Lire cet article en français : Passion Saint-Émilion, dans la vinothèque secrète.
Part of the Bordeaux Confidentiel team spent a morning at Passion Saint-Émilion, the winegrowers' cooperative of the right bank, invited by Gilles Blanchard and Marielle Masquefa, head of marketing and communication. On the programme: a tour of the facilities, a stop at the shop, then a wine and chocolate workshop in the vinotheque, surrounded by grand crus from every vintage. Lunch on the banks of the Gironde estuary at Laurent's place, a partner winegrower of the co-op. The story of a day that quietly upends a few preconceived ideas about wine cooperatives, and makes you want to come back with friends.
Meeting at the co-op, with Gilles and Marielle
Gilles Blanchard and Marielle Masquefa welcome us the way you welcome guests at home. No corporate speech, no slides. A handshake, a walk around the property. Passion Saint-Émilion is the structure that gathers independent winegrowers of the Saint-Émilion appellation and its satellites, pooling vinification, bottling and commercialisation. The team walks through the cellars, along the stainless-steel tanks, glances at the barrels. Gilles explains without jargon, Marielle drops the anecdotes that make the difference, both pause whenever a question comes up. Then it's the shop: broad selection, producer prices, everything the co-op puts out is here, with the big names and the hidden gems you'll never find at the local wine merchant.
Inside the vinotheque, surrounded by grand crus from every year
Then Gilles pushes a door open. And there, silence. The Passion Saint-Émilion vinotheque is an exceptional setting, a living vault where the bottles of the associated winegrowers stand aligned, across every year. Recent vintages meant to be drunk in ten years, and older vintages kept for the big occasions. Soft light, temperature calibrated to the degree, suspended atmosphere. Holding a bottle from a very old vintage in one hand next to the very last one still being aged, that recalibrates the sense of long time that wine imposes. The team sits down at the table. The workshop can begin.
The wine and chocolate workshop: a delicate score
The principle is simple on paper: match each wine with a dark chocolate of a different cocoa percentage, and see what happens. The pairing sequence, remarkable in its detail, was conceived and built by Chocolaterie Maëlig, the artisan chocolatier based on rue de la Petite Fontaine in Saint-Émilion, one of the highest-rated in the area, who works cocoa crus with the same precision a winegrower brings to their parcels. A delicate score, where each pairing tells a story. Gilles and Marielle, our hosts, taste along with the team, glass in hand, with the curiosity of people rediscovering what they know by heart. Young fruity vintages go with cocoas around 55 to 65 %, where the fruit of the wine finds a gourmand echo. Younger tannic structures climb to 70-80 %, the tannins of the chocolate dialogue with those of the wine, respond, balance out. Older, evolved vintages hold their own against the most intense cocoas, 85 % and above, in a play of tertiary aromas that unfold as the palate unfolds. Everyone experiments, spits, starts again. Some pairings glide gently, others literally explode in the mouth. Once, it's the chocolate that crushes the wine. The time after, it's the wine that absorbs the chocolate and sends it back transformed. Nobody is chasing the perfect match. What everyone is after is the revelation, the surprise, that moment when you put the glass down and you simply say « oh yes, that's something ».
Lunch at Laurent's, partner winegrower, on the banks of the Gironde
Around midday, Gilles suggests one last detour. Direction Laurent, a partner winegrower of the cooperative, whose property overlooks the Gironde estuary. The team arrives at lunchtime, high light on the estuary, silence of the palus wetlands, birds coming home. Laurent opens a bottle without ceremony, glass in hand, real conversation. We talk about the craft, about the changing climate, about the co-op that lets winegrowers like him produce quality wines without having to turn into part-time salespeople. There is something rare in this moment, a mix of brotherhood, simplicity and the raw beauty of the place. A suspended moment, the kind you don't live often. When the team hits the road again, it understands better what « cooperative » really means at Passion Saint-Émilion: not an administrative structure, a family sharing the same demand for excellence.
The visit in pictures
Passion Saint-Émilion
Website: passionsaintemilion.com
Wine and chocolate workshop, on reservation
Chocolaterie Maëlig (chocolate partner of the workshop)
5 rue de la Petite Fontaine, 33330 Saint-Émilion
+33 9 61 20 63 81
Lire cet article en français : Passion Saint-Émilion, dans la vinothèque secrète.
