Already during picking the grapes gave us an insight into the high quality of the vintage. Not concerned by this summers heatwave, the fruit showed a good balance between sugar and acidity, as well as extremely ripe tannins. While the vintage was still considered as being particularly precocious in spring, some highly welcome rainfalls in August brought us back to normal picking times. Tasting of berries, as well as the first fermentations promised a particularly harmonious vintage.

According to our philosophy of respecting the freshness and flavors of the fruit, we fermented the grapes at low temperature without ever exceeding 25° C. Along with a relatively short maceration of 12 to 18 days, this allows to preserve the delicate aromas of Grenache. The first attempts with 800 L clay jars to age our wines in the past year are extremely promising. We have therefore decided to continue to equip our aging cellar for the vintage 2015 with more jars.

Balanced and healthy soils are the basis of any healthy and sustainable agriculture. A truism that one, however, had to rediscover in a more or less painful way in the last décades. This puts an end to the false promises of the “glorious”, chemical sixties! Many have understood: We have to take care of our soils. You have to protect and cherish them, so they can live on. Because soils, these piles of stones and dirt, may even die ...

“Agriculture has literally to go back to its roots and must become aware of the importance of healthy soils ...”, writes the FAO on its website. Soils are actually very complex, vibrant ecosystems that serve to a variety of functions, bringing benefits to the cultures that we plant on them. Being a reservoir for water and minerals, it’s bares also to a large variety of organisms: bacteria, fungi, insects and even mammals. All together they form a symbiotic system with the roots, improve the soil structure and contribute to a healthy and harmonious plant production. Soils are self-sustaining, open ecosystems that basically do not need the provision of man.

From the moment on men decide to cultivate a soil, they bring the system out of balance. This is not least due to crop harvesting, taking away a part of the ecosystem. It has long been believed that this imbalance could be adjusted with the help of chemical fertilizers and a massive application of weed killers and pesticides, to clean up the fields from the “parasitic nature”. This was believed to be the right path, since chemical fertilizers achieve spectacular growth results within short time.

HOGWASH! The excessive supply of nitrogen makes plants large but weak, the soils losing their porosity and their water retention capacity. Finally, this will kill the system… This imbalance may be hardly corrected. But there is an alternative, without necessarily getting back to prehistoric wilderness. On the contrary, the alternative to chemistry usually requires much more efforts and considerations.

“We use no more weed killers since the nineties,” explains Jean-Marc Verhaeghe, vineyard manager at Château du Cèdre in Cahors.
“We control the growth of wild herbs with a plough, inter-vine hoes and mowing. This has proven to be very beneficial to our vineyards. The vines have driven their roots further down, the weeds improve soil porosity favouring the infiltration of rainwater. In addition, evaporation and erosion are reduced, and biodiversity in the soils and the vines increase.”

Yves Gras has enriched his soils with a special carbon-containing compost. Ten tons per hectare! The compost brings organic material into the soil and increases its water retention capacity. Not a luxury in the hot Mediterranean part of the Rhône Valley, where are his vineyards.

Hubert Soreau also stopped using weed killers, taking considerable risks in his Chardonnay growing Clos l’Abbé in the Champagne south of Épernay. For grasses and herbs may increase the risk of frost in spring, which may sometimes nip the entire harvest in the bud. But his vines seem to be grateful with a more natural life, giving him fully ripe grapes for already several years, a basis for its full-bodied and amazingly complex champagne.

The 2010 vintage still is a superb choice in the Rhone Valley. The long, warm indian summer fully ripened the grapes, a good basis for wines with remarkable finesse and harmony.
The Grenache and Syrah grapes for this wine come from the vineyards of Roaix, situated between Rasteau and Vaison-la-Romaine. It fills the glass with a dark, blood red colour and the strong scent of figs and dried apricots, honey cake and licorice. My nose is immediately seduced, fascinated by the intensity of the bouquet, which evolves towards the scent of cherries and more spices.

Fresh acidity, fine tannins, though still young, surrounded by a pleasant smoothness, getting more and more spicy, showing long lasting flavors. Balanced, tasty and still youthful, this wine promises a few more years of storage capacity. If you open it this winter, you should serve it in a carafe.

FOOD MATCHES FOR CARNIVORES: The intensity and the character of the wine deserve a nice piece of grilled meat - beef, lamb, ostrich - without much pose, just with a little salt and pepper. For more complex dishes with spices and sauces, you should wait a few more years, so the wine can fully develop its bouquet.

FOOD MATCHES FOR HERBIVORES: Grilled vegetables in olive oil, fried curry pumpkin with tomato rice, tofu burger with balsamic sauce or wild mushroom Cannelloni ... Go and pull the power out of your vegetables!

The nose of this wine is very charming: Cherries and flowers, wild herbs and a hint of chocolate... Juicy and mineral on the palate, with elegant and powerful tannins, nestled in pleasant smoothness that flatters the palate. Structure and harmony of this wine are promising a good ageing potential for this wine, but its flavours and freshness will surely tempt you to taste it already now.

FOOD MATCHES FOR CARNIVORES:: Roast beef, Saddle of lamb with herb crust... But also Salsiccia with braised fennel and fried potatoes or a creamy goulash.

FOOD MATCHES FOR HERBIVORES: a vegetable curry (not too spicy), spaetzle with lentils and balsamico... I had it a couple of days ago with German “PILLEKUCHEN”, a potato pancake with lots of vegetables in it. Just great!

Last year we had a late maturing vintage. In the area around Gigondas, Plan de Dieu, Rasteau ... there was little rainfall in September, so we could serenely wait for the full maturity of the grapes. The last fruit finally reached our cellar on October 10^th.

Being convinced that terroir and fruits produce the taste of wine, we intervene in the production processes as sparingly as possible. Its our main concern to preserve the overall quality of the grapes. For this purpose, we carefully sort out ripe and aromatic fruits, let fermentations be done by natural yeasts; and adapt maceration and extraction to overall tannin quality of the grapes.

At the beginning of the cellar work, when we put the crop into the tanks, we will add moderate amounts of sulphites, to prevent the development of undesirable yeasts. This agreement fits well with our philosophy, because we are neither friend nor foe of sulphites and adjust the application to the needs of each vintage and each tank. The oxygen sensitivity of different grape varieties, the frequency of racking to separate the wines from their lees, the topping of the barrels and the constant temperature of our cellar are, among other things, important factors for a harmonious and secure development of each wine. Only the sum of all factors allows the wine to evolve towards harmony of taste and will freely express the character of its origin.

In recent years, we focussed on the pursuit for a pure and noble expression of fruit and terroir. Oak, therefore, still plays an important role in the maturation of the wines. The regular topping of the barrels and the migration of tannins from oak to the wine allow a moderate but controlled oxygen supply, which is essential for a “fragile” varieties as the Grenache. The majority of our small barrels have recently been replaced by large oak vats. This changed the balance of power between wood and wine consideralbly. It seems essential to us, that the latter always has the upper hand.

In the continuity of this work, our cellar welcomed this year three 800-liter clay jars from Impruneta. In this stronghold of pottery near Florence in Italy a special type of clay, particularly suitable for the manufacturing of earthenware jars for wine and olive oil has been mined for many centuries. The hand-made jars have a completely smooth surface on the inside, and the clay allows the maturation of wines without any supply of tannins and flavours, while their special shape favours the expression of fruit and minerality. For this first year, a pure Grenache from La Crau in Chateauneuf-du-Pape and a Mourvedre from the terroir of the Hautes Garrigues in Gigondas will be ageing in these jars.

Opening a bottle of Vacqueyras always announces a special moment of enjoyment, as well as a delicious dinner. In a certain way the AOC Vacqueyras represents something noble, valuable and historical. Although classified Cru of the Rhone Valley “only” 25 years ago, the wines of Vacqueyras look back on a very long history and they are closely linked to the history of the great wines and terroirs of France.

To accompany this wine, I had grilled duck breast provided by a refined figs duo: half of them grilled, the other half stewed with balsamic vinegar. What a feast! Served relatively cool in the carafe (about 14 ° C), on a hot summer evening, the bouquet was quite explosive and charming from the very beginning, full of plums, walnuts, figs and cinnamon. And on the palate? Soft and round due to the grape varieties (80% GRENACHE and 20% SYRAH), full-bodied and concentrated as prescribed by vintage, backed by pleasant cooling acidity due to the sandy and stony terroir, battered by the cold Mistral wind.

An originally wild, already somewhat tamed wine, whose aging potential should not be underestimated. The wine may indeed show an increasing amount of spice, cocoa and dried fruits over the next 4 to 6 years.

FOOD MATCHES FOR CARNIVORES: Except grilled duck breast with figs, the wine will be delighted by teriyaki beef, but will also appreciate a simple veal roast with it.

FOOD MATCHES FOR HERBIVORES: You should look for intense, concentrated food and flavours to accompany this wine. Tomato oregano tarte tatin, risotto with porcini mushrooms and Hokkaido-pumpkin or Tagliatelle with oyster mushrooms and pesto will perfectly do the job.

"You know, this is a wine that I am obviously liking right now, but I could see laying a few bottles of this down for 2 or 4 years, and see some interesting development on it. Good stuff!

When a winegrower from Gigondas infers his expertise to the stony and sandy soils of La Crau and the Saintes Vièrges, a refreshing breeze seems to rise on these terroirs of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Bottled since spring, the 2012 vintage is living proof!

Its color is soothing: blood red, very clear, with a slight touch of purple. The first nose is very fresh, very fruity, followed by a relatively quick opening on sweet spices, pepper and balsamic aromas. A young and tonic bouquet, that lingers for long time on the palate.
Slightly salty, the wine has a stony, chalky structure. Hard to tell if this is due to its mineral character or to its delicate, very fresh and young tannins. Hard to tell also, because this Grenache and Mourvèdre based wine, already delicious but built for the future, seems in no hurry to reveal all its secrets.

The solution? Be patient, find him a place in your cellar and make it your dinner companion for the next 10 years.

HERBIVORE SUPPORT: roast vegetables, fried mushrooms or a smooth curry made of seasonal vegetables ...

CARNIVORE SUPPORT: Veal cutlet with red wine sauce, filet mignon with mustard and guinea fowl with morels in its youth. Pheasant saltimbocca alla romana (wrapped in sage and prosciutto), roast pigeon with porcini mushrooms and matured cheese like « Epoisses » after a few years of aging.