Here's the fourth episode of my new podcast, continuing the focus on Burgundy by looking at the Côte de Beaune. You can follow the podcast on Soundcloud or iTunes.
Music by Bensound
Showing posts with label chardonnay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chardonnay. Show all posts
Monday, 3 July 2017
Thursday, 16 February 2017
Central Otago
Central Otago, due to its climate and inland location on the South Island, is different from the rest of New Zealand's wine areas. It's the most southerly wine region in the world, vineyards located beneath dramatic mountains on difficult, rocky soils. The wine is uniformly excellent, the climate and soils producing intense, concentrated wines that are only going to get better as the region matures.
One thing Central Otago does share with the rest of New Zealand's wine regions is that it's still very young, producers striving to learn what works and what doesn't. It's only thirty years old, and it's going to be fascinating to see how Central Otago develops. Its future will clearly be dominated by Pinot Noir, but other varieties, particularly white grapes, will help further understanding of this beautiful region.
There are different climates within Central Otago, which has led to the informal classification of several sub-regions. Altitude is key, where both days and nights are cooler than lower down on the valley floor. The centre of Central Otago is a large valley surrounded by towering mountains, even topped with snow in the summer; this is the Cromwell Basin, which gradually rises at the southern end to the highest quality sub-region, Bannockburn. Here, the sun hits the north-facing slopes while wind rushes down from the mountains and through the valley to provide ventilation. Current plans to formally classify Central Otago have Bannockburn as the one stand-alone sub-region with its own geographical indication. Further north, Bendigo is warmer and the wines are ripe and rich, while to the east Gibbston Valley is higher up and produces thinner, more acidic wines. Many producers blend from the different sub-regions to make balanced wines that express the region as a whole, but the one area that stands out on its own is Bannockburn.
However, like the rest of New Zealand, the rush to make wine from the 1980s onwards led to compromises. New Zealand has a strict quarantine policy, which means that any plant matter must spend three years under quarantine before being allowed into the country. The downside to the strict import conditions is that the rapid expansion of the industry in the last twenty years meant that there weren't enough rootstocks available to graft vines on to and new plantings couldn't keep up. Instead, growers simply planted ungrafted vines. Phylloxera as a result is slowly spreading, which means necessary replanting of those young vines. Although it's under control, this is something that may slow the development of New Zealand wine as a whole, Central Otago included.
75% of plantings in Central Otago are of Pinot Noir, the only black grape variety that will reliably ripen there. The hot days get the grapes ripe, while the cool nights preserve acidity and allow the aromatics to slowly develop. The wines vary from sub-region to sub-region, but there is a deep, rich intensity to them, and a deep colour which comes from the skins building up resistance to the UV rays. In a short time, these have come to be known as some of the finest Pinot Noirs in the world. They're certainly very good, but I feel at the moment that we're tasting potential rather than the definite finished result. As the vines age and producers understand site selection better, the wines will continue to improve: producers will worry less about ripe fruit aromas and concentrate more on making Pinot Noir which are compelling expressions of place. That's Central Otago: the youth of its vines as well as its producers leads to rich, fruity wines that will become more complex and intense as the region ages.
recommended producers: Felton Road, Burn Cottage, Bannock Brae
recommended producers: Misha's Vineyard
Central Otago has, with a collective purpose among producers, focused on aromatic white grapes to promote the region. Pinot Gris is the accessible wine, while Riesling is grown for quality and small production. Just 3% of plantings are of Riesling, a variety that's always fashionable among wine geeks like me but difficult to sell. Two producers, Felton Road and Misha's Vineyard, convincingly persuaded me that Central Otago has, in its schist soils and cool continental climate, much in common with Mosel in Germany. Like Mosel, the best wines have some sweetness to them to counterbalance the naturally high acidity that comes with the cool climate. Despite being so food friendly, such wines are not universally fashionable so many producers make dry Rieslings whose acidity I found just too tart - Central Otago's climate really is that cool.
recommended producers: Felton Road, Misha's Vineyard
recommended producers: Felton Road, Peregrine
One thing Central Otago does share with the rest of New Zealand's wine regions is that it's still very young, producers striving to learn what works and what doesn't. It's only thirty years old, and it's going to be fascinating to see how Central Otago develops. Its future will clearly be dominated by Pinot Noir, but other varieties, particularly white grapes, will help further understanding of this beautiful region.
climate
New Zealand is surrounded by sea, 2,000km from Australia's east coast. The climate is maritime, rain hitting the islands from the ocean throughout the year. The one exception to this maritime climate is Central Otago, which, sheltered from the ocean by mountain ranges, is cool continental. In the summer, the days are hot, reaching as high as 40˚C, and the nights are cool, dropping below 10˚C, so there is intense ripening during the day slowed by the cool nights. Heat summation is similar to northern Chablis, yet Central Otago successfully ripens Pinot Noir. This is due to the intense UV rays coming from the sun, which intensifies ripening - the sun really does have a burning heat to it. |
| Central Otago regions |
There are different climates within Central Otago, which has led to the informal classification of several sub-regions. Altitude is key, where both days and nights are cooler than lower down on the valley floor. The centre of Central Otago is a large valley surrounded by towering mountains, even topped with snow in the summer; this is the Cromwell Basin, which gradually rises at the southern end to the highest quality sub-region, Bannockburn. Here, the sun hits the north-facing slopes while wind rushes down from the mountains and through the valley to provide ventilation. Current plans to formally classify Central Otago have Bannockburn as the one stand-alone sub-region with its own geographical indication. Further north, Bendigo is warmer and the wines are ripe and rich, while to the east Gibbston Valley is higher up and produces thinner, more acidic wines. Many producers blend from the different sub-regions to make balanced wines that express the region as a whole, but the one area that stands out on its own is Bannockburn.
history
The first commercial wine released in Central Otago was by Gibbston Valley Winery in 1987. There were vines planted in the 1860s, when the region was subject to a huge gold rush, remnants of which are scattered throughout Central Otago, not least in Bannockburn where barren hillsides stand next to recently planted vineyards. Once the gold rush faded, Central Otago became a quiet region populated by shepherds and orchard farmers. Cherries are still a big industry, but the region has been transformed in the last thirty years by wine. There are now well over a hundred producers and, despite the youth of the industry, quality is consistently high. As vines get older, that quality is only going to increase. |
| Pinot Noir vines at Peregrine winery |
pinot noir
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| Cornish Point vineyard, owned by Felton Road |
recommended producers: Felton Road, Burn Cottage, Bannock Brae
pinot gris
The search across New Zealand has been to find a back-up to Sauvignon Blanc, in case worldwide interest in those wines finally comes to a halt. Many producers have focused on Pinot Gris, an aromatic grape that's closely related to Pinot Noir and not planted that widely across the world. Styles have varied in New Zealand, from dry and insipid to rich and bloated, which hasn't helped spread the wines' popularity. Producers have finally settled on a consistent, recognisable style: off-dry (the slight sweetness offsets the tannins of the grape), aromatic, but not too rich. In Central Otago, the grape accounts for 15% of plantings, and is held up as the region's white equivalent to Pinot Noir. The wines are good, food-friendly, with a refreshing acidity not always found with Pinot Gris. But I do feel that Central Otago producers made a mistake when they chose Pinot Gris rather than Chardonnay as the white equivalent to Pinot Noir. Now, many are having to consider whether to replant to Chardonnay or to stick to Pinot Gris.recommended producers: Misha's Vineyard
riesling
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| Rippon Vineyard, Lake Wanaka |
recommended producers: Felton Road, Misha's Vineyard
chardonnay
The elephant in the room is Chardonnay. I am loathe to suggest that yet another region concentrate on producing Chardonnay, but this, besides Pinot Noir, is what Central Otago is best at. The wines have a refreshing, crisp acidity, which allows malolactic fermentation, and a steely, stony texture. They taste exactly how the best Chardonnays should. Yet, only 3% of plantings are to Chardonnay. This is because when many of the current plantings were made twenty years ago, Chardonnay was an unfashionable grape and Pinot Gris was planted instead as an alternative. Now, producers have to decide whether to replant to Chardonnay or to stick to the aromatic varieties they already have. Central Otago is a young region: mistakes are likely to be made before figuring out what works best.recommended producers: Felton Road, Peregrine
Tuesday, 6 September 2016
Crossings
Wine geeks get very excited about clonal selection. "Is the clone Calera, Swan, or 777?" they'll ask when tasting a Pinot Noir, a question that means nothing to the typical drinker. These are clones which have been developed over the years by winemakers and grape growers to suit local conditions, and each clone has different attributes: flavour, acidity, tannins, ripening time. Pinot Noir is a variety which has hundreds of clones as it naturally mutates into different versions of itself; this reproduction is taken further by deliberately crossing different clones together to produce versions of the grape which have specific characteristics.
These clones produced through human interference have also naturally been developed over the centuries and some of the most famous grape varieties are crossings of other varieties. The reason vines grow grapes is to attract birds to eat them and spread the seeds elsewhere to propagate more vines. As these seeds are spread, they meet and reproduce with seeds from other varieties of grapes, which is why the exhaustive Wine Grapes book lists over 1,300 different grape varieties.
Meanwhile, the other great Bordeaux grape, Merlot, is also a crossing, again of Cabernet Franc and an obscure, barely planted variety called Magdeleine Noire des Charentes which wasn't even given a name until the 1990s when it was found growing outside some villagers' houses.
Along with a now rarely-grown Bordeaux variety called Gros Cabernet, Cabernet Franc is also the parent grape of Carmenère, which is now mostly found in Chile. Cabernet Franc plays a vital if sometimes overlooked part in Bordeaux blends, adding colour, acidity, and aromas of red fruits and pencil shavings. As the parent grape of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, as well as Carmenère, it's perhaps entitled to call itself the most important Bordeaux grape.
This has not only led to it creating different versions of itself, but also completely different grape varieties. On three separate occasions, it has procreated with the same variety - Gouais Blanc, an otherwise forgettable white grape - to produce three different off-spring all now grown in Burgundy: Chardonnay, Aligoté, and Gamay. I remember being told this in a class, and a student shouted out, "But that's impossible! How can they produce such different varieties?" The instructor likened it to having children: one couple might have three children that can be hard to tell apart, another couple might have three children remarkably dissimilar, say with dark hair, fair hair, and red hair. So it was with Pinot Noir and Gouais Blanc.
Another variety that was once thought to be a Riesling-Silvaner crossing is Scheurebe, created by a Dr. Scheu (Rebe means vine in German). It has grassy, grapefruit aromas, and its high acidity makes it ideal for good-quality sweet wine. Despite its quality, there's not much planted in Germany (just over 2,000ha) as it just doesn't produce wines as classy as Riesling, but there are some dry and sweet wines made from it (try Pfeffingen's dry Scheurebe from Pfalz). In 2012, it was finally discovered what the crossing was: Riesling and a variety I have never heard of called Buckettsrebe.
Another less successful crossing is Pinotage, although South Africans would dispute that claim. The wines are often full of chocolate aromas, with a weird rubberiness. Despite that, it's become South Africa's national grape as it's barely grown elsewhere. Wines are getting much better as winemakers learn to deal with the grape (check out Rijk's). It was developed by South African I. A. Perold in 1925, a random crossing of Pinot Noir and the Rhône grape Cinsault. Both of these varieties are known for their red fruit characteristics, yet Pinotage has big, bold, overripe black fruit aromas. Such is the unpredictability of crossings ....
Bordeaux grapes
One of the most famous natural crossings is Cabernet Sauvignon. Originating from Bordeaux, its parents are two other grapes native to the region, Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. Given the shared name, it seems obvious that these two grapes together produced Cabernet Sauvignon but its distinct character confused people for some time - Cabernet Sauvignon has thick skins, is late ripening, and produces wines with deep blackcurrant aromas, while Cabernet Franc ripens earlier and its wines have more red fruits and Sauvignon Blanc is a white grape. However, DNA testing in the 1990s definitively proved the heritage of Cabernet Sauvignon, a heritage one can identify through the green, herbaceous aromas sometimes found in Cabernet Sauvignon and often found in both Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc.Along with a now rarely-grown Bordeaux variety called Gros Cabernet, Cabernet Franc is also the parent grape of Carmenère, which is now mostly found in Chile. Cabernet Franc plays a vital if sometimes overlooked part in Bordeaux blends, adding colour, acidity, and aromas of red fruits and pencil shavings. As the parent grape of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, as well as Carmenère, it's perhaps entitled to call itself the most important Bordeaux grape.
Chardonnay, Aligoté, and Gamay
Crossings have been formed from both natural and human interference. Both can be unpredictable, but it's the natural evolution which can be the most surprising yet effective. Pinot Noir is one of the most promiscuous grapes, reproducing to create Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc. In Burgundy, the grape has mutated, either naturally or through cutting the best vines and planting them in a new vineyard, and this is one of the reasons the villages and vineyards of Burgundy produce such diverse wines.This has not only led to it creating different versions of itself, but also completely different grape varieties. On three separate occasions, it has procreated with the same variety - Gouais Blanc, an otherwise forgettable white grape - to produce three different off-spring all now grown in Burgundy: Chardonnay, Aligoté, and Gamay. I remember being told this in a class, and a student shouted out, "But that's impossible! How can they produce such different varieties?" The instructor likened it to having children: one couple might have three children that can be hard to tell apart, another couple might have three children remarkably dissimilar, say with dark hair, fair hair, and red hair. So it was with Pinot Noir and Gouais Blanc.
Müller-Thurgau and Scheurebe
That's how nature works, now back to the humans. Riesling is one of the most difficult grapes to grow, a late-ripening variety that only produces complex wines in a cool climate and on difficult stony soils. In the late 19th century and early 20th, German scientists attempted to create crossings that replicated the complexity of Riesling, but ripened much earlier to make life easier on growers. One of the crossings created was by a Dr. Müller, who hailed from the Swiss canton of Thurgau. He thought he was crossing Riesling with another quality German variety, Silvaner, but that other variety was in actual fact Madeleine-Royal, about which there is otherwise little of interest to say. In the 1960s, Müller-Thurgau began to dominate plantings as Germany recovered from the Second World War. It was easy and cheap to grow, its rise was unstoppable, and it so badly damaged Germany's reputation as the heart of once-fashionable wines such as Blue Nun and Black Tower. Since the 1990s, there has been a concerted effort to reduce plantings, but it's still the second-most planted variety in Germany, with 11,000ha of the country's 100,000ha of vines.Another variety that was once thought to be a Riesling-Silvaner crossing is Scheurebe, created by a Dr. Scheu (Rebe means vine in German). It has grassy, grapefruit aromas, and its high acidity makes it ideal for good-quality sweet wine. Despite its quality, there's not much planted in Germany (just over 2,000ha) as it just doesn't produce wines as classy as Riesling, but there are some dry and sweet wines made from it (try Pfeffingen's dry Scheurebe from Pfalz). In 2012, it was finally discovered what the crossing was: Riesling and a variety I have never heard of called Buckettsrebe.
other notable crossings
One of my favourite crossings is Zweigelt, a fruity, often easy-drinking, yet tannic red that a customer once admitted to me she was addicted to. It's Austria's most planted black grape, and is a crossing of the country's two highest-quality black varieties, Blaufränkisch and St-Laurent. Its name comes from Dr. Zweigelt, who crossed the grapes in 1922. Hans Igler produces an extraordinarily good value Zweigelt from Burgenland.Another less successful crossing is Pinotage, although South Africans would dispute that claim. The wines are often full of chocolate aromas, with a weird rubberiness. Despite that, it's become South Africa's national grape as it's barely grown elsewhere. Wines are getting much better as winemakers learn to deal with the grape (check out Rijk's). It was developed by South African I. A. Perold in 1925, a random crossing of Pinot Noir and the Rhône grape Cinsault. Both of these varieties are known for their red fruit characteristics, yet Pinotage has big, bold, overripe black fruit aromas. Such is the unpredictability of crossings ....
Monday, 19 October 2015
Mercurey
Mercurey is an appellation too easily passed by: when I visited Burgundy earlier this year, we drove straight from Santenay, the Côte d'Or's most southerly appellation, to Beaujolais, missing out on Mercurey and the other Chalonnaise and Mâconnais winemaking areas. At the time, I regretted not being able to explore these overlooked areas, but that's the way it goes sometimes. However, even passing through I was able to appreciate the green, pastoral countryside of the Chalonnaise, quite different from the wide, stony land of the Côte d'Or. In the Chalonnaise, there is less of an emphasis on winemaking than in the Côte d'Or: there are cows, sheep, trees, and grass, the vineyards spread out between villages and farmsteads.It's also far less celebrated than the Côte d'Or, meaning its wines do not fetch the high prices of its famous neighbour. The wines attract less attention and fervour, but still retain the high quality expected of Burgundy. All this means great wine can be had for affordable prices, not always the case in Burgundy.
history
The Chalonnaise is to the west of the river port of Chalon-sur-Saône, a town whose importance dates back to Roman times. The name of Mercurey itself gives away the area's Roman roots: it's called after the Roman temple built there to Mercury, the god of commerce and thievery. The Saône is a large, historic trading river that winds its way through southern Burgundy and Beaujolais down to Lyon, where it connects with the Rhône. As ever, wine and trade are historically connected. The wines were highly valued by the Dukes of Burgundy - Philip the Bold called them "the best and most precious" wines in 1395 - but their relative distance from the centres of Beaune and Dijon kept them away from a proper appreciation of their quality, a situation which still exists today.
Côte Chalonnaise
The Chalonnaise winemaking region is just 25km long and 5km wide, a narrow stretch of land whose vineyards are scattered between farmers' fields. Its wines constitute 16% of Burgundy's total production. There are five villages which have their own appellations: Bouzeron (Burgundy's only senior appellation for the Aligoté grape), Rully (known for its sparkling wine under the Crémant de Bourgogne appellation), Mercurey, Givry, and Montagny, which produces the best white wine in the region. Although Chalonnaise is a continuation of the Côte d'Or, it has a variety of soils creating a real diversity of styles of wines around the region.
Mercurey
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| the vineyards of Mercurey, with wines tasted highlighted |
I attended a tasting of six Mercurey wines, one white and five red, which was interesting proof of the village's diversity, quality, and value. The wines were surprisingly fruit forward for Burgundy, meaning that they are likely to appeal to a wide range of consumers, but did not lack for complexity. The diversity may make it difficult to explain Mercurey to consumers, but the wines can be summed up in two words: fruits and acidity.
Mercurey wines
Maison Louis Max Les Rochelles 2013
From a co-operative producer, this was the one white we tasted, and it was a classy example of a Burgundy Chardonnay. A smoky nose at first, with fresh, ripe fruit aromas of pears, nectarines, and apricots. There was a dry, stony, flinty aspect to the palate, which is apparently characteristic of Mercurey, giving the wine a very nice texture, followed up with a crisp pear finish and white pepper spices. As with the reds, the acidity was high and refreshing, lightening the smoky, oak nature. ✪✪✪✪✪Domaine de l'Europe Les Closeaux 2013 (c.$30)
The only village Mercurey we tasted, and the most fruit forward and immediate. The nose was very fruity and Pinot Noir, with raspberries and red cherries. The tannins were lightly grainy, with refreshing acidity. A simple, straightforward, if very pleasant wine: I was surprised to learn that the wine retails for a rather pricey $30 when one of the virtues of Mercurey's wines is its value. ✪✪✪✪Domaine Nathalie & Jean-Claude Theulot Les Champs Martin Premier Cru 2013 ($37)
A darker colour and a much more complex nose, with restrained red and black fruit aromas of strawberries and blackberries. Taking time to open up, there were also subtle aromas of orange pith, paprika, and liquorice, as well as smoke and oak. On the palate, there was a refreshing acidity; the fruits were ripe and intense, with more liquorice and paprika aromas, while the tannins were firm and structured. An exceptional wine: and at $37 for a Premier Cru it reaffirmed my belief in the value of Mercurey. ✪✪✪✪✪Domaine François Raquillet Les Vasées Premier Cru 2013
The reds we tasted moved further south around the appellation with each wine. The soils change, as does the elevation, and the difference between the wines was noticeable. This was much fruitier, ripe and rich, with vanilla and coffee beans also marking the wine out. A very open wine, with soft, unaggressive, but structured tannins. The vines are fifty-five years old, definitely adding a fruity concentration to the wine. ✪✪✪✪✪Château de Chamirey Les Clos du Roi Premier Cru 2012
The use of oak varied in the reds: for me, 25-30% new oak seems optimum. This had 40% new oak, and it was too much, giving the wine a toasty, oaky character, augmented by clove aromas. Intense and tannic, the much-needed acidity lifted the wine out of its oaky heaviness. ✪✪✪✪Domaine de Suremain En Sazenay Premier Cru 2012
Perhaps my favourite of the tasting and, in contrast to the previous wine, aged in just 10% new oak. However, the nose was quite closed and needed some thought to appreciate it. The palate really expressed the quality of the wine: the acidity was so lively and uplifting, indicating that it will last many more years, the tannins were ripe giving the wine a fruit quality that wasn't initially apparent on the nose, and the oak was balanced and integrated. ✪✪✪✪✪Thursday, 3 September 2015
Oregon: Confused but not Dazed
When I recently visited Jim Clendenen of Santa Barbara's Au Bon Climat, he described Oregon as the most confused place on the planet. As a fellow Pinot Noir (and Chardonnay) producer, he found it hard to understand why so many producers were searching out difficult sites that result in low yields and, consequently, high-priced wine. The emphasis on difficult sites may produce individual wines with distinct character, but it makes it almost impossible for producers to run a commercially successful business, at least on a scale that allows their wines to be known out of the state.
Two years previously, I had visited Willamette Valley - Oregon's most important wine-producing area - and I understood what Clendenen meant. Many wineries were making expensive, single-vineyard Pinot Noirs, all of which were very good but at prices which were difficult to justify. I thought that Oregon producers needed to diversify the range of their wines to make them both more affordable and engaging. This week I attended a tasting of Oregon's wines in San Francisco called Pinot in the City, and I was interested to see just how Oregon had progressed in explaining itself to the outside world.
Oregon's winemaking history is young, beginning in the 1960s. The major protagonist in its development was David Lett, who died in 2008. He studied at UC Davis and decided, against his professors' advice, that Oregon was the best place to plant his favoured Alsace and Burgundy varieties. He planted Pinot Noir in the Dundee Hills - now the prime AVA for the grape - in 1965, establishing Eyrie Vineyards, still Oregon's best and most distinctive producer.
Sometime later, in 1979, his 1975 Pinot drew attention at a Paris tasting: Robert Drouhin of Burgundy was so impressed that he entered the same wine into a more formal tasting in Beaune the next year, where it came second only to Drouhin's own Burgundy red. Oregon, an obscure, Pacific state, was all of a sudden on the international map for Pinot Noir. Robert Drouhin took his admiration further, encouraging his daughter, Véronique, to work in Oregon after completing her oenology degree in Dijon in 1984. Three years later, Domaine Drouhin of Oregon was established with Véronique as the winemaker. That French backing further cemented Oregon’s reputation.
The last few years have seen an astonishing growth in the number of producers, including those from elsewhere in the US and France. Despite the growing industry, the state’s wineries remain very family-orientated: both a virtue and a vice.
As a cool-climate grape, Pinot Noir is not an obvious fit for the USA. California’s Pinots were until recently fruity, oaky, made like a light-coloured Cabernet, which is one of the reasons why David Lett and others decided Oregon was a better fit for the grape. The cool, and often wet climate certainly suits Pinot Noir, and it now dominates plantings. Of all the New World Pinot Noir regions, Oregon is the one that produces wines most similar to Burgundy: high acidity, lightly ripe red fruits, with earthy game flavours even in the younger wines. However, I am not sure that Oregon producers have the confidence to allow the grape to speak for itself: many of the wines I tasted at Pinot in the City were aged in 40% new French oak. In some cases, this use of oak was well integrated, but in many the oak was too obvious, resulting in over-aggressive, spicy flavours. Oregon’s coolness and its variety of soils don’t necessarily need that much intervention.
Nevertheless, I drew two positive conclusions from the tasting. The quality of the Pinot Noirs was consistently high, even if too much oak was being used. Moreover, although Oregon is a young wine region, enough producers go back long enough to demonstrate the longstanding quality and substance of the state's Pinots. I tasted several library wines, dating back to the 1990s (including a giant 1994 Methusalem). The spicy game I encountered in the younger wines had matured into a measured, animal earthiness, with both red and black fruits fresh enough to make the wines still immediate and appealing. It may well be that Oregon's Pinots are, rather like Burgundy's, best laid down than drunk young.
Nearly two-thirds of Oregon's grapes are Pinot Noir. No other major wine region has such a dependency on one variety - only New Zealand with its Sauvignon Blanc comes close. Where there's Pinot, there should be Chardonnay, but Oregon has a chequered history with the grape. Chardonnay clones more suited to California were initially planted so that most producers became convinced that the grape could not succeed there. One exception to this was David Lett, who planted his own cuttings taken from European vines planted in the 1930s: Eyrie's Chardonnays are still some of the best, ageworthy, and unique white wines from anywhere in the USA.
In the early 1990s, the French came up with an answer for Oregon's Chardonnay issue: clones of the grape taken from Burgundy, popularly called Dijon Clones, which were much more suitable to Oregon's climate. Scarred by their experience with Chardonnay, too few producers take advantage of these clones, but those that do make exceptional Chardonnays, with crisp, dry acidity and an almost raw texture. I believe that Chardonnay offers an alternative future for Oregon but only a handful of producers seem to dare to share that vision. I don't like to encourage yet more wines from such a ubiquitous grape, but Oregon has the potential to make Chardonnays that can compete with the world's best. Adelsheim, one of Oregon’s older producers, Domaine Drouhin, and Bergström are wineries that demonstrate the potential in the state.
I tasted more white wines than I was expecting at Pinot in the City. Many of them were Alsace grapes, with Chenin Blanc, Grüner Veltliner, and Viognier thrown in. Although producers are focusing on cool-climate grapes, for such a young region there needs to be a focus on one or two white grapes which sum up the state. With Pinot Noir, that’s how Oregon has come to be known around the world. Chardonnay fits the bill as a recognisable white grape that consumers can identify with, but so does Riesling. This is a grape that the US struggles with, but Oregon's cool, long growing season should be ideal for the grape, making the state's stand out from the rest of the country. At Pinot in the City, only one producer brought a Riesling; another, Chehalem, which makes excellent examples, brought a Grüner Veltliner instead.
There is also another side to Oregon that is rarely tasted outside the state. Cool, wet Columbia Gorge is an AVA shared with Washington, not that far from Portland but further inland - and one that Washington winemakers seem to use and understand better than Oregon’s. As Oregon reaches further from the ocean it becomes desert-like, sharing more AVAs with Washington (particularly Walla Walla and The Rocks District, which is entirely within Oregon but also entirely within Walla Walla, one of Washington’s best-known AVAs) and Idaho. To the south of the Willamette Valley, towards the dry heat of California, are more wine-producing areas, where Syrah and Spanish grapes like Tempranillo and Albariño are of interest. These AVAs are little known outside the state, and remain relatively underdeveloped.
It's both perverse and arrogant of me to predict the future of the wines of a state I haven't visited in two years, or to offer advice. But Oregon is such a distinctive state, producing wines like nowhere else in the USA, that it could offer a more vibrant, varied, and challenging selection of wines than it currently does. My advice, for what it's worth, is:
Adelsheim Caitlin's Reserve Chardonnay 2013 ($45) ✪✪✪✪✪
Belle Pente Estate Reserve Pinot Noir 2011 ($48) ✪✪✪✪✪ and 2004 ✪✪✪✪✪
Bergström Vineyard Pinot Noir 2013 ($85) ✪✪✪✪✪
Chehalem Reserve Pinot Noir 1994 (magnum) ✪✪✪✪
Domaine Drouhin Arthur Chardonnay 2013 ($35) ✪✪✪✪
Erath Pommard Clone Prince Hill Vineyard 2009 ✪✪✪✪✪
Yamhill Valley Vineyards Reserve Pinot Noir 1994 (Methusalem) ✪✪✪✪
Two years previously, I had visited Willamette Valley - Oregon's most important wine-producing area - and I understood what Clendenen meant. Many wineries were making expensive, single-vineyard Pinot Noirs, all of which were very good but at prices which were difficult to justify. I thought that Oregon producers needed to diversify the range of their wines to make them both more affordable and engaging. This week I attended a tasting of Oregon's wines in San Francisco called Pinot in the City, and I was interested to see just how Oregon had progressed in explaining itself to the outside world.
a little history
Oregon's winemaking history is young, beginning in the 1960s. The major protagonist in its development was David Lett, who died in 2008. He studied at UC Davis and decided, against his professors' advice, that Oregon was the best place to plant his favoured Alsace and Burgundy varieties. He planted Pinot Noir in the Dundee Hills - now the prime AVA for the grape - in 1965, establishing Eyrie Vineyards, still Oregon's best and most distinctive producer.
Sometime later, in 1979, his 1975 Pinot drew attention at a Paris tasting: Robert Drouhin of Burgundy was so impressed that he entered the same wine into a more formal tasting in Beaune the next year, where it came second only to Drouhin's own Burgundy red. Oregon, an obscure, Pacific state, was all of a sudden on the international map for Pinot Noir. Robert Drouhin took his admiration further, encouraging his daughter, Véronique, to work in Oregon after completing her oenology degree in Dijon in 1984. Three years later, Domaine Drouhin of Oregon was established with Véronique as the winemaker. That French backing further cemented Oregon’s reputation.
The last few years have seen an astonishing growth in the number of producers, including those from elsewhere in the US and France. Despite the growing industry, the state’s wineries remain very family-orientated: both a virtue and a vice.
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| Domaine Drouhin |
Pinot Noir
As a cool-climate grape, Pinot Noir is not an obvious fit for the USA. California’s Pinots were until recently fruity, oaky, made like a light-coloured Cabernet, which is one of the reasons why David Lett and others decided Oregon was a better fit for the grape. The cool, and often wet climate certainly suits Pinot Noir, and it now dominates plantings. Of all the New World Pinot Noir regions, Oregon is the one that produces wines most similar to Burgundy: high acidity, lightly ripe red fruits, with earthy game flavours even in the younger wines. However, I am not sure that Oregon producers have the confidence to allow the grape to speak for itself: many of the wines I tasted at Pinot in the City were aged in 40% new French oak. In some cases, this use of oak was well integrated, but in many the oak was too obvious, resulting in over-aggressive, spicy flavours. Oregon’s coolness and its variety of soils don’t necessarily need that much intervention.
Nevertheless, I drew two positive conclusions from the tasting. The quality of the Pinot Noirs was consistently high, even if too much oak was being used. Moreover, although Oregon is a young wine region, enough producers go back long enough to demonstrate the longstanding quality and substance of the state's Pinots. I tasted several library wines, dating back to the 1990s (including a giant 1994 Methusalem). The spicy game I encountered in the younger wines had matured into a measured, animal earthiness, with both red and black fruits fresh enough to make the wines still immediate and appealing. It may well be that Oregon's Pinots are, rather like Burgundy's, best laid down than drunk young.
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| Pinot Noir at Adelsheim (2013) |
other grapes
Nearly two-thirds of Oregon's grapes are Pinot Noir. No other major wine region has such a dependency on one variety - only New Zealand with its Sauvignon Blanc comes close. Where there's Pinot, there should be Chardonnay, but Oregon has a chequered history with the grape. Chardonnay clones more suited to California were initially planted so that most producers became convinced that the grape could not succeed there. One exception to this was David Lett, who planted his own cuttings taken from European vines planted in the 1930s: Eyrie's Chardonnays are still some of the best, ageworthy, and unique white wines from anywhere in the USA.
In the early 1990s, the French came up with an answer for Oregon's Chardonnay issue: clones of the grape taken from Burgundy, popularly called Dijon Clones, which were much more suitable to Oregon's climate. Scarred by their experience with Chardonnay, too few producers take advantage of these clones, but those that do make exceptional Chardonnays, with crisp, dry acidity and an almost raw texture. I believe that Chardonnay offers an alternative future for Oregon but only a handful of producers seem to dare to share that vision. I don't like to encourage yet more wines from such a ubiquitous grape, but Oregon has the potential to make Chardonnays that can compete with the world's best. Adelsheim, one of Oregon’s older producers, Domaine Drouhin, and Bergström are wineries that demonstrate the potential in the state.
I tasted more white wines than I was expecting at Pinot in the City. Many of them were Alsace grapes, with Chenin Blanc, Grüner Veltliner, and Viognier thrown in. Although producers are focusing on cool-climate grapes, for such a young region there needs to be a focus on one or two white grapes which sum up the state. With Pinot Noir, that’s how Oregon has come to be known around the world. Chardonnay fits the bill as a recognisable white grape that consumers can identify with, but so does Riesling. This is a grape that the US struggles with, but Oregon's cool, long growing season should be ideal for the grape, making the state's stand out from the rest of the country. At Pinot in the City, only one producer brought a Riesling; another, Chehalem, which makes excellent examples, brought a Grüner Veltliner instead.
There is also another side to Oregon that is rarely tasted outside the state. Cool, wet Columbia Gorge is an AVA shared with Washington, not that far from Portland but further inland - and one that Washington winemakers seem to use and understand better than Oregon’s. As Oregon reaches further from the ocean it becomes desert-like, sharing more AVAs with Washington (particularly Walla Walla and The Rocks District, which is entirely within Oregon but also entirely within Walla Walla, one of Washington’s best-known AVAs) and Idaho. To the south of the Willamette Valley, towards the dry heat of California, are more wine-producing areas, where Syrah and Spanish grapes like Tempranillo and Albariño are of interest. These AVAs are little known outside the state, and remain relatively underdeveloped.
the future
It's both perverse and arrogant of me to predict the future of the wines of a state I haven't visited in two years, or to offer advice. But Oregon is such a distinctive state, producing wines like nowhere else in the USA, that it could offer a more vibrant, varied, and challenging selection of wines than it currently does. My advice, for what it's worth, is:
- use less new oak for Pinot Noir
- make more good-value, friendly, yet still quality Pinot Noir
- concentrate more on Chardonnay
- experiment with Riesling for further variation
- for the time being, forget all other white grapes, especially Pinots Gris and Blanc
- start marketing the wines properly
- what about the rest of Oregon? Washington seems to understand its shared AVAs more, while the south of Oregon is overlooked. Get those wines into the market, as they may represent better value and give more variety.
tasting highlights
Adelsheim Caitlin's Reserve Chardonnay 2013 ($45) ✪✪✪✪✪
Belle Pente Estate Reserve Pinot Noir 2011 ($48) ✪✪✪✪✪ and 2004 ✪✪✪✪✪
Bergström Vineyard Pinot Noir 2013 ($85) ✪✪✪✪✪
Chehalem Reserve Pinot Noir 1994 (magnum) ✪✪✪✪
Domaine Drouhin Arthur Chardonnay 2013 ($35) ✪✪✪✪
Erath Pommard Clone Prince Hill Vineyard 2009 ✪✪✪✪✪
Yamhill Valley Vineyards Reserve Pinot Noir 1994 (Methusalem) ✪✪✪✪
Tuesday, 25 August 2015
Savage Grace
On my last trip to Washington in March, I visited many of the state's AVAs and tasted many great wines, with the further good fortune of meeting the makers of those wines. One winemaker in particular stood out, for his wines seemed both typical and atypical of Washington. The wines of Savage Grace have astonishingly high acidity - a characteristic I associate with the cool nights of Washington - but their fruit profile is much more restrained and reserved than much of the other wine I've tasted from the state. In March, I tasted his Sauvignon Blanc - which has an acidity I've rarely tasted outside the Loire Valley - Chardonnay, and Cabernet Franc - the latter two wines being among the highlights of the trip. So when last weekend I returned to Seattle to visit my good friend Matt Hemeyer of @drinkaddition, I made sure that I visited winemaker Michael Savage in his tasting room in Woodinville.
With hazy smoke drifting from Washington's forest fires on a warm Saturday afternoon, the atmosphere was warm and oppressive. I was also slightly hungover, the clanging in my head augmented by an outdoor pub-punk-metal band playing a block away from Woodinville's tasting rooms. These rooms are on an industrial estate, with dozens and dozens of sandwich boards pointing hopefully from the car park to a series of anonymous units. In the car park, there was a tour bus and a limousine, out of which staggered a high-heeled bachelorette party, as if they'd taken a very bad wrong turn from Napa. We wandered through the estate looking for a sandwich board to point us in the right direction, until we finally found Savage Grace, the estate's very last tasting room.
I really wasn't expecting to find Michael Savage, quiet and diffident, in the middle of an industrial estate visited by tour buses and bachelorette parties. Even though he's at the end of the estate, one of each came in while we were there, and he dealt with them nervously but efficiently. The tasting room is small, an industrial unit very tastefully converted into an intimate, stylish area.
Woodinville serves as a base for many wineries who source their grapes from distant, desolate eastern Washington. Like many other industrial tasting rooms, the wine is made on site, a tiny 'cellar' right next to the tasting experience. Michael took us into the cellar to show us the Sauvignon Blanc that had just been picked two days previously. He was ready to pour cultivated yeast into the tank - he described how he had experimented with native yeasts for Sauvignon Blanc and believed it made an inferior wine - and gave my friend Matt the opportunity to do it for himself. We all await with baited breath to see how the 2015 Sauvignon turns out: Michael thinks it will be bottled in February.
Acidity is absolutely important. He picks his grapes earlier than anyone else does in the same vineyard, resulting not only in high acidity but wines with a very subtle, less fruity nature. He also chooses vineyards and growing regions that are cool, particularly Columbia Gorge, a wet AVA that straddles Washington and Oregon. The wines are generally released very young, giving the wines a raw just out of the barrel feel. This gives consumers the rare chance to taste quality, young wine near the beginning of its life. Although Michael is only into his fifth vintage with Savage Grace, the acidity and complexity of the wines offer definite ageing potential. Michael says he doesn't care when people drink his wines, though, just as long as they drink them.
Having tasted eleven of his wines over the weekend, I just want to highlight some of my favourites.
Woodinville
With hazy smoke drifting from Washington's forest fires on a warm Saturday afternoon, the atmosphere was warm and oppressive. I was also slightly hungover, the clanging in my head augmented by an outdoor pub-punk-metal band playing a block away from Woodinville's tasting rooms. These rooms are on an industrial estate, with dozens and dozens of sandwich boards pointing hopefully from the car park to a series of anonymous units. In the car park, there was a tour bus and a limousine, out of which staggered a high-heeled bachelorette party, as if they'd taken a very bad wrong turn from Napa. We wandered through the estate looking for a sandwich board to point us in the right direction, until we finally found Savage Grace, the estate's very last tasting room.
the tasting room experience
I really wasn't expecting to find Michael Savage, quiet and diffident, in the middle of an industrial estate visited by tour buses and bachelorette parties. Even though he's at the end of the estate, one of each came in while we were there, and he dealt with them nervously but efficiently. The tasting room is small, an industrial unit very tastefully converted into an intimate, stylish area.
Woodinville serves as a base for many wineries who source their grapes from distant, desolate eastern Washington. Like many other industrial tasting rooms, the wine is made on site, a tiny 'cellar' right next to the tasting experience. Michael took us into the cellar to show us the Sauvignon Blanc that had just been picked two days previously. He was ready to pour cultivated yeast into the tank - he described how he had experimented with native yeasts for Sauvignon Blanc and believed it made an inferior wine - and gave my friend Matt the opportunity to do it for himself. We all await with baited breath to see how the 2015 Sauvignon turns out: Michael thinks it will be bottled in February.
Michael Savage
Nervous, shy, and awkward, Michael Savage is not dissimilar to a quieter Woody Allen. Every question is received with a long pause as he considers the several different answers he could give. The answer he eventually decides to share is not likely to be the one expected, and it can take a while to follow his train of thought. Each answer takes a certain direction, however: his very particular take on how he thinks wine should be made and how he makes it.Acidity is absolutely important. He picks his grapes earlier than anyone else does in the same vineyard, resulting not only in high acidity but wines with a very subtle, less fruity nature. He also chooses vineyards and growing regions that are cool, particularly Columbia Gorge, a wet AVA that straddles Washington and Oregon. The wines are generally released very young, giving the wines a raw just out of the barrel feel. This gives consumers the rare chance to taste quality, young wine near the beginning of its life. Although Michael is only into his fifth vintage with Savage Grace, the acidity and complexity of the wines offer definite ageing potential. Michael says he doesn't care when people drink his wines, though, just as long as they drink them.
the wines
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| just-picked Sauvignon Blanc |
Grüner Veltliner 2014 ($20)
Grüner Veltliner is a late-ripening grape with naturally high acidity (the grapes were picked in early and then late October), not always suited to the warmer climates of the US. Like many of the Savage Grace wines, the grapes come from Columbia Gorge's Underwood vineyard, the cool climate allowing a slow ripening of the grapes. This Grüner has typically floral and spicy notes of jasmine, ginger, and white pepper, with lightly tropical fruits. ✪✪✪✪✪Chardonnay 2013 ($30)
I have written about this wine before, and I still think it's an exceptional example of a cool-climate Chardonnay not often found in the US. It's again from Columbia Gorge, though from Celilo vineyard, considered one of Washington's finest for Chardonnay. Grapes picked from the higher part of the vineyard give the wine its bracing acidity and are aged in tank, while those from the lower part are picked earlier, are aged in neutral barrel, and lend the wine its lightly spicy, cinnamon, and lime flavours. ✪✪✪✪✪✪Cabernet Franc 2014 ($26)
Another wine I have written about before, and the one that I think is truly outstanding. To taste a red wine this young yet complex is very rare, with firm tannins, red fruits, and green, padrone pepper, rhubarb aromas. Michael told me that he accidentally aged a couple of the bottles in the warm back of his car for a couple of months. On opening the bottles, the wines tasted just as good but as if they were a year older, convincing him that this Cabernet Franc has great ageing potential. I suggested he should make a Madeira out of the grape in the future. ✪✪✪✪✪✪Cabernet Sauvignon 2014
From Red Willow vineyard - one of Washington's greatest - this Cabernet has only just been bottled. It may seem a surprise that Michael should be making wine from a grape as bold as Cabernet, but the wine is quite different from most. Despite being so young, there are gamey, animal aromas, with intense black fruits and gripping but not dominant tannins. This is a restrained, yet intense Cabernet Sauvignon that's difficult to classify - its experimental nature is emphasised further as it's made from a new clone planted in the vineyard. ✪✪✪✪✪Riesling 2013
The Seattle Times named this Riesling as the best Washington white of the year, and it's sadly already sold out. Michael described the wine as having a magical quality that he couldn't define. The grapes hung longer than they normally do, but still had a higher than usual acidity which is able to balance the residual sugar in the wine (29g/L). There's a wonderful complexity, with smoke, petrol, mineral aromas, together with lemon, lime, and orange blossom, given further depth by a honeyed sweetness. Once again, the grapes are from Underwood vineyard, where late ripening can cause issues: the terraces are so steep that the seventy-something vineyard owner can't access them on his tractor come wet November. He even once overturned the tractor trying to do so. Even Michael Savage's search for perfectionism falls short of asking the grower to do that again. ✪✪✪✪✪✪Wednesday, 20 May 2015
Santa Barbara
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| Santa Barbara |
the area
Santa Barbara is a coastal town about 150km north of Los Angeles and is as far south as quality winemaking gets in California. Santa Ynez Valley AVA is 30 minutes inland and within it is Santa Rita Hills AVA, which is the coolest AVA in California. Winds and fog come from the Pacific Ocean, cooling pocketed microclimates that are ideal for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Further north, about an hour and a half from Santa Barbara, is the large Santa Maria Valley AVA which is also cooled by coastal fog and which became famous for its Pinot Noirs in the 1980s. There are lots of vineyards here, but most wineries prefer to base themselves within the more attractive area of Santa Ynez. |
| Santa Ynez Valley |
the towns
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| Solvang |
Further south along the coast, Santa Barbara is a university surfing town. The main street is State Street, a long boulevard lined with shops, restaurants, and palm trees, leading to the ocean. Further away from the centre is Isla Vista, the university area known for its party scene, populated with tanned students on skateboards wearing back-to-front baseball hats. I only got to spend a couple of hours in Santa Barbara, but I liked the relaxed, easy, seaside way of life.
the wines
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| view from Au Bon Climat |
Au Bon Climat
The purpose of my visit to Santa Barbara was for a wedding, but that enabled me to meet Jim Clendenen at his Au Bon Climat winery in Santa Maria Valley - not only that, but to share a lunch cooked by Clendenen himself.
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| Clendenen's lunch |
Au Bon Climat make almost exclusively Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The major exception is Hildegard, a wine that demonstrates Clendenen's willingness to challenge preconceived truths. The blend is Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, and Aligoté, the three grapes that were planted on Corton-Charlemagne, before Burgundy changed the rules to allow only Chardonnay in the Grands Crus. Clendenen wished to name the wine C. Charlemagne, but was advised that was not a good idea, so called it after Charlemagne's wife instead. An historic, world-class tribute to a style of wine that Burgundy refuses to make any more, the Hildegard is one of my favourite wines and I got to try the 2012 and 2006 side by side. The 2006 proved just how ageworthy this elegant but bold wine is, retaining its rich creaminess and acidity while gaining mature nutty notes.
For non-Burgundy wines, Clendenen uses the Clendenen Family Vineyards label. The 2008 Syrah-Viognier is a fruity wine that has a classy, concentrated structure: I was lucky to take an open bottle back with me and it was still drinking wonderfully well two days later. The 2012 Sauvignon Blanc is outstanding too, fermented and aged in a small amount of new oak: the grape is taken seriously instead of being a New Zealand wannabe.
The lunch was predictably epic, with risotto, chicken stew, vegetables, bread, and salad to choose from, accompanied by 15 wines. The rich Chardonnays worked less well with the heavy food than the Sauvignon Blanc and Qupé's 2011 Roussanne, both of whose light acidity balanced the food. Of the several different Pinots, the Isabelle - named after Jim's daughter - was my favourite with its dark fruits, smoky intensity, and gripping tannins.
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| view from Riverbench winery, Santa Maria Valley |
The AVAs of Santa Barbara are young, with quality wine dating back only to the 1980s. In that time, they have quickly established themselves as producers of world-class Chardonnay and Pinot Noir - though the Rhône grapes deserve more recognition too. It's quite a different area from Napa for instance, cooler in climate but also in sensibility. The producers are quietly learning their trade, aware of their inexperience but unpretentiously and rightly confident in the quality of their wines.
Thursday, 4 December 2014
Pouilly-Fuissé
Burgundy is the most terroir-driven of all winemaking regions, hundreds of small patches of land divided up into even smaller plots inherited over the generations by individual farmers. There are only four grapes grown in the region, though for the most part quality wine is made with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (the other two grapes are Aligoté and Gamay). Although the two grapes are important to the taste of the wine, it's the many different soils, the location and aspect of the vineyard, the weather, and, of course, the influence of the winemaker that lend so much to the wine's eventual character.
Some of the most famous names in the world of wine lie in this land. The Côte d'Or - literally golden slopes, though the name may originally have been an abbreviation of Côte d'Orient, meaning east-facing slopes - stretches from Dijon, taking in the expensive red wines of Marsannay, Chambertin, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot, Vosne-Romanée, and Nuits-St-Georges, down to Beaune, more famous for its whites from Corton, Pommard, Volnay, Meursault, and Montrachet.
Another famous name is further south, in the Mâconnais area where the limestone soils which give Burgundy so much of its identity turn into the granite soils of Beaujolais. These soils end in the spectacular crags of Vergisson and Solutré, two of the four villages that form the Pouilly-Fuissé appellation. The soils here are the oldest of Burgundy, with a 100 million years' difference in age between the oldest and the youngest rocks.
From north to south, the first of the communes is Vergisson, which is dominated by a large crag. The west of the commune has east-facing slopes on granite soils, producing expressive wines, while the east of the village, with its west-facing slopes on rocky, limestone soils, is cooled by northern winds, producing more mineral and floral wines.
Next is Solutré-Pouilly. Solutré is dominated by the other of the two crags; to the back of this large rock, the wines are aromatic and complex. Pouilly is on limestone soils, producing complex, rich, ageworthy wines.
In Fuissé, the vineyards looking down on the village create rich, powerful wines, while those at the bottom of the village, on volcanic soil, are round, supple, fruity, and easy to drink.
The most southerly commune is Chaintré, on east-facing limestone slopes, whose wines are fruity and fresh with mineral qualities.
From a vineyard on marl, limestone, and clay soils in the centre of Pouilly, this was by far the oakiest, as well as the youngest, of the wines I tasted - fourteen months in 50% new oak and 50% two-year-old oak. From 90-year-old vines giving the wine extra concentration, there were strong earthy, smoky, and vanilla aromas to the nose, with white pepper and cinnamon. The oak did overpower the other aromas of apricot and hazelnut. A little obvious, but a wine with lots of appealing flavours wrapped in a smoky earthiness.
What surprised me most about tasting these five wines is that the two with the least amount of oak used in the maturation process were the most interesting, expressive, and complex. The use of old oak in the second wine and the complete absence of oak in the fourth allowed the character of the vineyard and the attitude of the winemaker to come through more clearly but also more subtly - which is what the wines of Burgundy should be about. The vineyards of Pouilly-Fuissé, protected from the cooler airs of the north and exposed to the warmer sunshine of the south, seem quite capable of producing expressive, full wines without too much intervention from the winemaker. If the producers of Pouilly-Fuissé wish their wines to be compared to those of the Côte d'Or, they should allow those wines to express most completely the character of the land they come from.
Another famous name is further south, in the Mâconnais area where the limestone soils which give Burgundy so much of its identity turn into the granite soils of Beaujolais. These soils end in the spectacular crags of Vergisson and Solutré, two of the four villages that form the Pouilly-Fuissé appellation. The soils here are the oldest of Burgundy, with a 100 million years' difference in age between the oldest and the youngest rocks.
the communes
From north to south, the first of the communes is Vergisson, which is dominated by a large crag. The west of the commune has east-facing slopes on granite soils, producing expressive wines, while the east of the village, with its west-facing slopes on rocky, limestone soils, is cooled by northern winds, producing more mineral and floral wines.Next is Solutré-Pouilly. Solutré is dominated by the other of the two crags; to the back of this large rock, the wines are aromatic and complex. Pouilly is on limestone soils, producing complex, rich, ageworthy wines.
In Fuissé, the vineyards looking down on the village create rich, powerful wines, while those at the bottom of the village, on volcanic soil, are round, supple, fruity, and easy to drink.
The most southerly commune is Chaintré, on east-facing limestone slopes, whose wines are fruity and fresh with mineral qualities.
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| Solutré's rock |
the appellation
The four communes got together in 1929 to create a single village, which was made into an appellation in 1936. Until the nineteeth century, Gamay was the dominant grape, but Chardonnay took over, particularly after phylloxera, and it is now the only grape permitted in the appellation. Unlike the Côte d'Or, the concept of Premier Cru and Grand Cru vineyards, which define each appellation's best sites, does not exist in Pouilly-Fuissé. This is changing, however, and the appellation's authorities are in the process of applying for Premier Cru status for several of its vineyards - or climats, meaning sites - including the vineyards behind the five wines I tasted below.the wines
At the invitation of the Bourgogne Wine Board and @AnnetteHamani, I tasted five wines from Pouilly-Fuissé. These displayed the rich variety of styles produced in the village, due both to the divergent soils and production methods. Pouilly-Fuissé is known for its bigger style of wines; although these were still all quite full-bodied, there was a great deal of finesse and delicacy to them. Also surprising was the age of the vines, ranging from 40 to 90 years.Domaine Pascale et Catherine Rollet, Clos de la Chapelle 2012
From a vineyard on marl, limestone, and clay soils in the centre of Pouilly, this was by far the oakiest, as well as the youngest, of the wines I tasted - fourteen months in 50% new oak and 50% two-year-old oak. From 90-year-old vines giving the wine extra concentration, there were strong earthy, smoky, and vanilla aromas to the nose, with white pepper and cinnamon. The oak did overpower the other aromas of apricot and hazelnut. A little obvious, but a wine with lots of appealing flavours wrapped in a smoky earthiness.Domaine Dominique Cornin, Les Chevrières 2011
This wine was completely different, as it was only aged in old oak. The vineyard is also from a different part of the appellation, Chaintré, where the grapes are earlier ripening due to the south-facing slopes and protection from the northern winds. With the absence of new oak, the pear and apricot aromas were more apparent, with an almond nuttiness showing the wine's extra year of age. A delicate, balanced, yet still full-bodied wine.Domaine Thibert Père & Fils, Les Vignes Blanches 2010
From the ampitheatre of vines that overlook the village of Fuissé, the name of the vineyard refers to its white, pebbled, limestone soil. A forward wine, with 20% new oak and 20 months of ageing (the final 9 months in stainless steel), with rich, creamy flavours of vanilla, quince, and banana. Likewise on the mouth, making the wine like a creamy mushroom sauce. This wine, showing well four years after the vintage, indicated that the full style of Pouilly-Fuissé would best be appreciated with rich creamy chicken or veal dishes.Domaine Denis Bouchacourt, En Sevry 2010
Perhaps my favourite of the five wines, due to its mature aromas of orange peel and its mellow, delicate, yet complex feel. Ageing more quickly than the other wines - it hadn't been aged in oak at all - this was an indication of what Pouilly-Fuissé tastes like as it grows old. From near Solutré's rock, where the vines are protected from the cool air from the north and exposed to lots of sun, this wine felt the purest, most balanced expression of the appellation's soils, floral with a long nutmeg finish.Château de Beauregard, La Maréchaude 2010
In the village of Vergisson between the two unavoidable crags, this wine comes from a vineyard with poor, stony soil. The relatively small amount of new oak (25%) still overpowers the stony, mineral flavours, with a rich, full, creamy texture of vanilla, smoke, and banana. An intense wine, but not the subtlest.What surprised me most about tasting these five wines is that the two with the least amount of oak used in the maturation process were the most interesting, expressive, and complex. The use of old oak in the second wine and the complete absence of oak in the fourth allowed the character of the vineyard and the attitude of the winemaker to come through more clearly but also more subtly - which is what the wines of Burgundy should be about. The vineyards of Pouilly-Fuissé, protected from the cooler airs of the north and exposed to the warmer sunshine of the south, seem quite capable of producing expressive, full wines without too much intervention from the winemaker. If the producers of Pouilly-Fuissé wish their wines to be compared to those of the Côte d'Or, they should allow those wines to express most completely the character of the land they come from.
Monday, 4 August 2014
California: First Impressions
For the next two months or so, much of this blog is going to be focused on California, whose wineries and regions I'll be visiting. I've been here exactly a week now, and here are some brief highlights before I get round to visiting some renowned wineries in the next few days.
August Briggs is a winemaker who used to be a consultant elsewhere in California, as well as Oregon, before setting up his own winery in 1995. He sold the winery three years ago to three former employees, including his nephew, with the intention of retaining Briggs's principles. I also tasted three Pinot Noirs, all single-vineyard and completely different styles, as well as a Syrah from the Page Nord vineyard in Yountville and a Cabernet Sauvignon from Dry Creek Valley. Despite being based in Calistoga, none of the grapes was actually sourced from the area, instead from elsewhere in Napa and across the mountains in Sonoma. Without doubt, those from the cooler Sonoma AVAs were of greater interest.
Just a couple of minutes north of Calistoga, Laura Michael Wines is another winery that sources its grapes from all over Napa and Sonoma, though the best wine by far came from a vineyard just a few metres from the tasting room. There's a Chardonnay and a rosé (one of the few wineries I've visited that have any rosé left to taste), but the focus is on Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon. The latter were all good, especially the Calistoga Barlow Vineyards ($52), but it was the two Zinfandels that shone.
I've always found it too easy to dismiss Zinfandel as too fruity, jammy, and alcoholic. Although the alcohol is still an issue (these two wines were 15% and 14.5% respectively), I've tasted some serious examples of Zinfandel over the last few months which have changed my mind about the grape. The Dry Creek had lots of immediate ripe fruits, as one would expect from a wine made from Zinfandel, but more red fruits than I was expecting (strawberry, cherry, plum, raspberry), and it was very spicy on the palate, with further oak-influenced vanilla and cream. As pleasing and surprising as this wine was, the Oat Hill Estate, from grapes grown at the winery, was stunning: a more sophisticated wine, perfumed and floral, with subtle but evident spices on the palate; fruits still ripe, but backed up with dry, gripping tannins. This has been aged in American oak (both new and old) for 19 months, giving real structure to the wine. From the hottest AVA of Napa, yet with a just about manageable alcohol.
Laura Michael is, and isn't, a person. The winery was until fairly recently called Zahtila Vineyards - established in 1999 by Laura and her husband. The couple later split, Laura keeping the winery. The name change came when she remarried her first husband, Michael, who now plays a major role in the day-to-day running of the winery. The wines are only sold at the winery or to wine club members: a real shame, for these are wines that deserve to be known.
*California, like most other US states, lists prices before sales tax, meaning the advertised price is never the one you end up paying.
climate
I'm staying in Napa where, no surprises, it's hot. Temperatures have regularly hit the mid-30s during the day, the sun intense and unfiltered by cloud. This is mitigated by the morning fog, which makes the beginning of the day disconcertingly cool. The fog, which rolls in from the Pacific Ocean across the Mayacamas mountains, is famous for allowing Napa Valley to make wines of world renown; what's actually more surprising is the diversity of climates in this part of California. Calistoga, 20 miles north of Napa, is even more blisteringly hot, yet winemakers often source their grapes from just across the mountains in Dry Creek Valley and Russian River Valley, where temperatures are several degrees cooler. These AVAs are in Sonoma County, the other side of the Mayacamas from Napa Valley, but much more exposed to the cooling ocean winds and fogs. I've tasted Cabernet Sauvignons and Zinfandels from Dry Creek Valley far less intense and more varied than their Napa equivalents, as well as cool, restrained Sonoma Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. A weekend trip to the Sonoma coast, just over an hour's drive from Napa, made it evident why the region is capable of producing such classic styles of those grapes: the ocean coastline was constantly shrouded in fog and temperatures didn't rise above 20 degrees. |
| no vineyards here, but plenty of coastal fog |
wines
August Briggs Leveroni Vineyard Chardonnay 2011 ($32*)
Calistoga is a sleepy, hot town straight from the wild west of the nineteenth century. The last thing I expected on stepping into a tasting room off the main street was a such a balanced, refined Chardonnay - which is because the grapes are from the Sonoma side of the Carneros AVA. Aged in 30% new French oak, with 50% malolactic fermentation, this is an understated Chardonnay yet one full of expressive flavour: stone and tropical fruits, particularly apricot and pineapple, with a creamy vanilla character, emphasised on the finish with cinnamon.August Briggs is a winemaker who used to be a consultant elsewhere in California, as well as Oregon, before setting up his own winery in 1995. He sold the winery three years ago to three former employees, including his nephew, with the intention of retaining Briggs's principles. I also tasted three Pinot Noirs, all single-vineyard and completely different styles, as well as a Syrah from the Page Nord vineyard in Yountville and a Cabernet Sauvignon from Dry Creek Valley. Despite being based in Calistoga, none of the grapes was actually sourced from the area, instead from elsewhere in Napa and across the mountains in Sonoma. Without doubt, those from the cooler Sonoma AVAs were of greater interest.
Laura Michael Dry Creek Old Vines Mayo Family Vineyards Zinfandel 2010 ($35)
Laura Michael Oat Hill Estate Zinfandel 2011 ($45)
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| zinfandel in veraison at Laura Michael |
I've always found it too easy to dismiss Zinfandel as too fruity, jammy, and alcoholic. Although the alcohol is still an issue (these two wines were 15% and 14.5% respectively), I've tasted some serious examples of Zinfandel over the last few months which have changed my mind about the grape. The Dry Creek had lots of immediate ripe fruits, as one would expect from a wine made from Zinfandel, but more red fruits than I was expecting (strawberry, cherry, plum, raspberry), and it was very spicy on the palate, with further oak-influenced vanilla and cream. As pleasing and surprising as this wine was, the Oat Hill Estate, from grapes grown at the winery, was stunning: a more sophisticated wine, perfumed and floral, with subtle but evident spices on the palate; fruits still ripe, but backed up with dry, gripping tannins. This has been aged in American oak (both new and old) for 19 months, giving real structure to the wine. From the hottest AVA of Napa, yet with a just about manageable alcohol.
Laura Michael is, and isn't, a person. The winery was until fairly recently called Zahtila Vineyards - established in 1999 by Laura and her husband. The couple later split, Laura keeping the winery. The name change came when she remarried her first husband, Michael, who now plays a major role in the day-to-day running of the winery. The wines are only sold at the winery or to wine club members: a real shame, for these are wines that deserve to be known.
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| every winery should have a dog |
*California, like most other US states, lists prices before sales tax, meaning the advertised price is never the one you end up paying.
Friday, 30 May 2014
Puglia
This blog is going to be a little different, for it's more of a travel blog as I've just got back from Puglia on holiday (that may not seem much different from a wine trip, but it meant that I didn't visit any wineries). Puglia's a large area in south-east Italy that extends down to the country's heel, its major cities Bari and Lecce. It's a poor region that hasn't received many visitors from outside the country until relatively recently. For better or for worse, the arrival of cheap flights into Bari and Brindisi, another port, is changing that.
Its poverty is often evident, but this is an area with a rich, distinctive history and identity. In places it's rural and beautiful, elsewhere industrial and ugly, and sometimes a strange mixture of the two. It's a very friendly region and feels more authentically "Italian" than the more touristy areas to the north with everyone getting on doing what they've always done oblivious to outside influences - living rooms turned into shops and bars, long afternoon siestas, midnight promenades, driving that bears a passing nod to the rules. The food is rightly known as some of the best in Italy, with newly-caught seafood, and the pasta dishes are fresh, imaginative, and consistently high quality. The wine, like the region itself, has been held back by rural poverty, but there's now plenty of expressive, confident wine that still draws on the area's traditions.
The first night we stayed in Matera, on the edge of the Basilicata/Puglia border. Matera is a spectacular hilltop town, with buildings dug into the rocks and perched on the cliff sides. Like many of the towns we visited, it's difficult to navigate by car with its winding side streets and intricate one-way system. Around the town are caves buried in the hills where people used to live before investment brought the town into the twentieth century. There's a vibrant, modern feel to the place now - they're applying for European Capital of Culture 2019 - and its stunning architecture and location make it a great place to visit before more tourists discover it.
The following two nights were in Lecce, a major city further to the south just inland from the Adriatic Sea, as historic and spectacular as Matera but much bigger. Its medieval buildings have all been recently cleaned, gleaming white in the constant sun. There are over a hundred churches, all sternly imposing but grandiosely decorated, rising from the city's many side streets. There's a vibrant nightlife, with everyone streaming on to the streets after their evening meals until early in the morning. This is a great city that has lots to offer the tourist looking for something different - restaurants and bars, history, architecture, friendliness, and great food.
We spent the next night in the countryside near Ostuni, called "The White City" for its white buildings which can be seen from its hilltop location for many miles. The place we stayed at was a converted farmhouse; some of its rooms are trulli, small traditional houses with pointed roofs. These were built to be easily dismantled to avoid the feudal lord's tax inspector, but they're now characteristic architecture of the Puglian rural landscape. They're most concentrated in nearby Alberobello, which even on a rainy Monday in May was a horrific tourist trap. Much better to drive around and see the trulli by the side of the road.
North of Ostuni are some wonderful underground caves which have to be visited if you are in the area. These were discovered around the Second World War by speleologist (or "cave scientist" as our guide endearingly called him) Franco Annelli. They feature several kilometres of caves, some very low, others huge caverns, full of stalactites and stalagmites, a breathtaking journey through a million years of geological development.
Italians go down to Puglia for the sea, but we spent only our final night by the Adriatic, in the fishing town of Trani, just north of Bari. A little rough at the edges, it still had a lively harbour with some good restaurants and bars. Visiting at the end of the May, it seemed the summer season was only slowly beginning to get underway.
We wandered around the old town for an hour for a place of interest before finally finding this restaurant, its tables hidden deep behind the curtained door: one thing about a region as hot as Puglia is that its best restaurants are all indoors. We were given no choice but to order the same pasta dish; we thought this was because, once again, we were the only people in the restaurant, but the place was full of locals when we left. Again, the pasta was so simple, but so, so good.
Internationally, Puglia's most famous grape is Primitivo as it's genetically the same as Zinfandel, California's great varietal. Besides sharing the same DNA, the two grapes are grown in a similarly hot climate, allowing the grape to ripen fully, building up the fruit profile, the sugars, and alcohol. Primitivo, though, is made in something of a different style - the fruits are slightly less prominent and the use of oak common to produce a more European, reserved wine. This, of course, is a generalisation - there are plenty of examples otherwise.
places
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| Matera |
The first night we stayed in Matera, on the edge of the Basilicata/Puglia border. Matera is a spectacular hilltop town, with buildings dug into the rocks and perched on the cliff sides. Like many of the towns we visited, it's difficult to navigate by car with its winding side streets and intricate one-way system. Around the town are caves buried in the hills where people used to live before investment brought the town into the twentieth century. There's a vibrant, modern feel to the place now - they're applying for European Capital of Culture 2019 - and its stunning architecture and location make it a great place to visit before more tourists discover it.
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| San Matteo church, Lecce |
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| Ostuni |
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| trulli |
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| Grotte di Castellana |
Italians go down to Puglia for the sea, but we spent only our final night by the Adriatic, in the fishing town of Trani, just north of Bari. A little rough at the edges, it still had a lively harbour with some good restaurants and bars. Visiting at the end of the May, it seemed the summer season was only slowly beginning to get underway.
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| Trani |
Puglia reminded me a lot of Andalucía; a rich Mediterranean history, spectacular hilltop villages, some great cities, a down to earth friendliness, and a lonely yet appealing and surprisingly green landscape. Its food and drink are worth visiting for alone.
food
Caffè Cavour, Ostuni
Visiting a region before the summer season gets underway, and one that isn't particularly touristy anyway, means that you have to take risks such as entering restaurants that are completely empty. Ostuni did have a small square with a few busy cafés and pizzerias, where passing by I overheard English voices, but we opted for this restaurant just a hundred metres away where we were the only customers. The back room, hidden well away from the road, was a cool stone cavern; the service was friendly and genuine; the menu seafood orientated, but with meat and vegetarian dishes, and all of an extraordinarily high quality, making complex pasta from simple ingredients. On a trip of consistently great meals, this restaurant ranks at the top.Beltrani 29, Trani
Another cavernous restaurant that we took a punt on despite being completely empty. Once again, the food was exceptional, the only downside being the limited wine list - the waitress explained that they had cut back on the wine to keep it simple, but they had cut back too far.Il Porto, Taranto
On our way from Matera to Lecce, we made the mistake of stopping off at Taranto, the home of the Tarantella dance. This is a large industrial port, with a small island containing its old town surrounded by steel works and docks. Taranto is Puglia at its most authentic and intimidating: narrow, shaded streets with tiny doorways lurking on to shadowy living rooms selling bottles of water and beer and unwanted trinkets. It's also a town where any rules about parking should just be ignored: park where you can and toot anyone you feel like.We wandered around the old town for an hour for a place of interest before finally finding this restaurant, its tables hidden deep behind the curtained door: one thing about a region as hot as Puglia is that its best restaurants are all indoors. We were given no choice but to order the same pasta dish; we thought this was because, once again, we were the only people in the restaurant, but the place was full of locals when we left. Again, the pasta was so simple, but so, so good.
Doppiozero, Lecce
On a street corner with outside seating, this was our favourite place to hang out in Lecce. A good selection of meats and cheeses to snack on, it also had an interesting and well-priced range of wines to drink: this is where we had the Verdeca and the first Negroamaro mentioned below. In the heat of a city, there's nothing like sitting in the shade of old buildings drinking wine watching the world go by.wine
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| photographic example of a wine geek |
Internationally, Puglia's most famous grape is Primitivo as it's genetically the same as Zinfandel, California's great varietal. Besides sharing the same DNA, the two grapes are grown in a similarly hot climate, allowing the grape to ripen fully, building up the fruit profile, the sugars, and alcohol. Primitivo, though, is made in something of a different style - the fruits are slightly less prominent and the use of oak common to produce a more European, reserved wine. This, of course, is a generalisation - there are plenty of examples otherwise.
Primitivo wasn't the most common wine I found on my trip, maybe because Lecce is in the heart of the Salento area of Puglia, home of Negroamaro. Its name literally means "bitter black," giving a good indication of the wines made from the grape. It's sometimes blended with a small amount of Malvasia Nero, and we also saw it blended with Primitivo and, in one instance, Cabernet Sauvignon.
The highlight of any trip for me is discovering wines or grapes I'd never heard of, in this instance Susumaniello and Nero di Troia. Susumaniello produces deeply-coloured wines, and is more often used as part of blends rather than its own. Nero di Troia, also used in blends, was the stand-out discovery of the holiday for me: a grape high in tannin with unusually strong herbal flavours of coriander, as well as rich red fruits. Two of the wines I tried from this grape were absolutely superb, and if you want a flavour of Puglia this is the grape I'd look out for.
There are plenty of white wines to be found in Puglia, much needed for such a warm climate. Like many of the local grapes, plantings of Verdeca are in decline but I really enjoyed the round, almost creamy wine we had on a warm, sunny afternoon. I'm suspicious of non-indigenous varieties in historic areas such as Puglia, but I saw Chardonnay on lots of lists - and I did like the one example I tried.
For all the wines we tried on this trip, it has to be remembered that wine in Italy is very regional - it was rare to see a wine from outside Puglia - and that most locals stick to house wines or other drinks such as beer or spirits. There weren't many dedicated wine shops, but the restaurants and a number of bars had good lists of interesting local wines.
wines drunk/tasted
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| Primitivo goes surprisingly well with cold pizza |
Dragone Pietrapenta Primitivo, Matera DOP 2011 (€12 - approximate retail price)
This is actually from Basilicata rather than Puglia, but was a very good example of an Italian Primitivo. Aged for twelve months in oak, the wine wasn't as fruity as a Zinfandel, though as it opened up the upfront oakiness gave way to juicy black fruits. Very drinkable, but pleasingly complex.
It would be hard to distinguish this wine tasting it blind alongside a Zinfandel. Coming in at a very Californian 15.5%, the immediate impressions were all about black fruits, but a spicy oakiness came through. A very good wine, though just too high in alcohol for me.
This was quite an intense wine, rich and powerful, with black fruits, oak, vanilla, and pepper. There was a chocolate character to it too, reminding me of Syrah - more powerful than a French Syrah, though, but more intensely oaky and less fruity than a New World equivalent.
Another powerful, oaky wine backed up by rich black fruit flavours, but with developed dried fruits and softening floral notes.
Same grape as the previous wine, but completely different result. Much lighter in colour and flavour, with a lower alcohol to match (13%), it was more about the red fruits (cherries) than the black fruits. There was a nice liquorice finish to it, giving the wine some complexity. Reminiscent of a good Chianti or a Cru Beaujolais, this was the bargain of the trip - just €13 in a Lecce wine bar.
Conti Zecca Nero Rosso Negroamaro/Cabernet Sauvignon, Salento IGP 2004 (€45 - restaurant price)
Probably the wine of the trip. Getting on for ten years old, but still plenty of black fruits, acidity, and tannins. Mature character of game, earth, leather, mushroom, and tobacco dominant at first, before the aromas of blackberries, capsicum, and liquorice came through.
Nero di Troia was the discovery of the holiday, and this involving, complex wine led us to try other examples. Richly ripe red cherries and plums, and with oak and spices, the 13% ABV belying its herbal, earthy depth of flavours.
A much richer and more powerful wine; red cherries again to the fore, but with chocolate and spices, finished off with ripe strawberries. A wine that packs a punch but extremely balanced.
A disappointing wine compared to the previous two, especially as it lacked the substance to stand up to pasta and meat which the other two excelled at. This was because there had been no oak ageing, which left the wine's body lacking. Nevertheless, there were immediate red fruit flavours of strawberries and cherries, with a light touch of pepper and mint, and a very floral nose - they'd named the wine Violante for a reason.
A great wine for a hot summer's afternoon, but one with real substance too - not a simple wine for a warm climate, but a full-bodied wine resonant of a warm climate. Stone and tropical fruits - peach, apricots, banana, and lychee - with a round and full spicy finish.
Over our meal in Ostuni, I had a glass of house white wine. So impressed by its stone and tropical fruits, zingy capsicum, and fresh acidity with a good body, I asked what the wine was. I was surprised that it was Chardonnay, and surprised that Puglia could produce such a fresh, acidic white wine, at a good price too.
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| from Piemonte to Puglia: a cheeky Barbaresco to finish the trip |
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