Social Events

Deadline to register: September 22

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On October, Friday 15, we suggest 2 tours (not included in the conference fee!) to complete the Conference:

• the Chartreuse Monastery and the Distillery in Voiron
• a visit of the old city of Vienne followed by a Wine tasting in the Vienne vineyards.

Chartreuse tour

A bus will pick you up from Grenoble city center, and will drive you up to the Chartreuse Massif.

The  Grande Chartreuse monastery, situated up the narrow Gorges des Guiers Mort, southeast of St-Laurent-du-Pont, and some 35km from Grenoble, is one of the nineteen Carthusian monasteries still running worldwide. The Carthusian Order, dating from the eleventh century, was one of the last great monastic reform movement. Practising a strictly hermit-like existence, its members live in cells and meet only for Mass and a weekly communal meal, eaten in silence. Since 1605, however, the Carthusians have been better known as the producers of Chartreuses – powerfully alcoholic herbal elixirs, ranging from the better-known green and yellow variants to a number of gentler fruit liqueurs.

The monastery is not open to the public, but near the village of St Pierre de Chartreuse, 5km back on the Grenoble road, you will visit the Musée de la Grande Chartreuse, formerly La Correrie monastery, which illustrates the life of the Carthusian Order.

You will then take lunch in a restaurant in St Pierre de Chartreuse and have free time for a digestive walk.

Then the bus will drive you back to Voiron, we will head for the Caves de la Chartreuse, for a guided tour of the world's largest liqueur cellars, which includes a showing of a 3-D film on the history of the monastery. You will have the opportunity to taste and buy some of the monks' numerous alcoholic products.

Vienne and the Côtes Roties Vineyards

A bus will pick you up from Grenoble city center, and will drive you up to the center of Vienne.

The Roman empire is the glory and richness of Vienne. The city has an archeological heritage among the richest in France, highlighted by numerous monuments, like the Ancient theater, the temple of Roma and Augustus, etc...

Then we will head to the Côtes Roties vineyards, and enjoy a ride on a touristic train through the Ampuis slopes.

In a local wine cellar you will have the possibility to taste this typical wine and learn more about wine-making:

Côtes Roties is a French wine Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) in the northern Rhône wine region of France. The vineyards are located just south of Vienne in the communes of Saint-Cyr-sur-le-Rhône, Ampuis, and Tupin-et-Semons.

The vineyards are unique because of their vertical slopes and their stone walls. Côte-Rôtie can be rendered in English as "the roasted slope" or "the burning coast" and refers to the long hours of sunlight that these steep slopes receive.

The wines are red, made with Syrah grapes and up to 20% Viognier, a white grape used for its aroma. According to appellation rules, Syrah and Viognier must be fermented at the same time, a process known as cofermentation. Côte-Rôtie wine typically exhibits an almost paradoxical combination of meat aromas (including bacon) and floral aromas.