Dissed by Pegau

O

Oswaldo Costa

Oswaldo Costa
Our last day in the Baux region, so we went to not-so-far Chateauneuf-du-Pape just for lunch and for the heck of it. At the Office de Tourisme I asked if the Charvin winery might be open and they had never heard of it. They pulled out a thick little directory with “all” the CdP producers, and there he wasn’t. Howzatt for shunning the crowde?

Anyways, as we approached the parking lot I saw a small Pegau cave and prevailed on the girls to give this hallowed name a quick try. The rotund bordering-on-elderly gentleman manning the shop displayed great pride of place, not seeming to be a mere hired hand. First he gave me a taste of a simpler bottling, that can’t bear the CdP coat of arms because it also contains carignan and merlot. I found it remarkably structured for a 7 Euro wine, and complimented him on it. He beamed. Next he gave me a taste of the 2008 CdP, which I found a bit dense and over-structured, but par for the imagined course.

I say I’d like to take a bottle as a souvenir of the visit. He shows me the available vintages (2004/5/6/7/8) and I ask which has the lowest alcohol or is the least ripe. He looks at me suspiciously and says they always pick at maximum ripeness. I say fine, but which of these maximum ripenesses has the lowest alcohol? He replies that 2003 was highest, with 15%, and perhaps 2002 was lowest and might suit me, but he doesn't have any left. Since, from that point onward, I could no longer ask him which was the least ripe, I ask which of the five available vintages has the lowest alcohol. He says it doesn’t matter if it’s 13.5% or 14.0% or 14.5%, they are all very ripe, and if I don’t like very ripe, then I won’t like any of them. I say that I realize that alcohol level is only one of many parameters, and I'd only use it for guidance if I knew nothing else about a wine; since I had him, the expert, to choose for me, I’d be happy to take whatever vintage he recommended. To my surprise, with courtesy but firmness, he remained adamant that I would not like any of them. I took that as my cue from the divine, thanked him for his time, picked up the girls and left.
 
You might have dissed him back by telling him that the '95 had too much wood and is drying out, and that the '98 was brett bomb.

Perhaps you might have asked if the "tour de force" Cuvee Capo rendered the regular bottling to be merely 99 points rather than 101.

Finally, you could also have told him that the bottle wasn't for you, but rather that you intended to flip it on the eRobert Parker board, since people there will buy anything Pegau no matter how ripe and alcoholic.
 
Too bad you weren't there, but the truth is I left not knowing who had just dissed who. At some stage I did say that I wasn't into points or critics; that's probably where I tipped my anti-flavor hand.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:

Anyways, as we approached the parking lot I saw a small Pegau cave and prevailed on the girls to give this hallowed name a quick try. The rotund bordering-on-elderly gentleman manning the shop displayed great pride of place, not seeming to be a mere hired hand. First he gave me a taste of a simpler bottling, that can’t bear the CdP coat of arms because it also contains carignan and merlot. I found it remarkably structured for a 7 Euro wine, and complimented him on it. He beamed. Next he gave me a taste of the 2008 CdP, which I found a bit dense and over-structured, but par for the imagined course.
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Oswaldo, did the gentlemen look like this?

img1093pegau.jpg
If so, that was Paul Feraud, the owner/founder of Domaine de Pegau; if not, I have no idea who you were speaking with as it's still AFAIK a family-run operation. I'm also a bit cornfuzzled about the references to a parking lot and shop as the last time I visited (granted, 10 years ago now) the cave was still located underneath their home in a residential section of town and one gained access by ringing their doorbell. Were you at 15 Avenue Imperiale?

Mark Lipton
 
I'm a terrible physiognomist. Olivia thinks that's him. Marcia thinks that's a younger version of him. So it must be him...

We parked in a smaller oval square adjacent to the main square, where La Mere Germaine is (googlemaps says it's no. 3 Av. Charles de Gaulle). It is a very small cave, with several Bathazars and other impressive stuff. When the Prof gets around to reading this, perhaps he can tell you if this dates from less than ten years.

Update: just saw on their website that it opened recently.
 
Pegau has a little sales shop off the square; almost certainly you were there. The domaine is on the edge of town. I've been to the petit cave a couple times and it was not staffed by the Ferauds but an elderly gent that fits your description. When I was there, it was so damn hot he and I hung out and drank Heinekens. He spoke a little Spanish so that's how we (sort of) communicated. A great guy. I did not have the sense he was that knowledgeable about the wine.

Chateauneuf du Pape is in a very hot area and there's been a run of hot vintages. That's just what it is. I don't think Pegau makes wine for Parker, I think they make Chateauneuf du Pape the way they like it, and the chips fall where they may. As for wood, if you consider a rustic cellar full of ancient foudres wood, well then, that's wood.
 
BJ is right. There's a Pegau cellar in the Chateauneuf centre ville so that's probably where you were as they don't have any parking at the domain (you're basically are in their house).
Few years back I was at the domaine with Mr Feraud (Paul) and it was a treat to taste with him. Then I went to the Cave, down the road, where you were and met with the person BJ describes. He must have had a bad day cause it seems very nice too me. Sorry you had a bad experience Oswaldo.
You should have called Laurent Charvin directly to schedule a visit. Totally worthy !
 
I don't know if there is a language barrier (my French is rudimentary at best) but it sounds as if you found the '08 not to your liking and the salesman knowing the house style, concluded (rightfully?) that you would not enjoy any that he had on hand. I wouldn't call that dissing.

I find Pégaü enjoyable with bottle age if the brett doesn't get out of hand.
 
originally posted by BJ:As for wood, if you consider a rustic cellar full of ancient foudres wood, well then, that's wood.
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He did mention that they never use new wood.

originally posted by Dan Donahue:I don't know if there is a language barrier (my French is rudimentary at best) but it sounds as if you found the '08 not to your liking and the salesman knowing the house style, concluded (rightfully?) that you would not enjoy any that he had on hand. I wouldn't call that dissing.
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The language part was fine, and I didn't say anything negative about the 08, only that it had good structure. Him concluding that I wouldn't like the wine wasn't what I saw as potential dissing - it was the polite refusal to sell me a bottle.
 
originally posted by Arno Tronche: You should have called Laurent Charvin directly to schedule a visit. Totally worthy !
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It was a spur-of-the-moment visit, so I didn't have time to schedule Charvin, the producer who most interests me. We went to the Office du Tourisme to get his phone number in the hope of seeing him without an appointment, but no cigar.

originally posted by Jeff Grossman: If you like the 7euro bottle, that's what you should buy.
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True, but I wanted to take back some "grand statement," representative of their enchantment, not their diss-enchantment.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
originally posted by Jeff Grossman: If you like the 7euro bottle, that's what you should buy.
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True, but I wanted to take back some "grand statement," representative of their enchantment, not their diss-enchantment.
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Stick to your enchantment.
 
The storefront Pegau place in the village is staffed by an old guy who is a friend of the family and knowledgeable about the wines but not even close to either a winemaker or a winegeek. He probably wouldn't know how to tell you which is the wine with the lowest alcohol. They all tend to be labelled 14.5% and whether they are actually 14, 14.5, 15 or higher he would not likely know. If you asked him which is the best to drink with dinner that night or whether you should carafe or not or whether the 81 is worth the tarif, he will answer honestly based on the last time he drank the wine.

I don't know whether Paul Feraud would like the question any better. He is an old school, let the wine make itself, winemaker and he also judges by whether he likes to drink it. Laurence would be much more likely to respond to that question with information about the vintages. She is much more aware of the various debates. While they make the wine they make, they are very aware that Parker has treated them very well and are friendly with him, it should be noted. And, finally, they make wines with alcohol in them, so the old guy has a point that this is not the place to go to with that demand.

Having said all that, I agree with the general tenor of responses here that simple etiquette demands that he answer your question as best he can and that is what he should have done. In that basic sense, you were dissed.

Charvin is easy enough to visit, but it is always better to phone ahead. He is a considerable distance out of town. If you tell him I sent you, he locks you in a back room, and you are never seen again.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:

Charvin is easy enough to visit, but it is always better to phone ahead. He is a considerable distance out of town. If you tell him I sent you, he locks you in a back room, and you are never seen again.
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It's true. Watch yourself.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Dissed by PegauOur last day in the Baux region, so we went to not-so-far Chateauneuf-du-Pape just for lunch and for the heck of it. At the Office de Tourisme I asked if the Charvin winery might be open and they had never heard of it. They pulled out a thick little directory with “all” the CdP producers, and there he wasn’t. Howzatt for shunning the crowde?
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You were at the office du tourisme of Chateauneuf-du-Pape (the town not the AOC). Laurent Charvin estate belong to Orange (another city). Next time, you'd better visit the office du tourisme of Orange ! Wellcome in France.
Best regards
pierre-alain benoit
 
i used to visit the little cave in the village maybe 15 or 20 years ago, so it has been there at least that long. back in the day, paul used to cook meals for visitors to the domain, to help supplement what at the time was not a huge income from his vines.

in those days, paul also sported the most awe inspiring collection of vegas-baby split-to-the-waist silk shirts that i ever saw. you could have set it against both of the jones brothers -- jack and tom -- and they would have collectively crawled away in shame. we are talking serious mack here, motherfucker. so think of it like you met the bastard son of bootsy collins and foxy brown and decided to twit him on cymbals ("no no, you don't understand, i know my taste, and if it's zildjian, i don't care how fat your bass is, for me it just won't have the funk").

which is to say that a diss is often in the eye of the beholder. or let he who is without bitch throw the first slap. or something.

paul also made good wine. the warmer summers and my own changing taste make it nigh on impossible for me to tell whether the style of pegau has changed under laurence, but i recently fobbed off a mag of the 90 cuvee laurence (made by paul) on guilhaume, and found it surprisingly restrained and complex. i came pretty damn close to liking that shit.

fb.
 
originally posted by Ignacio Villalgordo:
Pegau is, to me, a good winery. I would like the wines better with a bit less alcohol and less maturity, though
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I see people say things like this all the time. My question is, how do you know?
 
originally posted by Brian Loring:
originally posted by Ignacio Villalgordo:
Pegau is, to me, a good winery. I would like the wines better with a bit less alcohol and less maturity, though
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I see people say things like this all the time. My question is, how do you know?
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As fb notes above, it's kind of how they used to be, due to a variety of factors.
 
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