- ANNECY AND MONT BLANC -

Aix-les-Bains, Lac du Bourget, Chanaz and Bugey Part 3

Caveau Bugiste

LINKS to other pages in the Annecy and Mont Blanc website and to the Travelling Days series:

From Chanaz we travel south to Lacey where we cross the Rhône river. (left).

Our journey to Vongnes takes us through vineyard country and the villages of Poilieu and Flaxieu .....

The village of Vongnes (right).

The 11th century church at Vongnes (left).



'Caveau Bugiste' (below) was formed in 1967 by a consortium of six local winemakers: André and Jean Chaudet, Henri Guillon, Louis Michaud, Paul Pinet and Raymond Prémillieu.

The vineyards of the Bugey area were already much in evidence during the Gallo-Roman period. But major development didn't take place until the 11th and 12th centuries.

It was the monks who developed wine-production on the lands belonging to their abbeys in order to ensure that they had suitable supplies both for liturgical use and for hospitality. Hence the Abbey of Saint-Sulpice developed the vines in the Clos de Machuraz in Artemare and on the hillsides of Virieu-le-Grand and Rossillon. The Carthusians of Pierre Châtel did the same in the Bas-Bugey and the Arvières monks on the Seyssel and Corbonod hillsides.

When it was at its largest, from 1820 until phylloxera struck in the 1870s, the Bugey vineyards covered an area of up to 14,000 hectares. Today the area under vines is much smaller (about 600 hectares) but wine production is still very varied and depending upon the different types of vineyard soil and different grape varieties.

The visitors area at Caveau Bugiste (right). Red flowers spill out of large barrels to give the impression of flowing wine......

......and there are some strange carvings on the surrounding cliff wall! (left and below).

The winery and tasting room at Caveau Bugiste (left and below).

The wine museum was set up in 1993 in a building adjoining the Caveau Bugiste winery. It sets out to portray the various stages of wine-production and there is an exhibition of more than 1300 tools, artefacts and other objects involved in the wine industry.

Caveau Bugiste produces nearly 400,000 bottles of wine per year.

White wines are produced from the following grape varieties: Chardonnay, Altesse (Roussette), Molette, Jacquère, Pinot Gris and Mondeuse blanche.

Red wines are made from the following grape varieties: Gamay, Pinot Noir, Mondeuse, Poulsard and Mescle.

Our group was given a tasting and an opportunity to purchase the (left and below)

A view over a local vineyard (left).

We return to Annecy. On the return journey we pass Le Grand Colombier mountain (1531 metres) which lies some 10 kilometres from Vongnes (left).

The route home follows the railway from Bourg-en-Bresse to Aix-les-Bain which passes along the side of Lac du Bourget (right).




















We eventually arrive at the head of Lake Annecy (left).

An unusual picture of the mountains overlooking Lake Annecy taken through the coach window (above).