Flavors and knowledge at the Beaucas estate in Sainte-Maxime

Organized for the first time in April 2022, the guided tour of the Beaucas wine estate is always a great success. Organized by the tourist office, this stroll through the vineyards of the Maxime estate is led by Valérie Deschoenmacker.

The latter also oversees other guided tours, including the brand new "Immersion and Know-How," whose first outing is scheduled for Tuesday, June 10 at 2:30 p.m. It focuses on Provençal gastronomy. In the meantime, we return to the Roynette family estate. This tour of Les Beaucas brought together around fifteen people.

What the guide teaches us

Before talking about the vineyard, Valérie Deschoenmacker digresses into the vegetation surrounding the 17 hectares of vines spread across both the communes of Sainte-Maxime and Plan-de-la-Tour. "The vineyard is planted on hillsides on a sandy-clayey-schist soil, the flora is composed of lavender, rosemary, olive trees, and also cork oaks, which, I remind you, are used to make corks," explains the guide.

When the office asked her, three years ago, to lead this walk through the vineyards, Valérie Deschoenmacker set one condition: "I asked that the Roynette family train me, and that's what was done."

Thus, she can detail the grape varieties used in Beaucas: Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah, Mourvèdre for the rosés and reds, Rolle and Sémillon for the whites. Pruning the vines, visiting the cellar, winemaking, everything is reviewed by the guide. The tour naturally ends with a wine tasting!

Delighted visitors

A Brussels resident on vacation at his in-laws', second home in ^Sainte -Maxime, Damien explains his curiosity: "My in-laws are coming to buy wine at the Domaine des Beaucas. I wanted to see behind the scenes and I don't regret it. This visit is really very interesting." Alexandre, a cereal farmer in the Meuse, gives his opinion with the eye of the farmer: "This walk is pleasant and enriching. At home, we ask ourselves questions and I ask myself questions about our professional future, particularly in the face of water-related problems. We produce a wine here, Côtes-de-Toul. Our plots are chalky... Maybe one day I will turn to wine production!" Want to discover

Encarnation ROYNETTE AND her son Guillaume are delighted with these tours: "Apart from the tasting part, Valérie takes care of everything and she does it very well. She knows her subject perfectly. We only have good feedback, you absolutely have to register to participate in this tour, so the people who come are interested in the subject from the start and this of course contributes to the quality of the tours."

Next tours: July 3, 17 and 31, August 14 and 28.