Vacation wine: 2019 Alain Pautre Chablis

[BJ]

Never seen or heard of this producer, but wow, completely excellent village Chablis, 1er quality. Steel raised, no reduction. Textbook Chablis with all the elements, lots of energy and cut. Old school label made me happy too. HB Wine Merchants importation.

 

[Florida Jim]

Where did you find it?
None of the wine search engines I use show it in the states.

 

[Tristan Welles]

Looking on their US distributor's website, distribution is a bit rando -- DE, PA, SC, WA, WI, WY.

 

[BJ]

Yeah, WA - Esquin.

 

[mark e]

originally posted by BJ:
Steel raised

Dressner used to use the term "raised" when translating how a French producer described the ageing of a wine. Always thought it was just a literal translation of "élevé" (as in "élevé en fût de chêne"); it sounded so weird in English. Still does, at least to me. Never heard a winemaker use it in the US. They would say "held in stainless" or aged.

 

[Oswaldo Costa]

originally posted by mark e:

originally posted by BJ:
Steel raised

Dressner used to use the term "raised" when translating how a French producer described the ageing of a wine. Always thought it was just a literal translation of "élevé" (as in "élevé en fût de chêne"); it sounded so weird in English. Still does, at least to me. Never heard a winemaker use it in the US. They would say "held in stainless" or aged.

Otoh, razed in oak makes perfect sense.

 

[Jonathan Loesberg]

In French, as in English, the term élevé, or raised, refers to the bringing up of children as well as the lifting of objects. It's a good analogy to cellar treatment of wine. I agree, though, that it is not idiomatic in English.

 

[Christian Miller (CMM)]

Élaborer is another term I hear regularly, that doesn't at all make the jump to English.

 

[Jim Hanlon]

originally posted by mark e:

originally posted by BJ:
Steel raised

Dressner used to use the term "raised" when translating how a French producer described the ageing of a wine. Always thought it was just a literal translation of "élevé" (as in "élevé en fût de chêne"); it sounded so weird in English. Still does, at least to me. Never heard a winemaker use it in the US. They would say "held in stainless" or aged.

Maybe it's just the folks I choose to meet or listen to, but I hear California winemakers speak about "raising" a wine in barrel, steel, etc. with some regularity these days. But I expect it was probably different in even the recent past. I'd say "aged" is still the more commonly used term.

 

[Jonathan Loesberg]

originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):
Élaborer is another term I hear regularly, that doesn't at all make the jump to English.

I've never heard that used for wine, but it makes more sense in French than in English. You can see the word translated as to elaborate (when used in relation to a theory), but it can also mean to work out or to bring to fruition. It's not quite a fau ami, but it's not quite a cognate, either.

 

[Christian Miller (CMM)]

originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:

originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):
Élaborer is another term I hear regularly, that doesn't at all make the jump to English.

I've never heard that used for wine, but it makes more sense in French than in English. You can see the word translated as to elaborate (when used in relation to a theory), but it can also mean to work out or to bring to fruition. It's not quite a fau ami, but it's not quite a cognate, either.

It may be a biz/marketing usage, that's the kind of people who I've heard use it. In context it has meant variously vinification, distilling/aging, or product development (in the marketing sense).