Vietti 2006 Barolo Castiglione

Well wine-lovers, we have arrived at the last leg of our journey through my four most beloved grape varieties.  Oddly, I have found telling you why I love these grapes a bit like telling someone why I love my kids more than someone else's.  It's one of those things you can't quite put your finger on...but I do because they are a part of me, I understand them, and I simply love everything about them.  To me they are perfect.  So it is with the three grapes we have explored so far, and so it is with our last grape - Nebbiolo.  It is a grape that just suits me in every way.  Just as my whites, Riesling and Chenin Blanc resemble each other in character yet each have their individuality, Nebbiolo has much in common with my other red, Pinot Noir.  Both grapes are rather finicky and extremely sensitive to soil and climate, both budding early and thus susceptible to spring frosts.  Like Pinot Noir, Nebbiolo can display some of the most haunting, complex, tantalizing perfumes, displaying a range of aromas from roses and violets, to forest floor, tea leaf to wood smoke, truffles to tar, incense, and the list goes on.  At it's best, Nebbiolo, like Pinot noir, also develops powerful yet sophisticated tannins and good acidity, giving it the ability to age long and gracefully, and making it one of the most perfect food wines.  

The wine we will be tasting today is from Barolo, Nebbiolo's traditional and most celebrated home in Italy's Piemonte.  It comes from Vietti, one of Piemonte's largest, oldest and most traditional producers.  This is a Barolo that leans toward a more delicate traditional style, being aged in large casks rather than new oak barrels.  Luca Currado, who runs the family owned estate today,  considers himself first and foremost a farmer, and is very particular about how his grapes are grown in order to produce the most characterful expression of terrior.  As part of this emphasis on the vineyard Currado eschews the use of chemicals, and has begun a move toward organic and biodynamic methods.  Join me now as I taste what I hope will be a beautiful wine from the last of my four favorite varieties - Nebbiolo.  

Chateau Pontet-Canet - Pioneering Biodynamics in Bordeaux

Biodynamic wine from a top Bordeaux Grand Cru Classe Chateau...is it possible?  Not a common phenomenon among the large estates of Bordeaux, but one whose coming, given the proliferation and success of biodynamics in other regions of France and around the world, was inevitable.  Chateau Pontet-Canet has boldly, if quietly, taken the lead in biodynamic viticulture in Bordeaux, a smart move in my estimation.  There is little doubt in my mind that the current generation of wine-drinkers will continue to gravitate towards both the terroir-driven style and chemical-free, eco-friendly ideology of natural wines, and producers who fail to get on board with these trends may find themselves with some serious catching up to do.

Pontet-Canet has quite an interesting recent history, having been somewhat relegated to the margins of classified growth Bordeaux in the early seventies due to lackluster quality, and a scandal involving the blending of inexpensive Rioja with the estate's wines.  In 1975, following the conviction of then owner Henri Cruse in the blending scandal,  Cognac merchant Guy Tesseron purchased the estate.  Tesseron's son Alfred soon began to make his mark in the vineyard, introducing quality-enhancing practices such as green harvesting and sorting, and eventually giving up the use of chemical herbicides and pesticides.  In 1993 Alfred Tesseron took over management of the estate and under his guidance quality has improved steadily since then.

In 2004 Tesseron made the bold decision to entrust the direction of the estate to his technical director Jean-Michel Comme, based largely on the success Comme had achieved with biodynamic practices in his own estate, Champs des Trailles.  Under Comme's direction Pontet-Canet began the conversion to biodynamics in 2004, and since 2010 Pontet-Canet has been fully biodynamically certified.  Tesseron does not pretentiously advertise the estate's biodynamic certification, preferring to let the quality of his wines do the talking.   But his genuine motivation in treating the soil and vines with respect is evidenced by such retro-revolutionary practices as shifting to the use of horses for cultivation of the 200 acre estate.  The idea is that horses allow cultivation of the soil without the compacting force exerted by tractors, thus allowing the roots to do their work better.

Uncompromising respect for the fruit and attention to quality continues in the harvesting process, where grapes go directly from the vines to sorting tables via small crates, keeping grapes unbruised and uncrushed.  Respect at harvest time is further afforded the harvest workers who are paid a fair salary rather than the customary piece rates.  As the fruit continues its journey to vinification, sorting is extremely careful and labor intensive, employing 30 workers, to ensure only the ripest, healthiest grapes make it to the fermenting vats.

The grapes are then moved to Pontet-Canet's state-of-the-art oak and cement vat rooms by gravity, without pumping, and only natural yeasts are used in the slow fermentation process to facilitate a long and gentle extraction of tannins.  After about four weeks of maceration, the wine is run off directly into barrels and aged for sixteen to twenty months.  About 60% of barrels are new.  The estate also produces a second wine, Hauts de Pontet-Canet.

So, has Pontet-Canet's Pioneering move to biodynamics paid off when it comes to quality?  To answer that question let's look at prominent wine publications' scores for the past two vintages:

2010 - 100 Wine Advocate, 99 Wine Spectator, 98 Wine Enthusiast
2009 - 100 Wine Advocate, 100 Wine Enthusiast, 98 Wine Spectator

These are scores that look a lot like ones usually associated with first and second growth estates, so not too shabby for a fifth growth estate that was resurrected from mediocrity in the not too distant past.  Chateau Pontet-Canet's success with biodynamics is just another piece of evidence for me that practices which focus first and foremost on respect for nature, for the terroir, and for the vines, are the wave of the future, and not a passing fad.  If it is starting to happen in the venerable estates of Bordeaux, it will undoubtedly continue to happen there and wherever else great wine is made.

Paul Dolan on Biodynamics Part 10

In this final installment Paul Dolan talks about the importance of Authenticity in wine-making.

Quiz & Quote #8

Wine taken in moderation never does any harm.
                                                              - Cervantes

Winetrip through Spain

1. Which of the following is not a synonym for Tepranillo?
Tinto Madrid Tinta de Toro Tinta Barroca Tinto de la Rioja
2. The cool white wine growing region to the north of Portugal's Vinho Verde is:
Txakolina Rueda Rias Baixas Tarragona
3. The distinctively aromatic white variety of Rueda is:
Albarino Verdejo Macabeo Viura
4. Name the pale dry style of Sherry produced in Sanlucar de Barrameda
Fino Oloroso Amontillado Manzanilla
5. The steeply terraced region known for intense, high quality red wines made from Garnacha is:
Priorat Ribera del Duero Pendes Jumilla

Domaine Huet 2009 Vouvray Clos du Bourg

Chenin or Chenin Blanc, as it is often referred to, is a wonderfully versatile grape, capable of producing superb sweet wines, hauntingly perfumed dry wines, as well as excellent sparkling wines.  Much like Riesling, Chenin also has an uncanny ability to age long and gracefully.   Unfortunately, in the new world, it has been the source of a great deal of rather underwhelming and even bad mass-produced table wine made from high-yield fruit grown in unsuitably warm areas.  Luckily today quality Chenin Blanc is seeing a resurgence, as producers in places like South Africa and California are re-discovering what wonderful wines can result when grapes are grown in appropriately cool climates and yields are kept low.  

Today I will be tasting a wine made from this wonderful grape, the third of my four favorite varieties showcased in this four part series "These are a Few of my Favorite Grapes."  For this week's video review we will travel to one of my favorite wine regions, the Loire Valley where Chenin traditionally finds it's most celebrated expression.  I am excited to share my impressions of this wine from Domaine Huet, an excellent Biodynamic producer form Vouvray in the central Loire Valley.    Sit back, relax, and enjoy today's episode...then go out, find a nice bottle of Chenin and discover for yourself why it is one of my favorite grapes.