Château du Tertre x Château Woerden

Château du Tertre x Château Woerden.

On the 2nd of May ‘Crus & Domaines de France’ organized an event on a spectacular location; The Castle of Woerden. Arriving in the Castle we got an introduction featuring the many different wines that GCF has to offer (for the highlights in this tasting we will post a separate article). 

During the day we enjoyed a special Masterclass on French sparkling wines (Tour the Crémants) and a delicious Winemaker Lunch featuring one of the group’s crown jewels: Château du Tertre.

About Groupe GCF  

Joseph Helfrich created the “Les Grands Chais de France Group” around 40 years ago with as main goal to satisfy the thirst of wine lovers. The group is focused on the story of family driven wines and wineries, with passion for their wines and terroir.  Together with the entire company their shared vision is: 

“Have consumers all over the world come to enjoy the huge diversity of wines and the authenticity of French and foreign terroirs.”

A vision that was visible during the event. Over 100 open wines, winemakers who told their story, a big variety of wine regions, grapes and terroirs. We first handed experienced the passion of the different winemakers and the representatives of GCF on site.

Tour de Crémants

France is a country with a wide variety of sparkling wines. Of course, everyone knows the sparkling wines from Champagne but there are many interesting alternatives to this. In principle every main region in France produces a form of sparkling wine, which mostly can be clustered under the name Crémant.

After an introduction we were invited to join the Tour the Crémants. During this special theme tasting we had the chance to taste 23 different cremants from 7 different regions. During the tasting we learned about the methods, different regions and different styles of the presented crémants.

Beautiful wines with all their own character, with as a personal favorite:  

Arthur Metz his Grande Terroir Schiste Schieferberg Crémant D’Alsace. Made with 60% of Riesling, 20% of Pinot Blanc and 20% of chardonnay. Riped on lies for 24 months and qualified as Brut. 

DWA score: 93


After the Tour de Crémants we moved to a very special location for the Château du Tertre lunch; the cellar of Chateau Woerden. GCF gave us a presentation about their vision, wineries and presented the main artist of the day: Château du Tertre.



About Château du Tertre

Château du Tertre is a winery located in the Margaux area in Bordeaux. The wine produced here was classified as one of eighteen Cinquièmes Crus (Fifth Growths) in the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855. Located on the Tertre (Hillock or rising grounds) this is where the Château thanks her name from. 

History revealed that the estate goes back to somewhere around 1143 (not in the name it has right now). Over the years there has been a few changes in ownership but from 1997-2018 Du Tertre had a Dutch owner: Eric Albada Jelgersma. In 2021 Château du Tertre changed owners again, with GCF coming in charge of the winery, wine production and distribution. 

Château du Tertre has over 80 hectares holding Cabernet Sauvignon (40%), Merlot (35%), Cabernet Franc (20%), Petit Verdot (5%).

Winemaker Lunch Château du Tertre

In the cellar of the Castle of Woerden we were seated at a wonderful table where we had the chance to taste some well-made food and a very nice selection of the wines of Château du Tertre. All the information about the wines (and glassworks) we got from Sommelier of the year 2022 and Sommelier of Restaurant De Bokkedoorns** in Overveen:  Niels Overmeire.  

Below an overview of the menu with both the dishes and the paired wines (including our ratings).

Amuse: Coquille with Bacon | Samphire and wakame

  • Paired with:  Tertre Blanc (DWA score: 89).
  • A nice pairing with the intense flavor of the Tetre blanc, goes very nice with the crisp of the bacon and the saltiness of the Coquille.

Entrée: Grilled Tuna with sesame, soy, wasabi mayonnaise and Shiitake Mushrooms | Crisp of seaweed

  • Paired with: Château du Tertre Hauts du Tetre 2019 (DWA score: 84) & Grand Cru Classé 2019 (DWA score: 92).
  • The wines (especially the Grand Cru Classé 2019) were to powerful for the dish and dominated over the softer flavours of the Tuna. If we had to make a choice we would go with the Hauts du Tertre, because it was smoothest of the two. We also had a sip of the Blanc with the dish, and personally we believe this would be a better pairing.

Intermediate: Beef Carpaccio with Mushrooms | Rocket salad, roasted nuts, pesto and oil

  • Paired with: Château du Tertre Grand Cru Classé 2017 (DWA score: 87) & Grand Cru Classé 2015 (DWA score: 91).
  • Both wines stood out, with the 2015 very well made and the perfect combination with the beef carpaccio. Especially with the roasted nuts, pesto and oil made it a very well-balanced dish that went perfectly with the Grand Cru Classé 2015. 

Main: Bavette | Crème of sweet potatoes, ratatouille, red wines sauce

  • Château du Tertre Grand Cru Classé 2006 (DWA score: 87) & Grand Cru Classé 2000 (DWA score: 93).
  • The very well defined 2000, with a very nice acidity, well balanced and light structured tannins went excellent with the bavette.  As for the 2006, it was a very good wine but we think it has more ageing potential, with the intense flavours of the bavette it did not really stand out. 

Dessert: Yoghurt Bavarois | Lemoncurd | Strawberries

  • Paired with: Château Bastor-Lamontagne Sauternes 2017 (DWA score: 96).
  • This pairing made this event more perfect. The sweetness of the Sauternes 2017 went so well with the freshness of the strawberries, lemoncurd and bavarois. Spot on combination with very intense flavours.

Conclusion

Overall, we really enjoyed the event and the great wines of GCF and in particular Château du Tertre. You can tell that a lot of hard work, effort and love has been put into the presented wines. The location for this event was stunning, the ambience was good and the story told is one to remember.  

For as far as the wines go, if you can get your hands on a bottle of 2015, 2019 or 2000 of Château du Tertre we would definitely consider buying one and enjoying it!

This event was covered by our own Jorick Wimmers. We would like to thank Les Grands Chais de France, Château du Tertre and Buro On/Off for organizing this wonderful event. 

Picture credits: Frances Stefanie.