Cold summer, hot wines
Hardworking farmers; lazy winemakers: brilliant wines
Chapoutier's annual London Selection Parcellaires tasting is always titled a masterclass and for good reason. My seven pages of lecture notes encompass a wide range of his observations and research, his growing and winemaking techniques and no end of historical and geographical context. His musings are as fascinating as his wines. 2014 reminds him very much of 1989, both in the weather across the year and in the resulting wines. 2014 was the warmest year on record, but the coolest summer and September made the wine on the vine. After the very warm winter - breakfast outside on New Year's Day - the vines were very advanced and stayed that way through spring and the early summer drought - more severe than 2003. July and August were the coldest since 1989.
Michel likes the wines from cold summers because the heat of the sun doesn't stun the minerality of the soil in wines, which is why he likes the 1989s so much. However in those days they weren't biodynamic so the 2014 acidity is higher and more natural. It took a lot of work in the vineyards - over 1,500 hours per hectare - to keep vines and fruit in perfect condition - and he is as always very pleased that much of his land is steeply sloping. After bringing in such healthy fruit, his only job in the cellars was not to get in the way of the slow fermentation. The reds had more than six weeks skin contact, which helps explain why they are so supple.
At the tasting the wines were more mineral than in some vintages. They have density, generosity and perfect à point ripeness. While the whites were hugely impressive - and remember that Ermitage was a white wine AOC until recently - the reds were transparently terroir wines too: both north and south. This vintage is proof that there is more than one way to skin a cat and that certain critics who have miserable weather on their holidays shouldn't write off the vintage as a result! These grand cru level wines will be magnificent drinking in the future. /CW
Offered subject to confirmation for shipment spring 2017
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