Dame Wine

“Calm down, stop growing. Focus on ripening the fruit.”

These are the words that winemaker Nicolas Glumineau tells some of his vines, the ones with too much vigor – placing too much energy into growing leaves at the expense of neglecting the grapes. But he doesn’t communicate it with words or music or give it artificial chemicals. Only one teaspoon, four grams, of natural sand called silica is needed to spray two-and-a-half acres and, like magic, the results are immediate: the vine relaxes and stops growing the canopy so it can place all its efforts giving energy to ripen grapes in a balanced way, including the skins and seeds, to turn these grapes into outstanding fine wine. It is a communication between the farmer and the vines that is beyond the scientific knowledge that Nicolas has gained over decades, as he hasn’t found one scientific book that explains this process.

“How does it work? Just don’t ask. I just don’t know,” says Nicolas.

Making a Top Wine Better

As a young man who was determined to learn everything he could about the science of growing wine grapes and winemaking, working his way up through top châteaux in Bordeaux, he could have never guessed that he would one day surrender to employing practices that he could never understand. But with age, one goes beyond knowledge and comes into wisdom, letting go of the idea that everything needs to be understood. He is happy as long as he sees the improvement in the vineyards with his own eyes and, more importantly, tastes the improvement in the finished wines. He is unsure if he will ever understand why a tablespoon of silica, a biodynamic preparation, can communicate with the vines in such a direct and precise way.

Nicolas, general manager as well as winemaker at Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande (a Second Growth also known as Château Pichon-Lalande), in the world-famous appellation of Pauillac in the region of Bordeaux in France, has been able to achieve over the past six reviewed vintages, 2016-2022, four 100-point wines for this incredible château, that has made great wines before Nicolas. Still, somehow, he has consistently brought the wines to the next level. Part of it is a new winery facility where they can practice more artisanal practices by fermenting smaller plots from the vineyard. Still, the precision in the vineyards is remarkable, staying on top of every tiny section of their vineyards to give each vine exactly what it needs while becoming organic in the process, and now, practicing biodynamics- something Nicolas, at one time, could have never imagined that he would be a part of.

Château de Pez

The owners of Château Pichon-Lalande, the Rouzaud family, also owns Château de Pez, located in the appellation of Saint-Estèphe, north of Pauillac in the Left Bank of Bordeaux. The area hasn’t had a long, illustrious history like Pauillac, which is known for some of the most outstanding wines in the world, as there are a couple of problems. First, the main road that goes up to all the grand chateaux in the Left Bank ends in the area of Pauillac. One has to turn onto a tiny side road to even get to the estates in Saint-Estèphe, so it is off-the-beaten-track, but most notably, as many drink these wines without ever visiting Bordeaux, the fierce structure with higher acidity and lots of rugged tannins, that traditionally was kindly referred to as “sinewy,” was an unpleasant aspect for some wine drinkers.

Nicolas Glumineau has taken the same extraordinary practices for Château Pichon-Lalande and brought them to Château de Pez, refining them for the different terroir (weather, soil and aspect) to ideally match that estate, and has been able to bring a significant improvement to wines that are an utter bargain on the market and introduced a 2nd selection of Château de Pez simply called “2nd Pez” with a modern label which would have also been unheard of for a traditionally minded Bordeaux wine producer. But at this stage, Nicolas and his team are challenging themselves to make the top wine in the region as well as having a better connection to a wider range of wine consumers.

But a few estates in Saint-Estèphe have, in recent times, learned to tame those sinewy tannins. Certainly, Mother Nature has helped with warmer temperatures, making sure that all the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are fully ripe, as opposed to in the past, when it was impossible to ripen one of the main grape varieties for the Left Bank, leaving under-ripe skins and seeds that gave green notes and tough texture in the wines. But today, some in Saint-Estèphe, such as Château de Pez, have been able to bring a finer quality to the structure of these wines and allow the special attributes of this area, such as an intense spiciness and minerality, to come through the wines making them no longer a Bordeaux wine that one bought because it is a lot less expensive, but instead, a wine that some drinkers prefer because they love that spicy, mineral quality and the lower price is just an added benefit.

Even though getting the right lovely quality of tannins involves not over-extracting too much from the grapes’ skins and seeds, a major factor goes back to the vineyards. Again, the intense attention to detail paid to the vines and what each one tells Nicolas and his team is the primary key to making a harmonious, balanced wine with aromatic complexity and exceptional quality tannins.

Nature Has the Answers

“We are very close to the ocean, and we are very dependent on tides, the moon cycle, and there is something to that cycle that affects the vines,” says Nicolas, with a slight look of astonishment that these words are coming out of his mouth. He has studied with some of the most legendary teachers in Bordeaux and is part of growing up in an age of rigorous scientific research that has made discoveries beyond his grandparents’ imagination. But he has witnessed with his own eyes what the vines have shown him in terms of what works and what doesn’t.

And so, instead of forcing the vines to his will, manipulating their cycle with unnatural means, he tries to speak to them in the most natural ways possible, trusting that if he gives them what they need to be a balanced, healthy plant, they will produce the best fruit possible. And he has shown the world how well it works, first with the already outstanding Château Pichon-Lalande, displaying that even greatness has room for improvement, and then Château de Pez, who was hiding beneath a mountain of rugged tannins, and now, as those tannins have taken on a more silky quality, a wealth of beauty can shine from these wines.

2019 2nd Pez, Saint-Estèphe, Bordeaux: 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot. The second wine, the second selection of Château de Pez. Pretty nose of anise seed, blackcurrant leaf, and exotic spice box with fine tannins with blackberry compote, crushed stones and bright acidity with a long finish leaving a note of saline minerality.   

2019 Château de Pez, Saint-Estèphe, Bordeaux: 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. An elegantly complex nose of smoldering sandalwood incense, violets, wet stones and juicy cassis flavors is balanced by fresh tobacco wrapped in silky tannins and a very long, vibrant finish.

2015 Réserve de Pichon Comtesse, Pauillac, Bordeaux: 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. The second wine, the second selection of Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. This wine is breathtaking for its overall finesse, especially considering it is a second wine. An enchanting perfume of wildflowers, warm raspberries and cocoa powder that opens to succulent fruit and manicured tannins laced with a minerality that has a gorgeous finish that makes one want to drink the whole bottle.

2014 Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac, Bordeaux: 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 6% Petit Verdot. Multilayered complexity with rosehips, graphite and upheaved earth all intertwined with a well-integrated structure that gives a supple quality and a very focused finish with tremendous energy.

2010 Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac, Bordeaux: 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. A nose that transports with sea spray, rainforest after a storm and a cooling breeze bringing faint aromas of pine with rich raspberry liqueur flavors and is tinged with fresh leather with a superb length of flavor, sensuous with its velvety texture.

Nothing could overshadow the majestic power of The Grill restaurant in New York City, an official landmark, the last vestige of opulent glamour located in the heart of Manhattan; nothing could overshadow it, nothing…

But sometimes the impossible is only that because the imagination cannot fathom such a thing existing, such as placing such a devastatingly gorgeous place in the background, especially considering that a more understated décor has dominated fine dining restaurants around NYC in recent years. But then one doesn’t expect to encounter such a tasting from one of the most iconic wine areas in the world, 56 Chianti Classico wines in all, going back to the 1949 vintage, coming out in a delightful parade, astonishing wine writers and sommeliers alike in a trade tasting that took place in the morning at The Grill.

It was the highlight tasting for 2024 as all of the wines were in great shape, still conveying a sense of fruit, freshness and vitality that was astonishing, especially considering the oldest wine was 75 years old and the youngest was 25. An impressive celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico, which today represents 480 Chianti Classico producers – a group that continues to protect and promote the historical area considered “Classico” in the Chianti area, giving it more prominence over other areas.

All the bottles of Chianti Classico wines were slowly marched out to find their way to glasses that sat in front of excited participants, many having labels that showed their advanced age. The landmark space in which these wines were carefully tasted seemed to fade to the background as if someone was rotating the focus ring on a camera. Only the bottles, the glasses and the slow pouring of the wine seemed to have a visual sharpness and the colors in the glasses ran the gamut from garnet to bright ruby, due to age differences, which would be followed by the most intoxicating, complex aromas that made one giddy even before the first sip. But on that particular day, three wines stood out, seemingly levitating with an astonishing beauty; many who collect and cellar wines know that bottles can have their good, bad and mind-blowing days, and it can be a cycle that goes up and down for many decades.

Those miraculous bottles were the 1969 Castello di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva ‘Vigna Il Poggio,’ 1985 Fèlsina Chianti Classico Riserva ‘Rancia’ and 1999 Castello di Querceto Chianti Classico Riserva.

Building A Strong Foundation

The Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico was founded in 1924 by 33 winemakers in the area, which is quite remarkable when one thinks about the timing as it was a handful of years after World War I, breaking up empires, redrawing dividing lines and leaving things in flux for many areas in Europe. The Industrial Revolution had already established itself in Tuscany with major industries like textile manufacturing taking over the region – eventually bringing more prosperity to some while destroying many others who were mainly part of the agricultural society that dominated the economy for so long. And so, while it seemed that any small family-run farming was doomed to fail and many abandoned their land to pursue a stable income in the cities, a group of family wine producers in Chianti Classico decided to give everything to their wines, as the whole purpose of their lives was to build on the glory of these historic wines.

One of those families, the François family, who helped to establish the Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico back in the 1920s, would go on to buy the Castello di Querceto estate and they were the only family with women present for the meeting that established this alliance of producers. Today, the François family has multi-generations running Castello di Querceto and they have certainly been innovators who have laid the foundation for higher-quality wine by focusing on single vineyards and altering vineyard management depending on the soil and micro-climates of various plots. They have become a pillar in making Chianti Classico a name associated with top quality and a strong sense of place.

Bringing To The Next Level

In the 1960s, “foreigners” started coming to Chianti Classico, bringing new ideas and a vibrant energy. Yet “foreigners” in this case doesn’t mean from another country – it means from another region in Italy, as each region is like its own country.

A young textile industrialist from the northern Italian region of Lombardy named Fabrizio Bianchi bought Castello di Monsanto with his father in 1961. He made it one of the most prestigious estates within just a few years. Fabrizio started to replant the vineyards, pulling out the white grape varieties as red and white were planted and fermented together in previous times, and he focused mainly on the Sangiovese grape variety. Today, his daughter Laura runs the estate.

Another industrialist, Domenico Poggiali, from the more eastern Italian region Emilia-Romagna, took over Fèlsina (Fattoria di Fèlsina) in 1964. The wines struggled for a time as there was no one who consistently oversaw the estate until Domenico’s daughter married a teacher named Giuseppe Mazzocolin. Domenico talked his son-in-law into giving up his teaching career to run the property. He threw himself into the job and was fortunate to befriend the legendary Luigi Veronelli, an Italian journalist who wielded incredible influence and stood by his principles to protect small winemakers, as well as artisan products, around Italy and his wealth of knowledge was such that those who were lucky could count on him for vital advice to lead them down the road to making outstanding wines.

Over seven years ago, a tribute in New York City was held for the legendary Italian journalist Luigi Veronelli, who had many of the top wine producers he heralded flying in for the occasion to pour a special wine for attendees. Giuseppe Mazzocolin, owner of Fèlsina, entered the stage with his 1985 “Grand Cru” Fontalloro wine – a wine that Luigi Veronelli deemed to be the first “Grand Cru” of Castelnuovo Berardenga in Chianti Classico.

First Italian Love

America’s first Italian wine love was Chianti with the understanding that Chianti Classico indicated higher quality. It is a wine not only with a deep and authentic history and culture but outsiders helped to bring the area closer to expressing a stronger sense of place as well as encouraging the natives to trust that their wines, which were at one time made for quantity as it helped farmers to get the calories they desperately needed, had the potential for a greatness that was beyond their dreams.

In a way, that is what makes Chianti, and especially Chianti Classico, in line with the American dream as it is about outsiders and the establishment coming together to raise the bar while keeping the soul of traditions alive to achieve a higher excellence that is appreciated around the world. And all of the 56 wines on display that day were showing quite well, even back to the 1949, as there were always a few producers who were crazy enough back then to place all their energies into making quality wine despite getting very little money for it. But it took a large group, such as the Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico, to work for decades to get everyone onboard with quality, and they are far from being satisfied as with each passing decade, the wines take another leap forward towards becoming even that much more impressive.

Sometimes it is easy to take one’s first love for granted, to get distracted by the newer, shinier wines that hit the market and cause a buzz, but if this 100th Anniversary tasting showed anything, it showed that these wines should be at the top of one’s list when it comes to seeking outstanding reds that become incredibly complex with age yet they don’t lose their vibrancy and that delectable fruit. It is good to revisit that first love and realize that one of the best wine experiences was always there, just waiting for its lover to return after other experiences to realize how good it really is.

My three favorite wines of the tasting:

1969 Castello di Monsanto, Chianti Classico Riserva ‘Vigna Il Poggio’: Electric energy with cranberries and rhubarb that expands and deepens in the mouth with black cherry tart flavors intermixed with baking spices and a long, aromatic finish that dazzles.

1985 Fèlsina, Chianti Classico Riserva ‘Rancia’: An enchanting nose of wildflowers and pressed rose petals with ripe, juicy red cherry fruit that has fine structured tannins on the palate with a long finish that leaves notes of pristine red fruit and wet stones in one’s head.

1999 Castello di Querceto, Chianti Classico Riserva: Intense minerality from the very first sip with crushed rocks and chalky minerality, with a rich body that has just the right amount of plush fruit balanced by fresh acidity highlighted by hints of forest floor with a long finish that caresses the palate like long strands of ribbons made of silk.