Wine Offerings

Gigondas Steps Out of Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s Shadows: A Dozen Southern Rhône Producers Make The Case Gigondas 2021 & 2020 Ten-Bottle Pack For $399 + A Rhône With Substance, But No Pretense 12-Bottle ‘Cairanne’ Pack For $159 (Limited)

The long shadow cast by Châteauneuf-du-Pape over Southern Rhône is bit like Mount Doom’s shadow over Mordor, only with a bit more garrigue and spice. So synonymous has the powerhouse cru been with style and standing in the region that nearby appellations cannot escape comparisons—generally to the unfavorable side—and until recently, could not really compete.

As such, it is high time somebody challenged the CdP supremacy, and Gigondas seems the appellation best poised to make a clean break from its glossier embossed cousin.

It’s a struggle that began in 1971, when Gigondas became the first of the Côtes du Rhône Villages appellations to be elevated to Cru status. Gigondas vineyards are found along the base and slopes of the first Dentelles de Montmirail foothills, where the combination of limestone soils on the Montmirail slopes to the east, and rocky, sandy, free-draining soils on the flatter, lower-lying land to the north and west create an ideal terroir across a multitude of microclimates, each with its own distinct claim to fame.

Southern Rhône River Crus

The Rhône is generally divided into north and south; but they are by no means equal in either style or output. Whereas the north contains some heavy-hitting Crus (Côte-Rôtie and Hermitage, to name a couple), it only represents 5% of the Rhône’s total production. In Northern Rhône, the sole red wine grape allowed is Syrah.

The south, fanning out from both banks of the Rhône River, is not as Syrah-focused, relying on a cornucopia of other varieties—Grenache, Carignan, Mourvèdre and Cinsault for reds and for whites, Marsanne, Roussanne, Bourboulenc, Clairette and Viognier, although many reds from the region—depending on AOP regulations—make use of white grapes in red wine blends to add floral highlights and soften harsh tannins.

The south is further divided into nine individual Crus—Beaumes des Venise, Cairanne (elevated in 2016), Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas, Tavel, Cairanne, Rasteau (changed in 2009), Vacqueyras and Vinsobres. Each has its own legion of fans, and each expresses the multiple terroirs of the south with individual interpretations: Tavel, of course, is known for its dry rosé, Vinsobres for it’s vividly acidic reds, Cairanne for its fleshy, Grenache-dominant quaffers, Lirac for its juicy, complex reds and fresh, floral whites. Southern Rhône’s most famous appellation, however, is Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and for good reason: These wines are impressively structured, deep in black fruits and spice with hints of roasting meats and occasionally a dash of funk; top examples run an equally impressive price tag.

Which brings us to Gigondas. Once referred to as ‘the poor man’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape’, quality improvements have been so striking over the past decade or so that it is high time we started thinking of it Châteauneuf-du-Pape affordable equal, perhaps ‘the smart man—and woman’s—Châteauneuf-du-Pape.’

Gigondas vineyards at the Dentelles de Montmirail foothills.

Geological map of the Dentelles de Montmirail formations. The town of Gigondas is in the middle. (Courtesy of Gargantuan Wine)

Gigondas, A Red That Takes You Into The Woods And To The Shore

Bastien Tardieu is the lead oenologist at family-operated négociant Tardieu-Laurent, which works with more than 100 growers throughout the Rhône Valley.

He’s also one of Gigondas’ most vocal flag-wavers: “Quality has improved immeasurably the last ten years,” he says. “Advances can be attributed to Cru appellations like Gigondas being held to the same restrictive regulations as Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Topography also plays a role: Gigondas, along with neighboring Vacqueyras and Beaumes de Venise, sits along the slopes of the Dentelles de Montmirail, the ragged limestone formation that towers above the Southern Rhône. The outcrops of the Dentelles protect against the morning sun and extend the growing season. Its altitude allows for a wide day-night temperature range that maintains acidity and balance in the grapes.”

The ideal Gigondas displays a bouquet evoking fresh forest berries, classic potpourri and botanical herbs that are complemented by exotic spice notes that build in the glass. The wine should stain the palate with intense raspberry, cherry cola and lavender pastille, flavors that steadily deepen with aeration.

Like most of Southern Rhône, Grenache is the appellation’s backbone, augmented by Mourvèdre and Syrah and—minus Carignan—a handful of other traditional Rhône varieties are ‘blend-approved.’

But the unique flavors of Gigondas extend beyond the familiar garrigue, which takes herbal hints from the nearby woodlands and native scrub bushes—wild thyme, sage, rosemary and lavender. According to Louis Barruol, owner of Château de Saint Cosme, a Gigondas estate that dates to the 15th century, “There is an unmistakable freshness about Gigondas wines—a quality that does not arise from altitude or acidity alone. It is a saltiness and minerality reminiscent of the sea.”


Gigondas 2021 & 2020: Ten-Bottle Package For $399

The producers featured in this week’s package (10 bottles 2021 and 2020 Gigndas, numbered below) are sensitive to the traditions of their appellation and the nuances of their terroir, and are convinced that a return to the herbal essence of Southern Rhône—something occasionally lost amid Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s pursuit of power and ultra-ripe fruitiness—should be their signature distinction.


 

Domaine de Font-Sane

As in much of modern Gigondas, especially among forward-looking producers, sustainable agriculture has become less an option and more a mandate. Such is the case at Domaine de Font-Sane, where Véronique Cunty-Peysson and her husband Bernard run the160-year-old estate.

“Fertilization is done every year by adding organic compost,” says Véronique. “These natural products help maintain the humus levels and promote good exchanges between the soil and the plant, and quality is always preferred over quantity.”

Having recently completed his Master’s degree in International Wine Business, their son Romain has joined the team and speaks to the unique quality of the 40 acre estate: “We have the advantage of a rich variety of soils boasting five unique terroirs—clay-limestone, pebbly, sandy, alluvium, sandy loam. The blending of these makes for a complete wine enriched by the multiple characteristics that each soil type gives.”

In 2020, Font-Sane obtained a new certification called HVE (High Environmental Value); this a program awarded to wineries who take a ‘lutte raisonnée’, or reasoned approach, from wine cultivation to bottling, by promoting environmentally friendly practices.

 1.  Domaine de Font-Sane ‘Tradition’, 2021 Gigondas ($25)
An exhuberant and youthful wine, full of fiery red fruit, savory complexity and fine-grained tannins. Three-quarters Grenache blended with around 25% Syrah and small amounts Mourvèdre and Cinsault, it’s big wine at 15% abv., but one which is quite well integrated and does not seem to need a lot of cellar time—drink to enjoy tonight.

 

 

 

 


 

Domaine des Pasquiers

“Provence is naturally a land of vine,” says Philippe Lambert, who along with his brother Jean-Claude and their children, Matthieu and Perrine, run des Pasquiers, founded by their grandfather in 1935. The sprawling estate, over 200 acres, stretches across multiple appellations including IGP Vaucluse, Côtes du Rhône, Côtes du Rhône Villages ‘Plan de Dieu’, Côtes du Rhône Villages ‘Sablet’ and Gigondas.

“Our situation is at the foot of the Dentelles de Montmirail,” Jean-Claude explains, “where terraces of red clay are covered by pebble stones which reflects the sun’s heat at night and keep coolness during day. The slopes of Sablet are gentle and the sandy soil and gravel brings finesse and mineral qualities to the wine. Finally, Gigondas, where the soil, combination of the Secondary to the Quaternary Periods, produces structured and unique terroirs for very complex wines.”

 2.  Domaine de des Pasquiers, 2020 Gigondas ($30)
50% Syrah and 50% Grenache, with a pure Provençal style replete with blackberries, sandalwood, garrigue and white pepper. Tannins are ripe and the acids striking, but both are beautifully integrated into the flesh of the wine and create a backbone that suits both early drinking and long-term cellaring.

 

 

 

 

 


 

Pierre Amadieu

Amadieu family roots have been digging into Gigondas soils for nearly a hundred years, but with each new generation comes a new focus.

For Pierre Amadieu Jr. it is paramount to improve wine quality every year: “We look for elegance, length on the palate and a ‘Burgundy’ freshness in our wines. A careful parcel selection allows us today to elaborate different cuvées of Gigondas which express each of our exceptional terroirs in its own way.”

The family affair includes three of his cousins: Henri-Claude, the eldest son of Claude and Muriel, who heads the sales department, his brother Jean-Marie—an agricultural engineer and oenologist, who works closely with Pierre in the winery, and their sister Marie who caters to their private customers. With production at over 50,000 cases annually, there is work enough to go around.

The Amadieu situation inspires a bit of eno-envy. It is located on north/northwest-facing hillsides in the north-east Gigondas where altitudes range from 750 and 1600 feet. With 338 acres surrounded by garrigue and holm oaks, Amadieu is the largest landowner in the appellation.

Strolling the vineyard, Claude Amadieu waxes philosophically on these beautiful acres: “Our exposure gives a perfect aeration to vines and avoids an excessive period of sunshine in full summer. It brings our wines freshness and allows long maturation without risking drought or bitterness. The expression of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cinsault (for rosé) and Clairette (for white wine) on these terroirs among the highest of the appellation, is very personalized—our wines are powerfully spiced.”

 3.  Pierre Amadieu ‘Romane Machotte’, 2021 Gigondas ($31)
80% Grenache, 20% Syrah from 45-year-old vines grown on hillside terroirs of limestone and marl. An expressive wine with blackberry, boysenberry and smoked plum notes laced with violet and white pepper on the nose while the palate shows dusty earth, sweet tobacco and charred mesquite.

 

 

 

 

 


 4.  Domaine Grand Romane ‘Cuvée Prestige – Vieilles Vignes’, 2021 Gigondas ($36)
65% Grenache, 20% Mourvèdre, 15% Syrah. Domaine Grand Romane is a unique vineyard located on the highest part of Amadieu estate, 1600 feet above sea level, where the pebbly limestone terroir is poor and forces the vines to put down deep roots. Black fruits and cinnamon appear in the bouquet, and the silken mouthfeel is washed with generous creamy berries, pepper and vanilla with a long finish showing flavors of grilled meat.

 

 


 

Domaine Saint-Damien

With well over a hundred acres spread between Gigondas, Plan de Dieu, Côtes-du-Rhône Villages appellations, IGP and Vin de France, the terroir at Saint-Damien is varied. But in Gigondas, the focus is on plot specific sites, including the lieux-dits Gravas, Pigieres, La Louisiane, Les Souteyrades and La Moutte.

Joël Saurel, along with his wife Amie and winemaking son Romain, runs the estate in its modern incarnation, but the Saurel family had been tending vineyards her since 1821, selling to négociants. Joël began producing wine in 1996, and in 2012, the vineyards were certified by Agriculture Biologique.

Gigondas remains the flagship of the estate; Romain says of the family’s Gigondas acres: “Most of the vines are quite old and cropped low. The wines are aged in large, traditional concrete vats and old foudres and usually bottled on the young side to preserve freshness.”

 5.  Domaine Saint-Damien ‘Vieilles Vignes’, 2021 Gigondas ($41)
80% Grenache planted in 1964, 20% Mourvèdre planted in 1977 in several lieux-dits located on the lower terraces of the Dentelles de Montmirail. The grapes are hand-harvested and fermented on skins in large concrete vats for five weeks before ageing another year in old foudres. The wine shows a touch of cedary oak on the nose alongside the black cherries and subtle garrigue notes ending in a gentle wash of dusty tannins and a hint of licorice.

 

 

 


 

Domaine des Florets

Jerome Boudier has owned the 20-acre Domaine des Florets since 2007—and he followed a circuitous path to get there. After advising CAC companies for 25 years on environmental protection and sustainable development, he wanted to launch a second career in direct contact with nature and make wine by integrating sustainable development concepts into the art of vinification.

He is almost zen in his approach: “In winemaking, as in all pursuits in life, there are no ready-made solutions. We must constantly seek the right balance and identify the necessary compromises to build a sustainable and benevolent model. My mission goes far beyond making good wine, but it must also be well-made wine that honors sacred nature.”

In the field, he puts this philosophy into practice by choosing an environment favorable to species beyond grape vines, developing the rich biodiversity inherent in terroir. He has nice spot with which to work—the top of the Dentelles de Montmirail at an altitude of 1650 feet, on steep terrain protected by high limestone rocks.

The same deep thinking attends Boudier in the cellar: “Throughout the winery, I strive to limit inputs and limit consumption as much as possible. Beyond the water and biodiversity aspects, a low-carbon and eco-responsible approach is favored from planting to packaging. We have a duty to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions through our practices and the carbon storage capacity of our soils.”

 6.  Domaine des Florets ‘Synchronicité’, 2020 Gigondas ($53)
From a mountaintop vineyard, the grapes (95% Grenache and 5% Syrah) undergo a gentle cold maceration, and a two-to-three-week long vatting punctuated by pigéage, following which the wine is aged for a year in oak. It shows crushed red fruit up front—strawberries, raspberries and pomegranate—and then with aeration, savory notes appear as subtle cocoa powder and pie spice.

 

 

 


 

Domaine Raspail-Ay

Aÿ is a name irrevocably linked to Champagne; remove the umlaut and the story becomes Gigondas. Domaine Raspail-Ay is run by single-minded producer Dominique Ay, whose portfolio is limited to a single bottling of Gigondas—no more than 6000 cases annually—and a handful of rosés, consistently rated among the most iconic wines of the region.

Ay’s are traditionally produced wines; classical blends given classical treatments in concrete vats and aged in large oak foudres. With the imposing rock formations of the Dentelles de Montmirail (the last outcrop of the mighty Alpine chain) looming as a backdrop, this estate represents the embodiment of the old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

His plantings are 70% Grenache, 20% Syrah and 10% Mourvèdre, all on the plain in front of the quaint village of Gigondas; old vines and limited yields are responsible for naturally high level of ripeness and concentration.

Ay describes the process after harvest: “We destem entirely and ferment in cement vats, filling each with a mix of the three varieties as they ripen during the harvest, keeping track of what parcels and varieties wind up in each vat with a small chalkboard on the wall. There’s a modest single pump-over per day, some pigéage before the vats settle on their own. The assemblage is done soon after malo, and the wine is then racked off into a range of large foudres and some demi-muids as well as a portion that remains in cement.”

In the last several years, as the domain achieves near cult-like status, Dominque’s son Christophe and daughter Anne-Sophie have joined him in the endeavor.

 7.  Domaine Raspail-Ay, 2020 Gigondas ($51)
The 2020 vintage produced many superlative wines, and this is one of them: 70% Grenache, 20% Syrah and 10% Mourvèdre, destemmed and aged in concrete vats, 600-liter oak casks and large, neutral foudres, it offers upfront notes black raspberry, kirsch, and garrigue mingled with exotic spices and subtle hints of violet.

 

 

 

 


 

Domaine de Cabasse

The three-star hotel at Domaine de Cabasse, housed within a traditional Provençal ‘mas,’ may garner more press, but the working winery’s 90 acres of vines (30 of which surround the hotel) produce world class Gigondas. The name Cabasse comes from the Italian ‘Casa Bassa,’ meaning ‘the house under the village’—a reference to the14th century when the pope used to live in Avignon.

In 1991, the Haeni family, originally from Switzerland, acquired the domain to focus on the vineyard, their true passion. It is currently run by the gregarious Benoît Baudry and his wife Anne.

Branching beyond Gigondas into Séguret and Sablet and Gigondas, the varietal selection covers the gamut of Southern Rhône standbys—Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Counoise, Carignan, Clairette along with a host white grape varieties, which Cabasse bottles as Côtes-du-Rhône Villages appellation. The plots are not overly large and are surrounded by hedges and trees that protect the vines from the cold mistral which can blow violently from the north. The soils are mainly composed of weathered limestone with varying clay, sand and stone.

 8.  Domaine de Cabasse ‘Jucunditas’, 2020 Gigondas ($51)
A traditional blend of 80% Grenache, 10% Syrah, and 10% Mourvèdre; red cherry syrup and raspberry compote appear up front in both aroma and palate, with blackberry, plum, and pepper rounding out a long finish that whispers garrigue.

 

 

 

 

 


 

Domaine Les Pallières

Woven into the foothills of the brooding Dentelles de Montmirail, Les Pallières has been a force in Gigondas requiring reckoning since the fifteenth century. And up until the end of the last century, it was in the hands of the same family.

In 1998, Daniel and Frédéric Brunier of Vieux Télégraphe were convinced to take a shot at reviving Les Pallières from a couple decades of neglect, and the Pallières’ renaissance soon followed. The raw material was superb, with vineyards ranging from a few hundred feet to over one thousand in altitude, with varying proportions of sand and clay interwoven with limestone scree that has descended from the Dentelles. Among the improvements seen to immediately were reinforced terraces to allow for better water retention and a new winery building capable of receiving harvested parcels individually in gravity-fed tanks. The many lieux-dits, once blended into a single cuvée, have been separated into two in an effort to best express two remarkable personalities. Cuvée ‘Terrasse du Diable,’ encompasses the low-yielding vines from the higher altitudes while Cuvée ‘Les Racines’ highlights the vineyard parcels surrounding the winery—the origin of the domaine with the oldest vines—with the emphasis on freshness and extravagant cornucopian fruit.

 9.  Domaine Les Pallières ‘Les Racines’, 2021 Gigondas ($58)
Les Racines is a parcel-selection of the oldest vines in the lieu-dit Les Pallières. 80% Grenache, 15% Syrah and Cinsault (co-planted) and 5% Clairette; the palate is high-toned and elegant, lush with black cherries, garrigue, olives and crushed stones.

 

 

 

 

 


 10.  Domaine Les Pallières ‘Terrasse du Diable’, 2021 Gigondas ($53)
90% Grenache, 5% Mourvèdre, 5% Clairette from a 25-acre vineyard site of red sandy clay, limestone and scree—vines average 45-years-old. A very representative array of Provençal high-notes, plum, cherry and forest berries wreathed in black olive, licorice, mint, eucalyptus and rosemary.

 

 

 

 


Domaine Les Pallières ‘Terrasse du Diable’, 2018 Gigondas ($58)
90% Grenache, 5% Mourvèdre, 5% Clairette. A blend of rustic elegance, with elements of smokey plum near the surface and chalky tannins beneath the surface.

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Domaine Santa Duc

At Santa Duc, in the verdant environs of Gigondas, heritage is as deep as the iron-rich soils. Six generations have leapfrogged each other as caretakers of the storybook estate at the foot of the Dentelles de Montmirail hills and each has brought to the party a unique respect for terroir and tradition. Yves Gras, Domaine Santa Duc’s winemaker for 32 years, became a standard bearer for innovation with his elegant wines; he replaced barrels with 3600-liter casks to tone down the oak and championed a greater percentage of Mourvèdre used in cuvées. His ongoing quest for cooler terroirs capable of producing great wines ultimately took him from the plateau of Gigondas to Châteauneuf-du-Pape (10 miles to the southwest), where he was able to purchase several choice parcels.

With the 2017 vintage, Yves’ son Benjamin Gras took over the domain and quickly proved himself to be as much a visionary as his father, switching immediately to biodynamic agriculture and building a state-of-the-art winemaking facility on the property. Benjamin has the passion, the Gras DNA, but also the educational pedigree to buoy his future: After obtaining a diploma in oenology at the University of Bourgogne in Dijon, he spent time at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Bodega Vega-Sicilia, and the OIV MSc in Wine Management program gave him the unprecedented opportunity to visit more than two dozen wine producing countries and study their techniques, their terroirs, and their traditions.

Domaine Santa Duc ‘Clos Derrière Vieille’, 2018 Gigondas ($57)
An iron butterfly, with both weight and lyrical lightness from the limestone-rich clos behind the village of Gigondas; 80% Grenache and 10% each Mourvèdre and Syrah, the wine is resinous with orange peel, pomegranate and raspberry. smoked garrigue, fresh thyme and lavender.

 

 

 

 

 


Domaine Santa Duc ‘Les Hautes Garrigues’, 2018 Gigondas ($73)
50% Grenache, 50% Mourvèdre—this is Santa Duc’s flagship, a biodynamic gem sourced from 75-year-old vines planted on the sandy soils of the Les Hautes Garrigues lieu dit. It offers a brilliant bouquet of ripe wild strawberries, dried plums, blueberries, ground pepper, garrigue and sweet leather with a long, mineral-driven finish.

 

 

 

 


The Pinnacle

 

Domaine des Bosquets

“Since Julien Brechet took control of his family’s 64-acre estate in 2006, Domaine des Bosquets has been moving steadily up the Gigondas hierarchy, and in 2016 they produced not only some of the best wines of the appellation but of the entire southern Rhône.”

That song of praise, well-deserved, is from Antonio Galloni’s widely read ‘Vinous’ and reflects the spirit of the Domaine des Bosquets estate. Prior to taking over, Julien Brechet apprenticed at Château de Vaudieu under Philippe Cambie, and at Bosquets, he begun to map out his terroirs through careful studies and micro-vinifications. Rather than rob his Villages-level Gigondas of its best parts, his parcel wines are only made in limited quantities. Among the lieux-dits Julien farms are Jasio, La Colline, Le Plateau, Les Bosquets, Roche, Les Routes, and Les Blânches, where the planting principal grape variety is Grenache (70%), with 20% Syrah, 8% Mourvèdre, and 2% Cinsault with tiny percentages of other permitted varieties, both red and white.

His estate is now certified organic, a process he started in 2015, and he’s begun implementing biodynamically practices. Cover crops are encouraged and are plowed under to provide nutrients to the soils and ensure the vines penetrate deep into the subsoil. The average age of his vines is 50 years, and the soils range from sand to various gravels and types of clay – some with high levels of chalk. Average yields are 23 hl/ha for vines destined for the village Gigondas, while it drops down to as low as 15 hl/ha for some of the parcel wines. Harvests are manual to ensure a strict selection of fruit, and fermentations are now entirely with indigenous yeasts.

With these farming changes, Julien has noticed better stem maturation at harvest and uses up to 30% whole clusters. His Gigondas wines are aged for two winters in French oak barrels ranging in size from 228 liter to 2300 liter. He prefers seasoned barrels to new and ages his parcel wines entirely in neutral French oak.

Domaine des Bosquets ‘Le Regard Loin’, 2020 Gigondas ($288)
The culmination of Julien Brechet process of strict selection and micro-cuvée blending fruit from La Colline, Le Plateau, Les Routes, and Les Roches lieux-dits. 70% Grenache with 20% Syrah, 8% Mourvèdre and 2% Cinsault with tiny percentages of other permitted varieties, both red and white, the wine spends 12 months in second-fill oak barrels before blending, then another 12 months in sandstone amphorae before bottling. A nice mix of black raspberries, blueberries, licorice, and herbes de Provence.

 

 


RECENT ARRIVAL


 

Cru ‘Cairanne’: The Birth Of A New Cru In Southern Rhône

Cairanne picked up Cru status in 2016, and with the stroke of that bureaucratic pen, no longer had to label itself a Côtes du Rhône Villages. Found east of Orange, the soils of Cairanne are predominantly built of alluvial limestone from several local rivers and streams; red, iron-rich earth over sandstone bedrock is also found throughout the appellation. Topography ranges from the glacial plateau to the south of the town to the slopes of the Dentelles de Montmirail foothills to the north and west.

“This new appellation status was only made possible thanks to the passion, determination and high expectations of a bunch of local enthusiasts,” says Denis Alary, president of the local winegrowers syndicate, told Wine Spectator. “No decision could better illustrate Côtes du Rhône-Villages dynamism.”

Cairanne is often called ‘the gateway to the Southern Rhône’, combining the typically northern Syrah grape with the much heat-loving Grenache and Mourvèdre. The Mediterranean is dry with plenty of sunshine, and most importantly, vineyard health is heavily influenced by the Mistral wind.


 

Domaine Alary
Cru Cairanne

Denis Alary of Domaine Alary considers himself a perfectionist as well as a grand idealist; his seventy acres of vineyard, entirely in Cairanne, is where he goes to relieve the stress that accompanies the loftiness of his ambitions …

“Alone,” he says: “Without a cell phone.”

As he took over the estate from his father Daniel, the oenologist is now passing responsibility to his son Jean-Étienne who brings an international reputation to this dry, dusty corner of France, having vinified at New Zealand’s Seresin, Australia’s Henschke and in France at Confuron-Cotetidot in Burgundy.

Domaine Alary ‘Vieilles Vignes’, 2020 Cairanne ($23)
From old vines grown on the terraces of the Dentelles de Montmirail; grapes are hand-harvested separately, sorted and a separate vinification of each different grape variety is made. Bottled without fining, the wine shows profusion of black fruit flavors and soft spices on the nose and a rich full-bodied palate sustained by a mineral touch.

 

 

 

 


A Rhône With Substance, But No Pretense: Buy A Dozen For $159

Cave de Cairanne Chantecôtes ‘Les Terres Vierges’, 2019 Côtes du Rhône (A Dozen for $159)
First, the difference between a ‘cave’ and a ‘domaine’: Created in 1929, the Vaucluse-based Cave de Cairanne is a collective of 65 winemakers who work over 1300 acres of vines in the Côtes du Rhône, Côtes du Rhône Villages, Villages Plan de Dieu, Cru Cairanne and Cru Rasteau. Chantecôtes is located in Sainte Cécile Les Vignes; the wine is 50% Grenache, 40% Mourvèdre, 10% Syrah showing macerated raspberries, a round and racy palate filled with spice and smoke.

 

 


Southern Rhône Vintage Journal

2021 – Classic and Fresh

After six blessed harvests in a row, 2021 brought earth back to earth: Temperatures were unpredictable throughout the growing season, without heat spikes, and random thunderstorms later in July served to test vignerons, including a torrential downpour in mid-September right at harvest-time. Early-budders like Syrah, having been jeopardized by spring frost and the late-ripening grapes also found themselves under threat. Despite this, Mourvèdre, Cinsault, and Carignan fared well, while the quality of Grenache was mixed, some of it (almost unaccountably) particularly good. The best of 2021 wines focus on red rather than black fruit, on lean but elegant tannins rather than any attempts to overcompensate with an ambitious extraction regime or indulgent use of oak.

2020 – Silky and Tender

Fingers were crossed after a brief frost followed an early bud-break, but damage was light; flowering began in mid-May, two weeks earlier than 2019. Amenable conditions continued with hot weather from June, July and August, with the Mistral causing a bit of early damage, but ultimately breathed freshness over the vines all summer. A period of drought culminated in temperatures that peaked at 107°F on August 1. As might be expected, harvest came early, and overall, 2020 will be remembered as one of Southern Rhône’s finest. Sophie Armenier of Domaine de Marcoux (Châteauneuf-du-Pape) comments, “The maturity, the degrees of ripeness, the quantity and the sunshine—everything just came together!”

2019 – Rich and Balanced

Southern Rhône kept a nervous eye on heavy winter rains but in spring, precipitation remained at normal levels. The Mistral, which had been disquietingly calm in ’18, blew strongly in January and February, drying the leaves and removing concerns about mildew. Pleasant weather graced both March and April, the Mistral came back with a vengeance at the beginning of May, resulting in a few damaged leaves but otherwise aerating the vineyards and keeping the vines healthy. An even flowering in late May followed by a successful fruit set in June suggested, much to the growers’ relief, a vintage where yields would be normal. Then came the heatwave, with temperatures as high as 111°F in June, without much nighttime respite. With the lack of rain, this might have proved disastrous but for the high winter rainfall which had filled underground water reserves.

2019 is considered a heat-wave vintage in the Southern Rhône. Those who managed the vines correctly during the excess temperatures of the summer made superlative wines since the hot and dry conditions resulted in small berries with intensity and—crucially—freshness, thanks to the concentration of the grapes’ natural acidity. Growers who worked organically and biodynamically did especially well in ’19, as their vines are so well adapted to manage nature’s whims.

2018 – Supple and Perfumed

2018—largely remarkable throughout France—was hit and miss in Southern Rhône. Although the winter and spring were wet and mild and further rainfall in June caused difficulties with mildew throughout Southern Rhône. Producers sprayed, but a large amount of the crop was still lost, and Grenache, the south’s mainstay grape, is particularly prone to rot and the result was devastating. Winemakers who typically used Grenache as a dominant component of their blends had to shift the focus onto others, chiefly Mourvèdre. Eventually, the damp weather dried up and a hot, dry summer took its place, and by the time it came to harvest, temperatures were high and producers had to work quickly when managing the grapes.

The wines tended to be more densely concentrated than typical with strong fruit flavors and structure. The reds of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Vacqueyras and Gigondas were especially good. The whites suffered slightly from low acidity but still had good fruit character and are generally best suited for early drinking.

 

 

 

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Posted on 2024.03.05 in Cairanne, Côtes-du-Rhône, Gigondas, France, Wine-Aid Packages, Southern Rhone  |  Read more...

 

Second Thoughts: Fabled Château Ausone Re-releases Aged Second Wine ‘Chapelle d’Ausone’ In Three Vintages: 2011, 2012 And 2016 + Current Releases: 2019 And 2020

In Bordeaux, a Château has the right to sell all of its production under the name of its domain, yet they rarely do. Based on vine age vs. current yield, producers occasionally replant vineyard plots and it generally takes a few years before the fruit reaches the level of quality required to justify either the Château’s name or the price it seeks for top releases. Parcels that are nearly—but not quite—ready to rock are generally downgraded to a second wine which, the consumer has every right to expect, are nearly—but not quite—at a quality level of the first.

This week’s featured offering represents one such second wine, ‘Chapelle d’Ausone’ from Saint-Émilion’s legendary Château Ausone. These wines, although ready to drink, are re-releases, meaning that they come directly from the estate itself, so the provenance is guaranteed. They are individually packaged in the original wooden box, stamped with name and vintage, ideal as a gift idea.

The town of Saint-Émilion lies just north of the Dordogne river in the final stages of its journey from the hills of the Massif Central to the Gironde estuary. It is a land from the pages of a storybook, renowned as much for its architecture and scenery as for its wine.

Unlike the wines of the Médoc, which focus heavily on Cabernet Sauvignon, Saint-Émilion is predominantly made from Merlot and Cabernet Franc. This is a matter of terroir; the clay and chalk rich soils around Saint-Émilion are generally cooler than those on the Médoc peninsula, and are less capable of reliably ripening Cabernet Sauvignon. Merlot makes up around two thirds of vines planted around Saint-Émilion, and continues to increase in popularity because of the softer, more approachable wine styles it produces. Both Cheval Blanc and Ausone may be seen as exceptions, since they are built predominantly around Cabernet Franc.


Château Ausone

The Most Confidential of Wines

‘Find a niche and fill it’ is one of the oldest, most revered bits of advice offered to entrepreneurs, but at Château Ausone, the mission statement is closer to ‘Find a niche and hide inside it.’

And that is because, despite being one of the only four Premier Grand Cru Classé A wines in Saint-Émilion (Ausone, Angélus, Cheval Blanc and Pavie), Château Ausone retains a relatively low profile, due in no small measure to its size. Encompassing a mere 17 acres in a region where 70% of the estates are larger than 50 acres, the output of Ausone is similarly restrained; even in spectacular vintages, fewer than 2,000 cases are produced. Château Haut-Brion, in contrast, releases ten times as many.

But that wine! Ask almost any French vigneron to name the best terroir in Bordeaux and the majority will say, without missing a beat, that it belongs to Château Ausone. Grown on Asteria limestone along terraces splashed in sunlight, protected from wind by geography and then nurtured in the cellar by Alain Vauthier (whose family has been making wine at Ausone since 1690), the typical profile of an Ausone Grand Vin is reticent and reserved in its youth, with a persistent elegance supplemented (especially in recent vintages) by a polished texture and aromatic complexity. With maturation, these elements combine to make Château Ausone a sublime secret.

Alain Vauthier stands in the caves of Ausone. (Photo Courtesy of Farr Vintners)

Alain Vauthier is proud to be beholden to his land. He is pragmatic about the challenges that will keep it producing at the top of its game: “To improve wine quality, we change details according to the vintage, but the terroir remains the same. The climate may change—but very slowly—and Ausone will remain Ausone in style. I don’t see how the hand of humans can do much to alter terroir. Terroir is the conjunction of wind currents, sunshine and stability of soils linked to hydrology. I don’t see how we could change it.”

A Theater of Stone: Subterranean Tales

To delve further beneath the surface of Vauthier’s remarks, The Ausone estate is anchored to the side of the hill in a place called Roc Blancan; literally the ‘white rock.’ Besides providing the vines with an ideal foundation, Ausone limestone, has been worked by masons for seven hundred years. As a memento to their labors, there are Gallo-Roman galleries under the château and a maze of tunnels that double as wine cellars. Over the years, local families have taken up residence inside the abandoned local quarries and many are buried there: The thick limestone bank that lies above the property contains a small Romanesque chapel which stands, surrounded by vines, in one of Ausone’s parcels. Beneath it sits another treasure of Christian art—an underground rotunda with a fresco of the Last Judgement.

The Fortunate Hill: The Terroir’s Favors

The alignment of conditions at Ausone may sometimes seem like alchemy; surrounded by stone, the terraced vine parcels are in a natural amphitheater, sheltered from the wind while enjoying a perfect east south-east exposure. Sunshine is generous and working in concert with the Dordogne and Isle rivers that meet nearby, creates an ideal microclimate for winemaking. Some of the vines grow on a plateau of asteriated limestone, where their roots are anchored in crevices. On the hill, the vines delve deeply into earth supplemented with a layer of clay that provides welcome moisture when drought conditions prevail. Both growth environments are equally hospitable. Nowhere has this truth been more obvious (and more welcome) than during the horrendous frosts of 1892 and 1956. As a result, the estate boasts Cabernet Franc vines that are more than 100 years old, the oldest planted in 1906.

And at Château Ausone, Cabernet Franc is the name of the game: The vineyard is planted to 55% Cabernet Franc, 40% Merlot with the scant 5% Cabernet Sauvignon used primarily for Chapelle d’Ausone, the estate’s second label.

The Spirit and Practices: The Winegrower’s Task

Pauline Vauthier, Alain’s eldest daughter, is the eleventh wine growing generation at Ausone. Having started during 2005 vintage, she arrived well-prepared, having entered agricultural school at 15 and earning a degree in viticulture and enology, then working in South Africa at the Morgenster estate. “But I’ve always wanted to work at Ausone,” she admits, and today oversees all technical aspects at the famed château as well as at the family’s other properties in Moulin St-Georges, Château Fonbel and Château Simard.

She shares her father’s sensibilities, driving the estate towards organic viticultural practices in what she calls ‘educated agriculture: “Beyond the vines themselves, the wider ecosystem is also taken into account. Hedges, fruit trees and aromatic plants are grown as companions for the vines, stimulating a fertile exchange between species, backed up with natural applications of nettle, willow and valerian. A variety of wildlife is also preserved, including insects, birds and even bats, which all contribute in their own way to releasing the vital energy in the soil.”

Château Ausone rarely sticks to a singular regimen. Methods inspired by both organic and biodynamic procedures are implemented based on weather conditions, which the family agrees is the gentlest ways to craft wines. Says Alain, “The best tactic that man can adopt is discretion. From the vineyard through to the cellars, all the deliberate, measured practices employed pursue a single ambition, that of enabling the terroir to express itself as genuinely as possible.”

Ausone’s Second Wine: An Overture

Second wines are rarely an afterthought; in fact, they are better regarded as an overture—a wine that is often produced from younger vines or declassified lots, perhaps a slightly different cépage, but generally crafted by the same vigneron, using the same equipment and expertise, as the Grand Vin.

In short, a second label may be seen as an introductory course to the winemaker’s vision and can generally be identified by the absence of the word ‘Château’ on the label.

Chapelle d’Ausone is a prime example of this two-tiered, dual-philosophy excellence:  Crafted under the same conditions as its elder sibling (the Merlot stands out more distinctly in Chapelle and mingles with subtle hints of Cabernet Sauvignon), it is a wine meant to be enjoyed younger than the Grand Vin, which may take fifteen or twenty years to unfurl. Chapelle is a great way to saturate the palate during the wait.

The re-release of several vintages of Chapelle d’Ausone from the estate itself is perhaps the best guarantee of its provenance and showcases the splendor of Ausone at a more rationale price point.

(Individually) Boxed Bottles, Re-releases 

These wines are contained within their original wooden boxes, stamped with the estate’s name and vintage; they are perfect for those eager to get at least one significant other off the Father’s Day list early.

These wines have been recently re-released by Château Ausone itself, so there is no doubt about the integrity of storage conditions during the intervening years.


 

2020 was an excellent vintage in Saint-Émilion (along with the rest of the Right Bank), proving to be even more consistent than the Left. An unusually mild winter moved into a balmy spring, prompting both an early budburst and flowering; isolated heavy rains forced producers to be vigilant against the spread of both rot and mildew, but the rains proved useful in saturating the soils before the hot and exceedingly dry summer months arrived. Additionally, as the rain brought humidity, much of the region was able to dodge the worst of spring frosts. A hot, dry summer eventually arrived and although there were still intermittent rains in the run-up to August; after that, the vineyards dried out and the water reserves trapped deep in the soils became all-important. The good weather continued through to the harvest and the perfect conditions were a blessing in the ‘Year of Covid’, where social distancing protocol brought new and unexpected challenges.

2020 Château Ausone ‘Chapelle d’Ausone’ Saint-Émilion Grand Cru ($199)
60% Cabernet Franc, 35% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc; the wine is fleshy and fruity up front, with herbs, mint, mocha also alive in the aromatic profile. The palate displays an array of crushed mineral salinity the red and black berries length, lift, precision, purity and silken textures.

 

 

 

 

 

 


In Saint-Émilion, the 2019 vintage was exceptionally good. A benign winter moderated into a balmy spring and benevolent weather reigned supreme until April, which brought a significant cold snap. Like neighboring Pomerol, threats of frost hung in the air, but as it has in the past, Château Ausone weathered the storm without damage. A hot, dry summer emerged with cool nights that preserved essential acidity and aromatics. A hot July saw two significant rainstorms, which helped break up the heat while rehydrating the vines. September then marked the start of a golden autumn, interrupted only towards the end of the month by heavy, but welcome rainstorms. The harvest ran from mid-September to the beginning of October with Merlot first in line to be picked.

2019 Château Ausone ‘Chapelle d’Ausone’ Saint-Émilion Grand Cru ($249)
45% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Franc, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, with 85% new oak; a blend of wine from young vines with a few barriques of declassified Ausone. Brilliant flashes of juicy blackberry, warm plum compote and redcurrant jelly in the forefront with suggestions of sassafras, cedar chest, menthol and aniseed throughout. Fewer than one thousand cases made.

 

 

 

 


Like the rest of Bordeaux, Saint-Émilion experienced an unusually warm and wet winter with humid conditions continuing throughout the spring. Sporadic rains fell, serving to bolster water tables in the soil, although the lack of sun during the spring months meant budburst was slow to arrive. Eventually, the clouds cleared, and early June saw bright summer sunshine, which prompted a successful flowering. The early rains proved vital to the drought conditions that developed over a hot, dry summer.

Overall, the 2016 vintage for Saint-Émilion was excellent and a wide range of brilliant wines were made from easy-drinking second wines to sophisticated Grand Vins that will reward long-term cellaring.

2016 Château Ausone ‘Chapelle d’Ausone’ Saint-Émilion Grand Cru ($249)
A blend of 56% Cabernet Franc, 22% Merlot and 22% Cabernet Sauvignon. The high percentage of Cab Franc in this assemblage is the result of replanted plots that are not q

uite ready for the Grand Vin. The wine is exceptionally floral, with rose-petal and violet aromas floating above fleshed-out raspberry and loganberry notes and plenty of firm tannins and delicious acidity.

 

 

 


Overall, the 2012 vintage in Bordeaux was a challenge, and almost without exception the best wines came from older vines and long-established vignerons. Château Ausone was among them.

An extraordinarily wet April delayed both budburst and flowering; the latter did not occur until June. However, the flowering itself was beset with issues, from millerandage to mildew. The summer brought better weather, but a hot, dry August led to oppressive heat and drought. These harsh conditions caused some vines to temporarily shut down and the dry spell continued into September. Harvest was late, but those who delayed were rewarded, with Right Bank wines tending to fare better than the Left.

2012 Château Ausone ‘Chapelle d’Ausone’ Saint-Émilion Grand Cru ($199)
60% Cabernet Franc, 25% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon. Rich, broad and expansive, with raspberry jam and smoky licorice above notes of plum, blueberry and black raspberry. Finishes with the powdered-chalk minerality one excepts from an Ausone. 500 cases made.

 

 

 

 

 


After two excellent vintages, 2011 handed Bordeaux a return to reality. A sweltering spring meant quick bud break and flowering, a full two weeks earlier than 2010. From April through June, drought conditions were noted. By July, however, summer nearly disappeared, with low levels of sunshine and cool temperatures followed by a rainy August.

Yet, in general, these conditions had a far more devastating effect on the Left Bank, with Cabernet Sauvignon on gravel soils suffering the worst. Generally speaking, Cabernet Franc did much better, and estates planted to this variety in both Pomerol and Saint Émilion (like Château Ausone) produced nice, early-drinking wines with fresh fruit and some gentle tannins.

2011 Château Ausone ‘Chapelle d’Ausone’ Saint-Émilion Grand Cru ($199)
56% Cabernet Franc, 22% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine has matured with earthy aromas of leather and forest floor above a core of fruit dominated by ripe cherry. The palate is supple and the tannins nicely integrated, finishing with dried fruit, black pepper and oak-driven butterscotch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted on 2024.02.22 in Saint-Emilion, France, Bordeaux, Wine-Aid Packages  |  Read more...

 

Enthroned At The Summit Of Larzac: Domaine de Montcalmès, A Languedoc Stand-out, Drinks Well In Its Youth And Shows No Weakness With Age + Recent Arrival Two Rising Stars From Larzac — Five-Bottle Package For $215

If you’re an aspiring domaine owner working with a tight budget, and have an eye to producing world-class French wine, you could do worse than Terrasses du Larzac, where an acre of vineyard land might set you back the equivalent of $5,000. Compare that to Burgundy’s $100,000-an-acre mind-blowing average. Not only that, but only 35% of the available land is currently under vine.

It’s no wonder that this relatively new (2014) appellation is seducing many winemakers who are equally green behind the ears; they are beginning careers with an eye (and palate) toward quality—still a rather novel concept in Languedoc, long the home for a sea of cheap wine available for under ten dollars a bottle.  AOP rules in TdL are relatively tight in comparison to the Languedoc as a VdF: in Larzac, there are five permitted grapes—Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cinsault and Carignan; the wines must be blends and include at least two from Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. Furthermore, cellar-ageing must last at least one year.

Among the new class of Larzac producers, we number the following as among our favorites. They are visionaries with both heritage and discipline, finding in the wonderfully diverse terroirs of the region an opportunity to rival, and frequently outgun, wines from the same grapes made way up north in the Rhône.

Terrasses du Larzac: A Languedoc Stand-Out, Coming Into Its Own

The history of Languedoc’s vineyards dates back to the 5th century BCE when the Greeks introduced vines to the area. As such, the Terrasses du Larzac AOP is a bit anomalous simply because it only received official recognition in 2014. Extending across 32 communes among the foothills of Larzac, with its northern boundary naturally formed by the Causse du Larzac, part of TdL’s appellation upgrade was a phasing-out of the predominantly Carignan-based wines of the past in favor of ‘cépages améliorateurs’ (improver varieties) like Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre—grapes more usually associated with Rhône. Carignan is now limited to only 30% of any Terraces du Larzac wine.

But the terroir is perfectly suited to the Big Three; Larzac is geologically varied and offers soils that range from stony clay and sand, iron-rich red soils, and heavier clay soils with high limestone content. Vineyards situated on the banks of the Hérault river are planted on pebble-strewn alluvial terraces and stonier soils with limestone bedrock. The average altitude of the local vineyards is around 400 feet, but rise to nearly 1300 feet in the northerly commune of Saint Privat. The Mediterranean climate provides distinctly seasonal rainfall throughout spring and fall, and thanks to the nearby mountains of the southern Massif Central, the appellation’s vineyards enjoy the benefits of cooler nights after hot days, helping to provide balance between sugar and acid in the grapes.


The Package …

This week’s package offering is comprised of five wines featured and numbered below: Two wines from Montcalmès, one red and one white, and one of each of Saint-Sylvester and Le Clos du Serres two wines for a total of five bottles at $215.


Domaine de Montcalmès
The Summit of Larzac

The quiet persistence of Frédéric Pourtalié has, since his first vintage in 1999, gradually elevated Domaine de Montcalmès to a quality level to match his mentor Grange de Pères, although in terms of cult wine status, it still flies a bit under the radar. Pourtalié trained at Pères before taking over family vineyards at the edge of the Massif Central, where cool night air descends off the Cévennes Mountains.

Named for a hamlet that once overlooked the Hérault valley, Pourtalié’s winemaking cousin Vincent Guizard (now of Domaine Saint-Sylvestre) joined in 2003 in a quest to put the Hérault estate on the world’s wine map. Today, Pourtalié farms 54 acres spread between the communes of Puéchabon, Aniane, St. Jean de Fos and St. Saturnin de Lucian, each with its own unique microclimate and soil geology. Montcalmès means ‘limestone mountain’ in Occitan, and Pourtalié draws variously from the lacustrine limestones of Puéchabon, the rolled pebbles of Aniane, the scree of Saint-Saturnin and the clays of Saint-Jean-de-Fos.

Frédéric Pourtalié, Domaine de Montcalmès
photo: Atelier Soubiran

The domain is hundreds of miles from either Burgundy or Southern Rhône, but the influence of both manages to trickle down to Pourtalié’s operation. His Mourvèdre grows on pudding-stones nearly identical to Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s galets roulés and his red wines are aged for 24 months in old Romanée-Conti barrels, giving them a potential longevity of a decade or more.

Frédéric Pourtalié proudly shares that for the past decade, he has been supplying top-end wines to local Michelin starred restaurants— the Pourcel, the Auberge du Vieux Puits in Fontjoncouse, Michel Bras in Aveyron—but also the Troisgros, Pierre Gagnaire, the Grillon in Paris. “Between restaurants and a network of wine merchants, it is sometimes hard to keep up,” says Pourtalié.

“We are slowly expanding; I recently planted six acres of Syrah on a clearing of scrubland on the hillsides, but I’ve also made time to vinify a 100% Viognier in Vin de France, this time sold only in the cellar. A special vintage just for visitors.”


Vintage 2020

The ‘nutshell’ summation of the 2020 vintage in Languedoc is ‘low quantity, high quality.’

For the most part, the appellation had ample reserves of water from flooding the previous autumn and winter. The spring was quite cool, and there was quite a bit of rainfall in late April early May. Summer heated up, but not to the over-the-top extremes of 2019; it was dry, but the August nights were cool—ideal were quite warm but thankfully without the extremes of 2019. High summer did of course warm up and was dry as usual, but the August nights were cool with an ideal condition for the ripening and flavor development.

•1•  Domaine de Montcalmès, 2020 Terrasses du Larzac ($57) – One Bottle
60% Syrah, 20% Mourvèdre, 20% Grenache; the grapes were destemmed and crushed and allowed to ferment separately on indigenous yeast during a maceration of 30 days. The varieties underwent regular punching down, following which barrel-aging took place over 24 months; the three varieties were blended two months before bottling.

The wine shows clean blackberry and cassis notes while the palate is silky with spice and fine-grained leather with a touch of licorice on the finish.

 

 


Domaine de Montcalmès, 2020 Languedoc Blanc ($58)
50% Marsanne, 50% Roussanne—the classic Hermitage blend in which the Marsanne provides body and the delicate flavors of peach, pear and spice, while Roussanne brings elegance, aroma, crisp acidity for aging and nut along with mineral notes. The vines, now over twenty years old, are located in Puéchabon on a clay-limestone hillside. After harvesting by hand, the two varietals were pressed and vinified together via direct pressing, and cold settled. Vinification occurred on indigenous yeasts in barrels and demi-muids and the wine was aged in used oak barrels for 24 months. The different barrels were blended 4 to 6 months before bottling.

 

 


2•  Domaine de Montcalmès, 2020 VdF Languedoc-Terrasses du Larzac Blanc ($47) – One Bottle
40% Petit Manseng, 10% Gros Manseng, 10% Petit Courbu, 10% Gros Courbu, 15% Chenin, 15% Chardonnay; a blend so unusual it wears the generic VdF label, but don’t let that fool you; the wine is a gem, showing taut minerality and an herbal edge suggestive of the wild thyme and fennel that grow near the vines. In the mouth, it is reminiscent of honey, almonds, wildflowers and gentle brine.

 

 

 


Vintage 2019

2019 was (as is happening more and more frequently) a season of intense drought, beginning with a cold, dry spring which slowed leaf development in the vines. High summer temperatures arrived quickly and further slowed growth during peaks. Relief came in the weeks before harvest with a mercury drop, especially at night, and a few rain-filled days. Harvest 2019 came later than in 2018 and the wines are more concentrated, with nicely defined tannins behind moderate to low acidity.

Domaine de Montcalmès, 2019 Terrasses du Larzac ($57)
60% Syrah, 20% Mourvèdre, 20% Grenache. The two sites that contribute to this are distinct; the first is north-facing and on limestone scree, the source of the Syrah and Grenache, while the second is south-facing and on galet roulés as you might find in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. This warmer site is where he sources the heat-loving Mourvèdre. The wine aged in old casks from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti for two years before release and reamins fresh on the nose with ripe plum and blackberry, bricking out with leather, balsamic, undergrowth, chocolate and dried fruit.

 

 


Vintage 2015

A delightful vintage for Languedoc; one that wine writer Jancis Robinson calls ‘une année vinabilis.’  Water tables were replenished over the previous year’s winter, and spring was warm and dry, with no weather issues during flowering. Conditions that favor healthy and clean fruit continued into summer, with no hail or rainstorms of any serious note. Hydric stress was an issue for younger vines with shallower roots, notably some Syrah planted in 2006. The older Grenache and Syrah shrugged it off as deeper roots found water. Harvesting began in early September and finished a week earlier than ever before. Grenache wound up as the star of the year; ripe, healthy and very juicy. The Syrah yielded smaller but very concentrated and fruity berries. The Mourvèdre and Carignan were well-balanced between acid and sugar.

Domaine de Montcalmès, 2015 Terrasses du Larzac ($48)
60% Syrah, 20% Mourvèdre, 20% Grenache; an enticing nose displaying ripe black cherry, anise and a fleeting whiff of dried strawberry. A Grenache with a delicacy that is reminiscent of Château-Rayas; a nice balance between fruit and the grip of acidity and silken tannins.

 

 

 

 


Vintage 2014

As folks in Languedoc recall too well, 2014 was the vintage of cataclysmic hailstorms which seriously compromised yields. Spells of unseasonably hot spring weather tested vines while the summer brought sharp variations in temperature, with cool periods followed by periods of extreme heat. Only the most careful and persistent vintners produced notable wines, but the best of these show balance, concentration and complexity at relatively low alcohol levels.

Domaine de Montcalmès, 2014 Terrasses du Larzac ($50)
60% Syrah, 20% Mourvèdre, 20% Grenache; the nose is full of leathery cherry and perfumed with dried violet while the fruit is settling into garrigue spice with a long and lingering finish washed in velvety tannins.

 

 

 

 

 

 


Vintage 2013

Compared with the rest of France, the Languedoc fared well in 2013, escaping most of the major climatic hazards that beset other regions. Key climatic factors were a wet spring—the wettest in thirty years—but that meant that there was no danger of water stress later in the season. Summer arrived late, leading to a late harvest—sometimes grapes catch up, but this year they did not. Fortunately, September was bright and sunny and the rain that did fall did not harm the grapes. They ripened well, with supple tannins and ample freshness.

Domaine de Montcalmès, 2013 Terrasses du Larzac ($49)
60% Syrah, 20% Mourvèdre, 20% Grenache; a typically elegant wine in the process of aging beautifully, showing broad and expansive dried berries and kirsch accented by hints of garrigue and Asian spice. The finish is very long, with ripe, silky, fine-grained tannins.

 

 

 

 

 


Domaine de Montcalmès, 2013 Terrasses du Larzac ($130) Magnum
A large format version of the above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Vintage 2012

The most challenging vintage Languedoc had seen in 22 years. Yields were low thanks to drought at one stage and mildew at another, and late, uneven ripening resulted in many wines without fully-developed character. It was not a complete disaster, however, and top domains were able to produce a limited amount of excellent wine.

Domaine de Montcalmès, 2012 Terrasses du Larzac ($47)
60% Syrah, 20% Mourvèdre, 20% Grenache. Polished and splendidly bricked-out, this elegant wine offers dark fruits, bittersweet chocolate and light notes of vanilla behind musk and five-spice powder.

 

 

 

 

 

 


RECENT ARRIVAL


Domaine Saint Sylvestre
Terrasses du Larzac, Languedoc

It’s easy to conclude that Terrasses du Larzac has one of the highest concentrations of ambitious young producers in the south of France. This is partially due to the unique climate conditions but also the vast range of soil types confined to a relatively small area. Throughout the communes that host Larzac’s vineyards, you’ll encounter schist, sand, horizontal layers of red ruffe, clay/limestone and galets roulés in the course of a few miles.

“Among the more interesting of these types is the ruffe,” says Vincent Guizard of Domaine Saint-Sylvestre, referring to the fine-grained, brilliant-red sandstone soil. “It’s rarely found outside Languedoc. It is extremely iron-rich soil that is a beautiful brick color and produces intense, fruity and full-bodied Syrah, Grenache, Carignan, Mourvèdre and Cinsault.”

Vincent and Sophie Guizard, Domaine Saint Sylvestre

Guizard knows his terroir as well as his wife Sophie knows the wine business; together, they created Domaine Saint-Sylvestre in 2010 with 17 acres he owned as part of Domaine de Montcalmès, the winery he worked alongside his cousin, Frédéric Pourtalié. Domaine Saint-Sylvestre released its first vintage release in 2011.

Vincent and Sophie employ a sustainable approach to viticulture, a method known as ‘lutte raisonnée’ (the reasoned struggle) and use no synthetic fertilizers or herbicides in the vineyards.

3• Domaine Saint Sylvestre, 2015 Terrasses du Larzac ($39) – One Bottle
70% Syrah, 20% Grenache, 10% Mourvèdre. A beautifully-aged Larzac blend showing dried cranberry, sweet leather, crushed stone, garrigue and woodsmoke. Total production, 1375 cases.

 

 

 

 

 


Rich-iron red Ruffe soil


Le Clos du Serres
Terrasses du Larzac, Languedoc

Says Beatrice Fillon, “We chose this new occupation to rebuild their lives, to abandon a lifestyle where speed was of the essence and which seemed to us to be more and more unreal.”

She is referring to the decision she made with her husband Sébastien to purchase the 40-acre domain Clos du Serres. It was a life-changing move for the couple. Born in St Etienne, Sébastien grew up in a rural, agricultural environment and was familiar with working the land, but it was Beatrice, who hails from Montpellier, who chose the area: “We wanted to move south to the only region where there is still land to clear.”

Sébastien adds, “We were won over by the quality of life, surrounded by wild, unspoilt nature, set among olive groves, vines and the wild garrigue, close to some great natural sites—Lake Salagou, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, the Hérault gorges—but not far from Montpellier or the sea at the foot of the Larzac plateau.”

The Fillons, Le Clos du Serres

The domain is organically certified and the Fillon’s philosophy is built around the idea that a wine’s quality has its roots in the vine, but terroir gives nothing without being worked. To this effect, each of their parcels are cultivated with individual attention: “In winter, we leave the grass between the rows of vines to avoid erosion during the heavy autumn rain and enhance the soil’s life,” says Sébastien. “We start ploughing with the first warm days getting rid of the grass naturally thus ensuring it doesn’t challenge the vine’s access to water. During the winter we treat with organic material; grape-based compost and manure from animals bred on the Larzac plateau.”

Work in the cellar is equally meticulous, according to Fillon: “We use ‘tronconique’ (conical) concrete vats and other small ones made of glass fiber with floating ‘hats.’ Thanks to the shape of the concrete vats, the ‘marc’ hat sinks into the juices, resulting in soft and natural extraction, so that fermentation based on the grapes’ natural yeast is very steady. The glass fiber vats mean we can work with very small volumes, maximizing our ability to vinify parcel by parcel. Proof is that our winery boasts 17 vats for 15 land parcels.”

 •4•  Le Clos du Serres ‘Le Palas’, 2018 Terrasses du Larzac ($33) – One Bottle
From a west-facing lieu-dit adjacent to the village of Saint-Jean de la Blaquière, this organically-certified blend of 38% Syrah, 32% Carignan, 30% Grenache is aged in concrete and shows blackberry and plum preserves with citrus notes accompanying licorice, black pepper and graphite. Total production, 250 cases.

 

 

 

 


5•  Le Clos du Serres ‘L’Humeur Vagabonde’, 2019 Terrasses du Larzac ($39) – One Bottle
70% Grenache, 15% Cinsault, 15% Carignan; this tiny production wine (whose name loosely translates to ‘The Wandering Mood’), shows ripe blackberry, cherry and blackcurrant behind hits of coffee and chocolate with an impressive spice finish touched with clove and violet. 125 cases produced.

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted on 2024.02.17 in France  |  Read more...

 

Champagne By Any Other Name: Two Dozens Rose-Tinted Champagne. Eighteen Producers Show Different Styles And Capture Diversity of Soils.

Sugar and spice are nice, but you prefer a bit more ‘brut’ with your Valentine’s Day sparkle, you may be pleasantly surprised to learn that Champagne Rosé is often drier than it’s golden counterpart. Sweeter rosé styles exist, of course, but they are the minority, and for the most part, the candy-pink hue is a saccharin illusion.

Not only that, but creating a rosé is more labor intensive than a standard blend, and given that méthode champenoise is already an arduous and exacting process, this explains the prestige, rarity and associated price tags of the top cuvées.

This year, we are rolling out the pink carpet for our entire ‘dry suite’ of Rosé Champagnes. Many are from our favorite smaller Houses—grower Champagnes made by Chefs de Cave who do not seek to compete with the window-dressers (Taittinger, Moët and Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, et al) on any level but quality. Where terroir cooperates, an obscure but dedicated cellar master can often match (and even outdo) a famous one, and without the notoriety, the final tariff on the bottle may be more in line with baseline sanity.

These Champagnes are year-round gems, but are particularly appropriate for Valentine’s Day. Our list is arranged geographically, east to west, to offer a palatable overview of the entire growing region, especially as it relates to the cultivation of rosé’s workhorse duo, Pinot Noir and Munier. Tracking this path across Champagne’s diverse landscape is an educational journey; we’d say that sampling the wares is a little sugar to help the medicine go down, but since these wines are exquisitely dry, we can’t.

The Champagne Grape Palette: Showtime For The Two Red Varieties

99% of the vineyard space in Champagne is given over to a trio of grape varieties, and of these acres, 72% are planted to red-skinned grapes. Folks less familiar with the styles and methodology behind Champagne produced entirely from Pinot Noir and/or Meunier, may find it incongruous that even in the absence of Chardonnay, the resulting wines are white.

But like most red-skinned grapes, both Pinot and Munier produce clear juice, and with minimal skin contact to leech out color, the end wine is also white. This holds true in regions outside of Champagne as well, but the relatively cool northern climate tends to produce less anthocyanins—red pigment—which exaggerates the effect.

As a result, Champagne produces much ‘Blanc de Noir’ and no ‘Noir de Noir.’

Though cool, Champagne’s climate is not homogenous, and certain areas are much better suited for its red-skinned stars. Pinot Noir is the dominant grape in Montagne de Reims and Côte des Bar, thriving so well in the cool, chalky soil that it is nick-named ‘Précoce’ for its ability to ripen early. Munier, on the other hand, prefers a different habitat, doing well in soils that contain more clay, such as in the Marne Valley, and being less susceptible to frost, may cope well under harsher climatic conditions.

The Different Shades Of Rosé

Not all pink is created equal and the color palette of Champagne Rosé is a varied as there are producers. Much is the result of the mode of production—easily broken down into two approaches: The more common method is to simply add a bit of still red wine to the blend, generally between 7% and 15%; this is referred to as ‘assemblage.’ ‘Saignée’ is a technique that involves bleeding a bit of color from the skins of the red grapes when they are pressed.

Both styles serve their purpose well and one does not necessarily yield a fuller-bodied style than the other, although saignée Champagnes may show brighter colors in the glass and taste more ‘vinous’ on the palate.

Not only can Champagne Rosé be made in infinite shades, even these are subject to change. After a couple of days in the tank, color starts to fade as anthocyanins bind to other molecules, generally tannins or sulfites. Acidity may affects this balance as an acidic wine tends to be brighter, while a less acidic wine tends to showcase darker shades. And then, of course, since a well-made rosé may have notable aging potential, there is the inevitable color mutations that cellaring brings as youthful pink tones move into the orange spectrum.

The Bigger Picture: Champagne’s Landscape

Having been defined and delimited by laws passed in 1927, the geography of Champagne is easily explained in a paragraph, but it takes a lifetime to understand it.

Ninety-three miles east of Paris, Champagne’s production zone spreads across 319 villages and encompasses roughly 85,000 acres. 17 of those villages have a legal entitlement to Grand Cru ranking, while 42 may label their bottles ‘Premier Cru.’ Four main growing areas (Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne, the Côte des Blancs and the Côte des Bar) encompass nearly 280,000 individual plots of vines, each measuring a little over one thousand square feet.

Beyond the overview lies a permutation of particulars; there are nearly as many micro-terroirs in Champagne as there are vineyard plots. Climate, subsoil and elevation are immutable; the talent, philosophies and techniques of the growers and producers are not. Ideally, every plot is worked according to its individual profile to establish a stamp of origin, creating unique wines that compliment or contrast when final cuvées are created.

Champagne is predominantly made up of relatively flat countryside where cereal grain is the agricultural mainstay. Gently undulating hills are higher and more pronounced in the north, near the Ardennes, and in the south, an area known as the Plateau de Langres, and the most renowned vineyards lie on the chalky hills to the southwest of Reims and around the town of Epernay. Moderately steep terrain creates ideal vineyard sites by combining the superb drainage characteristic of chalky soils with excellent sun exposure, especially on south and east facing slopes.


The Villages of
The Côte des Bar

Reims lies at Latitude 49°5, and Épernay at 49°; in the northern hemisphere, it is generally considered difficult to obtain quality grapes above the 50th parallel. The ninety mile cushion enjoyed by Côte des Bar has a pronounced effect on the grower’s ability to ripen Pinot Noir; as a result, 86% of the vineyards are planted to this varietal. Despite this, the soils of the Côte des Bar is closer to that of Chablis—Kimmeridgian marl topped by Portlandian limestone, whereas the vines near Épernay and Reims tend to be planted in Cretaceous chalk. Chablis, of course, is ground zero for Chardonnay, and it is humidity coming from the Atlantic in the west as well as continental influences with higher temperatures that make the Côte des Bar Pinot Noir country through and through. That said, local climate conditions, slope and orientation are extremely varied throughout region, and produces many individual micro-climates, so each vigneron needs to be fully attentive to his own terroir in order to make the most of it. Côte des Bar features a host of small producers whose output varies almost as much as the local landscape.

Champagne Fleury (Village Courteron)

If any estate is anchored to the Côte des Bar it is Champagne Fleury, whose Courteron vineyards span 38 acres on a clay-limestone hillside along a tributary of the Seine. But, as the first Champagne house to convert to biodynamics (1989), Jean-Pierre Fleury proved that a producer could have roots in the earth while raising the mainsail to innovation.

Today, his son Jean-Sébastien Fleury has taken the winemaking rudder, and is tacking toward the future with respect for the unique situation of the Côte des Bar, which is closer to Chablis than to Reims: “The key is soil health,” he says. “We must keep the earth healthy. The structure of the soil gives back the essence of the terroir.”

In this endeavor, he is joined by his younger brother Benoît, who came on board in 2010 to manage the vineyards, intent not only on maintaining biodynamics, but also researching soil biology, biodiversity and experimenting with agro-forestry. A third sibling, Morgane, initially studied to be an actress and a sommelier in Suze-la-Rousse, runs ‘My Cave Fleury’ in Les Halles (made famous by Émile Zola’s famous novel of the same name) where she specializes in biodynamic wines.

The estate encompasses ten plots planted primarily to Pinot Noir, the oldest planted in 1970, and new cuttings are established every year to maintain the vitality that younger vines bring to Champagne. The ultimate goal, according to Jean-Sébastien is a wish “to let the nature and its rhythms express themselves.”

Champagne Fleury ‘Rosé de Saignée’, Côte-des-Bar Rosé Extra-Brut ($76)
The grapes see a short period of maceration before pressing, the saignée, or bleeding, method. Fleury style leans toward a light, lyrical sparkling wine whose dosage has been gradually reduced over the years. The wine is 100% Pinot Noir from the 2018 harvest, from vines with an average age of 30 years.

The wine is redolent of strawberry compote and vanilla, with a rich palate that maintains both elegance and delicacy.

Bottled July 2019; disgorged October, 2022; dosage 3.4 grams/liter.

 

 


Champagne Jean Josselin (Village Gyé-sur-Seine)

Gyé-sur-Seine is a small village in the Aube department with a population under 500 and about the same number of acres planted to Pinot Noir. The commune is as picturesque as its name, as are the hillsides where Jean Josselin worked the soil—Beauregard, Davasgné, Cosvigne—before founding the house in 1957.

Today, the estate is run by his son Jean-Pierre, grandson Jean-Félix and granddaughter Lucile, who have maintained the rigid standards of their forebears. At times, admittedly, they have struggled to remain independent producers rather than succumb to the temptations dangled in front of them by the grand marques; financial incentives that saw one producer in the village recently sold to Moët et Chandon. Remaining independent has involved extensive upgrades, including the new production facilities—a modern building about a mile away from the old domain. The family also takes pride in its commitment to sustainable viticulture, and is proud to be certified to ‘Terra Vitis’, a label that subjects the estate to regular audits scalable to the size of the property—in the case of Champagne Josselin,18 parcels scattered over 30 acres.

Says Jean-Pierre: “In the past, Josselin Champagnes were mostly made from Pinot Noir, but we have expanded our range with a blend of the three traditional varietals as our Blanc de Blancs, thus exploring the other varietals that grow well in specific locations. We are a small producer—no more than 100,000 bottles a year—but we are always looking to improve. For instance, my son Jean-Félix, who joined the family operation in 2010, has created a new cuvée, as yet unnamed. It’s a secret waiting to be uncovered, as many ideas arise and provoke discussion between father and son! The adventure is far from over!”

Champagne Jean Josselin ‘Audace R.19’, Harvest 2019 Côte-des-Bar Rosé Brut ($62)
An audaciously dark rosé made with 100% Pinot Noir from the Gyé-sur-Seine lieu-dit ‘Beauregard’ using the 2019 vintage. The color is the result of a two-and-a-half day maceration period prior to pressing followed by complete malolactic fermentation, three extractions and one filtration carried out before bottling. The wine is textured with layers of red currants and raspberries and touch of licorice offset by puckery Pinot tannin and shivery acidity.

Bottled July, 2020; disgorged September, 2021.

 

 


Champagne Vincent Couche (Village Buxeuil)

With three generations of Champagne-makers behind him, Vincent Couche has plenty of laurels on which to rest—if he was so inclined. He’s not; when he took over the family estate in 1999, he began immediately to restructure the 32 acres and reassess the cellar work, first by replanting his vineyard under the direction of terroir specialist Claude Bourguignon. The overarching philosophy that drove all the improvements is biodynamics.

Vincent explains, “Embracing biodynamics has been the name of the game since 1999, but certification takes time, and it wasn’t until 2008 that we were certified biodynamic—the first cellar and fields to receive Demeter certification in Champagne. Healthy soils and healthy vines is an obsession of mine, as is making wine without additives. At harvest, I pick by taste and touch, generally a week or more than my neighbors; I refuse to chaptalize and look for need sugar levels than is the norm. in the cool deep cellar wines are fermented and aged in oak and stainless steel without added yeast or nutrients and the wines don’t see any additions.”

Champagne Vincent Couche ‘Rosé Désir’, Côte-des-Bar Rosé Extra-Brut ($62)
A rosé d’assemblage, 95% Pinot Noir with 5% Chardonnay grown in the villages Montgueux and Buxeuil—the Pinot is vinified via carbonic maceration and the wine was disgorged 07/2022; dosage at level of Extra Brut and bottled without sulfite. A bright, full-bodied rosé showing ripe pie cherries, pomegranate and pink grapefruit.

Disgorged July, 2022.

 

 

 


Champagne Drappier (Village Urville)

“Our vineyards are like family archives that perpetuate our history,” says Michel Drappier. “We grow heirloom grape varieties that deserve to be remembered: Fromenteau, Arbanne, Petit Meslier and Blanc Vrai.”

His son Hugo, who is responsible for viticulture and oenology at the estate, adds, “But since we planted our vineyard in Urville with Pinot Noir, this has become the variety that now runs in our veins and we manage it according to organic and natural practices.”

The vineyards, which the family considers ‘the heart of the Drappier identity’, spans 150 acres (with more under contractual arrangements with other growers) and reflects this passion for Pinot: 70% of the estate is planted to Pinot Noir, supplemented by Pinot Meunier at 15%, Chardonnay at 9% and old grape varieties at 6%.

Hugo says, “Proximity to the vines is necessary to keep a close eye on how they evolve and interact with their environment. Because our vineyards are all local, we have stepped up our sustainable approach to viticulture. In the cellar, we work with Chef de Cave Elysé Brigandat; the blending process is the meticulous, respecting the style of each grape variety, the spirit of each terroir and sometimes even the whisper of each individual climat. Unlike many houses, we do not focus on keeping the wine the same each vintage; instead we seek to bring out the maximum of each wine as it is produced. A portion of the yeasts used in the fermentation stage are selected and cultivated at the estate and have been baptized ‘Drappier Fermentum Meum.’”

Champagne Drappier ‘Rosé de Saignée’, Côte-des-Bar Rosé Brut ($69)
100% Pinot Noir is used for this saignée rosé in which two days of maceration are followed by low-pressure pressing, then natural settling and malolactic fermentation. 5% of the wine is aged in foudre. On the nose, the wine reveals notes of brioche, sweet pastry and vanilla alongside aromas of ripe berries and raspberry coulis. A crisp, rounded palate leading into a mineral-tinged finish.

Dosage 6 grams/liter.

 

 

 


The Villages of
The Côte des Blancs

One of the 17 areas that parcel out the Champagne region into terroirs (at least according to the scheme used by the Union de Maisons de Champagne), the Côte des Blancs derives its name from the white chalk that makes up its hillsides. It is perhaps poetic that the predominant grape variety here is Chardonnay in all but a small corner in the extreme south called Vertus, where Chardonnay’s supremacy is challenged by Pinot Noir. And even in Vertus, Pinot Noir makes up less than 10% of the vineyards.

There is a commercial reason for this, according to local vineyard owner Pascal Doquet: “A hundred years ago, 80% of the vineyards in Vertus were Pinot Noir. People replanted as fashion changed and they realized they could earn more money from Chardonnay. A hundred years from now, who knows?”


Champagne Pertois-Moriset (Grand Cru Le Mesnil-sur-Oger)

For some of us, a match made in Champagne is synonymous to one made in heaven, and for Champagne Pertois-Moriset, it is family history. The house was born in 1951 with the nuptials of Yves Pertois from Cramant and Janine Moriset from Mesnil, both third-generation growers, who soon began bottling under their own label.

Today, the couple’s granddaughter Cécile and her husband Vincent Bauchet manage 50 acres divided between Chardonnay grown on Grand Cru sites in the Côtes de Blancs, plus a 60/40 split of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the Côte de Sézanne (including one parcel that borders Olivier Collin’s famed Les Maillons). Joined at the hip to organic and sustainable practices, Pertois-Moriset has become known for single-village expressions of renowned terroirs like Oger, Villeneuve, Cramant, and Chouilly, plus single-parcel bottlings from lieux-dits including Les Jeamprins, Les Jutées, and Les Hauts d’Aillerands. Vincent maintains that in every endeavor, the estate is attentive to the biodiversity that surrounds it: “If the years allow it,” he says,” no chemical inputs are applied on the vine. The vines are naturally grassed in winter, and in summer the soil is ploughed.”

Champagne Pertois-Moriset ‘Rosé Blanc Collection’, Côte-des-Blancs Grand Cru Rosé Brut ($72)
And interesting assemblage of 92% Chardonnay from Grand Cru vineyards in Le Mesnil sur Oger, Oger, Cramant and Chouilly, and 8% Pinot Noir from Grand Cru vineyards in Bouzy. Aging is done in the cellar for 36 months and dosage is 3 grams/liter. A fine bead and an elegant color, the wine has a bouquet of creamy strawberries and Morello cherries and is forthright on the palate slightly sharp with a beautiful combination of structure and freshness.

 

 


Champagne JL Vergnon (Grand Cru Les Mesnil-sur-Oger)

In this small 12-acre estate in the heart of the Grand Cru village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Didier Vergnon and his son Clément have worked tirelessly to organic farming, harvesting only balanced and ripe grapes. They have eliminated both chaptalization and malolactic fermentation, and prefer a low or zero dosage. The brilliant winemaker Christophe Constant has been at their side, both as cellar master and now, as consultant.

Of the property, Didier says, “Our domain extends over several terroirs, the majority in le Mesnil sur Oger, classified Grand Cru, Blanc de Blancs. We also draw from vineyards in Oger and Avize, and also vines in surrounding Premier Cru villages Vertus and Villeneuve.”

Champagne JL Vergnon ‘Rosémotion’, Grand Cru Rosé Extra-Brut ($89)
A scant 2000 bottles of this Grand Cru rosé were produced; 90% Chardonnay from Mesnil s/ Oger, Oger and Avize and 10% Pinot Noir from Mailly Grand Cru. 20% of reserve wine was aged 3 months in oak barrels and 80% of single-year in steel tank. The wine is a delicate Creamsicle color and shows currants and pomelos on the nose, with notes of strawberries, saffron and biscuits reflecting the long aging on lees.

Disgorged June, 2019.

 

 


The Villages of
The Coteaux Sud d’Épernay

The Coteaux Sud d’Épernay is Meunier-rich, with 47% of its 3000 acres planted to this variety, which is sometimes imagined as an ‘also ran’ in Champagne. In fact, Meunier is suited for soils that contain more clay and in terroirs with harsher climatic conditions since it buds late and makes it more resistant to frost. Sandwiched between the powerhouse wine regions Côte des Blancs and Vallée de la Marne, the Coteaux has an identity removed from either one; its terroir is distinctly different from the clay-heavy soils of the Marne and lacks the chalk of that puts the ‘blanc’ in the Côte des Blancs.

Phrasing it succinctly is Laherte Frères proprietor Aurélien Laherte: “Our wines show more clay influence than those of the Côte des Blancs and they are chalkier than the wines of the Vallée de la Marne.”

In short, these Champagnes are uniquely situated to offer the best of both worlds. As a result, the Coteaux Sud d’Épernay has long fought for recognition as entity unto itself, not necessarily a sub-region of its big brothers on either side.


Champagne Laherte Frères (Village Chavot-Courcourt)

That Champagne is, above all, a style of wine should be obvious, but a common misinterpretation (fueled in part by tradition and in part by marketing) removes it from viniculture and places it on a pedestal of the imagination.

Nothing wrong with this, of course, so long as the ground floor remains intact.

Aurélien Laherte, along with his high school friend Raphael Bérèche, would like to see these ideas put into context. A group of Champagne’s more progressive producers, including Agrapart, Marie-Courtin, Vincent Laval and Benoît Lahaye, gathers each spring to taste the ‘vins clairs’—wines meant to become Champagne, but having not yet undergone the bubble-creation process. These are not necessarily ‘still wines’ in that they are not meant to stand on their own merits, but have terroir-transparency profiles to make them suitable for top-shelf sparkling versions.

Situated largely in the Côteaux Sud D’Épernay, Laherte vineyards themselves total 26 acres subdivided into 75 separate parcels. Seven of these are farmed biodynamically and certified organic, with the rest farmed either ‘uncertified organic’ or sustainably. Each produces detailed wines that the estate seeks to showcase individually.

Champagne Laherte Frères ‘Rosé de Meunier’, Rosé Extra-Brut ($61)
100% Meunier, the wine is sourced from vineyards in Chavot and Vallée de la Marne (lieux-dits Le Breuil and Boursault) with an average age of 25 years for the Meunier vinified white and more than 40 years for the parcels selected for the red wine. It is a blend of 30% macerated Meunier, 60% white wine from Meunier and 10% still red Meunier. As a result, it uses both methods of Champagne rosé creation, assemblage (blending) and saignée (bleeding).

Disgorged March, 2023; dosage 2.5 grams/liter.

 

 


Champagne Laherte Frères ‘Les Beaudiers’, Harvest 2019 Rosé de Saignée Extra-Brut ($91)
100% Meunier from the ‘Les Beaudiers’ lieu-dit, planted in 1953, 1958 and 1965 on shallow clay and silty soil with chalk beneath. As always, Laherte’s methods include organic maintenance, short pruning for a limited production and regular ploughing. Fermentation takes place in old Burgundy barrels and relies on old-school hand-disgorgement. The wine shows creamy red cherries, kirsch, buttered toast with strawberry jam and a bright, flinty spine.

Disgorged Nov., 2022; dosage 2 grams/liter.

 

 


Champagne Pascal Lejeune (Village Moussy & Vinay, Premier Cru Pierry)

Beating swords into ploughshares is a Biblical injection that Pascal Lejeune takes literally—he left his career in the military and gave himself to the vine. It didn’t hurt that he fell in love with a Champagne grower’s daughter: Pascal’s wife Sandrine hails from a family that has been growing grapevines in Moussy (where more than half of the vineyard’s grapevines are located) on the south-facing slopes of Épernay since 1910. Originally a side operation, not an essential part of the family’s activities, Sandrine’s great grandfather Edmond played an active part in creating the Moussy cooperative.

In 1995, when Pascal and Sandrine took the reins, their aim was to usher in a new era by enlarging the vineyard area into nearby terroirs, and by enriching the range of offerings via new cuvées: As a brand, Champagne Pascal Lejeune was born. Says Pascal, “I believe I have a responsibility and commit myself collectively to our business and our terroir in order to perpetuate and monitor developments for our children and future generations. This requires a sincere respect for people, nature, our vines, our soils, and careful work in order to obtain quality grapes. To offer you the best that nature offers us, our vintages are very different, there is something for every occasion and taste… Nature does things well!”

Champagne Pascal Lejeune ‘N°6 – ANALOGIE’, Village Vinay ‘Les Longs Martins’ Rosé de Saignée Brut-Zéro ($74)
From the organic lieu-dit ‘Les Longs Martins’, this saignée is 100% Pinot Noir from vines that average 25 years old grown in clay, silt, sand and marne limestone. Maceration lasted ten hours, and no malolactic fermentation occurred, leaving the crisp acids intact along with notes of brioche, sweet pastry, vanilla, ripe forest berries and raspberry coulis. Only 638 bottles made.

Disgorged December, 2022.

 

 


The Villages of
The Grande Vallée

The Grande Vallée de la Marne is the eastern part of the Marne valley, but the appellation only covers the river’s right bank (the north side) where south-facing slopes create an ideal mise-en-scène for Pinot Noir. As a result, Champagne’s best Pinot Noir terroir is found here. Of the nine remarkable villages in the area, Aÿ (the crown jewel) is a Grand Cru while the other eight are Premier Cru villages. Champagnes from this area is typically powerful, and conditions are good enough to create respectable still red wines as well.

While Cellar Master Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon (of Roederer) acknowledges the strength of Pinot-based Champagnes from the Aÿ, he refers to its underlying elegance: “It’s reputation as the Wine of Kings is more about complexity and finesse. It is multifaceted wine with an infusing and persistent chalkiness, yet feels effortless in its harmony of components.


Champagne Gonet-Médeville (Premier Cru Bisseuil)

By the standards of the region, Gonet-Médeville is ‘new’ Champagne micro-house; it was formed in 2000 by Julie and Xavier Gonet-Médeville as Xavier’s family plots were being divided up. He opted for 30 acres of high quality Premier & Grand Cru vineyards located primarily in the three villages of Bisseuil, Ambonnay, & Mesnil-sur-Oger. The Gonet-Médevilles—sometimes referred to as ‘the first couple of French wines’—also have holdings in five other villages across Champagne.

Gonet-Médeville is part of the group Les Artisans du Champagne, which prides itself on uniting work in the vineyard with work in the cellar. “Being part of Champagne Artisans expresses our total involvement in all stages the production of our Champagnes,” says Xavier. “Growing practices, the choice of plant material—all phases from harvest to disgorging must reflect our knowledge and culture.

Champagne Gonet-Médeville, Premier Cru Rosé Extra Brut ($77)
The cuvée is 70% Chardonnay, 27% Pinot Noir and 3% still Ambonnay Rouge. The wine spends seven months in used barriques and 36 months in bottle without malolactic fermentation, dosed at 3 g/l. The minerality of the Bisseuil and le Mesnil terroirs are at the forefront of this dry, succulent, crisp, peach-toned Champagne; the mousse is delicate, elegant and refreshing. Only 650 cases produced.

Disgorged, May 2021.

 

 


Champagne Philipponnat (Premier Cru Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, Grand Cru Aÿ)

Considered one of the best bargains in Champagne, Philipponnat is not only a venerable name in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, it is one of the last houses to be run by a member of its founding family; Charles Philipponnat is a true Champenois, descended from winemakers, cellarmasters and growers dating back nearly 600 years. His family grew grapes here as early as 1522, and his father René was Chef de Caves at Moët from 1949 to 1977, responsible for 1961 Dom Pérignon among other legends. And the house itself is legendary for having produced the iconic Clos des Goisses, which in the 1930s became the region’s first important single-vineyard Champagne.

Under Charles, Philipponnat has created a portfolio of great wines ranging from two of Champagne’s finest non-vintage Bruts to an expanding number of exceptional Champagnes de terroir. He is responsible for three site-specific cuvées of pure Pinot Noir and, of course, Clos des Goisses remains the heart of the family holdings.

Champagne Philipponnat ‘1522’, 2007 Premier Cru Rosé Brut ($162)
70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay, with the Pinot Noir coming from the Léon vineyard in Aÿ and the Chardonnay from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. A silky-textured gem loaded with dried herbs, fresh mint, almond butter and smoky black tea as savory notes and the fruit notes that include white peach, apple, grapefruit and lime.

Bottled June, 2008; disgorged June, 2016; dosage 4.5 grams/liter.

 

 

 


The Villages of
The Vallée de la Marne

Its name is a tip-off: This huge and vital Champagne sub-region follows the Marne River from Tours-sur-Marne to Château-Thierry, stretching over sixty miles and bisecting and two French départements (the Marne and the Aisne) all the way to the limits of Seine-et-Marne. Along the way it penetrates picturesque landscapes of rolling hills, small villages with narrow winding streets and colorful vineyards growing on limestone topsoil overlaying layers of Belemnite and Micraster chalk. More than a hundred villages dot the valley, two of which have been designated ‘Grand Cru’ (Aÿ and Tours-sur-Marne) and many more boast Premier Cru status.

This is Munier country. As with many river valleys, frost is a pronounced a hazard as cold air sinks and follows the flow of water. Temperature drops during bud break can devastate a vintage before it begins (it happened in 2012). Pinot Noir, which buds early, is at particular risk, followed by Chardonnay. Since Munier follows up to a week later, it frequently misses the worst of the frost and is also marginally more resistant to the mildews that thrive in the damp of river fogs.


Champagne Bourgeois-Diaz (Village Crouttes-sur-Marne)

For Jérôme Bourgeois, the easy life is not a life worth living. Born in 1977, Jérôme is the fourth generation of a champagne-growing family on his father’s side but it may well be his Spanish ancestry on his mother’s side that flavors the poetic passion of his approach: “Our wines have a different blood—no pesticides, no chemical fertilizers, no violence; the vines are not just tended, they are loved, and over the years, they have recovered their essential nature. And how we work the land is how we work the cellar. We use a traditional press because, instead of extracting the juice of the grapes, it draws it out. More effort, more reward.”

Of Champagne Bourgeois-Diaz’s 17 acres vineyard southwest of Reims in the hills around the town of Crouttes-sur-Marne, old vine Munier and Pinot Noir make up the lion’s share of cultivars.

Champagne Bourgeois-Diaz ‘BD’RS’, Rosé de Saignée Brut-Nature ($108)
100% Meunier harvested from two old loamy plots, one planted in 1960 and the other in 1925. Maceration lasted 22 hours with subsequent vinification, 80% in steel and 20% in fût de chêne. No final dosage at bottling, making it a Brut Nature. Wild red currant shows on the nose with peach, brioche and rose petals; the finish is crushed stones and grapefruit peel offering a twinge of bitterness.

Disgorged June, 2022; dosage 0 grams/liter.

 

 


Champagne Vincent Charlot (Village Mardeuil)

Vincent Charlot, who took over his family business in 2001, describes his style as ‘a full concession to my terroirs.’ Spanning six communes, he farms 33 parcels inside the Coteaux d’Epernay, focusing on Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay planted within a complex microcosm rich in biodiversity; soils are ‘craie’ (chalk) with variations of clay and silex/chert.

Says Vincent: “All 33 parcels are hand-harvested and vinified separately, resulting in a multitude of cuvées each unique based on the alchemy of fermentation and yeast autolysis. Natural fermentations occur in amphoras and used French oak barrels, and most are free of malolactic fermentation. Secondary bottle fermentation is triggered by concentrated grape must, followed by long lees aging, minimal sulfites levels and low dosage.”

Vincent is one of the very few growers in the area to rely on his own biodynamic preparations; he is a strong advocate that any malady in the vineyard can be managed homeopathically. Adding to the organic approach, his vineyard hosts a rich biodiversity of specie, including wild strawberries and mushrooms that sprout between the vines. “Walking these vineyards is not only a visual experience,” he maintains, “but a spiritual one as well.”

Champagne Vincent Charlot ‘Rubis de la Dune’, 2014 Mardeuil Rosé Extra-Brut ($72)
20% Pinot Noir and 80% Meunier; Vincent Charlot refers to this style of Champagne as ‘en dentelle’—‘lacy’. The grapes are hand-harvested, destemmed and macerated for 14 hours prior to being pressed and spontaneously fermented in neutral barrels. No malolactic fermentation is allowed; the wine rests in barrels on fine lees for about 9 months before being bottled with liqueur de tirage and aged on lees for at least 36 months for the secondary, disgorged and topped up with a dosage of 4 grams/liter. Vivacious and bright, the wine shows lively strawberry, cherry and graham cracker with crushed stone on the finish.

Bottled May, 2015; disgorged September, 2021.

 

 


Champagne Vincent Charlot ‘L’Écorché de la Genette’, 2014 Mardeuil Rosé de Saignée Extra-Brut ($99)
90% Meunier, 10% Pinot Noir hand-harvested and destemmed and macerated for around 14 hours. Once pressed, the wine ferments spontaneously in neutral barrels and rests on fine lees for about 11 months. Bottled with liqueur de tirage and aged on lees for seven years for the secondary fermentation (prise de mousse), disgorged, and topped up using the same wine with a dosage of 4 grams/liter. Charlot describes the wine as “complex, vinous, structured, round, with a distinctive ‘foresty’ terroir character—spice, leather and underwood. The nose evokes a red from Burgundy with elegant, refined fruit and touch of ‘sauvage.’”

Bottled August, 2015; disgorged February, 2022

 

 


Champagne Tarlant (Premier Cru Oeuilly)

Benoît and Mélanie Tarlant are the 12th consecutive generation working the family land, comprised of 35 acres within 31 lieu-dits. Pinot Noir represents half their cultivars followed by 30% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Meunier along with lesser amounts of Champagne’s ‘forgotten’ grapes’, Pinot Blanc, Arbane and Petit Meslier.

The couple concedes that even their lieux-dits are not sufficiently specific to reflect their terroirs, and have singled out 63 parcels that they vinify individually each vintage, allowing laser-sharp precision in blending decisions for base and reserve wines. At the core of this is a commitment to organics. Says Benoît, “Our father fought to end city garbage being thrown down as a fertilizer, something that took five years. That was his fight. Organics seems to be the challenge of our generation.”

In the cellar, the grapes are gently pressed and racked by gravity to Burgundian barrels, where each parcel ferments and ages individually. Malolactic fermentation almost never occurs but is not blocked: Benoît feels that through careful pressing, attention to temperature and the correct viticultural practices, Champagne’s naturally cold climate gives them grapes with low PH and high acidity, a combo that does not incite malo. Sulfites are only added in microscopic doses at press and intermittently to casks of reserve wine. The wines are never filtered: “Disgorgement is sort of like filtration. If you’re going to take the time to do long élevages and letting the solids deposit themselves, you don’t need to filter. It requires a respect of the rhythm of the wine.”

Champagne Tarlant ‘Zéro’, Premier Cru Œuilly Rosé Brut-Nature ($63)
50% Chardonnay, 44% Pinot Noir, 6% Meunier with 14% still Pinot Noir and Meunier in the assemblage. Grapes originate in organically farmed, hand-harvested estate vines across 63 parcels in four villages near Œuilly in the Vallée de la Marne. The focus of Benoît Tarlant’s approach is ‘perfect’ Pinot Noir—the starting point of the wine rather than an addition to a white base. Impeccable in its balance, the wine shows red berries, orange peel, pastry and compelling acidity.

Base wine 2013 vintage; disgorged January, 2019.

 

 


Champagne Tarlant ‘l’Aérienne’, 2004 Premier Cru Œuilly Rosé ($126)
According to Tarlant, the name L’Aérienne evokes the airy, ethereal nature of the 2004 harvest: “It was a vintage that Chardonnay won,” he says.

70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir; the grapes originate from four parcels across the villages of Œuilly and Celles-lès-Condé on a mix of hard limestone, flint and Sparnacian clay soils with vines averaging 40 years old. The juice ferments spontaneously on native yeasts in Burgundy barrels; the wine does not go through malolactic fermentation and ages for a year in barrel. L’Aérienne was bottled in 2005, disgorged in 2018 and received zero dosage. It shows baked apple, honeycomb, mushroom and dried apricot with a bit of chalk on the finish.

Disgorged March, 2018.

 

 


The Villages of
The Montagne de Reims

Forming a broad and undulating headland that covers five thousand acres of thicket and vineyard, the Montagne de Reims stretches 30 miles east to west and, north to south, is about five miles wide. The vines hug the limestone slopes of the western and northern flanks and are planted in a huge semicircle that extends from Louvois to Villers-Allerand.

This is Pinot Noir country (except in Trépail and Villers-Marmery, where the Chardonnay can be found). The most northerly of Champagne’s four demarcated regions, the Montagne de Reims is also the most well-known, with more Grand Cru sites than anywhere else in the AOP. Tectonics gave the region mountains of chalk, and the Romans added their two cents by leaving behind huge limestone pits known as crayères. Within, the humidity remains at around 60% and temperatures at a steady 57°F; perfect cellaring conditions to soften the cold-climate acids of Champagne with time on lees. As a result, Louis Roederer, Ruinart, Veuve Clicquot, Krug, Taittinger and Mumm all store wine here.


Champagne Marguet (Grand Cru Ambonnay)

Champagne Marguet has been a bellwether for innovation since 1883, the year that Émile Marguet began to graft his vines onto American rootstocks in the face of the impending invasion of phylloxera. Alas, so ridiculed was the notion throughout Champagne that Marguet wound up tearing out the grafted vines and promptly declared bankruptcy.

Ratchet forward a century and a half: In 2006, Émile Marguet’s distant scion Benoît Marguet joined forces with Hervé Jestin, the former chef de cave of Duval-Leroy, and began to produce a special homeopathic and biodynamic super-cuvée called ‘Sapience’, first released in 2013. Being on the cutting edge of trends has finally paid dividends. Today, Benoît farms 25 acres of vines, all using biodynamic practices. Most are owned by Marguet himself while the rest are leased from relatives. Among them are eight different lieux-dits with an average vine age of 42 years; each is bottled under the name of the plot and reflects the minute soil differences that exist throughout his holdings as well as the massal-select varieties he suits to his various terroirs—among them Les Crayères, Les Bermonts, Le Parc and Les Saints Rémys.

Champagne Marguet ‘Shaman 19’, Harvest 2019 Grand Cru Rosé Brut-Nature ($60)
23% Pinot Noir, 77% Chardonnay, bottled with no dosage and drawn entirely from Grand Cru parcels in Ambonnay in Bouzy. ‘Shaman’ is a suitably cosmic name for Biodynamic Benoît’s NV line-up, but it’s fairly recent: Formerly called ‘Elements’, there was a trademark conflict with California’s Artesa that drove the name change. The base wine comes from the abbreviated 2017 vintage, which saw rainfall in August that caused a hurry-up harvest to prevent botrytis. The nose is ripe with notes of cherry blossom, white peach and spice while the palate is broad and expansive with rich stone fruit and a firm, concentrated mineral core.

Bottled July, 2020; disgorged October, 2022; dosage 0 grams/liter.

 

 


Champagne Pierre Paillard (Grand Cru Bouzy)

Paillard is a familiar name to fans of Champagne; Maison Bruno Paillard, the Reims-based producer, was founded in 1981 by Bruno Paillard and financed by the sale of Bruno’s Mark II Jaguar. The Bouzy branch of the family (they are cousins) have been at it a bit longer; Antoine Paillard first bought Bouzy vineyards in 1768. Antoine and Quentin Paillard represent the eighth generation in the family and the fourth generation to produce and bottle Champagne under the family name.

Bouzy is renowned for producing some of the finest Pinot Noir in Champagne, due in the main to its situation on the south-facing side of the Montagne de Reims, ideal for the difficult to ripen Pinot Noir grape. Nevertheless, unlike most other growers in the appellation, the 25 Paillard acres are planted with 40% Chardonnay, giving their wines both finesse and elegance.

Interestingly, the Paillards exclusively cultivate their own selection of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, without a single clone on the estate, a diverse Selection Massale. Each plot is harvested and vinified separately in stainless steel vats and fermentation is carried out at lower temperatures to retain the aromatics. Each spring, a long process of tasting and blending is undertaken by Antoine and Quentin; the still wine is tasted, marked and discussed until there is consensus on the profile of the vintage. Blind tastings continue until the creation of each final cuvée. In June they are put into bottle for the second fermentation and cellared for a minimum of 3 years and as much as 10 years before being disgorged.

Champagne Pierre Paillard ‘Les Terres Roses XVII’, Grand Cru Bouzy Rosé Extra-Brut ($66)
64% Chardonnay and 36% Pinot Noir harvested from separate plots, each vinified separately. Fermentations are kept cool and wines age on fine lees in combo of steel and neutral barrel until the early summer to maximize the influence of the oak and to allow natural malolactic fermentation. Secondary fermentation takes place over three years. Elegant rose petal appears on the floral nose, and the palate is ripe with strawberry and watermelon; a fine, creamy mousse showing hints of marzipan.

Base wine, 2017 vintage; disgorged April, 2020; dosage 2 grams/liter.

 

 


Champagne André Clouet (Grand Cru Bouzy)

Long known for its sublime Pinot Noir-based Champagnes, the Clouets are a family of winemakers whose origins are lost in the mists of time. What we can say for certain is that it was founded by a printer in the Versailles court of Louis XV and that the phrase that graces the winery’s labels (‘Ancien Regime’) is a tribute to this legacy. It took more than two centuries and several generations of Clouets to find and purchase land in the exquisite terroir of Bouzy in the southern part of the Mountain of Reims.

Under the mastery of Jean-François Clouet, André Clouet has modernized, but the team is inspired to preserve the personality of its Champagne as expressed through the personality of its terroir. Says Jean-François, “During Creation, when God grew weary of sculpting the mountains, razing the deserts and firing up the volcanoes, he treated himself to a few moments of pleasure and designed a little earthly paradise called Bouzy.”

Champagne André Clouet ‘No 3’, Grand Cru Bouzy Rosé Brut ($58)
92% Pinot Noir, 8% vin rouge from Bouzy; the ‘3’ represents the style of the wine on an odd Clouet scale (inspired by Coco Chanel) where 1 is the lightest wine and 10, the richest. Driven by the chalky minerality of the terroir, the wine offers seductive notes of wild strawberry, raspberry, pomegranate, cherry blossoms, fresh red and pink flowers, crushed chalk, and orange zest.

 

 

 

 


Champagne André Clouet ‘No 3’, Grand Cru Bouzy Rosé Brut ($119) Magnum
 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Champagne André Clouet ‘Spiritum 96’, Grand Cru Bouzy Rosé Brut ($72)
More mystery numbers to unravel: Says Jean-François Clouet: “Rosés are usually enjoyed while they are still, but I was looking for that complexity and fullness that exceptional wines acquire only after a very long maturation. I didn’t want to offer a rosé that had merely aged well; I wanted to combine the freshness and youth of a rosé wine with the essence of a great Vintage. The key element in accomplishing this feat was going to be the liqueur made from the spectacular 1996 vintage.”

A very low concentration, half that of a classic liqueur —300 grams per liter instead of the 600 grams per liter usual in Champagne—meant that a higher proportion of the Vintage could be added to the finished rosé.

 

 


Champagne Lelarge-Pugeot (Premier Cru Vrigny)

The Lelarge family became vineyard owners in 1799, after Pierre-Henri Lelarge married Madeleine Dravigny, the daughter of a winegrower family in Vrigny. They have been producing Champagne since 1930 and today the estate is headed up by seventh-generation Dominique Lelarge along with his wife Dominique Pugeot (no typo; same first name) and their children, who have joined the business.

The family believes in letting the grapes thrive as naturally as possible in order to express the pure essence of terroir. Biodynamic principles are practiced in the vineyard and they were certified organic in 2013. Dominique says, “Soil is alive. The quality of the wine starts in the vineyard. To produce wines of quality and with character, it is vital to respect the life in the soil! This is why, over the last 20 years, step by step, we moved towards organic and biodynamic farming and producing Champagne which respect nature and humans.”

Champagne Lelarge-Pugeot ‘Lùna Volume III’, 2018 Premier Cru Vrigny Rosé Brut-Nature ($144)
Third in a trio of sparkling wines based on the lunar cycles; the Lelarge-Pugeot family claim that it represents their work at its deepest level, being the culmination of biodynamics viticulture and highlighting their continued experiments in natural vinification using only indigenous yeast and natural sugar and no added sulfur. Vol. 3 is a blend of 85% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Noir from a sunny vintage. A short maceration and nine months of barrel-aging are followed by six years on the lees, resulting in a complex Champagne with aromas of candied strawberry and a long, rich mineral-driven finish.

Disgorged April, 2022; dosage 0 grams/liter.

 

 


Champagne Roger Coulon (Premier Cru Vrigny)

Éric and Isabelle Coulon represent the eighth generation of the Coulon family to be engaged as Récoltant-Manipulants, producing Champagne from Vrigny and surrounding villages in the northwest corner of the Montagne de Reims. Says Eric, “Cultivating our vines is a beautiful and proud tradition. The source of our family’s inspiration is here in our vineyards cultivated with organic and agroforestry techniques. This is the place where we Coulons—myself, Éric, Isabelle and our children, Edgar and Louise, all have our roots.”

Using entirely estate fruit, the Coulons draw from the 26 acres they currently have under vine, nearly all located within the Premier Cru rated villages of Vrigny, Coulommes and Pargny, where soils are soft limestone, Sparnacian clay and Thanetian sand. This is only the start of the journey for these grapes: “Fashionable style does not impede the relationship between the terroir, the vines and the wine,” Éric points out. “The ingredients of our success include natural yeasts used for all 109 plots, slow and spontaneous fermentation; seasons reflected in our wines, measured effervescence with dosage only in the Extra-Brut and otherwise un-dosed vintages.”

“Most importantly,” Isabelle adds, “our wine has kept its identity over time, revealing both the unique character of our natural environment and its own particular style.”

Champagne Roger Coulon ‘Rosélie ‘, Premier Cru Vrigny Rosé de Saignée Brut ($108)
80% Pinot Munier and 20% Pinot Noir from two parcels of old vines, ‘Les Limons’ and ‘Les Linguets’ located in Vrigny and Gueux. The wine ages on fine lees for eight to 10 months in vats and small barrels and the bottles spend up to 5 years on laths. The wine is dry and slightly piquant, with rich tones of ripe strawberry and blackberry followed by warmer aromas of baked bread and a clear, fresh and salty finish.

Disgorged January, 2021; dosage 3 grams/liter.

 

 

 

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Posted on 2024.02.12 in France, Champagne, Wine-Aid Packages  |  Read more...

 

Lure Of The Loire II: A Wide Range Of Red Varieties, Soils And Microclimates Allow For A Diversity Of Wines And Styles By Upstart Generation

The media engine behind French wine seems driven primarily by two wheels—Burgundy and Bordeaux—while the Loire is often relegated to third-wheel status. And it’s not from want of praise: The vivid, crisp, hauntingly aromatic and almost supernaturally focused wines of the Loire Valley are arguably the pinnacle of each particular varietal.

And there are many. 24 varieties flourish throughout the Valley (including indigenous, newly-revived grapes such as Pineau d’Aunis) alongside the Big Four, Melon de Bourgogne, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin, and Cabernet Franc. The Loire Valley is the biggest producer of white wine in France and the second biggest producer of sparkling wines; it encompasses four sub-regions with more than 51 appellations surrounding the Loire River and its tributaries, flowing from the east around Sancerre to the west toward Muscadet on the Atlantic coast at the mouth of the river.

The Loire is also a hot-bed for experimental winemakers, some of whom have chosen to forgo the hidebound restrictions of the French wine bureaucracy and produce wines on their own terms, opting to use the all-encompassing Vin de France appellation on their labels rather than the prestigious AOPs they’d otherwise be entitled to. Lovers of natural wine know that the Loire was an early pioneer in the movement, and that such producers make wine with organic and/or biodynamic fruit, native yeasts, and a commitment to low-intervention viniculture as a bid for sustainability in the face of changing environment.

These upstart young winemakers have not only been flying under the mainstream radar, they have created their own generation of satellites—fans that recognize wine as an agricultural product as well as a cultural phenomenon, and are drawn to their dedication to natural farming.

This week’s wine selection looks upward toward the light that vignerons in three specific Loire appellations—Anjou-Saumur, Touraine and Fiefs Vendéens—are shining on technique, innovation and originality.

Anjou-Saumur: Driving a Full-on Revolution

In France, where plenty of revolutionaries wound up with their heads in a guillotine basket, ‘revolution’ is not a word to be used lightly. Still, Richard Leroy of Domaine Sophie et Richard Leroy in Bellevigne-en-Layon, Anjou, uses it easily: “There’s a revolution happening in wine right now,” he says, referring to Anjou, once an epicenter for sweet wines like Coteaux-du-Layon and Quarts-de-Chaume.

Over the past twenty years, Anjou has become a hub for a different kind of wine—those made with a minimum of artifice in the cellar, free from historical baggage about what they should taste like and often produced by first-generation winemakers with no family ties to wine.

Another phase of the revolution is the revival of Chenin, which fell out of favor during the second half of the last century as did the native red wine grape, Grolleau. Mark Angeli of La Ferme de la Sansonnière, who arrived in 1989, claims, “Dry Chenin had been gone from Anjou for 50 years, and the few reds being made were mostly rot-gut. Appellation rules required them to be made from the two Cabernets—Franc and Sauvignon—even though old-vine parcels of Grolleau and Pineau d’Aunis thrived throughout the area.”

The region has been attracting maverick winemakers who recognize the scant precedent for complex, dry wines made from Chenin and Grolleau, and who have been happy to bottle their rule-busting wines, farmed organically, under the relatively lowly ‘Anjou’ appellation or even labeled simply as ‘Vin de France.’

Touraine: The Original Breeding Ground of Pioneering Winemakers And Natural Wines

Most people are more familiar with the Loire’s bookends, Muscadet and Sancerre. But between them lie 79 AOPs representing what InterLoire (the official organization of producers, merchants and traders involved in the production and promotion of Loire wines) calls, “The most extensive, diversified and original vineyards in Europe.”

The AOP covering Touraine stretches from Anjou to the west to the Sologne in the east, converging near the point where the Loire River and its tributaries meet. It covers 104 communes in Indre-et-Loire and 42 in Loir-et-Cher.

Most of the vineyards are located southeast of Tours on the slopes that dominate the Cher River and the land between the Cher and the Loire. With nearly 13,000 acres under vine, the climate varies dramatically as you move inland; oceanic conditions dominate the west, becoming more continental as you move east. These climatic differences combined with varied soils determine the choice of grape variety planted (with later-ripening varieties grown in the west and earlier-ripening ones in the east) and account for the wide variety of wine styles produced.

Among these styles are the personal statement wines of natural winemakers, who have found in Touraine a vibrant opportunity for self-expression as well as terroir that, through minimal intervention, display their origins perhaps even more faithfully than their rule-bound AOP counterparts.


Cabernet Franc

Who’s your daddy? Biologically, both Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot share Cabernet Franc as a parent, and the grape itself displays characteristics inherited by both. In cooler climates, Cabernet Franc shows off graphite and red licorice notes, while in warm regions, it exhibits tobacco and leather aromas. There is also a vegetal edge, which may strike the palate as tasting of green pepper or jalapeño.

In Bordeaux, it is generally a minor component of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blends, although in Pomerol and Saint-Émilion it adopts a larger, more highly-regarded role. Château Cheval Blanc, for example, is typically around two-thirds Cabernet Franc while Ausone is an even split between Cabernet Franc and Merlot.

With the Loire Valley’s cool, inland climates it becomes a star performer. The appellations of Chinon (in Touraine) along with Saumur and Saumur-Champigny (in Anjou) are important bastions of Cabernet Franc, where the wine is prized for forward aromas of ripe summer berries and sweet spices.

The local Loire Valley name for Cabernet Franc is Breton; a reference to the man credited with bringing the variety to popularity in the 17th Century.


Yannick Amirault (Touraine)

‘Fifty and out’ could be the mission statement of Domaine Y. Amirault, at least in terms of size. With around 30 acres in Bourgueil and 20 in Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, Yannick Amirault has grown his vineyard space as large as he cares to, finding 50 acres to be the most he feels he can work to his exacting standards.

Having begun in 1977 with around ten acres inherited from his grandfather, Eugène Amirault, he was joined by his son Benoît in 2003. Yannick’s commitment to organic agriculture is not an attempt to hop on the bandwagon sweeping across French viticulture, but rather the opposite: “Weaning the vineyards off synthetic inputs—a process we completed in 1997—and following lunar calendar—may seem a bit trendy, but this is simply a return to the way Eugène Amirault made wine for his family.”

Yannick And Benoît Amirault, Yannick Amirault (Bourgueil, Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil) – (Photo © Jerome Paressant)

Benoît adds: “Harvest has always been done by hand and is initiated by many factors, all guided by combined experience. Each parcel is picked at its own optimal ripeness (and in several passes), then the grape clusters are transported to the cellar. Here, the work is both minimalistic and transparent: Grapes are sorted again and destemmed; fermentations are indigenous and conducted in large, open-topped, conical oak vats; macerations last up to sixty days with pigéage only at the very beginning and rémontage reserved only for the ripest vintages to reduce rustic tannins. Only the first press is used and is aged in neutral vessels—amphorae, oak demi-muids and well-seasoned vats.”

The result of this is a vibrant array of 100% Cabernet Franc wines, many reflecting individual plots across the two appellation; the domain has 25, some above the village on sands and gravels, others at the hill’s feet, in limestone.

“There is no terroir without the intervention of mankind,” says Yannick. “We look after our vines, year after year, as if it were a garden. We grow grass between vine rows and we plough the graveled plots which are more sensitive to a lack of water. Despite weather, our craft leaves nothing to chance. The pruning is Guyot-Poussard and vines through organic spraying of plants infusion. We also roll growing vines (we do not cut the top branches) on certain crus. Even in a low yield year, we do a growth clearing on all our vines in order to ensure an homogenous maturity of the grapes.”

Yannick Amirault ‘Le Grand Clos’, 2020 Bourgueil ($36)
Amirault owns five acres of the lauded, south-facing hillside Le Grand Clos lieu-dit, which is composed of clay and flint soils over tuffeau bedrock. Certified organic, his vines are 45 years old. The grapes are hand-harvested in successive passes, destemmed and allowed natural yeast fermentation in oak vats, and after four weeks of maceration, the wine is transferred to 400 liter French oak barrels for a minimum of one year. The wine is an earthy, black-fruit driven Cabernet Franc that shows the pencil-shavings graphite that are typical of the appellation, one of the few in Loire appellations to produce exclusively red wines.

 

 


Yannick Amirault ‘Les Malgagnes’, 2020 Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil ($42)
Les Malgagnes is a hillside lieu-dit in the Bourgueil sub-appellation of Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil. It is slightly further down the limestone-rich slope than the other three lieux-dits on this particular côte. Amirault has six acres here, but only the fruit from the upper section, where the limestone is much closer to the surface, is used for this cuvée. The grapes see a four-week maceration with an élevage lasting 12 months in large barrels and demonstrate the silky elegance of old-vine Cabernet Franc grown in this pretty AOP; rich cassis notes are woven into fine-grained tannins and bittersweet chocolate on the finish.

 

 


Pierre Borel (Touraine)

The six-acre Clos du Pavée, where Pierre Borel has been making wine since 2006, is a true clos in the French sense, meaning that it a walled vineyard, once done to protect the grapes from theft and now, to improve the mesoclimate. Pavée soils are gravel; the surrounding acres are generally built around clay/limestone.

“Terror dictates wine style,” Pierre explains, “and this terroir I believe is meant to produce more easygoing, fruit-forward wines.”

This concept ultimately led Pierre to uproot and replant the whole parcel, settling on four new acres of Cabernet Franc and two of Chenin. Doing all the vineyard work alone (and by hand) Pierre is a firm believer in organic viticulture, and although he doesn’t believe that the AOP system is necessarily a mark of quality, he views working within it a commitment to the winemaking traditions in the area.

Pierre Borel (Bourgueil)

The seclusion of Clos du Pavée works to the advantage of Pierre’s passion for organics. With the village on one side and woodland on the other, his acres are under very little threat from contamination from neighboring growers who aren’t playing by his rules. He believes that his wines represent the purity and typicity of wines from Bourgueil—and that is his goal.

“Simplicity is key,” he states. “I make only one wine, and vinify in as straightforward a way as possible. I work with sandy limestone/gravel soils that yields plush, herbaceous and fragrant fruit. I ferment in a simple chai that contains one large tank of stainless steel and one of fiberglass. The wine is racked off the skins after a couple of weeks of maceration and is bottled from tank, with no barrel aging.”

He is also pleased to note that as his new vines mature, they are producing more complex and nuanced wine with each passing vintage.

Pierre Borel ‘Clos de Pavée’, 2019 Bourgueil ‘natural’ ($33)
Bourgueil is the heartland of Cabernet Franc in the Touraine district, and Borel’s five gravelly acres in Clos de Pavée are the epicenter of Bourgueil. This savory, natural red is replete with the meatiness that develops in Cab Franc under ideal condition, and here it is offset by crunchy cranberry and rich herbaceous notes. There is dark chocolate on the finish now, but the wine is structured to mature for at least another decade, and should develop the truffle-like savory tones.

 

 


Manoir de la Tête Rouge (Anjou-Saumur)

Intense, driven and passionate, Guillaume Reynouard is the fox in charge of the chicken coop—as well as being a winemaker, he is president of the Syndicat des Vins Saumur and has a particular enmity for growers who rip out Pineau d’Aunis in favor of easier-to-grow varieties.

Taking charge of Domaine Manoir de la Tête Rouge in 1995, Guillaume soon converted to organics and was certified Biodynamic in 2010. The estate enjoys remarkably productive clay/ limestone terroir and he takes pride in ‘living vineyards’ where the soil is worked by hand to ensure that roots go deep and grass grows between rows to promote insect and other plant life; synthetic chemicals are prohibited. In the cellar, grapes are fully destemmed, indigenous yeasts are preferred, with no additions and very minimal sulfur use.

Guillaume Reynouard, Manoir de la Tête Rouge (Saumur, Saumur-Champigny)

According to Reynouard, “Responsible agriculture is a way of life and of thinking. When growing grapes, I aspire to act sensibly for the planet—a state of mind that develops naturally from a respectful relationship with nature. Knowing how to adapt to a changing environment requires constant questioning while the planting of forgotten varieties such as Pineau d’Aunis, the incorporation of trees into the cultivation of the vine (agroforestry) and the gradual abandonment of ‘modern’ oenology are avenues that I have followed for more than 20 years.”

Manoir de la Tête Rouge ‘l’Enchentoir’, 2018 Saumur-Puy-Notre-Dame ‘natural’ ($43)

In the sub-appellation Saumur-Puy-Notre-Dame, ‘l’Enchentoir’ is a venerable Cabernet Franc lieu-dit. Planted over Turonian limestone in 1959 using sélections massales, the pressed wine is aged in 300-liter barriques for one year plus another six months in Béton cuves (pre-cast concrete tanks). It displays depth and delicacy, showing blackberry and cherry over violets, rose petals and savory herbs.

 

 


Manoir de la Tête Rouge ‘Tête de Lard’, 2018 Saumur-Puy-Notre-Dame ($27)
100% Cabernet Franc from two parcels averaging 20 years of age, ‘Tête de Lard’—Head of Bacon’—is fermented on native yeasts and spends a year in used 300-liter barrels. The final blend is done in concrete tanks, where the wine rests for 4 months before bottling. Filled with ripe tones of blueberry and cassis with a slight vegetal edge, this is a natural wine suited for the cellar, but one that should be tasted every couple years to keep an eye on the progress.

 

 

 


Manoir de la Tête Rouge ‘Bagatelle’, 2020 Saumur Rouge ($21)
A bagatelle is something easy; something that requires little effort. This is not a comment on the precision that is de rigeur in Guillaume Reynouard’s winemaking, especially since the tech sheet for this wine specifies the terroir as 30% Jurassic limestone, 60% Turonian limestone and 10% silt, and the vines as being pruned in alternating Guyot-Poussard. Rather, the wine itself is created simply and naturally, macerated three weeks without yeasting, without chaptalization and without additives, then matured without sulfur. These minuses equal an ultimate plus; a pure Cabernet Franc with aromas of plum, raspberry, and cherry with notes of red pepper, spice, and graphite with silky tannins and bright acidity.

 

 


Terre de l’Élu (Anjou)

For Charlotte and Thomas Carsin, winemaking is many things—an interest, then a passion, then a commitment, then a profession. But first and foremost, it’s an adventure.

“My path to Clos de l’Élu began as a grape picker in Burgundy,” Thomas shares. “I was studying tropical agronomy, but ultimately chose to specialize in wine and found work placements in Sonoma, where I learned a great deal about terroir and vinification.”

After that, he learned the retail side of the business in a Paris boutique and spent five years doing consultancy work in Champagne. By the time his stint as a journeyman was over, he had arrived at a very keen personal opinion of the ‘overengineered’ wine industry: He hated it.

Thomas and Charlotte Carsin, Terre de l’Élu (Anjou)

By then he was well-versed in ‘winegrowing empiricism’—the language of the vines and master the idea of terroir. He spent a few more years making wine in Provence, in the département du Var, but it wasn’t until 2008 that he was able to acquire a domain and produce wine on his own terms: “Acquiring Clos de l’Élu, in the heart of the Layon valley, was a dream come true.”

Charlotte’s road to the winery was a bit more straightforward. Having worked in communication with specialized interest in pairing food and wine, she has learned the technical angles hands-on. Of course, her professional chops allow her to serve as the wineries administrator, in the sales and marketing of the winery, and especially brand image, packaging, events, and communication methods.

As to the estate, Terre de l’Élu is in Saint Aubin de Luigné; the vines grow on the outskirts of the village between Chaume and Ardenay, on the right, south-facing side of the Layon River. Soils here are classic Anjou Noir, full of volcanic rocks, sandstone and quartz.

Terre de l’Élu ‘Maupiti’, 2021 VdF Loire-Anjou Rouge ($26)
Thomas and Charlotte Carsin may have thrown a dart at a map of French Polynesia and landed on the tiny island of Maupiti to name this wine, which they describe as ‘approaching like a mysterious island amid the languor of oceans; you want to explore.’ A blend of 30% Gamay and 70% Cabernet Franc from vines between 25 and 40 years old, the grapes are whole-cluster-fermented separately on native yeasts and only blended after the completion of malolactic. The wine retains the brightness of Anjou Gamay, showing vivacious raspberry aromatics and the solid savory core of Cabernet Franc.

 

 


Le Sot de l’Ange (Touraine)

Although the label’s name roughly translates to ‘Idiot Angel’, winemaker Quentin Bourse is anything but. Before taking over a friend’s estate in time for the 2013 vintage, Bourse worked in various fields (some wine related; others not) including numerous internships in the surrounding area. Having learned technique from both natural and conventional producers, notably a six-month stage at the famed Vouvray producer Domaine Huet, his winemaking philosophy was shaped by philosophy and a relentless work ethic that leans toward innovation and the sort of perfectionism that is often at the root of natural wines—at least the ones that shine.

Unusual for the neighborhood, Bourse’s estate is certified biodynamic. Ranging across 30 acres, he is especially attracted to indigenous varieties that capitalize on the clay and silica soils for which the region is famous. In many of his parcels, white silex stones litter the rows making it look as if the terroir is seeping from the earth.

Quentin Bourse, Le Sot de l’Ange (Touraine)

He shares a cellar with old-school producer Pascal Pibaleau, where his grapes are painstakingly sorted four times before whole-cluster fermentation with indigenous yeasts in tank, and then a slow, gentle pressing that in some cases lasts five or more hours. Aging occurs either entirely in tank, neutral barriques, or amphorae depending on the cuvée, and zero sulfur is added during the winemaking process for the reds; a touch is added for the whites.

Le Sot de l’Ange ‘Karadras’, 2018 VdF Loire-Touraine Cabernet Franc ‘natural’ ($24)
‘Karadras’ is 88% Cabernet Franc and 12% Côt; the name proves to be somewhat inexplicable since it appears in different spellings on different bottlings. What remains the same is that after being manually destemmed in wicker baskets, the fruit ferments in open wooden tanks and comes out the other end with a classic profile; a bit of color from the Côt, herbaceous notes from the Cab Franc. It offers dusty plum, soil, cocoa, and brambles; the palate is lively and fresh, lifted by crunchy acidity framing the ripe high-toned blue fruits, juicy plum and earthy spices.

 

 


Côt

‘Côt by any other name would smell like Malbec.’ With apologies to the Bard, the renaissance of this dark, potent grape in the Loire sees a remarkable change in profile. In southwest France—Cahors in particular—the variety produces heavy wines that are not only amenable to long periods of aging, they virtually demand it. In the Cher Valley, in the heart of Touraine, the grape finds a kinder, gentler environment where it produces a different sort of wine; less aggressively tannic with fresh aromas of black cherry and cassis. In part, it is the climate, but the fiercer aspects Côt as they appear in Cahors’ ‘black wines’ are tempered in the field, where vines are pruned short with a vendange vert after véraison. To avoid the additional tannins of oak, most of the grapes are fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks with a few barriques blended in.

Le Sot de l’Ange ‘Le Jardin’, 2018 IGP Val-de-Loire ‘Côt’ ‘natural’ ($45)

100% Côt from an interesting lieu-dit with two distinct soil types—one section with clay and silex soils and the second with clay and limestone. The wine is vinified using whole-cluster fermentation in concrete tank; malolactic fermentation and élevage occur in terra cotta amphorae for 24 months. The wine shows aromas of freshly-picked bramble fruits, blackberry and currant, with slight Szechuan pepper notes and a touch of clove; a fresh, gripping palate.

 

 

 


Le Rocher des Violettes (Touraine)

Louis Barruol is known to be a tough taskmaster; he is the legendary Château de St-Cosme winemaker who transformed the family’s Gigondas estate from an anonymous bulk-wine source to the top winery in Gigondas—arguably into one of the best estates in the Southern Rhône. It is here that Xavier Weisskopf, founder of Le Rocher des Violettes (in 2005) went to work after studying winemaking in Chablis and Beaune and earning his degree in viticulture and oenology.

At Château de St-Cosme, Weisskopf rose to the rank of Chef de Cave, making four vintages during his tenure there. But he recognized that Rhône was not the best spot to grow his pet grape, Chenin, and that Montlouis-sur-Loire was. In 2005, he was able to purchase a site of old Chenin vines, many planted before World War II, in Montlouis, as well as Côt vines in Touraine, and he settled in to produce wines that allowed his new terroir to speak with clarity. This involved converting the farming practices to organics and extending the philosophy of ‘tradition’ to the cellars.

Xavier Weisskopf, Le Rocher des Violettes (Touraine, Montlouis-sur-Loire)

“Since 2010, my wife Clémence has been a part of the adventure, excelling in the administrative and commercial side of the business,” he says. “We have an additional team who work according to the season. Among our projects, we have been involved in an attempt to restore old vines to their original condition. We have dug a cellar in our native tuffeau so that the wines may age in the best conditions; it is built on multiple levels so that our mechanical force is provided by gravity. The constant cellar temperature is between 13 ° and 14 °C, allowing for the thermal self-regulation of the Allier oak barrels during fermentation.”

Le Rocher des Violettes ‘Côt’, 2020 Touraine ($23)
From seven individual plots, the grapes are 80% whole cluster fermented and aged 14 months in neutral foudres. The Malbec nose is unmistakable—a powerful blend of sweet and sour cherry and country herbs that, given time to open up, reveals coffee, leather, black pepper, vanilla and tobacco.

 

 

 

 

 


Pineau d’Aunis

‘Riches to rags’ may well summarize the Pineau d’Aunis story. Once a popular and sought-after variety among royalty on both sides of the English Channel, it is now increasingly rare, and generally limited to rosés and the lighter reds of the central Loire.

Part of the grape’s fall from grace is the fact that it is simply a pain in the neck to grow. Prone to irregular yields, it is also highly susceptible to bunch rot and hyper-sensitive to the soil it is grown in, requiring a balance of clay, sand and gravel in order to produce a crop of much commercial value. It is only in seasons of prolonged heat that it is capable of making red wine as distinctive and interesting as that made from the more ubiquitous Cabernet Franc.

And yet, of late, warmer seasons is exactly what has been happening in the Loire and as the more experimentative winemakers of the region are discovering, the dry reds made from the grape under optimal conditions show how presentable Pineau d’Aunis can be at the table of either kings or pawns.

Terre de l’Élu ‘Espérance’, 2021 VdF Loire-Anjou ‘Pineau d’Aunis’ ($47)
100% Pineau d’Aunis from a variety of vine ages (seven years to 60), grown on rocky clay and schist. The grapes are allowed two weeks to macerate whole-cluster in stainless steel; they are then pressed and aged in neutral oak as fermentation completes. The wine is bottled with a minimum of sulfur and no fining. It shows the floral nose and spicy, fleshy body associated with this ancient grape; dried violet opens to raspberry and spiced cherry with a bit of crushed stone toward the finish.

 

 


Manoir de la Tête Rouge ‘K’ Sa Tête’, 2020 VdF Loire-Saumur ‘Pineau d’Aunis’ Guillaume Reynouard ($27)
100% Pineau d’Aunis from the lieu-dit de l’Enchentoir where soils are treated using Maria Thun’s biodynamic advice; this includes cow-horn dung in the spring and horn silica after closure of the cluster (a somewhat exacting process that is exactly what is sounds like, using cow-horns filled with manure and/or silica). Maceration lasts 12 days in concrete tanks without yeasting, chaptalization or additives. The wine spends six months in oak barrels and bottling is done in June with 20 milligrams of added sulfur. This is a textbook Pineau d’Aunis with black pepper and green pepper on the nose with a palate that expands to include sweet, perfectly ripe blueberries.

 

 


Grolleau

Grolleau is the Loire Valley’s workhorse grape, used most often in the production of rosé. Although it remains one of the Loire’s most planted red-wine varieties, new plantings have dropped steadily for the last 50 years. While Grolleau is high yielding, providing a steady, reliable harvest, it poses several challenges for growers as it is susceptible to disease and not a particularly flavorful stand-alone variety. It is a dark grape on the vine, but thin-skinned, meaning that there is not much chance for color extraction, so it is rarely used to produce red wines.

Grolleau-based wines tend to be high in acid, moderate in alcohol, and may show aromas of strawberry, raspberry and cherry; as a rosé, it is reminiscent of watermelon, tangerine, rose petals and red candy.

Manoir de la Tête Rouge ‘À Tue Tête’, 2021 VdF Loire-Saumur ‘Grolleau Gris’ Guillaume Reynouard ‘natural’ ($25)
Vin de France is the most basic quality tier for wines from France, typically uncomplicated everyday drinks, likely blends, but occasionally are made from unlisted, unqualified varieties. Loosely translated to ‘loudly’, ‘À Tue Tête’ is a rare bottling from an even more rare variety, Grolleau Gris, which is a pink-skinned mutation of Grolleau. Handled with the biodynamic tool-kit, the wine shows red cherry, sandalwood and a bit of tropical fruit.

 

 


Le Sot de l’Ange ‘OG Grolleau’, 2020 IGP Val-de-Loire ‘natural’ ($39)
IGP (Indication Géographique Protégée) is a quality category used for French wine positioned between Vin de France and Appellation d’Origine Protégée (AOP). (The category superseded Vin de Pays in 2009.) Most significant in commercial terms is the fact that the wines may be varietals and labeled as such. ‘OG Grolleau’ comes from single parcel of old-vine Grolleau planted between 1945 and 1976; grapes are de-stemmed, given ten days of maceration, aged in amphorae and used oak barrels, then bottled without sulfur. Blueberry and violet dominate the nose while the palate resolves itself in a mineral crunchiness with beautiful acidity.

 

 


Domaine Marie Thibault (Touraine)

“I grew up in the Loire Valley, but unlike many vignerons working in the Loire, I did not come from a winemaking family,” says Marie Thibault, adding, “But also unlike many of them, I have degrees in both biology and oenology.”

Marie Thibault began making wine in the early 2000s, working for a time with François Chidaine in Montlouis, where she fell in love with Chenin. In 2011, she founded her own nine-acre estate on a single windy slope in Azay-le-Rideau, a lesser known commune of Touraine. She immediately converted to organics and has been certified with Ecocert since 2014. Among the natural elements in her vineyards is the flock of two dozen ewes that graze between the vine rows during the autumn; every ten days, they are penned inside a new hectare to keep the soil naturally fertile and the grass clipped.

Marie Thibault, Domaine Marie Thibault (Touraine) – (Photo © Jean-Yves Bardin)

“My vineyard is small, but the soils are extremely varied and as such, so are the grapes I grow. I work with Côt (Malbec), and have a special love for Gamay, Grolleau, Chenin and Sauvignon Blanc. Most of my vines are at least 50 years old. I compensate for small production by purchasing from organic estates nearby.”

Domaine Marie Thibault ‘Le Grolleau’, 2021 VdF Loire-Touraine Rouge ‘natural’ ($89) 1.5 Liter
A wine whose heritage is perfectly reflected in Thibault’s scant acres—Azay-le-Rideau is ground zero for Grolleau, first planted in early 19th century. ‘Le Grolleau’ is an ultra-fresh example made using Beaujolais-style carbonic maceration and held to a little over 11% abv, which solidly qualifies it as a ‘vin de soif.’ It is made using 60-year-old organic vines planted on hillsides on the southern slopes of the Indre—an early-ripening terroir filled with draining soils with a presence of flint, and bottled at the Estate in April 2022 without fining or filtration and just a micro-dose of sulfur. This wine is kept even fresher en magnum; it is fruity, juicy and velvety with sweet cranberry, blueberry, red plum, blueberry, cranberry, a touch of pepper with black cherry on the finish.

 

 


Gamay

Ever since Philippe de Bourgogne cast Gamay from the bosom of Burgundy six centuries ago, the variety has been derided and even despised outside its spiritual home, Beaujolais. Folks who were soured by the sweet and fruity Nouveau cult may bring that prejudice into Touraine, but that would be a mistake: Although once in the shadow of Anjou Gamay, select vignerons in Touraine have made monster strides with Gamay over the past couple decades and these wines now edge out the Gamays of Anjou in depth and complexity. They tend to be medium-bodied with a musky tone that share center stage with aromas of fern and capers intermingled with flinty minerals and plummy notes.

Domaine Marie Thibault ‘Les Grandes Vignes’, 2018 VdF Loire-Touraine ‘Gamay’ ‘natural’ ($41)
Thibault’s unique lens on Gamay is seen in this example produced from 50+ year-old vines she discovered growing adjacent to her plot on flinty silex soil. The vines were untrained and un-trellised, and harvest was exceptionally labor-intensive. She allows a 10-month maceration in order to shows off the Gamay’s savory side, with crisp rhubarb, earthy red berry notes and fine-grained, well-integrated tannins showcased.

 

 

 


Famille Percher (Touraine)

Perhaps the most interesting parcel farmed by Luc Percher (of Domaine l’Epicourchois) is ‘La Marigonnerie’ directly adjacent to the winery. In Napoleon times the vineyard area was a pond, and although the region sits on a bed of limestone sprinkled with granitic sand, the pond left behind a bed of clay which, about 120 years ago, was planted to Romorantin—a local white wine variety with its own appellation (Cour-Cheverny) where it is the only grape permitted.

Luc began making wine here in 2005. “When I arrived, the sand was as white as a beach. I fell in love with the ambience—a few wispy trees and an expansive horizon-line. It is quiet terroir.”

Luc Percher, Famille Percher (Cheverny, Cour-Cheverny)

His 22 acres of vines, tended with certifications from BIO and Déméter, is hardly restricted to Romorantin, although only his 100% Romorantin can be labeled Cour-Cheverny. His Sélection Massale old-vine vineyards contain ten different grape varieties, and some even more rare than Romorantin—Menu-Pineau, Gamay Fréaux and Chaudenay, for example. In order to maintain the biological heritage of these grapes, Luc is committed to soil maintenance, through hilling, stripping, scratching and the establishment of controlled natural grassing. “These practices are respectful of the earth, the plants and the environment; they support the development of biodiversity and preserve the terroirs. You no longer see the white sand between the vine rows—it is covered by grass and other vegetation. We echo that philosophy in the cellar, being minimalist on the interventions in order to more faithfully reflect the grape varieties and the purity of place.”

Famille Percher, 2019 Cheverny Rouge ($36)
A 50/50 blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay grown on sandy clay with a limestone base. It is fermented with indigenous yeast and spends 15 days macerating before élevage in stainless steel on fine lees. It shows a frisky nose of black cherries and cassis with an edge of earth—graphite, tree bark, espresso and forest floor. Tannins are moderate and the finish is long.

 

 

 

 


Fiefs Vendéens: Loire Frontiers, More To Nantais Than Just Muscadet

Created in 1984, the Fiefs Vendéens in located in the western end of the Loire Valley, about forty-five miles south of Pays Nantais. Like its neighbors, it boasts a maritime climate and soils that are relatively homogeneous, consisting of red clay derived from schist and limestone and laid over friable bedrock, allowing vine roots to establish themselves and penetrate deeply with ease.

Nevertheless, the appellation is subdivided into five individual zones (the ‘fiefs’ in the name)—Brem, Mareuil, Chantonnay, Pissotte and Vix. Each operates under its own set of rules with its own roster of allowable grapes. The generic AOP covers red, white and rosé wines. While the whites are predominantly made from Chenin and Chardonnay, the reds draw from a pool of five grapes: Pinot Noir, Gamay, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Négrette. Depending on the subzone, these are broken into the main grape (at least 40 percent of any blend), complementary grapes (at least ten percent of a blend), and accessory grapes. The rosé is dominated by Gamay and Pinot Noir, and covers about half of the appellation’s production.


Domaine Saint Nicolas (Brem Pinot Noir)

If you were jolly old St. Nick, would you hang around the North Pole during the off-season, or relax in a namesake wine estate in Fiefs Vendéens? If it is the latter, you’ll encounter Thierry Michon—a local legend for his commitment to biodynamics, which is not merely a passion pragmatic consideration.

“For me,” he says, “it is closer to a religion.”

For example, he has purchased buffer acres all around his vineyard to prevent accidental cross contamination and he proudly states that not a single vine on his estate has ever seen a non-organic product. His hundred acre estate is at the extreme southern end of the Loire Delta, just south of Muscadet. But Melon de Bourgogne is not the name of the game here; instead, Thierry works old-vine Chenin, Chardonnay, Grolleau Gris, Gamay, Pinot Noir, Négrette and Cabernet Franc.

Thierry Michon and Sons Antoine and Mickaël (Fiefs-Vendéens Brem)

“We are very simple,” he laughs. “You might say primitive, working by horse and doing everything by hand—or foot.”

And that’s accurate—the harvest is, of course, by hand, but after the whites pass through a sorting table and are then gently pressed and fermented in large wooden vats, the reds are sorted and then crushed by foot. Thierry was recently joined at the winery by his two sons, Antoine and Mickaël, who may no longer believe in Santa Claus, but who definitely believe in Saint Nicolas.

Domaine Saint Nicolas ‘Cuvée Jacques’, 2018 Fiefs-Vendéens Brem ($29)
100% Pinot Noir between 15 and 25 years old from a gentle hillside facing south-west; schist, clay and quartz soils are enriched using the biodynamic ‘Bordeaux’ mixture, which includes treatments with herbal teas made of nettle and horsetail, etc. The grapes are macerated in wooden vats for 12 days with cap punch-downs. Fermentation is done on native yeast without chaptalization, after which the wine spends a year in oak demi-muids before being bottled unfined and unfiltered, with total sulfites 14 milligrams/liter. The wine is juicy with raspberry and pomegranate, shored up by crunchy minerality and spiced with touches of vanilla, orange rind and cinnamon.

 

 


 

 

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Posted on 2024.02.02 in Touraine, Anjou, Chinon, Saumur-Champigny, France, Wine-Aid Packages, Loire  |  Read more...

 


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