Wine Tasting in the South of France - Berlou Cooperative

So my brother managed to organise a tour of the cooperative in Berlou. Here a number of the local farmers put their grapes together and work together to produce wine and get it marketed. I didn't even realise this existed, let along that more than half of French wine is made this way! More information is here if you are interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winemaking_cooperative

It was amazing to get a tour round the site from the wine maker, Bernard. From the grapes being dropped off from trailers attached to tractors, being weighed, then right through the press and the fermentation process. My brother did a really good job at explaining the rather technical French he was being given.

Here's a small video of the grapes in action:

There was no tasting at the cooperative, but later that afternoon I went to the rather snazzy wine cave in the village, where they sold a number of different wines made at the cooperative. I tried a pink and a couple of reds. There was no one else in the shop, so the lady watched me drink the wines. No pressure to like them then!!!

Both were around the 7 Euro mark and pleasant enough, so I bought a couple of bottles to take back to the house for further quoffing...

To find out more about the wine from the village go to: http://www.berloup.com/en/