Special Zoom--Bertrand Gautherot of Vouette et Sorbee + special documentary movie (May 29th and May 30th)

Todd, Brad and I are thrilled to have locked up a Zoom with Bertrand Gautherot of Vouette et Sorbee. Some of you are already experienced with the biodynamic approach of Bertrand, who was one of the very early pioneers of the practice in all of Champagne.

Bertrand’s vines and winery are located in the small village of Buxieres-sur-Arce, located in the south, not far from Pierre Gerbais and Cedric Bouchard. He farms Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc, with a dedicated and fully committed approach of biodynamics for his cuvees. I discovered these wines through Envoyer, and with some distribution of his cuvees in several of the larger US cities, I suspect many of you have tried and own the wines as I do.

I visited Bertrand back in May 2018, with my visit to see him at Vouette et Sorbee being the final appointment on my trip. It was a Friday afternoon, with Bertrand and I walking his plots above the village, teaching me about his approach and the deep commitment he feels for producing his wines. I have displayed a # of photos below from my trip, to help get you into the visual spirit for what is to come.

This Zoom will be different. Let me explain so bear with me. We will Zoom with Bertrand LIVE on May 30th, just as we have with other Champagne guests. But, this time we will ask you all to first watch a special documentary that features Bertrand, as well as his daughter, Heloise. The producer of the film takes us through a year of time with Bertrand and Heloise, showing the cycle of harvest, embedded with the techniques and philosophy of biodynamics. The film is about 50 mins long, is of theatre quality, and you are able to use close captioning to watch it. It is a wonderfully shot film, showcasing the how, why of biodynamics, as well as the connection of Bertrand and Heloise through the course of their relationship within the winery and producing the vintage.

We will ask all attendees to watch the film, providing you a special password to play the film 24 hours ahead of the live Zoom event. The film has potential for awards and other purposes, which explains why we are giving all of you the limited viewing time. You will need the film in order to have the best experience on May 30th with Bertrand.

The password for the film will be available starting on May 29th @ 10AM PT. I will share it with everyone who PMs me for the May 30th Zoom link, so you will not have to remind me to send it to you. And as usual, the Zoom link for the live Zoom event will still need to be obtained from me via PM, to protect the event from the wrong people.

For those who are now confused, I will provide the standard Zoom instructions below, with the short amendments about them film and how to get access to it.

TO BE PART OF THE EVENT, PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING. THANK YOU.

  1. As usual, send me a PM and I will provide you the Zoom link for the May 30th LIVE event with Bertrand. 10AM PT / 1PM ET / 1700 Paris. We will use this time to meet Bertrand and spend time digging into the film, letting you all ask questions about biodynamics, his style, his views on winemaking, etc.

  2. On May 29th at 10am PT, I will provide a password to all of you that PM’d me, giving you special access to watch the documentary. This password will expire once we start the live event on May 30th, so you got 24 hours to watch the film.

  3. If you own Vouette et Sorbee, please open one. Or, you can choose to open another Champagne to enjoy during the event.

This will be a special event for WB so please attend, enjoy the information and let’s learn and have some fun together. Any questions, holler at me or post.
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Awesome!

Frank and Brad worked really hard on this one, and we’ve all seen the short film prior to setting up the event. It’s extraordinary, really, and we’ll be getting a ‘private screening’ before this movie goes public. Delving as deep as it does on biodynamic philosophy has got to be an education to all, particularly because the movie is based around said education to one of the main characters! After seeing Bertrand’s movie, then having the call with Benoit Dehu, I find myself pulled strongly toward biodynamic wines now!

These Zoom sessions have cost me a lot of money…not in server or Zoom subscription costs, but in wine purchases! I bought from THREE of the producers already, and waiting on an offer for another one that I think is coming out. To see these sessions, ‘meet’ the minds behind the wines, and hear their personal stories just makes you want to jump in!!

Folks, appreciate the PMs, I have got back to all of you now. Todd, thanks for the voice of support. Sorry about your budget but I too have an even stronger pull towards biodynamic Champagne through our series. I also once again appreciate and thank you for partnering with me, with Brad, to put these on.

We also recognize that this is a deeper learning commitment than what is customarily our Saturday Zooms. It also has the potential to look complex on paper, given the links, the PM and the password for the documentary. If you’re on the fence, give the idea a chance and come learn in a way that we have not been able to offer before, a format that is a bit bolder. Send me a PM, and you’re in.

Finally, I realized this morning that the 3 minute ‘trailer’ for the film is not closed captioned enabled (CC). I have asked for that to be enabled and once I have it, I will post it here and onto Instagram. This will be a way for you to ‘peek’ into the content and see the quality. You can then simply click the link for this short trailer and watch it. Hope to have it today or tomorrow.

And watching the short movie ahead of time is truly rewarding. The level of detail and specificity is important to look at for ANY wine lover, regardless of producer, region, or varietal.

Yup. I’m in the same situation as yours. Been buying more champagne after this event. Great event though, not so much for the wallet.

I went in for Musar, Mousse, and Marie-Courtin! Waiting now on an offer I’m anticipating for Dehu!

I bought Mousse, Marie Courtin and Dehu.
Yesterday I bought the 2014 and 2015 Dehu Noyers from winebid for about $65 after tax and commission.

These are so educational, but like others, my wallet is crying tears of Champagne. I just ordered a mixed case, which included Marie Courtin and Mousse; I have another cart awaiting payment that includes Vouette and Dehu. If these Zooms continue, my husband is going to start complaining about the cases in filling up our foyer (did not exercise much restraint in the Quarantive offers)…!

Yeah, I was eyeing those bottles as well

Oh, well then I think you are in for it for a little while longer. champagne.gif

This looks fantastic! Thank you for your time and effort Frank, Brad & Todd. I cannot watch the sessions live because of the time difference (1AM in melbourne when you start) but I religiously rewatch the uploads!

This one looks like the tete de cuvee of zoom streams :wink:

This is really going to be a special event as it is a lot more than just talking with Bertrand. All participants will get a special sneak peak at a documentary that Bertrand and his family are featured in. The documentary follows Bertrand and his family over 18 months and goes over how Bertrand got to where he is and how he is passing things along to the next generation. Only a handful of folks outside of the production team and people featured in it have seen it so this special private screening for event participants is a wonderful opportunity. It took a lot of work to arrange this ‘preview’.

The documentary is quite moving and family focused. It also gets into a lot of the principles of Biodynamics and how Bertrand learned to embrace them. I won’t say anything more, but, if you are going to particpate in the visit with Bertrand, please, please, please watch the documentary before the visit. It is a hard requirement (even if we can’t enforce it) and a sincere request from Bertrand. You can do this the day before or the day of. This meeting wtih Bertrand is likely going to be highly interactive with what I expect are a lot of questions from the documentary.

Get ready for more educational fun. Champagne School is Cool!

Hello everyone. Below is a link which will play the 2 minute trailer for the film. What you will see is the quality, along with Bertrand and his daughter, Heloise. You may also notice the buried amphorae, the biodynamic preparation, the battle with frost and some other cool visuals that represent V et S. I decided not to wait for the closed caption version as this is short and the visuals are what we wanted you to see. The 50 min full documentary on the 29th will have closed captioning so need to worry about it.

Please support this event, as my belief is that this will be the last Zoom for Champagne we will do for a while and I personally want to end strong, with a great concept like we have planned for the 29th and 30th, to showcase the film and the devoted work that is being done by Bertrand of Vouette et Sorbee.

PMs are all caught up again, so please continue to PM me if you will be attending the event with us.

I opened a 2016 base Fidele tonight from Vouette et Sorbee. Just excellent stuff. Creamy yet red fruited, with good spine, tangy lime and red fruits with some red apple. I suspect I will open another one next Saturday when we put this event on.

All the PMs are caught up again, please keep signing up.
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The production quality shown in the trailer goes through the roof. This might end up being the best film on wine ever made. I have been looking for high-quality films or documentaries on wine and apart the three Somms there isn’t that much around with this professional look and feel to it. I’m in awe at the imagery.

Jan, wait until you see nearly a whole hour of content. It’s tremendous.

I’m getting ahead of the event, wanted to get some new data points on the wines. I think I will open an Argile next, probably for the event next week. Anyway, here is a dive into the 2016 Fidele. Terrific.

  • 2016 Vouette et Sorbée Champagne Fidèle - France, Champagne (5/21/2020)
    First of two. Disgorged November 2018, 100% PN, no dosage, farmed bio. Opened yesterday, stoppered the bottle overnight and working my through the bottle again today. Love this stuff. Tangy plum, cranberry, crisp apple, mint and ginger, with lots of intensity. Finishes with a bit of creaminess and a distinct saline, wet stone note. This is excellent, and there should be no concern about this being young or zero dosed, or whatever you might think…Bertrand continues to craft cool stuff, farmed clean as a whistle with no BS.

Posted from CellarTracker

Folks, this is going to be the last planned Zoom I have with Brad (for now) regarding Champagne. We’ve learned a lot together, and the unique advantage of this upcoming Zoom will be the learning and dialogue we can have about biodynamics, and in part, demystifying it and making it real. Let’s show Bertrand some strong support and fill this Zoom.

The full documentary will be accessible starting this Friday @ 10AM PT, for 24 hours. Then, at Saturday 10AM PT, we will meet live via Zoom with Bertrand from his village in Buxieres-sur-Arce in the south.

Brad and I are gonna try and connect with as many interested Champagne lovers this week as we can, in support of this Friday and Saturday.

If you would like to be a part of this event, PM me.

Bertrand is a great chap making amazing wines, you should have a great time if he’s not too camera-shy!

If you’re looking for quality films on wine and more specifically biodynamic, I recommend “La clef des Terroirs” by Guillaume Bodin. https://www.dahu.store/fr/accueil/68-vod-lcdt.html There is an ENG subtitle version available and Guillaume is preparing a sequel.

And If you want to move on to Burgundy zoom events, I’ll be happy to host one if my cellphone connection is sufficient in the vineyard :confused: