View from the top of La Maison des Sancerre(12 August 2008)
The highly recommended La Maison des Sancerre, in the centre of the old town, opened in 2005. The building, which dates from the 14th century, has been restored by the Sancerrois producers at a cost of €2.5 million. Benoït Roumet, the director of the Bureau du Centre, tells the story of the crucial meeting that gave the go-ahead to the project, which at the time was projected to cost €1.5 million thanks to some corner-cutting. Didier Prieur of Domaine Paul Prieur et Fils in Verdigny stood up and said that he was against the project. Benoît said that his heart sank as Didier is highly respected and his opposition would be a severe body blow. “If we are going to do this project, we can’t have half measures – no plastic windows, etc. We have to go for high quality, make something of which we can be proud.” paraphrasing Didier's words. In the vote that followed there was a big majority for the scheme – a high quality one.
As well as providing them with meeting and function rooms, there is a brilliant audio-visual exhibition of the Sancerre vineyard, its producers and their wines. The centrepiece is a remarkable light show on a 3-D representation of Sancerre’s vineyards that tells the story of how the region’s complex geological structure was shaped over millions of years. It makes a potentially dry subject completely fascinating. Absolutely brilliant – don’t miss it.
La Maison des Sancerre is a testament to the Sancerrois’ ability to work together and is extremely well done. It should be on everyone’s itinerary – an ideal place to develop an understanding of the appellation and its different aspects. If you have never been to Sancerre before I recommend that you really ought to start here.
Villa Quincy
Quincy has attempted something similar with their Villa Quincy. What a wasted opportunity and money not well spent. I went there in November 2007 not long after it opened. The information has been broken up into tiny bite-sized pieces – like feeding a very small child. My attention soon wandered. The Quincy producers opted for gimmicky information gadgets, which even then were breaking down. All in all a triumph of design over substance. Vignerons of Quincy go to the Maison des Sancerre to see how it should be done!
PS: Their website does, however, have a useful list and details of the Quincy producers but why is the whole site in bold type?!
Villa Quincy, Rue du Poinçon, 18120 Quincy
Tel. 02.48.51.72.34
www.villa-quincy.fr
The highly recommended La Maison des Sancerre, in the centre of the old town, opened in 2005. The building, which dates from the 14th century, has been restored by the Sancerrois producers at a cost of €2.5 million. Benoït Roumet, the director of the Bureau du Centre, tells the story of the crucial meeting that gave the go-ahead to the project, which at the time was projected to cost €1.5 million thanks to some corner-cutting. Didier Prieur of Domaine Paul Prieur et Fils in Verdigny stood up and said that he was against the project. Benoît said that his heart sank as Didier is highly respected and his opposition would be a severe body blow. “If we are going to do this project, we can’t have half measures – no plastic windows, etc. We have to go for high quality, make something of which we can be proud.” paraphrasing Didier's words. In the vote that followed there was a big majority for the scheme – a high quality one.
As well as providing them with meeting and function rooms, there is a brilliant audio-visual exhibition of the Sancerre vineyard, its producers and their wines. The centrepiece is a remarkable light show on a 3-D representation of Sancerre’s vineyards that tells the story of how the region’s complex geological structure was shaped over millions of years. It makes a potentially dry subject completely fascinating. Absolutely brilliant – don’t miss it.
La Maison des Sancerre is a testament to the Sancerrois’ ability to work together and is extremely well done. It should be on everyone’s itinerary – an ideal place to develop an understanding of the appellation and its different aspects. If you have never been to Sancerre before I recommend that you really ought to start here.
Maison des Sancerres, Rue Méridien, 18300 Sancerre.
Tel: 02.48.54.11.35
www.maison-des-sancerre.comTel: 02.48.54.11.35
Villa Quincy
Quincy has attempted something similar with their Villa Quincy. What a wasted opportunity and money not well spent. I went there in November 2007 not long after it opened. The information has been broken up into tiny bite-sized pieces – like feeding a very small child. My attention soon wandered. The Quincy producers opted for gimmicky information gadgets, which even then were breaking down. All in all a triumph of design over substance. Vignerons of Quincy go to the Maison des Sancerre to see how it should be done!
PS: Their website does, however, have a useful list and details of the Quincy producers but why is the whole site in bold type?!
Villa Quincy, Rue du Poinçon, 18120 Quincy
Tel. 02.48.51.72.34
www.villa-quincy.fr
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