A Good Drop of Wine with Maison Vauron's Jean Tristan DeTourbet
by Ben St. George
Maison Vauron is one of Auckland’s hidden gems. The Newmarket-based cellar shop and ‘atelier de fromage’ has been curating the best in French wine and cheese for over two decades - and with the current lockdown, is doing even more business than ever as people look to good food and drink to ease their spirits.
We spoke with Jean Tristan DeTourbet, the team’s new sommelier and a Burgundy native, about his background in the industry, what he looks for in a wine and how he fell in love with the stuff in the first place.
Later this week Jean Tristan will also be taking us on a tour of some of his favourite bottles - all of which will be available to acquire through Maison Vauron.
Tell us about your background - what part of France did you grow up in? How did you get involved with the wine industry?
I was born in Burgundy and grew up in Salon de Provence near Marseille in the South of France. I started to work in the wine industry six years ago. Since I was a kid, I have always been very curious and interested in wine. At our family dinners I would always try to smell the wines. I passed a business diploma at a wine school in Marseille and after this I got my first job in the wine industry at a cellar specialising in wines from the South Rhone Valley and Provence (Châteauneuf du Pape, Hermitage and Rosé).
After two years I wanted to learn more, and I decided to move to Paris where I worked as a Bordeaux specialist in the biggest wine cellar in Europe with more than 6000 different prestigious wines from all around the world. After two years I made the decision to move to New Zealand to learn English and to keep developing my knowledge about international wines. My first job was as a Cellar Door managing the wine tastings at Saint Clair Estate in Blenheim in the South. After this I worked as a sommelier at Mudbrick Vineyard, before making the shift to Auckland city to start my new adventure at Maison Vauron.
For the uninitiated, where is a good place to start if you want to learn more about wine, and French wine in particular?
First, if you’re getting started with wine, you need to find what kind of wine you like and what flavours you prefer. For that, going to a cellar shop will be the best option. It’s a good idea to try different wines from different regions to develop the palate and learn what you like. We offer this at Maison Vauron - get in touch with us if you’d like to know more.
A good place to learn about wine will be going to a vineyard and talking with the winemakers, to understand the process and the different stages to make wine and the terroir and the climate. There is no one better person to talk about wine than the winemakers themselves.
We’ve got different events in France where you can go to learn about wine, which are great if you have the chance to attend. There are a lot of big tastings in the different regions where the winemakers are operating, and where you can drink their wines and ask questions - it’s a really good way to learn.
Fine wine relies on an exceptional level of craft- tell us what you appreciate about it.
Making a wine is a long and complex process with different steps from the harvest until the bottling. But what makes French wine so special is the ‘terroir’ – the different soil types and micro-climates. You can find the same grape variety in different regions in France but because of the terroir, you get different flavours, expression and different emotions. What makes me curious about wine is trying to identify the reasons for the different flavours and personalities, not only from the winemaking but from where each wine comes from. We’ve got seventeen wine regions in France with the most popular ones being Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne, all with different micro-climates and soil types. I think Burgundy is the best example to represent the complexity of this; the fact that you can try a wine from the same grape, from the same village but from two different winemakers close to each other, and the taste will be completely different.
What are some of the qualities you look for in an interesting wine, such as the ones we’ll be talking about?
I think wine is first about sharing a moment and an experience. For my part, I think that balance is the word to describe what makes a good wine. It needs to have both enough fruit and enough acidity. When I’m choosing a wine I’m looking also for the story behind it, about the vineyard and about the winemakers. There is a wine for each moment. If I decide to buy something for an aperitif, for example, then I’m looking for an easy drinking and light-bodied wine. In this case the Beaujolais region is great because the gamay (which is a grape variety) provides some juicy red flavours with a generous taste of strawberry and raspberry. If it's for dinner, I will look for something deeper and richer with more complexity with enough body to match with the food. I think each person is different and has a different palate, and experiences smell and feel uniquely. That’s also another that makes wine so beautiful and interesting - you’re able to talk about what you can feel when you’re drinking it.
Thanks for your time.
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