Check out the Highlights of June here
Long life to art, wine and rosemary.
Château Les Chaumes: a love for rosemary
Summer. That time of the year where the rosés inebriate you and the smell of fresh-cut rosemary from your grandma’s garden gives you life…
Except one thing: the photo up here was taken last March, by the end of winter and I was not at granny’s but at Château Les Chaumes, in the north-east of Bordeaux, France.
A visit to the cellar: to be in love with Château Les Chaumes
Aside from the gentleness of Mme Parmentier (and her husband), owner of the Château and the visionary behind the newly-created exhibition “Les Tondos des Chaumes” which I will soon explain further, what I remember best about this visit is the breeze on my skin by the garden overlooking the vineyards.
Mme Parmentier’s kitchen (with a view): wine tasting
What is also special about the property is that it seems to be deeply connected with its surrounding vibrant artistic community, as the following photos clearly show.
A Château OF/BY/FOR ALL.
Above: view of the “education room” and two artsy oak barrels
As Anne explained to me, this area of the property (the education room) is dedicated to private and public workshops on barrel-making as well as wine-tasting sessions. As we went through Les Chaumes, I learned how oak barrels are made (too long of a process for the purpose of this blog) but see photos below!
The wine production at Les Chaumes is mostly made of Merlot (60%), Cabernet (30%) and Malbec (10%). The wine ages for 12 months in the oak barrels you just saw and is bottled at the castle.
As for the taste, the red wines of Château Les Chaumes are balanced and easy to enjoy with food. I was even gifted with a bottle of brown wine, wine + chocolate: a wine-lover’s dream! You can purchase any of their bottles from the property’s website.
Some of the wines at Château Les Chaumes: tasty and affordable. I want them all!
We ended the meeting with lunch at a local restaurant (in photo: fois gras & Sauternes)
And now on to the purpose of this article, the exhibition “Les Tondos des Chaumes” (The Tondos at Chaumes): it’s about 20 tondos made by 20 local artists on barrel bottoms which will be shown at the property over the summer (from July 6th to August 18th). The event is organized by the volunteers of the AOC33 Association while Château Les Chaumes is the host.
Exhibition logo realized by one of the painters, Thierry Bisch
The 20 participants express themselves in a wide range of way (painting, sculpture, mosaic etc.) and there’s great diversity considered the context of Bordeaux: women and men from 14 to 70 years, between recognized artists and newcomers, all united to offer high-quality creations for public enjoyment.
The artists are: Thierry Bisch, who is also the artistic advisor; Etienne Bisch; Jofo; Xavier Jambon; Aurore Lephilipponat; Franck Espagnet; Babylon Mozaïc / Emilie Baudrais; Nathalie Azémar; David Ferreira; Pauline G; Max Mitau; Rene Damême; Franck Cavadore; Ozan Virgule; Manuel Cancel; Louis Barbe; Alben; Pier Régnier; Caroline Seck; Isabelle Sig.
Here are the first two tondos that were made for the exhibition (one by Max Mitau and the other by Jofo):
So, what else? If you feel like spending the summer between the fascinating worlds of art and wine, don’t miss this marvelous exhibition in Bordeaux! For info, you’re welcome to check out the event’s Facebook page here.
Happy summer!
