As I travelled in France recently, I tried an unusual variety and intensity of wines. Old ones, young ones, wine in restaurants, wine in cellars. Some great stuff, some bleh stuff, quite a mix. But I had three wines from the suspect 2003 vintage that illuminated different ways of dealing with an extreme vintage that I found pretty interesting and I thought Id share.
I missed most of the tasting at Thevenet in Macon because I had to take a conference call out in my frozen car. I did run the heat for 3 minutes before we started, but the diesel Volvo was too noisy to let it idle during my call, so it gradually got colder and colder. Anyhow, the call was a success, and the tasting passed me by. But we then gathered for dinner at the ambitious restaurant in the Maconnais. I tried to be nicethe Thevenets had brought a magnum of their wine, but it was corked. In a peculiar tribal ritual that I didnt really understand, the magnum nonetheless circulated and was poured into the 20 waiting glasses, which were then collected and taken away. A headscratcher for the tourist. Anyhow, I was given the list, and in an effort at comity and compromise went for the one wine from the Thevenet that they hadthe 2003. Mmmmm, chardonnay from 2003, what could be more my sort of thing? So picture my surprise when the wine was fresh and had some decent acid and no extreme flavors. You could actually drink the stuff, and I dont really groove on chardonnay from almost anywhere so much, and definitely not in hot vintages. You could even call it tasty. So there.
The fascinating takeaway was that they picked the grapes on the south side of the vines 3 weeks ahead of the north side of the vines in 2003, preserving freshness against the heat and taking some load off the vines. Somewhat amazing, but also the sign of a vigneron who spends a lot of time in the vineyard.
Luca Roagna made a Barbaresco in 2003, naturally enough. I think it is coming into the market, and definitely made it to the Valaire tasting that I will describe in more detail if I ever get time. Anyhow, the wine reflects real ripeness and it is in no way high in acid, but it has ripe tannin and clean flavors, unlike many Piemontese wines of the vintage. Another wine I had not expected to enjoy but could nonetheless imagine drinking.
Two winemaking lessons from this wine. Luca said that the alcohol had gotten very high very early in Barbaresco as elsewhere in Europe, but that he didnt like the quality of tannins or flavors in the grape (also as so often elsewhere). Rather than harvesting in a panic, he waited weeks, into October, into an ordinary timeframe for nebbiolo, and the phenolics and aromatics caught up with the sugars. Now, there was still plenty of sugar at harvest, no surprise. The amazing thing was that the alcohol was at a pretty reasonable level that I have in my notes when I get to them. Luca pointed out that he lost 2 degrees of potential alcohol during fermentation, mostly from evaporation out of open-topped fermenters, but perhaps a bit from native yeast. But he made the excellent point that people who used things like rotofermenters capture all the alcohol very efficiently, while his open vats let it evaporate in a year like 2003.
The third tasty 2003 from the vintage was the Clos du Bourg 1er Trie from Huet. In truth, we could add Pinons 2003 Moelleux as well. Both these wines show grapes that were well cared for. The acids are not high, but the flavors are ripe and fresh and show a bit of skin extraction. The phenolics compensate for the somewhat lower acids to provide balance and structure. The lesson again being that very hot years can work well for a variety that retains high acid even in heat.
Some pretty and interesting wines.
I missed most of the tasting at Thevenet in Macon because I had to take a conference call out in my frozen car. I did run the heat for 3 minutes before we started, but the diesel Volvo was too noisy to let it idle during my call, so it gradually got colder and colder. Anyhow, the call was a success, and the tasting passed me by. But we then gathered for dinner at the ambitious restaurant in the Maconnais. I tried to be nicethe Thevenets had brought a magnum of their wine, but it was corked. In a peculiar tribal ritual that I didnt really understand, the magnum nonetheless circulated and was poured into the 20 waiting glasses, which were then collected and taken away. A headscratcher for the tourist. Anyhow, I was given the list, and in an effort at comity and compromise went for the one wine from the Thevenet that they hadthe 2003. Mmmmm, chardonnay from 2003, what could be more my sort of thing? So picture my surprise when the wine was fresh and had some decent acid and no extreme flavors. You could actually drink the stuff, and I dont really groove on chardonnay from almost anywhere so much, and definitely not in hot vintages. You could even call it tasty. So there.
The fascinating takeaway was that they picked the grapes on the south side of the vines 3 weeks ahead of the north side of the vines in 2003, preserving freshness against the heat and taking some load off the vines. Somewhat amazing, but also the sign of a vigneron who spends a lot of time in the vineyard.
Luca Roagna made a Barbaresco in 2003, naturally enough. I think it is coming into the market, and definitely made it to the Valaire tasting that I will describe in more detail if I ever get time. Anyhow, the wine reflects real ripeness and it is in no way high in acid, but it has ripe tannin and clean flavors, unlike many Piemontese wines of the vintage. Another wine I had not expected to enjoy but could nonetheless imagine drinking.
Two winemaking lessons from this wine. Luca said that the alcohol had gotten very high very early in Barbaresco as elsewhere in Europe, but that he didnt like the quality of tannins or flavors in the grape (also as so often elsewhere). Rather than harvesting in a panic, he waited weeks, into October, into an ordinary timeframe for nebbiolo, and the phenolics and aromatics caught up with the sugars. Now, there was still plenty of sugar at harvest, no surprise. The amazing thing was that the alcohol was at a pretty reasonable level that I have in my notes when I get to them. Luca pointed out that he lost 2 degrees of potential alcohol during fermentation, mostly from evaporation out of open-topped fermenters, but perhaps a bit from native yeast. But he made the excellent point that people who used things like rotofermenters capture all the alcohol very efficiently, while his open vats let it evaporate in a year like 2003.
The third tasty 2003 from the vintage was the Clos du Bourg 1er Trie from Huet. In truth, we could add Pinons 2003 Moelleux as well. Both these wines show grapes that were well cared for. The acids are not high, but the flavors are ripe and fresh and show a bit of skin extraction. The phenolics compensate for the somewhat lower acids to provide balance and structure. The lesson again being that very hot years can work well for a variety that retains high acid even in heat.
Some pretty and interesting wines.
