Vina

Chassagne, Puligny, Meursault?
NO it’s time to drink SAINT-AUBIN!

Why the appellation Saint-Aubin is considered one of the best value for money purchases for white Burgundy right now? This article will provide my explanation after fully studying and visiting the region.

Saint-Aubin is a 166 hectares appellation in the north of Chassagne-Montrachet and west of Puligny-Montrachet and generally has more area grown as 1er Cru than village wines. (Whites: 81 hac in 1er Cru and 40-hac village)

20 vineyards in total have the status of 1er Cru in this appellation. The best of them are facing south or east or southeast with 300 to 350 meters altitude.

Saint-Aubin is generally divided in 3 sectors: The first is composed by the 1er Crus bordering Chassagne e Puligny Montrachet, where Chardonnay dominates. The second is located between Le Hameau de Gamay and the Le Village where Pinot Noir express its best in this appellation, and the third part of the appellation is essentially occupied by village wines.

The soil in the region is a mixture of clay and limestone, with the limestone playing the biggest role influencing the wine style. There is also some marl where the Pinot is grown, especially around Les Perrières and Sur Gamay.

The proportion of wine produced white to red is 64/36, with the amount of white wine produced continuously rising since the 80’s.

The reds are lighter in style than the neighbors from Chassagne or Maranges, and the whites are elegant and normally designed for drinking earlier, although some of the best wines from En Remilly and Murgers des Dents de Chien can be kept for longer time.

During my visit in this 300-habitant quiet village, I had the pleasure to be received by some of the producers and tasted their wines.

Hubert Lamy, Patrick Miolane, Bernard Prudhon and Marc Colin.

Domaine Hubert Lamy a 17 hectares family owned Domaine since 1640. (¼ being reds and ¾ whites). Olivier have been doing some interesting experiments in the vineyards, replanting his vineyards at 14.000 vines per hectare, reducing the distance between vines in the row to 0,75m.

Another example of his work would be the 1er Cru Derrière Chez Edouard, where part of the vineyard is planted to 14.000 vines per hectare and part nearly 30.000. (Having 3 vines per meter) The vineyards are mostly grown organically and the wine making process is done with minimum intervention.

From the wines I tasted, the highlights were:

Saint-Aubin 2010 1er Cru - Clos de Las Chatenières

Starts with ripe pineapple, lemon and white flowers notes in the nose, some marked oak, fresh citrus acidity and a hint of yeast in the palate. The mid palate is powerful followed by a long finish. The wine is still young and probably will evolve in 2 or 3 years in bottle.

Saint-Aubin 2010 1er Cru - Les Murgers des Dent de Chien.

In the nose is slightly neutral with discrete lime, lemon and flower notes. In the palate the wine has excellent concentration and minerality, it’s rich and oily tending to full body, but still maintain a high acidity. The oak is very well integrated and the finish is long and complex, with layers of minerality, flowers, citrus fruits and oak. 

Saint-Aubin 2010 1er Cru - En Remilly

The most flowery wine from all I have tasted, with citrus fruits and oak notes.

The palate is lighter and less oily than Les Murgers des Dent de Chien and acidity also is not as sharp. The finish is very pleasant like almost it’s ready to drink, with a long flowery finish with hints of oak.

Saint-Aubin 2010 1er Cru - Derriere Chez Edouard, (30.000 vines per hectare Density)

The nose is closed and neutral, maybe will open up with some time. The palate has a pronounced alcohol, sometimes found in Corton Grand-Cru, that lead to a full body wine, but with a slight dry sensation in mouth. Citrus fruits like lemon and lime appear in the palate and the concentration is very intense just like the finish.

Domaine Patrick Miolane is a 9 hectares family owned Domaine where everything is done with minimum intervention and the work in the vineyards is the main concern. No chemicals are used and plowing is mainly done 5 to 6 times a year with tractors. Patrick in Saint-Aubin produces more red wines than whites, which is unusual for the appellation these days, but both wines are equally interesting in this Domaine.

An interesting fact about this small Domaine is that they only start selling their red wines after a 3 to 4 years ageing in their cellars.

Highlights of the tasting of whites:

Saint-Aubin 1er Cru - Sur le Sentier du Clou - 2009

In the nose you may find ripe pineapple and hazelnut with a hint of yeasts. The palate had high acidity, good minerality, but less oily than the Saint-Aubin village, the alcohol is a bit hot, followed by an elegant bitterness and a brief finish.

Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Les Champlot - 2009

The nose again shows ripe pineapple, hazelnuts, cloves and some oak influence.

The palate has very good acidity and fruit flavors, but the oak is not yet well integrated. Good quality overall, but lacks in concentration and complexity, although the oak plays an interesting role, presenting a mix of new / old world style of chardonnay.

Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Les Perrières - 2010

The nose again tends to be oaky, nutty style with hints of cloves and hazelnut. The palate has clearly more concentration and complexity than Les Champlot, it has good acidity, the oak still stands out as a house style, but is better integrated and followed by fine bitterness and a long finish.

Bernard Prudhon is an 8 hectares producer with vineyards exclusively in Saint-Aubin.

His wines follow the typical Burgundy recipe, fermenting without yeasts in 2 years old barrels with temperature control, filtration is done only if necessary and he didn’t stirred the lees. It’s really minimum intervention in wine making.

During the visit we chat for a long time about the classifications of the vineyards, the appellation Saint-Aubin and the several generations that his family is in this business. I had a great time and also learned a lot.

The only wine I tasted at Bernard Prudhon was his:

Saint-Aubin 2009 1er Cru - Les Murgers des Dent de Chien.

In the nose the wine is very open and expressive, showing right after open, ripe pineapple, orange peel and yeasty notes.

The palate is nutty (almonds), with a hint of yeasts, a very sharp acidity what he define as freshness and a well integrated oak. Also a good minerality can be perceived and impressive concentration. Long finish with layers of fruit, oak, nuts and minerality. One of the most impressive wines tasted that day. In my opinion the wine was already good to drink, but can be aged for a couple of years to develop its full capacity.

Domaine Marc Colin is a 20 hectares family owned Domaine specialized in white wines. They have 30 appellations in total and 25 of them for white only. The Domaine belongs to the family over 5 generations and today is administrated by Damien, Caroline and Joseph Colin and they produce 12 different appellations in Saint-Aubin, 9 whites and 3 reds. One characteristic of Domaine Marc Colin is the use of several different suppliers of oak barrels, that contribute to the complexity of the wine and to shape the style of the Domaine. A small percentage of new oak is used every year by Domaine Marc Colin to age their wines. In the vineyards no herbicides is used, only machinery to plow the soil and people to prune his vineyards.

From the wines tasted the highlights were:

Saint-Aubin Village 2010 - La Fontenotte

This is a very good quality village wine, with the lieu-dit La Fontenotte located upper Les Champlots. The nose is flowery perfumed, with honey and oak notes.

In the palate the acidity is balanced, and shows good concentration, followed by a long complex finish. Impressive for a village wine.

Saint-Aubin 1er Cru - 2010 - Sur les Sentier du Clou - Only 1200 bottles produced.

In the nose floral perfume and some oak notes, very delicate and hard to notice some fruit. In the palate again was impressive, a medium body wine but very powerful, concentrated, the acidity brings the necessary freshness and the oily character contributes to the long lasting finish.

Saint-Aubin 1er Cru - 2010 - Sur Roche Dumay

Neutral in the nose. The palate shows good acidity, minerality, well-balanced oak and great concentration. It’s a powerful wine overall although very subtle in the nose.

Saint-Aubin 1er Cru 2010 -  Les Chatenières

As almost a house style, the wine is neutral in the nose with light white flowers and lime notes. However in the palate this wine has extremely high concentration, a noticeable minerality, the acidity is fresh and well balanced, completed by a long and complex finish. Due to its structure and complexity this wine is very versatile to pair with food.

Concluding, the wines from Saint-Aubin impressed me in several ways, first because the growing area being considerably small producers try their best to have the best grapes, managing the vineyards and working the soil. The wine making process is made with very little intervention and as few corrections as possible, giving a very pure and typical wine.

Second: the use of herbicides and pesticides is very reduced, and producers in the area try to avoid their use, or even replace it completely.

Third and very important for the general consumer, the wines from Saint-Aubin are less pricey than its neighbors from Chassagne and Puligny Montrachet, they are also ready to drink earlier in most of the cases, besides, the price x quality relation is one of the best regarding the wines of Côte de Beaune.

In general, the wines are quality driven, with fair retail price especially for 1er Crus, can be drunk young, but some have great age potential, and they pair well with food due to its high acidity, good concentration and oily characters.

Additionally both white and reds can be found in this appellation.

I would say that more than just a smart buy; the wines from Saint-Aubin are a great discovery.

An overview of Sauternes Wines.

Considered to be one of the finest white wines in the world, Sauternes is located 50km south east of Bordeaux and has a total of 1900 hectares divided into 5 small appellations: Sauternes, Fargues, Bommes, Preignac and Barsac.

Rules of the AOC:

The AOC of Sauternes request that the wines need a minimum 13% of alcohol level and must pass a tasting exam, where they must taste as noticeable sweet. However there is no minimum rule about residual sugar left in the wines and it normally varies from 100 to 150 g/l.

The yields are extremely low, 25hl/hac are required, however many producers have yields as low as 15hl/hac and some cases even as low as 8hl/hac.

Sauternes and Barsac are the only region in Bordeaux besides the Medoc included in the 1855 classification. It has 1 Premier Cru Superieur - Chateau d’Yquem, 11 premier crus and 12 deuxieme crus and this classification is not reviewed since 1855.

Climate:

Sauternes has a maritime climate and hail, frost and rain are the drawbacks that can ruin an entire vintage.

The appellation Sauternes is separated from Graves on its western side by the Ciron Valley.

The Ciron river rises from a spring in Landes in the east and flows north-west across Sauternes and further Barsac, ending in the Garonne river after 97km. In the autumn when the climate is warm and dry, the cooler water from Ciron meet the warmer waters from the river Garonne and generates a mist that start in the evening and persist upon the vineyards until late morning, helping the noble rot to develop on the grapes of vineyards in the region.

Another natural benefit of the region is a groundwater with a high level of water, not very usual, that maintain the vines healthy even during  a drought.

The best vineyards are situated facing north east and this plays an important role in the ripening process of the grapes.

Soil:

The soil in the region is mainly gravel, sand and clay based, and some properties have limestone or siliceous subsoil.

Work in the vineyards:

As standard in Bordeaux, most of the work in the vineyards are made with machines to reduce costs and speed up the work, plowing is done by tractors, pruning is first done by machine, than by hand, however harvest is 100% done by hand due to the difficulty of the work. Different then most chateaux in the left bench, Sauternes properties are relatively small, only 19 vineyards are over 20 hectares, 83 vineyards between 5 and 20 hectares and 159 under 5 hectares.

Wine making process:

The grapes authorized in the region are Sauvigon Blanc, Semillion and Muscadelle, the Semillion being the most sensitive to botrytis due to its thin skins, and the Sauvignon Blanc important to bring acidity and flavors to the blend, while the Muscadelle is less and less used. Some producers use also Sauvignon Gris a common clonal mutation from Sauvignon Blanc and also authorized.

The harvest goes from September until November in some cases, after the spread of noble rot (botrytis cinerea) in the vineyards. This is a type of fungus that removes water from the grapes, leaving behind a higher percent of solids, such as sugars, fruit acids and minerals. This results in a more intense and concentrated grapes. The berries may lose up to 50% of their original weight, mostly due to the Botrytis mould removing moisture from the pulp.

This fungus attack is caused by the humid environment brought by autumn mist that spread over the vineyards described before.

The pickers goes to the vineyards up to 9 times during the harvest, selecting only botrytized berries that are ready to be pressed to turn into Sauternes. Depending on the year, the noble rot will continue evolve through the autumn allowing the grapes to shrivel gradually and concentrate the sugar and acids.

Right after the grapes are harvested they are pressed in small pneumatic presses first for one hour or so with a low pressure, then this pressure is increasing and the extraction of the must continues up to 2 hours until the thick liquid is completely removed from the grapes.

Until the end of the harvest the pressing process can repeat itself up to 60 times, depending on the amount of grapes picked and the development of botrytis in the vineyards.

Then the must is transferred to oak barrels to start fermentation, normally each lot is fermented separately. The process of fermentation is slow, sometimes taking moths to finish, due to high sugar levels. Botrytis itself is an obstacle to fermentation since the organism yields botryticine, an antimicrobial substance which is thought to inhibit the action of yeasts during fermentation and also inhibit secondary fermentation in the bottle.

Techniques such as heat up the must are encouraged to improve maximum the fermentation. Ideally the fermentation will stop at 13% to 13,5% alcohol and residual sugar levels are from 100 to 130g/l. It depends on the producers choices to add or not sulphur to avoid restart fermentation or a second fermentation in bottle, amounts varies between 5 to 15%.

The ageing process takes 2 to 3 years in oak barrels to finish and due to evaporation almost 10% of the wine is lost, so top up is mandatory. Once every 3 months or so racking is made and some producers filter the wines, while other prefer other clarifying methods.

Tasting:

During my visit in the region Chateau Guiraud and Chateau Raymond-Lafon, received us and allowed us to taste their wines and know a little bit about their work in the region.

Chateau Guiraud is a 100hac, 1er Cru Classe property located in Sauternes and is the only first growth from the 1855 classification to be officially certify for organic viticulture.

The chateau produce 3 wines, the Chateau Guiraud, the Le Dauphin de Guiraud and the G de Guiraud (dry wine). Varieties are 65% Semillon and 35% Sauvignon Blanc. The fermentation and ageing are made in 100% new oak barrels for the first wine and the ageing process last from 18 to 24 months. The yields are as low as 20hl/hac and the average annual production is about 100.000 bottles.

The highlight of this tasting were the 1998 Chateau Guiraud and 2006 Chateau Guiraud.

2006 - Gold color, very pronounced fruity nose of apricot, orange, quince and jasmin, very fresh and high acidity and a orange peel bitterness towards the finish. The oak in this wine was still very pronounced, some coconut and vanilla aromas resulting from it, but it tend to blend well with time. It’s a high quality wine, versatile to pair with food due to its high acidity. It’s ready to drink now but still have a lot to evolve in bottle.

1998 - Amber color, pronounced honey and botrytis notes, less luscious but round and well balanced. Fresh, good acidity and a long finish tending to more herbal notes and less fruity characters. The oak here is well integrated. Also due to its good acidity will pair well with savory food, dessert, cheese and foie gras. Still has potential to age in bottle.

Chateau Raymond-Lafon is a 16 hectares state, not classified in 1855, located in the north of the sub region of Sauternes and belongs to the Meslier Familly.

The chateau produce two wines, the Chateau Raymon-Lafon and Le Cadet de Raymond-Lafon.

The blend is made with 80% Semillon and 20% Sauvignon Blanc. Fermentation and ageing are made in new oak barrels and the wine age 3 years before bottling. The yields in this Chateau are extremely low varying from 8,5 to 9 hl/hac and the average annual production is about 20.000 bottles. Two curiosities about this Chateau:

• Almost 12% of the wine is lost in the wine making process, because of racking and clarification process very complicated in sweet wine.
• During harvest the pickers go back to the vineyards up to 10 times to select the grapes.

We tasted the Chateau Raymond-Lafon 2005.

2005 - Gold color, and very pronounced fruity nose, mango, apricot, pineapple jam and honey aromas. It’s a luscious, rich wine, full body and long length. In mouth the wine show vanilla, caramel, honey flavors and a well integrated oak, but it lacks a little bit of freshness for my taste, although this is the style of the house. That will evolve in bottle for 30 years or more. This wine would pair well with dessert, foie-gras and Roquefort cheese, but not so well with food.

Special thank to:

www.nicks.com.au/ (Vintage School)

Top Picture by George Rose

Yes we have Champagne!

After coming back from a 3 days trip to Champagne a post about wine tourism is more than necessary.

Four producers were visited during those days, 2 huge traditional houses (Taittinger and Castellane) and 2 small producers (Tribaut and Marc Chauvet).

Generally speaking wine tourism is quite boring, and if you have been to at least 1 visit in a winery before you probably have seen it all. They all have presses, barrels, stainless steel vats, pumps, hoses, etc.

Very few producers do something to innovate in visits to wineries.

The first visit was in Champagne Castellane, a huge négociant that buy grapes from numerous growers in Champagne. The house has a museum and a tower where you can see the city and vineyards around Epernay and the Marne River. The visit in this winery is impressive for their size and structure to receive huge amount of tourists. The cellar visit and the underground are impressive for it’s size and storage capacity. The main avenue underground has 1 km extension with several streets crossing the avenue and a total of 6 km of underground space for storage. The winery guide is enthusiastic and promotes a minimum interaction with the visitors. In despite of the dedication of the staff, the visit is standardized and impersonal. Sure you learn details about production, storage and the winemaking process but it lacks interaction and interest from the producer.

The second visit was at Taittinger, huge well know producer. This visit was then again more standardized and mechanical than the first. The house guide not at all promoted interaction with the visitors and with the exception of the cellar tour, a cave carved in chalk and enlarged by the Saint Nicaise Abbey monks in the 13 century, the visit there is unnecessary.

In the other hand, both visits at the small producers Tribaut and Marc Chauvet were personalized and the producer itself was there to escort us through the vineyards, winery and cellar. Much more information and interaction were promoted and discussions about production, sales, marketing, took place during the tastings. As a result 4 times more wine was purchased inside those small producers than in the big houses.

Suggestions for who’s planning to visit wine producers in Champagne, look for smaller producers, make appointments in advance and enjoy. Most of the small producers sell 100% of their champagne at the cellar door, so they have credit card machines and boxes to transport the wine.

Suggestions for the big houses with standardize visits, please interact with your visitor/customer. Instead of talking the whole visit, let the consumer express himself and encourage interaction. The information brought by the visitor is much more important than explaining the Champenoise method 10 thousand times a year.

If anyone had a nice innovative winery visit recently, here is the place to share your experience. Tell me:

Unmistakable

The vineyards of Aloxe-Corton and Pernand-Vergelesses in Côte de Beaune.

From the grand cru route, you can’t mistake these hills with any other in Côte de Beaune. In the top of the east-facing hill you can see Corton, the only red Grand Cru in the Côte de Beaune. The soil is a mixture of chalk and marl, which is frequently washed down by the rains in spring and autumn.

The painful job in those vineyards is to collect the topsoil after a strong rain and replace it in the top of the hills again. The topsoil in this region is so shallow that in some cases only 40 cm separate the topsoil from the complex subsoil mixture in this region.

In the opposite side of the Corton hills, Corton-Charlemagne and Le Charlemagne are found, west and southeast facing slopes respectively.

In the other side of the road Pernand-Vergelesses is located, in northeast facing slopes and Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are grown in almost equal amounts.

Wines from Aloxe-Corton tend to age well and are harsh when young; minerality is one of its main characteristics.

Curious fact that in some Premier Cru plots in Aloxe-Corton, Aligoté is found, giving unique style, high quality wines, usually sold with low prices.

Exploring the vineyard on foot is in my opinion the best way to understand the differences between wines and varieties.

Have you done this before?

Looking for fun!

A couple of years ago, me and two friends Guilhermo and Luiz without too much money to spend, decided to make a trip to Argentina. 

The itinerary wasn’t too difficult to decide, since the objective was very clear: Wines, Food Girls and Fun.

Arriving in Mendoza we decided to visit a few wineries, but we quickly realize that we didn’t have any car, or much money to rent one. So we went for the bargain. We found a cheap car for rental, the problem was…it used to be a hearse.

Well there wasn’t any sticker on the doors but you naturally get less attractive driving around the town in a hearse .

The funny part was the reactions when you arrive into the winery driving a hearse! Needless to say that people rather prefer to see a Christmas sleigh flying out from the winery than actually to think about the winemaker’s health.

The ride was great but the visits were a bit commercial in my opinion, It was not easy to find small producers in the area since the wine tourism was far from being developed in the region 4 years ago.

The best visit was without any doubt at Miguel Minni. A friendly small producer that received us without previous appointment and offered us a tasting from all his wines. He has a decent Malbec and a fair Cabernet, some fresh sparkling as well.

Mendoza definitely worth going, but make sure you rent something else than a hearse to drive around. It’s a shame not having any pictures of the vehicle that brought us so much fun during that day.

Query: Have you ever had good or bad experiences in visiting wineries without appointment?