined by
Thomas Duroux of Chateau Palmer, on Friday October, 23rd. Thomas tells us why the 09 Bordeaux
vintage is going to blow people away, and what the French region has in
common with Bulgari.
Roger Pourteau flattered us with an article entitled, "Château Palmer, A Breath of Fresh Air" in the Figaro newspaper on Tuesday, October 27th. An entire page in the section "Figaroplus" dedicated to wine. Don't miss it!
In the spring of 2008, we had the pleasure of hosting Jay Selman and his team from Grape Radio. We invite you to discover the magnificent images that Grape Radio filmed during the interview that Jay conducted with Thomas Duroux: images of the vineyard and the 2008 vintage grapes during fruit set.
