File: Summer meetings
Imposing structure made of concrete and metal, dedicated to industrial use, the winemaking tower of Domaine le Dôme, by Clémentine is a rarity. Built half a century ago in Granges-Gontardes, in Drôme Provençale, it is now used by winegrower Clémentine Bompard.
The word is strong, but the visual aspect justifies it: it’s a wart. The Dome winemaking tower, by Clémentine, is not an architectural marvel, and does not pretend to be. It is a purely functional building, which becomes fascinating as soon as you set foot inside, and the understanding of its usefulness dawns. This structure made of concrete blocks, concrete and metal is about twenty meters high, for more than ten meters in diameter. It is connected by a footbridge and a pipe to an unloading dock, where the grapes are brought after harvest. On the third floor of the tower, the grape juice and the berries are poured into one of the 10 tanks installed upside down, for the alcoholic fermentation, then the vinification follows its course. The interest of the fermentation tower is to allow work by gravity, the more the vinification progresses, the more you go down, which limits energy costs, labor and offers good safety conditions at the level of the different operations. .
France Bleu Drôme Ardèche warmly recommends that you visit this curiosity, and the estate of Clémentine Bompard, whose emblem today is the fermentation tower inherited from the 1960s.
– AW
– AW