Food and winesTraditions & Knowledge Article published on4th July 2022
Enter an underground gallery where the temperature doesn’t exceed 13° whatever the season : join an unusual tour to TrogloDegusto. Go to meet enthusiast cavemen who will pass on their knowledge to you with fervor.
From tuffeau extraction to wine maturation
Firstly, discover the history of tuffeau extraction. Indeed, this ancient quarry was over 500 km long under the village and was mined for nearly 1 400 years. You will be able to understand the extraction system of these blocks of nearly one ton through the various tools on display. It is a limestone made up of marine sediments over 90 million years old. It’s getting old, I grant you ! The tuffeau was used from the 11th century for the construction of houses but also for some of the Châteaux de la Loire.
The 80% humidity level of these troglodyte caves will seize you as soon as you enter. This has created an ecosystem conducive to the cultivation of mushrooms. Thus, at the end of the 19th century, the era of mushroom growers began, during which the galleries were used to cultivate the famous Paris mushrooms for almost a century.
It was in 2009 that the galleries were bought by winegrowers in order to use them for maturing wine with the Champagne method.
An underground art gallery
After having pace up and down the long, wide and transverse galleries, you will have the pleasure of discovering a contemporary cave art gallery.
Parietal art begins in the troglodytes of Bourré with the activity of stone. The oldest graffiti visible in the underground passages dates to the 15th century. You will be able to decipher the Cross of Loraine of the FFI as well as the Fossil and the Hammer of the FTP carved in the Second World War. The galleries have welcome many refugees and resistance fighters over time.
The art gallery inaugurated in 2017 aims at leaving a testimony of the passage of TrogloDegusto in these quarries ! About twenty murals are visible today.
A tasting in an atypical setting
To end this visit, enjoy a tasting of wines and regional products (goat cheese, rillettes, etc.) in a friendly atmosphere.
Be careful and don’t do the same as Popole, who fell into his pot like Obélix, because he had a tendency to excess.
The mystical atmosphere in which you will be immersed is conducive to the events regularly organized in these places. Like treasure hunts or THE evening of the year: Chills under the ground for Halloween.
So what are you waiting for to enter this unusual universe ?
TrogloDegusto – Domaine des Tabourelles
63 route des Vallées
Bourré
41400 MONTRICHARD VAL DE CHER
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