Gregory Viennois Rhone Wines in the US

In a recent post on Stephan Derenoncourt, I noted that, in his position as chief wine buyer for Montesquieu, he would provide that organization, and, as a result, its customers, with previously unattainable access to high-quality wines from around the world. What I did not mention directly was that he would also provide that same type of access to world-class winemaking talent, a shortcoming that I will address in this post.

Gregory Viennois is the Chief Oeneologist for M. Chapoutier, one of the leading Domaines in the world, and General and Technical Director and Winemaker for Ferraton Pere et Fils, a Chapoutier property.  In those roles, Viennois is responsible for overseeing the production of the high-quality wines that have been staples of these venerable houses for ages. Viennois, a former pupil of Derenoncourt, is also a fierce advocate of biodynamics and the importance of terroir.  The wines of M. Chapoutier and Ferraton "compete" in nine Rhone AOCs but, according to Gregory they are differentiated in that the Chapoutiers are massive wines while the Ferratons have more delicacy of texture and are earlier-drinking wines.

Gregory has been producing wines for Montesquieu under the Alexandre Rochette label since the 2005 vintage.

According to Montesquieu, Alexandre Rochette is "... a project dedicated to bringing its customers the finest terroir-driven, small-production Rhone wines in the world.  The wines offered to date include:

• Chateauneuf du Pape -- 90-year-old vines; 95% Grenache, 3% Syrah, 2% Mourvedre
• Cote Rotie -- 50-year-old vines; 100% Syrah; Cote Blonde
• 2005, 2006 Hermitage Rouge -- 50-year-old vines; 100% Syrah; 100-case production; grapes from steep, rocky, granite-rich, biodynamically farmed plots
• 2007 Hermitage Blanc -- 50-year-old vines; 100% Marsanne; 180-case production; grapes from steep, rocky, granite-rich, biodynamically farmed plots
• 2005 Crozes Hermitage
• 2006 St. Joseph Blanc -- 100% Marsanne
• 2007 Coteaux de l"Ardeche Viognier -- 100% Viognier

A Wine Journey: 1990 Gruaud-Larose

The 1990 Gruaud-Larose was the most recent conquest in my quest to "run the table" on Master Sommelier Andrew McNamara's Wines of the Decade.

Chateau Gruaud-Larose, a Medoc second growth (1855 classification), can trace its roots back to its creation in 1725 by the knight Joseph Stanislas Gruaud.  The estate, initially called Forbedeau, passed to his only heir, Jean-Sebastian Larose, upon the founder's death.  The chateau was purchased by Bordeaux merchants Balguerie, Sargent and Co., whereupon the name Gruaud-Larose was assigned.  The estate was split between two families shortly after the sale with two Gruaud-Larose wines (Sarget and Bethman) being produced and sold as a result.  The original estate was reconstituted when Desire Cordier, an east France wine merchant, bought the Sarget estate in 1917 and the Bethman estate in 1935.


The current-day Gruaud-Larose occupies 150 hectares in the St. Julien appellation, positioned directly between fellow Medoc properties Branaire-Ducru and Lagrange.  Of the 150 hectares, 82 hectares are planted to vines which are, on average, 45 years old.  The distribution of varietals on the estate is 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot, and 2% Malbec.  The soil under the vineyard is deep Quaternary gravel.

The Gruaud-Larose winemaking process requires that fruit be hand-picked after which it is sorted and cold-soaked.  Fermentation takes place in temperature-controlled wooden and concrete vats with the juice pumped over the must twice per day.  Upon completion of fermentation, one-third of the vintage is subjected to malolactic fermentation in oak barrels.  The entire vintage is aged in up to 50% new oak for 18 months after which it is fined and filtered and then bottled as Gruaud-Larose (25,000 cases) or Sarget de Gruaud-Larose (16,000 cases).


The Wine Quest Premier Dining Experience, an event benefiting a local charity, was being held at the JW Marriott on Saturday evening, The event schedule called for a 7:00 pm champagne reception followed by dinner at 8:00.  In order to have an even fuller evening, four of us decided to take some wine and hang out in the hotel lobby from about 5:30 pm and to then join the Wine Dinner when it began. I took a bottle of the 1990 Gruaud-Larose and a 1990 d'Yquem (for use with our dessert course) and Adam took a 2004 Chaves Hermitage Blanc. 

We started with the Chaves which had a pale gold color and was thick and weighty in the glass.  This wine needed decanting.  It was powerful, unctuous, weighty on the palate and with a long finish.  It actually needs more time in bottle so that it can resolve its issues.


We next turned to the Gruaud-Larose.  We did not have a wine key so we asked our server to open the bottle for us.  We were engaged in conversation but she did appear to be taking a long time to begin pouring.  we understood why when she asked us if we could help with getting the cork out.  The cork may have had some issues but the server had succeeded in punching a hole deep into the cork and expelling most of the material on which the corkscrew would grab.  We took the bottle and attempted to penetrate at the interface between the cork and the glass but to no avail.  There was not enough material.  We dispatched her to get a decanter and a sieve in the event that we had to punch the cork down but I panicked when she returned with the decanter and a flavor-stripping coffee filter (I never use those for filtering wine after I had the experience of a 1991 Dominus being brought to its knees after being poured into a decanter through one of those filters.).  By this time the anticipation had waned and it was now a rescue operation.  I took the bottle to the bar and had one of the bartenders work on it for well nigh 20 minutes before he was able to successfully extract the cork with no residue migrating through to the wine.


We decanted the wine and then poured it into the glasses.  Garnet color with bricking at the edges.  Good viscosity.  Vegetality on the nose.  Good acidity. On the palate leather and a mintiness.  Did not have a full, round mouthfeel and the finish less-than-long.  I was disappointed in this wine but I will have to retaste it.  The cork might have been an indication of prior battery to the wine and the circumstances under which it was tasted were not exactly  memorable in a positive way.  The company was great though.

Spanish Wines and the Modernist versus Traditionalist Battles

In his book Liquid Memory: Why Wine Matters, Jonathon Nossiter lauds French (Anjou, Touraine, Chablis, Champagne, Alsace, Burgundy, Rhone, Provence, and Jura), Italian (Friuli, Sardignia, Umbria), and German wine regions for resisting the homogenization wave but is especially hard on the Spanish wine industry for its "abdication."  According to Nossiter, "a disaster has befallen the Spanish wine industry over the past 15 years."  With very few exceptions (Manzanilla Sherry and 20+-year-old Tondonia Rioja Blanco), the "whites are alcohol heavy, lacking any balancing acidity, cloyingly fruity, battered and botoxed by new oak" while the reds are "overconcentrated, overripe, saccharine, syrupy, and also artificially wrinkle-free."

Writing, longingly, in the Old World Old School blog, Joe Maneken hearkens back to a period 15 years in the past when Spanish winemakers picked their grapes before they became super-ripe and aged their wines for long periods in oak (mostly American) or concrete.  Some of the resulting wines were oaky, dried out, and lacking in vibrancy but many were "distinctive and delicious" at reasonable prices.  Writing in The World of Fine Wines, Mike Steinbereger, commenting on Spanish wines, indicated that "much of Spain is a black hole these days."

Why did Spain, with a wine tradition stretching as far back as its fellow Roman-era European cohorts, and with the largest area under vine of any country in the world, succumb where others did not.  Nossiter points to two potentially contributory factors.  First, Spain had experienced societal repression under Franco and, like the Pastor's children, once freedom was gained they became susceptible to "edgy fruit."  Second, one way for the nouveau riche to gain social acceptance is to own a vineyard and many of Spain's new vineyard owners, according to Nossiter, have made their fortunes outside of the winemaking industry and are driven by other than "traditional" values.  He illustrates the point by relating the story of Fernando Ramirez Ganuza, a real estate tycoon who bought land and established his brand in 1992  and by 1998 was receiving 95 and 96 points from Parker for his "jammy" Rioja wines.  When Nossiter met with him in Madrid in 2006, Ganuza told him that Rioja was a brand ( a marketing conception) rather than a terroir.

Steinberger, while being firmly rooted in the traditionalist camp, does see some benefits accruing to the wine industry as a result of the modernist movement.  For example, while their luster is fading, Super Tuscans gave "Tuscan winemaking a dynamism" that was sorely lacking and raised winemaking standards throughout the region.  French garage wines, while in retreat, have attracted great attention to the St. Emilion region and have shown that winemaking can be practiced outside the hallowed halls of the Bordeaux chateaux.  Steinberger sees the modernist movement in retreat (changing sensibilities; global economic crisis; a renewed passion for the authentic, the local, the natural; and the waning influence of previously influential wine critics) but posits that the modern versus traditional battle has redounded to the overall benefit of the wine industry.

Book Review: Liquid Memory

Jonathon Nossiter's Liquid Memory: Why Wine Matters, with its treatment of taste, power, and globalization, is a very good cultural anthropology treatise.  Those treatments, plus its treatment of "winespeak", selected wine regions, abdication of wine culture by a number of wine regions, and the psyche and philosophy of some of the leading Burgundian vignerons, makes this one of the best wine books I have ever read.

The author is a filmmaker, probably best known for his film Mondovino, a documentary on the impact of wine globalization.   He has studied Greek language, literature and history; worked as a sommelier; lived in Paris (where his father was stationed as an international correspondent); and is currently living in Brazil, where there is a body of socially conscious, some would say reactionary, literature and film.  All of these influences are reflected in this work.  The author describes the book as an "involuntary guidebook" and a "polemic against all those critics and arbiters who purport to speak with authority and are taking most of the fun and almost all of the culture out of wine these days."  Its purpose, stated in the Introduction, is to "attempt to transmit something of the sensual and intellectual delight that wine has brought me since childhood" and its audience is those who are "skeptical of jargon, defensive snobbery, or any one of power that obstructs the uncovering of one's own taste."

The book is organized along three broad themes.  In the early sections, the author is focused on defining and identifying taste.  For most of its second half, the author is focused on coming up with alternatives to the dreaded winespeak. In the last part of the book, it is Mondovino redux (somewhat) as the author decries the effects of globalization/homgenization on the world's wine regions and the contributions of Michel Rolland and Robert Parker to this "travesty."

In the introductory section of the book, the author engages in a thought-provoking discussion of wine as liquid memory (the title of the book) and as a medium for an evolving transmitter of terroir as it changes in the bottle (In the first chapter the author acknowledges that there are forces arrayed against the notion of terroir. Terroir, he says, is not "a reactionary, unquestioning clinging to tradition."  Instead, it is a "will to progress into the future with a firm rootedness in the past ... a way to counteract the relentless homogenization of certain global forces.").  From this base he continues on to a discussion of taste and power and how important it is for an individual to be the arbiter of his/her own taste. "The moment you abdicate responsibility for your own taste is the moment you voluntarily abdicate your own freedom."

The first two chapters appeared to be as much about film as it was about wine and I found this disconcerting.  The author was liberal in his use of analogies and these analogies were always drawn from the world of film and film making.  Two especially jarring practices were the gratuitous use of "flashback" and imbuing us with the pervasive sense that we were reading "the Making of Mondivino."  At one point the references to Mondovino were so thick and so fast that I wondered whether Mondivino should be a pre-requisite to the book. But he rights the ship and takes us on a journey to some of his favored (and not so favored) restaurants, wine bars, and wine shops in Paris and through gripping, in-depth interactions with Burgundian vignerons Jean-Marc Roulet, Christophe Roumier, and Dominique Lafon.

This is a well-written, thoughtful, and thought-provoking book written with a filmmaker's eye for detail and clearly presents the author as a learned individual possessing excellent breadth as well as depth.  The author is not at all ambivalent about what he thinks is wrong with today's wine culture or who is responsible for the current state of affairs.  He is laudatory of Burgundy, Italy (with the exception of the Super Tuscans), Germany and Austria for not succumbing to the siren song of Parker-influenced, American-market-driven taste and excoriates Spain (especially), Argentina, and Chile for yielding their internal winemaking traditions (in the case of Spain going back centuries) to the Rolland/Parker vision of what taste is.  Regardless of where you stand on the issue, this book is a must-read.

Secrets to Making Great Barbera

Last Sunday I attended the subject seminar which highlighted the philosophy underlying the Vietti Family Winery Barberas.  The seminar, a part of B-21s Annual Italian Grand Tasting and Sale, was led by Aldo Zaninotto of Vietti Family Winery.

According to Aldo, Piedmont is in the northwest corner of Italy and, being only 20 minutes travel from the Alps, the food and language of the region is heavily influenced by France.  In pointing out the heavy regionality of Italian wines, Aldo laughingly said that the country had only been united since 1871 and was "one country with 30 different states."

After Phylloxera had ravaged the Italian wine industry in the mid-1850s, the grape that was replanted was Barbera. This grape varietal was used to make an everyday drinking wine.  There are three Barbera zones: Alba, Asti, and Monferrato.  Alba has very complex soils, resulting from erosion of old mountains, and tends to produce powerful wines.  Asti wines tend to be more "feminine" and elegant.  Monferrato has soil that is comprised of clay, sand and rock and the wines are not as complex as the wines from Asti and Alba.

The Vietti family name goes back to the 600s but the family produced its first wine in 1876.  In 1890, the eldest son was given control of the estate and the youngest son came to America.  The oldest brother was killed in World War I and the younger brother was recalled to run the estate.  He was successful and re-invested by buying land in the region and, today, the company is a patchwork of sites totaling 87 hectares.

Unlike wineries who engage "fly-in" consultants, the Vietti's touch the wine.  The owner works in the vineyard and then goes to the cellar to make the wine.  The wine-making philosophy is to use the least amount of grapes possible to get the best quality wine.  This philosophy begins in the vineyard where high-density planting is employed. The Vietti's feel that the high density, plus no irrigation, forces competition for resources and causes the vines to penetrate deep into the subsoil.  As the vines go deeper, they tap into more complex minerals and this complexity is funneled up to the grapes.  They begin with 8 clusters per vine but green harvest in August to get rid of the three to four of the largest clusters.  The discarded clusters are left on the ground as fertilizer.  A second green harvest clips the elongated part of the cluster leaving only the "heart" of the cluster for harvesting.

We tasted four Vietta wines as a part of the seminar:  2007 Vietti Barbera d'Asti TreVigne ($15.99); 2007 Vietti Barbera d' Alba TreVigne ($19.99); 2007 Vietti Barbera d'Asti la Crema ($39.99); and 2006 Vietti Barbera d'Alba Scarrone ($39.99).  According to Aldo, the company puts a lot of effort into its entry-level wines because if the consumer likes these wines, they will try the higher-end wines (The winery also makes Barolos).  The TreVigne is made from grapes grown on three estate-owned vineyards.  In the case of the Asti, we get red cherries with good structure and mouthfeel.  The wine has been aged for 6 months in neutral oak and an additional 2 months in Barriques.  The Alba also shows red fruit but is more concentrated than the Asti.  Both of these wines should be drunk within 4 years.  The Scarrone and la Crema are single-vineyard offerings with greater ageability.   Scarrone is one of the oldest Barbera vineyards in that it dates back to 1918.  Both of these wines exhibit great complexity (soil characteristics) and concentration (vineyard practices, harvest time, skin contact).   I purchased both of the single-vineyard wines.

Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino

I recently went to a seminar at B21 where Vittorio Marianecci spoke about the wines of Casanova di Neri, a 39-year-old Brunello winery owned by Giacomo Neri and located south of the town of Montalcino.

According to Vittorio, Brunelo di Montalcino has grown rapidly from its roots as as a Biondi-Santi-family-introduced clone of Sangiovese Grosso.  Brunello became a DOC in 1966 and became the first red DOCG in 1980.  It has grown from 11 producers in 1968 to 300 producers today with over 2000 hectares currently under vine.  Legal requirements for Brunello include 5 years aging (6 years for Riserva) with a minimum of 2 years in wood and a minimum of 12.5% alcohol.  Stellar Brunello vintages include 1990, 1991, 1997, 1999, and 2000 and ,according to Vittorio, 2006 may well turn out to be the vintage of the century.

Casanova di Neri was founded by Giovanni Neri who bought the property in 1971.  The winery currently consists of 48 hectares divided among four vineyard sites: Fiesole, Pietradonice, Cerretalto, and Cetine.  The estate is site-driven, using these four sites in a cru-type construct to produce three distinctive Brunellos and one Cabernet Sauvignon.  The entry-level Brunello is the White Label, a 100% Sanigovese which is crafted from 35-year-old vines and aged in Slavonic oak for approximately 40 months.  The second wine is the Tenuto Nuova, a 100% Sangiovese made from 35-year-old vines sited in the Fiesole vineyard.  Maceration and fermentation for this wine takes 25 days after which the wine is aged for 29 months in French 500L tonneaus.  The quality of this wine is reflected in the fact that the 2001 vintage was designated as the 2006 Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator.  Vittorio revealed that Giacomo was dissatisfied with the grapes for the 2005 Ceretalto and blended them all into the 2005 Tenuto Nuova; something to keep in mind when that vintage is released.

Cerretalto is a 100% Sangiovese drawn from a vineyard of the same name located at 750-900 feet elevation.  Maceration and fermentation takes 20 days and the wine is aged for 27 months in French barrique.  The fourth wine, the Rosso di Toscana, is a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Pietradonice Vineyard in Tuscany.  The wine is macerated and aged for 15-18 days and then aged in small French oak barrels.

As a part of the seminar, we tasted the '03 ($52.49) and '04 ($69.99) Tenuto Nuova and the '05 ($99.99) and "06 ($99.99) Pietradonice Sant Antimo.  The '03 Tenuto Nuova was bold, exhibiting the ripe fruit associated with a hot vintage.  It has relatively low acidity and is ready to drink at this time. Probably a 15 year life.  The '04 has more elegance and also more acid and will probably need 4 to 5 years before being ready to drink.  Probably 20-year aging potential.  Both of the Cabernets compare very favorably with international Cabernets but they are very robust wines at this time with the '06 requiring the most time of the two before being ready to drink.

Casanova di Neri is a producer of quality Brunello di Montalcino with entries at three market pricing points.  Both the Tenuto Nuova and Cerretalto are in my personal cellar.  Of the wines tasted, if you are looking for a Brunello to drink now, the '03 Tenuta Nuova should be your choice.  For cellaring, choose the '04.

A Date With Happenstance

It’s that time of year to barbeque so let's break out those big wines. I’m calling for those red Zin’s, Shiraz, and Petite Sirah’s. These varietals are definitely on the short list.

 Do you love when a good plan comes together? A plan so calculated and well executed that magic happens? Well, magic happened when it came to pairing the perfect wine for an evening invite to a barbeque at a friend's house. Only, rather than a plan it was delivered by happenstance.

The evening's festivities consisted of two good friends, barbeque, sports on the 50-inch, and an '06 Ross Estate Old Vine Australian Grenache.  Who the heck pairs a Grenache with barbeque? I’m not quite sure. I just happened to make my pre-dinner purchase earlier that day so, I thought,  why not give it a go? I’ve had some experience with the Ross Estate Reserve Shiraz and I was very impressed by the quality for the price. This wine came in at $17. A modest price for a wine that spoke so boldly.

On the menu that night was nothing fancy. Ribs in the oven, eventually smothered in KC masterpiece barbeque sauce. I brought the jalapeno poppers wrapped in bacon, baked beans purchased from the new 4 Rivers smokehouse, and the wine.

A little background on the Ross Estate Grenache. The grapes for this wine come from the oldest vines on the Estate at 94 years of age. Shiraz from vines this old can command fairly high prices. Fortunately, Grenache does not assert the same hype as does Shiraz, and the price reflects this. These old vines are not irrigated in this stressful dry Barossa climate. No doubt stressed vines can equal great wine! This wine rests close to a year in French oak. Ninety-one points from the stingy-scoring wine critic Stephen Tanzer was a welcome sight!

The Ross Estate Grenache has a crisp bright red glow. The nose on the wine gives a glimpse of what’s in store. Wafts of spice, bright red fruit, and smoke lead into the palate. The acidity of this wine shows off it’s laser like precision, followed by pepper, wild berries, cranberry and a mineral component. The real magic happens when you incorporate the food.

The ribs and the baked beans both amplified the flavors of the wine (this goes to eleven!).  The wine took on an energy and explosiveness that left me slightly stunned.  I was not quite prepared for the experience and took a brief moment to ingrain it into my memory bank.  I looked at my friend and said I have to blog this. He looked at me like he always does…..a bit worried and frightened. Kidding aside, it’s these spontaneous, unannounced moments that reinforce my love for wine. Until next wine…..