Jonathan Loesberg
Jonathan Loesberg
The vineyard that fronts our house is owned by a Vacqueyras domaine named Clos de Caveau. The owners, who were psychologists in England before they came back to live on the domaine, hire a vigneron, whose name is David Gaugué. Since he works in the vineyard in our front yard, we have a lot of contact with him. Last winter, he gave us a bottle of his own CdR, which is named Le Bois des Dentelles, and when we arrived here a couple of weeks ago and we asked him about it, he offered to show us his vineyards and give us a tasting. He owns about a couple of hectares split between CdR and Plan de Dieu vineyards. He is meticulously organic and one can see the difference between his vineyard and one that adjoins it in terms of the state of the soil. He lets weeds grow, but he also works the earth more and it does look healthier and more alive.
We could not taste his Plan de Dieu as it was not yet in bottle and he doesn't have his own cave. His stock for tasting is in his house. We did taste a very nice rosé and a 2010 Cote de Rhone that was really very good indeed. It had the earthy, animale flavor I associate with CdP and some Vacqueyras, but almost never with CdRs, which stress big, bright fruit. This did have bright fruit, but it also had a decent structure and acidity. And the alcohol clocked in at under 14% (not much under--13.8%; still, in these days in which 15% is practically the new normal,that is unheard of restraint). A couple of hours of air did very well by it. I expect it's capable of some aging. He tells his clients not to age it, because he doesn't know. But his own stock, going back only a few years, is all doing very well.
He only makes a couple of thousand bottles all told and has no importer. So we won't see him in the states unless someone is listening to me. The wine should come in at a very fair price (its only 5 Euros here to individuals). On the other hand, he's sold out every year since he started, in 2006, so I don't even know how interested he is. We'll just have to drink it here.
We could not taste his Plan de Dieu as it was not yet in bottle and he doesn't have his own cave. His stock for tasting is in his house. We did taste a very nice rosé and a 2010 Cote de Rhone that was really very good indeed. It had the earthy, animale flavor I associate with CdP and some Vacqueyras, but almost never with CdRs, which stress big, bright fruit. This did have bright fruit, but it also had a decent structure and acidity. And the alcohol clocked in at under 14% (not much under--13.8%; still, in these days in which 15% is practically the new normal,that is unheard of restraint). A couple of hours of air did very well by it. I expect it's capable of some aging. He tells his clients not to age it, because he doesn't know. But his own stock, going back only a few years, is all doing very well.
He only makes a couple of thousand bottles all told and has no importer. So we won't see him in the states unless someone is listening to me. The wine should come in at a very fair price (its only 5 Euros here to individuals). On the other hand, he's sold out every year since he started, in 2006, so I don't even know how interested he is. We'll just have to drink it here.