Organic Vintage: A 2024 edition bursting with flavor!

The curtain has fallen on the 2024 edition of Millésime Bio. largest trade fair dedicated to organic wines and alcoholic beverages took place from January 29 to 31, 2024. The Cavissima team left their Lyon home to head to Montpellier for 3 exceptional days of trade fair. Tastings, exchanges And discoveries punctuated this flavorful edition!

Millésime bio, a beautiful fair!

At precisely 10:00 AM, we eagerly awaited the opening of the doors to the famous Montpellier Exhibition Park. Before us, 1400 exhibitors People from about twenty countries unpack boxes, glasses, and corkscrews at their stands. More than 40% of organic wine producers in FranceEach producer has the same display equipment so that only the quality of the wines is taken into account, rather than size or marketing resources. 

The wine fair takes place in January, during the vine's dormant period. Indeed, the cold winter temperatures put the vineyards into a period of dormancy. Some wines from the 2023 vintage have already been bottled, while others are patiently aging in tanks, barrels, or other containers. The beginning of the year is therefore the ideal time for winemakers to meet their clients and present the new vintage! 

Conferences and masterclasses are on the program for this edition. The diverse themes are all linked by organic agriculture. From production to distribution, including consumption and the sector's prospects, the outlines of the challenges facing organic agriculture in 2024 are addressed. 

Millésime Bio wouldn't be the same without its renowned awards, which pit 2,000 wines from around the world against each other. The jury comprises 400 professional tasters, chaired by Gaby Benicio (winner of the Sommelier Prize in 2023). This competition provides the winners with excellent visibility, as the results are announced shortly before the trade fair opens. This year, 537 medals awards were given, including 187 Gold, 241 Silver and 109 Bronze. 

Tasters also have access to a large wine library where each producer offers a reference from their range. 1000 products are available for free tastingsorted by country, region and color! 

With our site map in hand, we begin to walk the aisles of the show to greet the producers we work with and make new discoveries.

CHÂTEAU DURFORT-VIVENS

BROCARD FAMILY

DOMAINE DE BEAURENARD

Exchanges and sharing with our producers

Throughout the year, we connect producers with you, consumers and wine lovers, on Cavissima. We showcase their wines by engaging with them about the character of their wines, the typical characteristics of each vintage, and the latest news in their lives. For the Cavissima team, Millésime Bio is an opportunity to meet and talk with the producers with whom we communicate remotely throughout the year.

Each winemaker presents us with the vintage available for sale. With our little notebook in hand, we jot down our tasting impressions, which we will use to enrich the website's content. New cuvées, evolving blends, innovations in the cellar—we gather all the information that can contribute to our catalog. 

Some of our long-standing producers were present: 

• HAS Bordeaux, THE Château Durfort-Vivens The appellation promises a delightful tasting experience. Margaux is particularly charming in this 2020 vintage! Biodynamics combined with aging in amphora ensures the balance between intensity and freshness.
• In Burgundy, we pay a short visit to the stand of the Brocard Family around the wines of Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard and Julien Brocard. The mineral terroir of Chablis is revealed as much in the Premiers and Grands Crus as in the entry-level cuvées.
• In the Rhône, THE Domaine de Beaurenard has Châteauneuf-du-Pape impresses us with its Châteauneuf-du-Pape particularly fresh. We fall under the spell of their Rasteau wines with la cuvée “Blue Clays radiant and vibrant!
• Vincent Couche dazzles us by Champagne with its precise, fresh, and crystalline vintages. The domaine introduces us to his Chablis wines which will undoubtedly arrive on our website soon.
• We're taking a ride in Alsace with the Domaine KreydenweissThis family estate has had a perilous but successful vintage!
• In the Loire, THE Domaine Philippe Gilbert It transports us! Menetou-Salon This winemaker has immense potential, which he reveals to perfection. Both the white and red wines are a great success!
• In the Languedoc-RoussillonIn particular, we found the Domaine Pink CupWhat a pleasure to taste! “Orienta” And “Granaxa” which offer firm, slightly tannin-like flavors and very intense fruit. domaine offers a beautiful range of wines that reflect the diversity of its terroirs and allow winemakers to test innovative winemaking techniques. 
• An unmissable address of Southwest, THE Château Cedar stands out with its intense, balanced vintages and immense aging potential.
• In Provence, THE Clos Saint Vincent An anonymous producer is featured, and we always have the pleasure of tasting his wines at Millésime Bio. Joseph Sergi welcomes us and offers us a tasting of his wines. As always, the gastronomic rosés delight us, and the whites impress us with their freshness. The intense reds promise wonderful tastings after a few years of aging!
• In Corsica, Yves Leccia We tasted their rosé wines: the 2023 vintage is very promising!

Of course, this list is just a sample of our tastings. With over 80 stands visited and 350 wines tasted, the team is eager to share all its wonderful discoveries with you.

DOMAINE VINCENT COUCHE

CHÂTEAU ROSE COATS

CHÂTEAU CEDAR

The image of the 2023 vintage: some great tastings are on the horizon!

We were lucky enough to discover the First vintage bottles in 2023Harvested in September, the new vintage completed its alcoholic fermentation a few weeks ago and some batches have already been bottled. 

Some winemakers brought a few vintages with them. drawn from vatThis means that the producer has drawn the wine directly from the aging tank for bottling. Often without fining or filtration, these cuvées, also called brut tank allow the taster to get an idea of what the wine will be like once its aging process is complete.These are often wines that do not require prolonged aging, such as rosés or fruity whites and reds. 

The winemakers describe a uneven vintageExtreme weather events punctuated the year with episodes of frost, hail, drought, and intense rainfall. Pressure from certain vine diseases, such as downy mildew, was intense in some regions. “A struggle,” “perilous,” “rich in emotions,” and “full of surprises” are all used to describe the latest vintage. 

The gap between what the winemakers say and our tasting experience is immense. In the glass, the 2023 vintage is balance, without excess, far from the alcohol levels of some (too) hot vintages. Fruitier and more aromatic than 2021, more brilliant than 2020We appreciate these newly bottled vintages. 

We are eager to offer you this new vintage, brimming with wonderful discoveries. It's difficult for the team to keep track of all the wines tasted at Millésime Bio, and it's not over yet, as Wine Paris is just around the corner.

Exciting new things are coming soon to Cavissima!