Jonathan Loesberg
Jonathan Loesberg
Probably, alas, our last vineyard visit. And a good place to end. I only discovered Domaine Ferrand, through the good offices of PAB, with the 04 vintage and only started visiting in 07. I should have found out about him sooner as he makes the kinds of CdP and CdR I look for and, at the domaine, at very reasonable prices. We tasted through a number of wines, so notes are just information really.
He made a 2010 blanc of 100% viognier that he won't sell since he only made small amounts to see what he could do. He said he was looking to make a more northern tasting white and he suceeded. I guessed the grapes to be Marsanne and Rousanne from the floral nose but more restrained palate. I wouldn't go as far as to call the wine minerally, but it is the best case I've tasted viognier as not a fat, over-perfumed wine.
We then tasted a 2010 CdR classique. This is his first level CdR, usually a light wine to drink immediately. It is a a60/40 grenache, syrah blend and in past years the syrah has been more than I would like. Whatever 2010 is doing, it did nice things for this wine. It has more of a tannic grip than usual (more than usual, but still not a heavily tannic wine), showed nice and bright. It will probably benefit from a year in the cellar, though it can certainly be gargled down now.
The CdR VV 2010 was a sample that had been there for a trade tasting. This is more one of the wines I come here for 90% Grenache/10% Syrah with the nose and taste of a CdP (Gail mistook the 09 CdR VV for the CdP). As with Charvin and Beaucastel, these are from parcels just north of the CdP border.
We then tasted his Ferrande 2010 from barrel, 100% Syrah, aged in oak CdR. I don't find this wine as objectionable as say Barroche Fiancee, but Bravay makes no great argument for it, eiather. As he puts it, "I allow myself to amuse myself with this wine and the viognier." He is playing around to see what he can do. Mme. Bravay, who was also tasting with us, says that the oak gets absorbed after a couple of years. I arched my eyebrows. There will be people who love this wine I expect. And I have no opinions about how vignerons spend their down time.
Then the CdR VV 2009. For those who like Charvin CdR, you should seek this out. Not because it tastes like the Charvin (well, they are both CdRs from just across the border) but because, like Charvin, it argues how good these wines can be without being made by Igor and the doctor. I haven't yet cellared these wines as I have with Charvin, but I think I will start seeing what happens with this one. As I said, Gail mistook it at first for a CdP. It has a rich, earthy nose and bright, honest fruit, with the impression of a good tannic grip.
We tasted two different cuves of the 2010 CdP. The first is from what he calls young vines (40 years old) and the second from old vines (80-100+). As I said about the Charvin 2010 CdP, this wine promises to be something entirely different. It isn't dripping with ripeness like the 07s and it has good structure and acidity, but there is something flamboyant abt it. Again, mbe it will e a floozy winer maybe something really interesting. If Parker oozes about the 2010s there will certainly be backlash. But from my grand sample of two that I've tasted, I'm certainly interested.
The CdP 09,which had just been bottled at the end of June and according to M. Bravay, still showed some bottle shock, certainly didn't seem like it. He calls this a classic CdP. I'll go along with that. It's showing bouncy infant fruit at the moment. Again, it reminds me of 01s in having both a lot of dark fruit and a lot of structure.
Honesty in advertizing: I cribbed a lot of the notes from Gail. I haven't yet been converted to writing tasting notes. But I've said a lot about Charvin here before and not enough about Bravay.
He made a 2010 blanc of 100% viognier that he won't sell since he only made small amounts to see what he could do. He said he was looking to make a more northern tasting white and he suceeded. I guessed the grapes to be Marsanne and Rousanne from the floral nose but more restrained palate. I wouldn't go as far as to call the wine minerally, but it is the best case I've tasted viognier as not a fat, over-perfumed wine.
We then tasted a 2010 CdR classique. This is his first level CdR, usually a light wine to drink immediately. It is a a60/40 grenache, syrah blend and in past years the syrah has been more than I would like. Whatever 2010 is doing, it did nice things for this wine. It has more of a tannic grip than usual (more than usual, but still not a heavily tannic wine), showed nice and bright. It will probably benefit from a year in the cellar, though it can certainly be gargled down now.
The CdR VV 2010 was a sample that had been there for a trade tasting. This is more one of the wines I come here for 90% Grenache/10% Syrah with the nose and taste of a CdP (Gail mistook the 09 CdR VV for the CdP). As with Charvin and Beaucastel, these are from parcels just north of the CdP border.
We then tasted his Ferrande 2010 from barrel, 100% Syrah, aged in oak CdR. I don't find this wine as objectionable as say Barroche Fiancee, but Bravay makes no great argument for it, eiather. As he puts it, "I allow myself to amuse myself with this wine and the viognier." He is playing around to see what he can do. Mme. Bravay, who was also tasting with us, says that the oak gets absorbed after a couple of years. I arched my eyebrows. There will be people who love this wine I expect. And I have no opinions about how vignerons spend their down time.
Then the CdR VV 2009. For those who like Charvin CdR, you should seek this out. Not because it tastes like the Charvin (well, they are both CdRs from just across the border) but because, like Charvin, it argues how good these wines can be without being made by Igor and the doctor. I haven't yet cellared these wines as I have with Charvin, but I think I will start seeing what happens with this one. As I said, Gail mistook it at first for a CdP. It has a rich, earthy nose and bright, honest fruit, with the impression of a good tannic grip.
We tasted two different cuves of the 2010 CdP. The first is from what he calls young vines (40 years old) and the second from old vines (80-100+). As I said about the Charvin 2010 CdP, this wine promises to be something entirely different. It isn't dripping with ripeness like the 07s and it has good structure and acidity, but there is something flamboyant abt it. Again, mbe it will e a floozy winer maybe something really interesting. If Parker oozes about the 2010s there will certainly be backlash. But from my grand sample of two that I've tasted, I'm certainly interested.
The CdP 09,which had just been bottled at the end of June and according to M. Bravay, still showed some bottle shock, certainly didn't seem like it. He calls this a classic CdP. I'll go along with that. It's showing bouncy infant fruit at the moment. Again, it reminds me of 01s in having both a lot of dark fruit and a lot of structure.
Honesty in advertizing: I cribbed a lot of the notes from Gail. I haven't yet been converted to writing tasting notes. But I've said a lot about Charvin here before and not enough about Bravay.