Domaine de Longue Toque: a warm welcome and tasting workshops!

Our warm welcome

Our tasting cellar in Gigondas recently received recognition for the quality of its welcome. The ‘Côtes-du-Rhône, Terroirs d’Accueil” Quality Charter label can be recognised by its three-vine-leaf symbol. This is the charter’s highest distinction.

It reflects the fact that we are all on hand to extend a warm welcome, listen to your questions and help you explore the richness of our terroirs.

Jasper Van Berkel, Sommelier and Cellar Manager, will be your guide. He speaks several languages (English, German and Dutch) and can offer useful advice, whatever your level of knowledge about wine. When we asked Jasper what he likes most about working at the cellar,he answered:

“What I likethe most is meeting visitors and chatting with people who are curious about wine! At the cellar, I get the chance to share our heritage. It’s fascinating to talk about what makes Gigondas special, about Gabriel Meffre, and about our magnificent surroundings. I like to inspire our visitors and inform people who aren’t used to having wine explained to them. For me, it’s a real pleasure to welcome small groups and have meaningful exchanges with them!”

Workshops for every palate

Whether you are a novice, a connoisseur, or simply curious about terroirs in Gigondas and the Rhône Valley, we can adapt our workshops to your needs. From the simplest to the most sophisticated, here are the tasting and introductory workshops run at the cellar of Domaine de Longue Toque.

Free tasting at the Cellar

If you are passing through Gigondas, you can take half an hour for a guided tasting of three or four of Maison Gabriel Meffre’s most iconic wines. Free tasting reservation required.

Tour of Domaine de Longue Toque

This one-hour tour offers an overview of the main stages in wine production, from the vine to the glass. We guide you around the estate, including the Ampelography Garden, which presents the main grape varieties found in Maison Gabriel Meffre’s wines. This presentation is a chance to interact and ask any questions you may have about varieties in the Gigondas appellation: Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault. We then take you to the wine cellar, where you can discover the vinification process and the barrel hall. Finally, the tour ends with a tasting of wines from Domaine de Longue Toque. In your glass, you will find a Côtes-du-Rhône White, followed by a Côtes-du-Rhône Villages “Plan de Dieu”, a Vacqueyras and, to finish in style, an iconic Gigondas wine.

Tasting introduction workshop

We designed this workshop to be like an interactive training session, to learn how to identify and describe your tasting experience. This 1½-hour introduction includes some fun little exercises and a tasting of eight wines (white, rosé and red).

To make the experience both educational and enjoyable, the workshop will be held in our tasting area, in a laid-back, straightforward atmosphere. Beginners looking to hone their palate and expand their vocabulary are most welcome!

‘Prestige tasting of the Laurus range’ workshop

Gabriel Meffre produces a wide range of wines. We offer a chance to discover some excellent wines with an immersive exploration of the Laurus range. These are complex wines, produced by specific vineyards, which express all the character of the Rhône Valley’s finest terroirs, thanks to the care and attention of our oenologists.

During this workshop, we offer you six Crus from the southern and northern Rhône Valley. Vacqueyras, Gigondas, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Hermitage, Condrieu and Côte Rôtie.

This tasting is designed for wine connoisseurs. In our private tasting area, you will be given a unique experience as our sommelier takes the time to talk about both Maison Gabriel Meffre’s historical, quality-centric approach, which produces wines of great finesse, and the outstanding terroirs these wines originate from.

‘4×4 tour of the Terroirs of Gigondas’ workshop

What could be better than a tour and on-site tasting session to fully appreciate the terroirs of Gigondas? We designed this workshop to be a fully immersive experience. Set off with our oenologist in a 4×4 to visit our parcels located in the Dentelles de Montmirail. Here, you will be offered a stunning view of the appellation and a tour of the estate’s most spectacular parcels, which are ‘Les 3 Yeux‘ and ‘Le Cayron‘.

On the topic of this workshop, Jasper mentions with a smile:

“When we get to an altitude of 480 metres, visitors open their eyes wide and share their surprise: Wow, so this is Gigondas?!”

The tasting session takes place on this amazing terroir. Surrounded by vineyards, you will be in just the right spot to understand the impact of the soils on the wines we produce.

Upcoming workshops

In a nutshell, the workshops we run to introduce the terroirs of Gigondas and Maison Gabriel Meffre’s expertise are experiences to be shared. Our aim is to continue in this vein by offering more opportunities to understand and taste our cuvées. Several projects are in the pipeline:

Jasper explains:

“We are currently producing videos that show and explain the various terroirs of Gigondas. We have a very precise parcel selection process and we want to document this area of our expertise. I’m thinking in particular about our parcels ‘Les 3 Yeux‘ and ‘Les Plâtrières‘, which allow us to produce very specific wines.”

Another workshop that Maison Gabriel Meffre would like to offer once again is the Gigondas blending workshop. This workshop is run by our winemaker Véronique Torcolacci, who talks about the art of blending and allows participants to make their own cuvée.

The highlight of this fun and educational workshop is the creation of a totally personalised cuvée, using wines that have reached the end of the maturation stage, while respecting the specifications for the Gigondas appellation. Participants leave with a bottle they have blended and labelled themselves. Get ready, as we are planning to begin these workshops starting in the spring of 2022.

Maison Gabriel Meffre is also planning to make our premises available as a venue for seminars and corporate events once again.

We have a fully-equipped meeting room and offer various introductory tasting workshops, as well as a tour of Domaine de Longue Toque in Gigondas. We hope that public health conditions will allow for the holding of such events. At Maison Gabriel Meffre, Caroline Cretté is in charge of the hosting of corporate and professional events.

Practical info for visitors to the tasting cellar

The simplest way to organise your visit to the cellar is to call us or reserve a workshop online at Rue des vignerons. All our workshops are available there and you can choose the time that suits you best to visit us.

Our tasting cellar is open Tuesday to Saturday, from 10 am to 12:30 pm and 1:30 to 6 pm.

Every Thursday during the summer season, at 11 am, we welcome visitors for a free tour of the estate.

Please contact us for any information or reservation requests.

Tel: +33 (0)490 123 021 – moc.erffem@erffemleirbaguaevac