Burlington Wine & Food Festival Seminar Feature: "An American Girl in Bordeaux"

Meet Winemaker Michele d’Aprix, who has studied under legendary winemaker Stephane Derenoncourt, will be pouring her wines & discussing her many projects in Bordeaux. Michele is a UC Davis Grad of their Viticulture & Enology program, who found her passion for winemaking in Bordeaux.

“As a student of organic chemistry, viticulture & enology, I have all the educational resources, lab skills, text books and molecule sets needed in order to turn that stale glass of water next to your bedside into something that would look and taste like wine. You wouldn’t want to drink it, but I learned how to do this. (The wedding feast at Cana is a parlor trick for any good Davis grad who paid attention.) But while attending UC Davis’ V & E program, I also learned how to make wine that you would not only want to drink but also could get paid to make. V & E is one of the coolest academic programs out there, and I learned things in those labs and lecture halls that I still don’t know how to fully make use of within my professional pursuits in the wine world. But Davis taught me, just in case. I learned what aroma looks like, learned how to create things and then, how to make them disappear (color, flavor, scent…not even kidding…this can be done). Davis provides its students with a basis of education and the practical chops anyone seeking work in a professional winery could need. To make a comparison, culinary schools are exactly like Davis, and nothing like Davis. And I’ve been shown why this metaphor makes sense.

Culinary schools teach their chefs proper techniques like sous vide, using induction burners, and molecular gastronomy to keep their students informed of the cutting edge that they’ll encounter once they leave the classroom. Davis does this too, and because the science can be so intense and all-consuming for the student enologist-in-training, things more philosophical like balance, character, and quality can get short shrift in the dialogue on how to make great wine.

But unlike Davis, great culinary schools and great chefs teach why temperature or acid matters in cooking via a conversation that involves eating, tasting & smelling – none of which are quantifiable, all of which are important in the assessment of fine food or a well-composed plate. The concept of how to make a great wine with a sense of place is not a focus of Davis’s program. It’s more elemental there. They breed and train eager, young enologists, via the molecule, from the bottom up. It was absolutely fascinating, and completely scientific. We were taught what wine is, where it comes from and how to change its physical & chemical properties. I was one of the lucky students because I happened to be there at a time when the trail blazing professors and researchers who founded the program were actually still teaching.

But…they don’t teach you what quality or feeling is at UC Davis. They can’t, because those things aren’t measurable; they’re not science. Nor is great wine, as I am finding out on a daily basis. Vintage to vintage, bottle by bottle, glass by glass.

I met Stéphane Derenoncourt in 2004, 2 years after I graduated from Davis.

Stéphane is not an enologist. He did not go to school to learn about vine physiology or the biochemistry of fermentation. In fact, I’d bet he doesn’t know off the top of his head what the molecular formula for TCA is, and I’m certain he doesn’t care. But he, a bit like Yoda maybe, can stand in a vineyard and tell you from a quality perspective, why one is better for Merlot, and not Cabernet Franc. And once the vineyard grows in, he knows how you better prune it, and once the fruit is picked, what temperature to keep the fermentation at, and how many times to look under the lid & give it a stir while it’s evolving. All of this is done by feel, loosely at times, and totally precise in moments. He learned wine could be ‘made’ without doing anything to it, other than letting it follow its natural progression once the vineyard has been shaped into what the soils, sun, wind, precipitation, personnel and winery can provide it.

Every vineyard has its limit with regard to the quality of wine you can grow there. Like he sees people, Stéphane sees vineyards as places to be brought to their full potential without crossing the line where they need to be manipulated.

Christopher Imports is a conduit to the work and philosophy of Stéphane Derenoncourt. As a portfolio of wines, it may not be limited to only the wines he makes. (I make a few myself.) But this project was begun with a desire to represent these ideals that I too have come to apply to my work in wine and I go forward grateful for having had the education (all different kinds), and responsible for teaching it to those who would listen. And taste.”

She will also be featured at a wine dinner at Juniper June 19th 6-8pm Michele’s wines will be paired with Chef Doug’s creative cuisine.

Tickets are $50 plus tax & tip.
Reservations can be made with Vermont Wine Merchants 802.658.6771 or brita@vtwinemerchants.com

http://vtwinemerchants.com/
http://www.burlingtonwineandfoodfestival.com/
http://www.hotelvt.com/dining-drinking/juniper
http://www.christopherimportsny.com/home/