Tom Munro has lived and worked in vineyards in France and now brings French wine to our door in Australia!
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles episode 96 - click here to listen
Guest: Tom Munro
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All subscribers to the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles newsletter will go into a draw to win a $400 voucher for The Other Bordeaux. To subscribe to the LFF newsletter simply email the word “SUBSCRIBE” to bonjour@loulabellesfrancofiles.com
All subscribers registered for the LFF newsletter by Friday 10 March 2023 will be eligible to win.
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Tom Munro spent 20 years working for vineyards and wineries both in Australia and France. He now imports French wine straight from the château to our door! I know in my house everyone gets very excited when a delivery of a box arrives from The Other Bordeaux!
Tom’s knowledge of wine is incredible. It is clearly a passion for him as he started making wine at home when he was only 9 years old! With The Other Bordeaux he now specialises in wines from all over France, not just the Bordeaux region, but Bordeaux is where his love affair with France started. A chance meeting for Tom’s father at a family wedding set up the opportunity for Tom to work at a family-owned vineyard in the Bordeaux region and the rest as they say, is history! Tom went to hang out at a 14th century château owned by a Viscount and learned all about their wine as well as the foods of the region. They couldn’t pay him, but I think the knowledge and experience he gained would have been worth much more than any money that could have passed hands!
Tom has been fortunate to live in France for quite a time and I loved hearing of his experiences during: the way each year’s harvest had a song that connects him to it; the history he was immersed in; the way he finds the suppliers for his wines who have sometimes become life-long friends. Tom has seen the evolution of wine tourism in France as well. Whilst in Australia we had cellar doors to head into to taste wines as far back as the 70s, this was not heard of in France. Tom suggests that France has now learned from us Aussies about how to connect with the general public through wine tourism. Apparently France will be the most visited country in the world by 2025 and I wonder if this wine tourism has helped that statistic become a reality.
It was interesting and simultaneously saddening to hear of the impact climate change is having on the wine industry in France. Extreme weather such as frost, hail, summers that don’t really happen… are all changes that have made winemaking more challenging. For example, the warmer climate in the Champagne region has changed champagne irreversibly according to Tom. Now the cooler climate of the Alsace and the mountains is able to produce the type of sparkling wine that emulates the champagne of yesteryear. One change that has had an unexpected benefit is the hotter and longer summers in some areas has positively impacted the amount and quality of the wine produced. But unfortunately this is not the case everywhere. It sounds to me that one region’s benefit is another region’s deficit. Tom chatted with me about how Bordeaux wine has altered over the past couple of decades due to climate change. It now resembles something similar at times to the best of Australian wines. I have noticed over the last 15 years or so how the wine seems to suit my palate more. I thought that maybe this was the result of my palate maturing as I age but it is possible the wine has done the changing and now matches more of what my Australian palate is used to!
I loved Tom’s suggestions for food and wine pairings. I’ve always though wine pairings were not that important, but the more I take the advice of experts like Tom, the more I’m understanding how a food and wine combo can be dynamite if done right!
There are 365 wine growing regions in France! Each region has hundreds or potentially thousands of growers, so by my calculations I could share a different bottle a day, every day of the year and never taste all the wines in France! For now, I’ll not worry about getting through them all, but rather just enjoy one glass at a time, savouring the French spirit that shines through each bottle and drift off, dreaming of escaping to France as I sip!
Tom’s links
Recette
Steaks cooked over dried grape vines on a Weber barbecue
Musique
Tryo – L’hymne de nos campagnes
Special 10% OFF offer for Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles listeners!
A message from Tom at The Other Bordeaux:
To thank subscribers to the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast, I would like to give you this opportunity to purchase any wines on our The Other Bordeaux website with a 10% discount. So here is a single-use coupon code that you can use to get a 10% discount on any wine showing on the homepage of www.theotherbordeaux.com
The coupon code is: Loulabelles 10%
How to use the coupon:
Go to www.theotherbordeaux.com
Once you have selected the wines you would like to buy and added them to your shopping cart, you enter the phrase Loulabelles 10% in the COUPON CODE field in your shopping cart and then you must also click on APPLY COUPON. Once the coupon has been applied, then click on Proceed to Checkout to complete your order. The coupon must be applied before you proceed to check out because it can’t be applied once you have paid. If you get stuck, please just drop me a line before you check out – tom@theotherbordeaux.com
Terms and Conditions:
This coupon can’t be used to buy wines shown on the pre-departure or in-transit pages as those are already discounted. This coupon code can only be used once by any given customer. This coupon code is valid until December 31st, 2023.
