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Rhone/southern France Producers
Name: Rhone/southern France
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Undoubtedly the finest maker of Tannat this side of Fray Bentos, Alain Brumont originally made his home at Chateau Bouscasse, where vineyards surrounded by very little nestle high in the hills. There`s certainly very little pollution for the northern hemisphere, as there is no industry within 100 kilometres in any direction. With their exposed position the vines get up to fifteen hours a day of sunshine. Cultivation is pretty much chemical free and low yield, while in the winery things go slow. -
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One of the worlds top producers and growers, with 175 acres of vines in 5 different Rhone Valley appellations. `In 1989, I knew how to make noise...Now I know how to make music,` says Michel Chapoutier of his style when he took over from his father Max in 1989. Immediately converting to biodynamics, of this transformation, Robert Parker says, `I have never witnessed a more significant jump in quality and change in winemaking philosophy than what occurred in the Chapoutier cellars`. -
Mme Maret was, as ever, determined to put the world to rights. Subjects discussed were. Czech and Polish lorry drivers (and a lack of Polish plumbers because they`ve all become lorry drivers); the EU (the amount of construction going on in Spain, Portugal and Ireland); Margaret Thatcher; the importance of English. Good job the wines speak for themselves or they wouldn`t get a word in edgeways. Michel Maret appears very shy and tries to thrust his daughter forwards for the photographs; perhaps it is just that he has learned that, naturally, women are in charge. -
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Although the first record of vines on the property dates back to the mid sixteenth century, it has only been owned by the Perrin family for fewer than 100 years. The family have increased their holdings over the years, partly purchasing and partly leasing land that they cultivate. Since 1964 no pesticides or artificial fertilisers have been used on the vineyards and ploughing is used to control both weeds and vine vigour. Some aspects of organic and biodynamic regimens are followed but the family is not interested in certification. -
The most tightly wound bundle of irrepressible energy encountered on the trip, Louis Barruol could probably power a small village on his own. Where Thierry Faraval is somewhat reticent, Louis is forceful; even his spit is short, direct and accurate. Opening a bottle is a brutal, focussed attack and nothing is put down when it can be slammed. Some might find him arrogant, but here is a man sure of his mission on earth and equipped to fulfil it. -
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A visit to the People`s Palace which is Andre Romero`s Headquarters is always entertaining. Andre the hospitable was out buying our lunch when we arrived and so we were left to rootle about in the cellar for a bit. Then Frederic, Andre`s son, started us on the tasting. The wines had just been sulphured prior to the bottling four weeks later and were still full of carbonic gas - so could have been forgiven for showing less well than they did. Resplendent as ever in his AC Rasteau track suit the man himself appeared lugging a car full of carrier bags. -
There is a reason why every wine we stock has made it to the list and - whatever the category - there is no point in having a bunch of identical clones populating it. Saint Cosme has its very attractive, medium-term drinking place; Bouissiere has that incredible fruit. Pallieres, too, has lovely fruit, but - above all - structure and ageability. This is not an easily approachable, early drinking wine, but one which needs a minimum of five years in the cellar. The Bruniers are implacable on this point and don`t care whether you or anyone else love it or hate it during that adolescent period.
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Franck Balthazar makes his best wines from 2 very old parcels of vines on the granitic slopes of Les Chaillots above the village of Cornas – the Cornas Chaillot includes some vines planted in 1911. The domaine was founded by Balthazar’s grandfather, and has always been in family hands, growing over time. In 2006 Balthazar acquired a further prestigious parcel in the Chaillots vineyard from his uncle, the great Noel Verset, who was then winding down his own domaine. Ploughing is done by horse, and the domaine converted to fully organic viticulture in 2010.
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Domaine Gerin was born in 1983, when they bought a single plot in the heart of Cote-Rotie. Four years later they bottled their first wine, and have been producing highly regarded red and white wine from the Northern Rhone ever since. Today, the property has expanded to over 17 hectares and brothers Michael and Alexis are at the helm. Since 2020 they have been farming organically and continue to produce high class wines which are powerful and structured, yet also elegant and refined. (DS 04/04/22)
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Intriguingly, the heavily bolted door leading into the Domaine Chave Hermitage cellar seems to have opened a little. Jean-Louis is a man of fierce intellect and a sense of his place in the world. He has a vision for Hermitage for sure, and has assumed easily the responsibility of being one of that appellation`s leaders. He is worried by St-Joseph - St-Jo if you are seeking to appear up to speed with the area. He can`t work out whether to try to encourage St-Jo to make better wines, or blow it up. (CW 20/03/08) -
We don’t stock many wines from Languedoc-Roussillon, but Le Soula is a bit remarkable. When winemaker Gerard Gauby discovered an abandoned parcel of wines in the Agly Valley up in the foothills of the Pyrenees, he saw the site had enormous potential. The poor, granitic soils and a climate that combined the extremes of southern sun and mountain rain and wind were sure to make the vines work hard. Gerard teamed up with Richards Walford Wine Importers and together they brought Le Soula to life, making both reds and whites with powerful flavours and bags of energy.
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Final appointment of the day, and the cold was beginning to penetrate to the bone, but our first visit to Cailloux still induced excitement. We`d had a Centenaire `95 at La Beaugraviere, and then a 2001 Tradition at Le Mere Germaine and couldn`t help being reminded of Chateau Rayas - or rather its remarkable resemblance to top-class Pinot Noir. Having finally deduced which property it was (it`s in the centre of Chateauneuf, but with no signposts - no markings at all - and surprisingly tatty), we were greeted by Andre Brunel himself.
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Better known for his Cote Rotie, Philippe is in fact a Condrieu specialist and his constant concentration on that difficult grape Viognier informs all his work. He is one of the Rhone`s more thoughtful vignerons. He doesn`t use more than 25% new oak on any of his wines now, down a bit from his practice in the nineties. He is also part of the St-Joseph renaissance as he is added to the list of quality growers there. St-Joseph is the problem child of the northern Rhone and the addition of quality growers who already have a reputation is immensely positive.
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By far the majority of the best plots on Hermitage hill are owned by the big producers, but one of the few exceptions is at Marc Sorrel. The domaine has plots in some fantastic sites. The Sorrels make few concessions to modernism, with very little new oak allowed in the cellar. Nor do they hold with the modern vogue for single site bottlings, maintaining that Hermitage has traditionally always been a blend – though their Greal is a blend of the very, very best. The cellars are in the main street of Tain, a quick walk from the hill.
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Always a top performer in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Marcoux make a very purely-styled tradition cuvee from old vine stock. They were one of the first domaines in Chateauneuf to take up biodynamic viticulture. Oak use is minimal, with the intention being to supply structure to the wine, while allowing a purer fruit character to show through. But what has really made this domaine famous is the rarer Vieilles Vignes cuvee. For many tasters this is the most profound Chateauneuf of all. It marries fruit from two plots of old vines. lieux-dits Charbonnieres (planted in 1900) and Les Esqueirons.
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`He only makes a couple of wines, how long can this take?` In the end, Paul-Vincent Avril got a strong nomination for winemaker we would most like to spend more time with. The man is thoughtful, strong in his views and very clear in his aims. One can get a strong impression that from an early age he planned a career which led inexorably to the helm at Clos des Papes. Life is more chaotic than that of course,but his trajectory through the wine trade seemed to be an almost perfect preparation.
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Remizieres is one of those domains that has crept up on the market over the last few years. For a long time it produced understated wines, which were very dry and restrained, but under Philippe Desmeure and the eponymous Emilie of the prestige cuvee, the house style has changed. Still fruit-oriented, and still managed to produce ripe fruit but not raisins, the increased use of new oak over the last ten years or so has been a positive; a proliferation of one-off cuvees in peculiar years less so.
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Rene Rostaing spent his working lifetime defending the idea that Côte Rôtie should taste like Côte Rôtie, not like Hermitage, and certainly not like new world Syrah – and making wines to justify the claim. The winemaking here has always been deeply rooted in local tradition, not to mention some extremely well-sited old vines. The domaine began with parcels inherited from two of the region’s greatest pioneers. Rene’s father-in-law Albert Dervieux, and his uncle Marius Gentaz-Dervieux.
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Didier Negron, who is married to a Sabon daughter, is now the hands-on force here, with a lot of input from the affable Jean-Jacques - the latter a man with a striking resemblance to Sven Goran, save for his team`s over performance and a lack of Stelvin. Screw or no screw however, this is a forward looking estate with a wholehearted embrace of modern technology where appropriate. These wines are lovely, with depth, complexity and finesse. They show many flavours and age extremely well.
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Down in Provence, between Marseille and Toulon, set in a landscape of scrub and pine forest about 4 miles from the coast, you`ll find Domaine Tempier. Mourvedre is king down here. Once upon a time vignerons were ripping it out to make way for higher-yielding varieties, but in the late 1930s Lucien Peyraud at Domaine Tempier led the fightback; the establishment of the Mourvedre-based Bandol AOC that tags Tempier bottles is mainly down to his efforts.
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Solid granite is the matter which makes up these vineyards and, it seems, the wines they produce. Thierry Allemand is a brilliant but complicated man who towers over others in the appellation not just in height but in quality. He is well known for operating a low or no sulphur regime in his winery. Syrah doesn`t need as much as some people give it anyway, and he takes advantage of this. In the days - a brief 30 or 40 years ago - when the Rhone was in the same sort of trouble that much of the Languedoc is now, Cornas was the most vulnerable AOC. -
Exposed to all the vagaries of sun, hail and the fierce Mistral wind, entirely covered with the rounded stones left by departing glaciers, the La Crau plateau is one of the most extreme locations in Chateauneuf-du-Pape. It is so high that it was once the site of a telegraph station ferrying messages between Paris and Marseille. The vines hug the ground, and if you have visited in February during a strong Mistral, you will understand why. But this unforgiving site also brings forth one of the region’s most refined and elegant wines - Vieux Telegraphe.
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No longer the new kid on the block, but now acknowledged as one of the great producers of the contemporary Rhone, Vincent Paris is a child of the area who inherited some of his best vines from his grandfather, and bought more from his uncle, the great Robert Michel. His vineyards take in the austere granite slopes of Cornas where the light is plentiful and the Mistral intense, and his direct neighbours are Thierry Allemand and Auguste Clape. The soils are poor here, and the rocky motherlode is often exposed; vines struggle, but the quality of fruit they give is intense.
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Yves Cuilleron never meant to be a winemaker. He trained as an engineer. But there was too much history behind him; three generations each on both the maternal and paternal line. When his uncle decided to retire from the family domaine with no successor lined up, the family considered selling. It jolted Yves. “I didn’t have a moment’s hesitation. I could no longer imagine being anything but a vigneron.” After a year at the Ecole Viticole in Burgundy, he took over, and his methodical, scientific approach informs his whole approach to winemaking.
