Chateau Gayot — The Story

Built circa 1589 by a bishop, a gentle stone house, complete with orchard and stables, Chateau Gayot is situated ten miles from the quaint, medieval city of Provins. On the fringe of the Champagne "district," Provins was the most important stop on the trading routes from the Far East in the 12th and 13th centuries and home to the Comtes Thibaud de Champagne, who is said to have brought the rose back from Damascus.

After a revolution and other political events, a lightning strike and a few ownership changes, the Gayot family purchased what was mostly a collection of silex stones and proceeded to rebuild the house and restore some of the barns and stables. The estate was still lined with 500 fruit trees-even some varieties of apples no longer found on any markets. After a massive orchard management program, fruit production resumed with the ensuing production of the golden beverage, apple cider, which, once gone through double fermentation, approached the other golden beverage (dubbed Earth's second soft drink) produced 50 miles away: Champagne!

At nine years young, Alain Gayot witnessed, learned and practiced the art of making wine, washing barrels, crushing, nursing and bottling etc. "It was difficile," Alain says but well worth it when celebration time came to drink the fine bubbly. About the same time, the Gayot family visited Joe Heitz-and others-in Napa and had a near-miss with starting wine production in the U.S. There began Alain's love with America, though, and he moved from maker of the golden beverages of France to winemaker in the Golden State. Arriving in California in 1981, he began to develop a taste for New World wines. Already, his father André's company in France had heralded California wines at the famous 1976 Paris tasting.

During the 1991 Napa Valley Wine Auction a spark ignited Alain's grape winemaking adventure. After meeting a most friendly individual by the name of Michel Perret with a history of family winemaking in France, Algeria, Corsica and California, and tasting the 1985 Cabernet Sauvignon, Alain decided to work with Perret to bottle a special cuvée of 100 cases of the 1987 Cabernet. That became the first Chateau Gayot-labeled wine, reserved for friends and family. Then came more Cabs, Merlots, Pinots and finally the first commercially available wine: 105 cases of the "Cuvée des Voleurs" produced at Le Cuvier with the colorfully talented polyglot John Munch.

For the millennium, CG came up with the "Cuvée des Etoiles" to celebrate the Chateau at Vieux Champagne, a California sparkling wine produced by Laetitia Winery in Arroyo Grande. The latest creation is an esoteric blend in association with Stephane Asseo of l' Aventure Winery. CG brings you a surprising first-class assemblage and a most attractive price for 180 cases of the "Cuvée des Blagueurs."

The Cuvée des Etoiles story