L’Alliance Française de Christchurch

When Sancerre, Pouilly-Fume, Menetou-Salon, Cheverny, Saumur-Champigny and Champagne winemakers heard about the devastating Christchurch earthquake, they immediately offered bottles of wine to be auctioned at Clos Henri in order to bring support in their own way to the victims. Earlier this year, at our 10th Anniversary, we auctioned off the wines, which raised over $6000. Damien took a drive to Christchurch last week to attend L'Alliance Francaise de Christchurch and officially hand over the cheque to the Mayor of Christchurch, Mr Bob Parker.

Philippe Sella Visits the Cellar Door

This was the first week of the new season here at Clos Henri. The cellar door was opened just in time for the influx of French rugby fans to touch down in Marlborough for the Rugby World Cup. Among our many blue cladded visitors was none other than French rugby legend and former French union player Mr Philippe Sella. We are all hoping for a blue/black final... Croisons les doigts!

Celebrating our 10th Anniversary

In July we enjoyed a fabulous weekend celebrating Clos Henri's 10th Anniversary. Jean-Marie and Arnaud Bourgeois came over from France to join the Clos Henri team, together with the French Ambassador his Excellency Mr Francis Etienne and some of our closest friends. The day began in the Winery with a counter vertical tasting through Sancerre and Marlborough wines. We then feasted on a French style grapevine shoots barbeque lunch, followed by a charity wine auction for Christchurch earthquake relief. Thank you to all the French winegrowers who so kindly donated their wines. Also, to the keen bidders who made this day such a wonderful success.

Clos Henri awarded best Sauvignon Blanc in the world

Our new release Clos Henri Sauvignon Blanc 2010 has won the Special Trophy Award at the Mondial du Sauvignon Competition which took place in Bordeaux earlier this year. Winemaker Damien Yvon said "10 years on from the birth of Clos Henri, it's a great accomplishment and we're all delighted with this award in such a prestigious wine competition".

Nuits Romantiques 2011

End of pruning and spring jobs

From early June to end of August the 30th, our team has been pruning our vines on the estate. 3 months and 40 Ha later, our whole vineyard is pruned in guyot double apart from few experimental pruning types.

The team is now starting spring jobs:

Men replace posts - in the case below, on the stony blocks we can see signs of the old river bed as it has created a difference of level of the ground. Posts need to be replaced to avoid having the fruit wire too high in the lowest levels of the ground. If the fruit wire is too high, the canopy isn't tall enough and this unbalances the vine to bring out more of the green flavours we want to avoid. Lowering the fruit wire will avoid this to happen.











Women train the new vines or young vines that needed to be replaced.












Young vines need some help to grow straight up, so we add a stake close to the vine that we tie to the wire, and so do we with the vine itself.

The vines are protected by a carton box at the bottom to avoid rabbits to eat the fragile roots and shoots.

Comparative dining experience at the Crumpet Club in Christchurch NZ

The Crumpet Club is a restaurant in Christchurch that focuses on crumpets in a very cosy ambiance with few fire places and a comfy mezzanine area.

The owner Helen who also created and ran the famous Bon Bolli in Christchurch for several years has welcomed us for a special night over Sauvignon Blanc from France and New-Zealand. So both our wines from Clos Henri in NZ and our wines from Domaine Henri Bourgeois in Sancerre were given for tasting.

Her head chef Cameron has concocted a fantastic menu to pair duos of wines, while the dishes were from both sides of the world as well:

Petit Clos Sauvignon Blanc to open up the palates

Bel Echo Sauvignon 2008 from NZ & La Vigne Blanche 2008 from Sancerre
Paired with a an egg and bacon tart and a quiche Lorraine
The home smoked bacon was nicely uplifting the minerality of both wines, while the creamy eggs was accompanying the roundness of specifically the Bel Echo.
The customers present mostly enjoyed La Vigne Blanche for its subtle chalky minerality and floral notes, and they mentioned loving the roundness of the Bel Echo.

Clos Henri Sauvignon Blanc 2008 from NZ and Les Baronnes 2008 from Sancerre
Paired with some amuse bouche of NZ creamy blue cheese and French chevre buche
Both cheese acidity were balancing the freshness of the wines, while again showing the texture of the Clos Henri sauvignon blanc, and the smokiness of Les Baronnes.
Customers loved both wines and couldn't really chose a favourite.

Clos Henri Pinot Noir 2007 from NZ
Paired with some mutton bird cooked in a pinot jus with mushrooms.
The mutton bird is quite a rare dish to get the chance to eat, and only good chefs get to make of this bird a delicacy, as it is quite fat but also very fine. It is a sea bird, and therefore has the delicate flesh of a bird, while some sort of salty characters. This unusual match was surprising and so successful, in terms of delicacy of the textures and with the mushroom going along with the earthiness of the wine.
Definitely the wine was shown at its best and the customers enjoyed the elegant structure and the femine side of this pinot that shows fine and precise fruit.
It was positive to hear that Marlborough pinot noir is not usually the region that come to their mind for quality pinot noir, but that the Clos Henri changed their point of view.

Thank you to Helen and Cameron for a successful evening and such good wine & food matches.
http://www.crumpetclub.co.nz/

Bastille Day 2010 at Clos Henri - 14th of July

For the 5th year in a row, we have celebrated Bastille Day on the estate - in our church 'Ste Solange'. The celebration is held around a particular French wine region, that we get our Marlborough winery friends, local authorities, suppliers, local clients and team to discover through regional food specialities and a wine from the region in question.

We started few years ago with Champagne (always good to start with a bubble), Rhone Valley (to warm up a bit from our cold winter), Chinon (as it was the year we built our winery and or winemaker is from Chinon) and this year we focused on Provence and Bandol.

Of course our guests get to try all these delicacies with our wines. It is a fantastic moment to gather our friends every year and share a special moment of Wine & Food. Since it is a mission to find the French delicacies, we cook ourselves (helped by our few French people on the estate) which makes it a real gift from the heart to the Marlborough wine community that fully welcomed the Bourgeois family in NZ.

MW Symposium in Bordeaux - Jancis Robinson comments our wines

The theme of this second formal session of MW Symposium was to compare a couple of New World versus Old world wines from wineries present in both hemispheres. Arnaud Bourgeois has been invited to participate to this symposium, as the representant of the Bourgeois family entities: Domaine Henri Bourgeois in Sancerre - France, and Clos Henri Vineyard in Marlborough - NZ. Along with Arnaud Bourgeois were invited to present their wines internationally recognised producers: Egon Muller, Pascal Marchand, Zelma Long, Michel Rolland.

Arnaud Bourgeois has presented the 'Cote des Monts Damnes' 2008 and the 'Clos Henri Sauvignon Blanc' 2008 for comparative tasting. Here's what Jancis Robinson says about our wines:

"Clos Henri Sauvignon Blanc 2008 - 16 pts - Drink 2009-11
Greywacke soil which is very stony and Wither soils. Arnaud points out that they used their Sancerre experience of making wine on different soils. A hint of asparagus juice and then very bright, zappy fruit with much more intensity on the palate than most Marlborough sauvignons. 10% barrel fermentation in one-year-old oak. Finishes pretty dry."

"La cote des Monts Damnes 2008 - 16.5 - Drink 2010-13
Kimmeridgian soil. 2008 was good for preserving the acid in Sancerre. Arnaud admits it's less intense on the nose and then much drier and tarter than the Kiwi wine. Still very young and with masses of flavour still to be resolved, I suspect. Still a bit astringent on the finish."

Clos Henri elected Gold Medal Cellar Door 2010

Every year, Wine Marlborough (promotional institute for the Marlborough wine region) organises for Mystery Shoppers to visit wineries 'incognito' and evaluate their tasting rooms as known as cellar doors. The evaluation is held on the quality of the service, quality of the information given, little step further done by the cellar door host, quality of the experience given.

We are proud to receive a Gold Medal for the season 2010. We always ensure our visitors have a wonderful experience and leave our cellar door with relevant information about Clos Henri and wine in general. 'Terroir' being one of the important notion for us to explain, through comparative tastings of our wines and a wine from Sancerre, as well as through a display of soils that show the terroir characteristics of our estate.

We've also opened a little cafe this year at Clos Henri where French cheese and terrines are served. This brings a little plus to the atmosphere, and enables our visitor to enjoy good quality products with a glass of our wines amongst the vineyard.

We invite you to visit us:

From mid may to end october: by appointment only

From beginning of november to mid may: Monday to Friday - 10am to 4pm

On 639 state hwy 63 - RD1 - Wairau Valley - Blenheim