The search for traditinoally made, elegant Cornas

I fell in love with Cornas through the wines of Noel Verset, one of the last great, ultra traditional winemakers of the Northern Rhone. Verset, born in 1919, learned the craft of wine making from his father and did not deviate from that recipe throughout his career. Sadly, Noel Verset retired following the 2005 vintage and the old, traditional way of winemaking was in threat of disappearing. Many of the younger vignerons in Cornas have adopted a more modern way of winemaking, such as destemming, fermenting in steel and using new oak. These methods are in contrast to Verset, who crushed the stalks by foot, fermented whole clusters in small concrete vats, and aged the wine in old 600-litre demi-muids. Two Cornas producers, Auguste Clape and Theiry Allemand, remain traditional in their approach, but their wines are darker, meatier and more tannic then those from Verset. A Cornas made by Verset was deep in color with a distinct, pure black olive flavor, and always seemed elegant on the palate.

Since hearing about Verset's retirement, a feeling of depression had been creeping over the Syrah portion of my brain (roughly 20%). Then, while reading John Livingstone-Learmonth's book The Wines of the Nothern Rhone, I came across a profile on a producer named Dumien-Serrette. Speaking about the owner of the domaine, Gilbert Serrette, Mr. Livingstone-Learmonth wrote that, "he speaks of his traditional methods with pride...vinification is traditional: full bunches, stalks included, are foot crushed, and then there is up to three weeks in neat concrete vats." Perhaps there was one last hold out in Cornas.

The village of Cornas seen from the Patou vineyard.

Back in March, before heading up to Burgundy, myself and two other business colleagues stopped by Cornas to visit Domaine Dumien-Serrette. Before leaving for France, my wife had warned me that I was not packing warm enough clothing for the trip. Sure enough, the spring jacket I brought along was near useless in the windy, 30 degree weather we encountered in the northern Rhone. After some chilly introductions at the front door of the family home in the center of town, we walked down a narrow road and entered the winery. The first piece of equipment to greet us was a giant wooden press. I had assumed that the press, like at most wineries, was there just for decoration. Gilbert explained, much to my surprise, that this was the current press for the winery. The estates entire production fit into one room, which was small. Used barrrels (2-15 years old) lined each wall, and the wine contained in each was a fragrant mix of black olives and dark fruits. In the mouth, these opaque wines were beautifully elegant with soft tannins.

Gilbert Serrette is his tiny cellar.

The following notes were taken during our visit to the estate:

1- Cornas, 2007 (barrel sample) - Nice, deep color. Black fruits on the nose and in the mouth. Long, penetrating flavors.

2- Cornas, 2006 - Black color. Silky and long in the mouth. Excellent wine.

3- Cornas, 2005 - Black color. Elegant, pure nose. Black fruits in the mouth with big, firm tannins. A really nice wine with excellent concentration.

4- Cornas, 2004 - More aromatic then the preceeding wines. A little funky. The flavors are not as ripe and the wine is a little short on the finish, but still very good.

5- Cornas, 2003 - Super ripe on the nose with some alcohol coming through. Very good wine, but typical of the vintage.

6- Cornas, 1997 - Complex, mature nose. The flavors are mellow in the mouth and the wine's texture is very elegant.

7- Cornas, 1991 - The wine's appearance reveals some bricking on the rim. Very animalistic on the nose. Rich on the palate with sweet fruit. Still alive and fresh tasting.

Above is a building owned by the Serrette domaine located in the Patou vineyard.

After years of selling in bulk to negociants such as Delas, Chapoutier and Jaboulet, Domaine Dumien-Serrette began to bottle wine in 1983. 1.6ha of the estate's 1.8ha is found in the Patou vineyard (the 0.2ha is located in Mazards), where the vines date back to the 1920's. Patou is very steep and Gilbert, who is in his 60's, cares for the vines by himself. The estate's total annual production from these two vineyards is about 500 cases, and Madame Serrette labels each bottle by hand. Gilbert learned the craft of winemaking from his father in-law and passed those lessons onto his son, Nicolas. After a stint in another industry, Nicolas returned to family business and today assists his father in the cellar. Nicolas, unlike many contemporaries, did not attend a wine school or receive any type of formal training. Beginning with the 2006 vintage, the junior Serrette's name will appear on the label and the estate will be known as Domaine Nicolas Serrette.

Serrette's Patou vineyard is further south then the more famous vinyards of the village. Patou sits fully exposed to the valley below and the winds rip through the old vines, which cling to the hard granite.

Steps are required to ascend the steep Patou vineyard.

We said goodbye to Monsieur Serrette and headed north to Saint Joseph. Before leaving for France, I had dreamed of descending on Cornas and finding Noel Verset's lost soul brother. Gilbert Serrette is certainly spiritually connected to Verset, but their wines are different. Serrette's wines are fruitier and not as earthy as the ones made by Verset, but they both show more elegance than those of Clape and Allemand. I am afraid to say it, but the ultra traditional style of wine made by Noel Verset is probably gone for good. Even the wine made by a traditionally minded producer like Serrette does not taste as old school as those bottled by Verset. That said, I am happy to report that I found a small vignernon tucked away in the Northern Rhone making traditionally styled, elegant Cornas.

Champagne Sunday - 7/27

Champagne Sunday started wtith some baked snails and, of course, Champagne. A bottle of NV Ployez-Jacquemart, Champagne, Brut, Marie Weiss was very good. Marie Weiss is a cuvee produced by Ployez-Jacquemart from purhcased fruit and is typical of the house style, which is elegant and reserved.


With the main course of soft shell crabs we opened a 2004 Domaine Caillot, Bourgogne, blanc, Le Herbeux. The nose of the Bourgogne was dominated by aromas of toasted oak. On the palate, the oak was less obivous, but there was little in the way of fruit or minerality. To make matters worse, the wine disappeared half way through the mouth. I have not had any prior experience with this producer, but I was certaintly not impressed by this effort. The meal was saved by a 2006 Bachelet-Monnot, Bourgogne, blanc that was beautifully balanced. Sourced from several plots within Puligny-Montrachet, this Bourgogne revealed citrus fruits in the mouth and a fine minerality on the finish. Bachelet-Monnot is young producer that has made a great range of wines in 2006, which is only the second vintage for the domaine. One side note, the soft shell season is starting to wind down and the crabs are getting smaller.

Puligny-Montrachet

The premiere cru vineyard Clavaillon is in the foreground. Les Pucelles, also a premiere cru, is behind the wall to the right and the village of Puligny is off in the distance.

Champagne Sunday - 7/20

Soft shell crabs were once again on the menu as the main course, but for the first time in over a year (due to my wife's pregnancy) we began the meal with a round of Blue Point and Sewansecott oysters.

A bottle of Maison Lilbert-Fils, Champagne, a Cramant, Grand Cru, blanc de blancs, NV was opened to wash down the oysters. Lilbert is one of the few producers to bottle a wine from 100% Cramant fruit, which is one of the great sources in Champagne for chardonnay. The style of the wines produced by Lilbert is always very elegant and classy, but I find them somewhat dull. The NV was indeed elegant, but it was a little lacking in flavor. Nonetheless, the wine was a good pairing with the oysters.

Next up was a bottle of Vincent Dancer, Meursault, Les Grands Charrons, 2006. I discussed my March visit to Dancer in a previous blog (see March '08), but this was the first time I had cracked open a bottle. The wine revealed a good wiff of oak on the nose, but it was more subdued on the palate. Tropical fruits were the primary flavor, but the wine finished with a nice minerality. The texture (which seems to be similar in all Dancer's wines) was smooth and elegant. Despite being ripe and rich, the wine did not come across as sweet or heavy. The warm weather in 2006 obviously contributed to the tropical flavors, but Monsieur Dancer was able to keep the wine balanced and fresh. This bottle only confirmed my initial impressions from my visit to the domaine. Vincent Dancer is a true artist who produces beautifully style wines.

The Romans' lost vineyards

I had spent 5 days on a hot bus driving through the bare Spanish country side. Every few hours, we would stop to taste at a Bodegas. A brief tasting would be followed by a three hour lunch or dinner, the latter ending sometime in the middle of the night. Spain is a really interesting country, but most of it is dry and not particularly attractive. Long days spent driving through near desert-like land started to take a toll on my psyche. Finally, on day 5 we hit Rioja. In this region, with it's green grass and full trees, I began to feel rejuvenated. After a quick stay, we jumped over to Bierzo, which proved to be gorgeous. Snow capped mountains looked down from the horizon over vine covered rolling hills. I declared to my roommate that Bierzo might be the most beautiful place I had seen with my own eyes.

The next morning the bus closed its doors and headed Northwest. Night after night of late hours finally caught up with me and my unconcsious head slid against the bus window. Several hours later, the sun became so intense that it jolted me awake. The view staring at me through the window almost threw my derriere off the seat. Vine after vine raced along the edge of the winding road and then dropped from sight. The bus weaved along the edge of a cliff. My eyes followed the vines as they shot straight down to the mighty river below. Mountains loomed on all sides. An approaching billboard spelled out the name of a village. The sign should have read 'Welcome to Ribeira Sacra, the Romans' lost vineyards.'

It is believed that Ribeira Sacra takes its name from the monasteries and hermitages that were built in the area between the 8th and 12th centuries. These religious outposts were scattered throughout the nearly inaccessible valley sides that branch off the rivers Mino and Sil. I imagine that these disciples felt close to God in this remote and stunningly beautiful area. The monks carried on the grape growing tradition in this region that had been established by the Romans centuries before and ensured that the amazing terraced vineyards were preserved until modern times. Despite this long history, the appelation was not promoted to DO status until 1997. There are actually five subzones in the DO, but almost all the vineyards share a slate bedrock foundation. This region appears to have been largely ignored throughout history, but today money is pouring into the area and new labels are appearing at a rapid pace.

The rivers twist and turn through the valley, which, I am sure, must create a complex range of terroir. Fifteen or so different grape varities are grown in the region, but the three most prominent are Mencia (red), Albarino (white) and Godello (white). One would guess that a mostly ignored region would be full of ancient vines, but it is rare to see any that are over 40 years of age. Many varieties that were thought to be inferior were ripped out and a large number of Mencia vines were planted in the 1960's and '70's. Despite being near the Atlantic, the climate is more continental. The summers and autumns are long and hot, but there is enough rainfall (800mm on average) to support the lush, green landscape.

I have only tasted a handful of wines bearing the name Ribeira Sacra, but the most interesting was made by an estate called Themera (est. 2001). The 2005, Themera, Ribeira Sacra, VV (vine age is an average of 45 years) is elegant and bright with a pronounced cherry cola flavor, which led to flashbacks of drinking cherry Coke as a kid. Therema aged this wine in a combination of Acacia and cherry oak (a tradition in the region), but I doubt that the cherry flavor in the wine came from the barrels. In contrast to this cuvee, many wines in the region are aged entirely in steel, but I find these to very simple and boring.

My trip through Ribera Sacra was spent mostly aboard a small boat. I had never before looked up at steep vineyards from the vantage point of a river. The views were breathtaking and the picture below illustrates how the vines descend down these steep hills right to the water's edge (notice that no roads are in sight). In the past, before the advent of mechanical pullies, the only access to these vineyards was by boat. Terraced plots like the ones found in Ribeira Sacra could only have been carved out of this steep terrain by slave labor (Roman era) or by religious zealots (monks). Despite our superoir technology, creating vineyards like these would be financially impossible today.

As we floated down the river, I felt as though I had just discovered the next great vineyard area. Of course, some Roman probably had the same thought. How could a region with such amazing vineyards be so unknown? The inaccessability of the area before the invention of the automobile probably contributed to its obscurity, but there have been cars in Spain for a century. Why have areas within Spain like Priorat gone from being unknown to famous and Riberia Sacra has stayed in the dark? One reason might be that this region uses little known grape varieties like Mencia, while Priorat is largely planted with the well known Grenache grape. From my limited experience, the Mencia variety can produce interesting wines, but I am not sure if these wines are capable of developing in the bottle. Most of the estates making wine in Ribeira Sacra are relatively new and do not have older vintages to show, so the answer to that question will not be known for some time.

Staring up from our boat at the vines clinging to the hillside, I could not help but wonder what might have been if the Romans had brought along with them a noble grape variety like Syrah. Would Ribeira Sacra be considered today as one of the world's great vineyard areas? Is this amazing terroir being undermined by inferior grape varieties? Perhaps Syrah, and the other noble grapes, would not have flourish in this valley. As it is, Mencia is the best local grape and deserves a shot to prove its worth. I have a feeling that the producers in the region are still trying to figure out how best to do things, both in the cellar and the vineyards, but a handful are bound to develop into stars. As a result, the region will become better known. One thing is for certain, the Romans knew a great vineyard when they saw one.

Paella

While on the Spanish wine route, we stopped for a light lunch.

Champagne Sunday - 7/13

My parents stopped by this afternoon to help paint, and we decided to turn the visit into a great evening of wine. Today was a Sunday in July, therefore soft shell crabs were on the menu. We began with a 1995, Krug, Champagne, Brut that was very full bodied and powerful. The flavors were dominated by a distinct lemon quality and the finish was extremely long. A great Champagne.

Next up was bottle of 2004, Olivier Leflaive, Batard-Montrachet, Grand Cru. The color of the wine was pale with a tinge of green, almost Chablis like. The nose revealed some oak and flowers. In the mouth, the wine was full bodied and elegant. The finish showed some minerality and caramel quality. Very nice.

Lastly, a bottle of 1990, Fargues, Sauternes. The wine's golden color was the exact shade of yellow that I would expect from an 18 year old Sauternes. The nose revealed some honey and nuts. The palate was rich, creamy and elegant. The wine' flavors were a beautiful combination of honey, nuts, vanilla and apricot. When young, Sauternes is very sweet, and, when old, the wines tend to be dry and nutty. At 18 years old this wine is balancing both spectrums. The secondary, nutty flavors are being to emerge, but there is still a sweetness and fruitiness to the wine. Fargues is owned but the Saluces family and is made in the same style as Chateau d'Yquem, but the terroir is not very good. As a result, Fargues is very similar to d'Yquem, but not possess the same complexity. The 1990 Fargues is a great Sauternes.

A view from Spain

The view from a vineyard in the Bierzo region of Spain.

It is 90 degrees and I need a rose

Chateau Pradeaux is one of my favorite producers in Bandol, second only to Tempier. After being delayed in France due to the strikes, the newest addition of their rose just hit the shelves . The 2007, Chateau Pradeaux, Bandol, Rose has a beautiful deep rose color, but the nose was muted. The palate revealed a full bodied wine, but it did not exhibit much in the way of flavor. The wine started to open up after an hour or so and red fruits began to emerge. This is one of the few roses that needs some time to open up, and I bet it will be drinking wonderfully next July.

Sherry time

Eric Asimov's article on sherry in today's New York Times put me in the mood for some Manzanilla, so I grabbed a bottle while in one of my accounts this afternoon. I was not familiar with the producer, but I figured it was worth a shot at $7.99. The Pedero Romero, Manzanilla, "Aurora," NV showed a classic, oxidative/nutty nose. Manzanilla is a term used for a fino styled sherry produced in the town of Sanlucar de Barrameda. Like all the sherry made at this location, the wine revealed a saltiness on the palate. When describing the sherry from Sanlucar de Barrameda in his excellent book The Wines of Spain, Julian Jeffs wrote that "some people detect a certain saltiness and ascribe this to the nearness of the sea, but this is nonsense: there is no salt in them. It is a fair description, though." I am not really sure how Mr. Jeffs can be so certain that the salty quality of these wines is not related to the nearby ocean. Something must explain why the sherry produced in Sanlucar de Barrameda have this characteristic that is not found in the wines produced in any other town of the region (which all sit more inland). Until I see some hard evidence explaining otherwise, I am going to believe the folklore.

A film of yeast cells called Flor ("flower" in Spainish) is seen developing on a wine at Perez Barquero in Montilla-Moriles.

Flor, seen floating on the wine in this barrel, forms in a thin layer.

The 4th of July

I arrived at JFK on the 4th of July from a 10 day bus tour through Spain (more on that later) and was desperate for some Riesling. As soon as I was off the plane, I called my wife and requested that a bottle of 2006 F.X Pichler, Riesling, Von den Terrassen, Federspiel be thrown in the fridge. My return was to be celebrated with soft shell crabs, which sounded great after having been force fed pork at every meal for over a week. The wine was closed on the nose, but showed excellent minerality in the mouth. This Riesling, which is a blend from several vineyards around Loibner, balanced richness with finesse, a feat often achieved by this estate. Thank God my wife did not decide to grill hot dogs.