Dame Wine®

“Time for dinner,” is heard in the distance as a boy runs around with his dogs along steep rocky paths. The several layers of dirt that cover every inch of him indicate that it was a great day. “Time for dinner!” his mother yells a second time and the boy knows he shouldn’t press his luck so he dutifully runs back home. He sees his charming house coming up the road as he hurries down the path; it is a lovely place made of off-white stucco with ceramic roof tiles and an enchanting wrought iron balcony on the second floor where his mother stands to call for him. The boy dashes into the house before his mother can reach him and his grandparents at the dinner table immediately call for him to join them as he tracks dirt all over the house. His mother quickly enters the dining room and gives her son a quick wipe with a big, soft towel and, finally, everyone settles down for dinner as delicious smells emanate from the kitchen.

As night starts to descend around the home, the bright glowing lights from outside fade and the stories would begin. The boy’s grandfather and father talk about the family business, the current harvest, the concerns about costs and the plans for the future. The boy was transfixed on their discussions, never fully understanding what they were talking about but he knew he wanted to be part of the conversation one day. He would ask his grandfather to tell the stories he loved to hear about the past; no electricity, dangerous conditions along the river and the fight to preserve the way of life in their remote and desolate region. The grandfather was like a superhero to this young boy and the boy would wonder, one day, if he could become a heroic giant like his grandpa.

Once dinner was finished, the boy’s grandfather and father would go out onto the veranda, which during the day has a stunning view of the river and the ancient stone terraced vineyards on the side of surrounding mountains. It is an entirely different kind of beauty at night – the beauty of darkness and silence. Both his father and grandfather would quietly sit there, their bodies sinking in their chairs as they drank their Port¹ wine and a sense of serenity would wash over the boy making him wish he could freeze time at that moment, as no other feeling felt as good.

Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos 

All grandfathers seem like heroes to their grandchildren but, in this case, this grandfather, James Symington, played a pivotal role in his family’s legacy safeguarding Port production and the preservation of its ancient vineyards in the Douro Valley in Portugal. The home where James, his son Rupert and his grandson Hugh spent so much of their family time was on their Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos property.

The Graham’s Port house is where it all began for the Symington family, the largest owners of vineyards in the historic, designated Douro Valley wine region. In 1882, Andrew James Symington, James’ grandfather, left the comfort of Scotland to take an adventurous ocean voyage to Porto in Northern Portugal, a port city where much of the Port production was brought to export to other countries. He worked for a Scottish family, with the surname Graham (the founding family of Graham’s over 60 years earlier) and then eventually Andrew started his own Port business. From the beginning, the Graham family’s goal was to make exceptional Port wine and that was the foundation on which Andrew James Symington built his Symington Family Estates. A couple of generations later, Andrew’s grandson, James, with his siblings, purchased Graham’s from the founding family and with it, the estate of Quinta dos Malvedos which is at the heart of Graham’s Vintage Ports.

The outstanding quality of the Quinta dos Malvedos grapes make up the central core of Graham’s Vintage Ports when a vintage is declared and in years when a vintage is not declared, it makes a fantastic Single Quinta Vintage Port (SQVP), a single estate (a.k.a. quinta) from a single vintage. The SQVP category is one of the most exciting for Port wine collectors. Even more thrilling and rare is the bottling of Quinta dos Malvedos ‘The Stone Terraces,’ made only from two parcels of 18th-century schist stone-terraced vineyards on the Quinta dos Malvedos property, which has proven over time to produce a very distinctive sense of place.

Graham’s Six Grapes 

James Symington not only purchased Graham’s, where his grandfather started the legacy of the Symington Port family but he took another important property that used to source for Graham’s called Quinta da Vila Velha and he restored it to its former glory. James purchased the riverside property of Quinta da Vila Velha with his son Rupert back in the late 1980s and it became just as important of a place as Quinta dos Malvedos – where they would have their family dinners. And in honor of his father, Rupert is releasing a very special limited bottling of Graham’s ‘Six Grapes’ called Special Vila Velha Edition, sourced exclusively from a strict selection of Quinta da Vila Velha grapes.

The ‘Six Grapes’ label is an historic and iconic one rooted in the six grapes symbol used in the 1800s as a code for Graham’s winemakers to identify the barrels with the best wines, which were often bottled as Vintage Port. Starting in the early 1900s, Graham’s decided to bottle a Reserve Port selected from these barrels, and hence, why their ‘Six Grapes’ Reserve Port has always held a highly esteemed place within Graham’s portfolio, having higher status than even their LBV (Late Bottled Vintage) Port. 

Although ‘Six Grapes’ Reserve Port does not have the rarity or exclusive appeal that the SQVP or ‘The Stone Terraces’ may have, it does consistently have a beautiful expression of fruit with an overall vibrant and youthful quality that over-delivers for the modest price and it is widely available on the marketplace as it is an extremely popular brand. It is the ideal wine to introduce Port to a novice as it gives a good impression of the incredible aromatics, flavors and complexity that the Douro Valley can express, especially when it comes from top-selected barrels from Graham’s estates, yet there is tons of bright, juicy fruit making it irresistibly delicious. And so, it is perfect for new Port drinkers as well as more seasoned, ones who prefer to have a bottle of ‘Six Grapes’ as an everyday wine, which is easy, especially considering the bottle will last up to six weeks after being opened.

Because of the popularity of ‘Six Grapes,’ there has been a demand for special edition bottlings and so other special editions include Six Grapes: Special River Quintas Edition, which is made from two of Graham’s top estates and Six Grapes: Special Old Vines Edition which is sourced from old vines over 40 years old.

The Spirit of the Douro Valley

After a long stretch of grueling working hours that can go on for several months, there is nothing more precious to Rupert Symington than spending time in that serene silence on the veranda at his Quinta dos Malvedos family home. But nowadays, instead of him connecting in that silence with his father, James, he spends it with that little boy, now a man, his son Hugh, who has taken some of the heavy burden of helping with sales in the U.S. As they share a glass of Port, the Six Grapes Special Vila Velha Edition, they bask in the memories of Rupert’s father, Hugh’s grandfather, who passed away two years ago. As the moonlight shines slivers of light cutting through the dark cover of night, it hints at the glimpses of ancient terraces carved within steep slopes, enhanced by the sound of the flowing river. “This is what the Douro is all about,” Rupert says softly, as he and Hugh go back to silently drinking their Port honoring a heroic giant of the Douro Valley.

***Link to original article on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathrinetodd/2022/12/02/special-limited-edition-portuguese-wine-honoring-a-leading-figure-in-the-douro-valley/

A quick note about Port wine: it can be a misnomer to think of it as a sweet wine that should only be paired with dessert. Because Port has many layers of complexity, the higher the quality status, the more layers and so the sweetness takes a backseat to the multifaceted aromas, flavors and structure. Its residual sugars are natural sugars from the grapes so the sugar is also part of the expression of grape varieties, place and hundreds of years of tradition. It is very easy to forget that it is a sweet wine when tasted, as due to all the complex layers, it is great to pair with hearty meals and fantastic with spicy foods such as curry. But since the natural fruit sugars balance all the other layers, it is an entirely balanced wine that can be consumed on its own.

NV Graham’s Six Grapes Reserve Ruby Port: When one thinks about how many people love to drink wines with a sweet quality that are just marketing gimmicks, Six Grapes, which has beautiful sweet red fruit yet also violets, smoldering earth and dry herbs wrapped in great energy and overall freshness, becomes a more authentic choice than many of these other wines that hits one over the head with one-dimensional sweetness. Retailing around $25 and lasting around six weeks after opening, it is one of the best ways to satisfy that sweet fruit craving.

NV Graham’s Six Grapes Reserve Ruby Port, Special River Quintas Edition: The regular Six Grapes Reserve is already impressive, and always has been, but this Special River Quintas Edition takes it up several notches. Wow! The quality of the tannins is exquisite as they set up a firm framework on the entry to bring precision and focus to the generous fruit yet once it hits the mid-palate and the finish, the tannins melt into silky ribbons. Plush mid-palate with flavors of plum pie balanced by zesty orange peel, and again, those tannins – impressive! Only retailing between $40-$45 as it delivers at a much higher price point.

NV Graham’s Six Grapes Reserve Ruby Port, Special Vila Velha Edition: The beautiful homage to James Symington by his son Rupert that features James’ beloved Vila Velha estate. Candied violets and rose petals with smoked black tea and crushed rocks with intense blackberry and cassis flavors with fine tannins; only 12,000 bottles produced.

2020 Graham’s Vintage Port: This Vintage Port celebrates the bicentennial anniversary of Graham’s. Lots of brambly berries with hints of tarragon and citrus blossoms that has a sculpted texture balanced by plenty of fleshy fruit on the palate that has a lifted and extended expressive finish.

Vertical of Quinta dos Malvedos:

1987 Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos Vintage Port: Lit cigar with dried red currants with bay leaf and high acidity that has an expressive finish with notes of star anise and fennel fronds.

1999 Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos Vintage Port: Lifted, bright aromas of eucalyptus and pine that is nimble as it dances on the palate with juicy cassis and vibrant red cherry flavors with fresh tobacco leaves in the background.

2004 Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos Vintage Port: This wine immediately jumped out of the glass with an aromatic nose of dark fruit, cocoa dust and broken slate and if one thinks it can’t get any better than the nose, then wait, the palate is incredible with supple fruit texture, richly decadent body and an extremely long and flavorful finish.

2010 Graham’s Quinta dos Malvedos Vintage Port: This wine is extremely harmonious already at this relatively young age for a Vintage Port. Fresh mint on the nose with layers of stony minerality and kirsch on the juicy palate intermixed with bitter dark chocolate and spices with a lovely freshness on the finish.

¹Port is a fortified wine with a neutral spirit added during fermentation, leaving some of the natural sugars from the grapes in the final product.

While the California wine industry was moving towards a more technical approach, a group of men who desperately wanted to connect with nature decided to throw themselves into making wine in California during the early 1960s. They had heard about a legendary vineyard on the Monte Bello Ridge high up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Central Coast of California, an area planted with vines since the 1870s that piqued their interest. The Monte Bello cool climate Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards, planted on terraced slopes with limestone soil, with temperatures moderated by the Pacific Ocean and high altitudes up to 2,700 feet, seemed as if it would produce elegant wines but they needed to be sure.

The men purchased a small plot within the Monte Bello estate with which they would make a quarter-barrel of wine during the 1960 and 1961 vintages and it was one of the best wines they had ever had; so, the men re-bonded the winery on their property as Ridge Vineyards in 1962. But they didn’t want to get in the way of this fantastic vineyard, and hence, they pushed back against the wine technical driving force surrounding them at the time. They were going to start a wine revolution by proving that less is more when expressing terroir. Ironically, all of these men were Stanford Research Institute engineers.

Ridge Vineyards 

The founding engineers (Dave Bennion, Hew Crane, Charlie Rosen and Howard Ziedlerfirst) were able to slowly buy back various plots of the original Monte Bello estate, adding a field blend vineyard down the road dominated by Zinfandel grape vines, planted in the late 1800s, to their portfolio. They made their first Zinfandel in 1966 after their first official Monte Bello Cabernet Sauvignon in 1962.

After increasing their production to fewer than 3,000 cases a year, far from where they needed to be to make a profit, they found a winemaker, a Stanford graduate in philosophy, Paul Draper, to join their partnership. Paul is a living legend, who, from the very start, shared the low intervention, more natural approach aligned with the founding engineers’ mission. He restored the old limestone winery built into the mountainside that the first vineyard owner constructed in the 1890s and he felt that their resources needed to be put into leasing and buying top vineyard sites that would help them establish a global reputation for outstanding wines. Unlike many people with lofty goals, he was able to achieve such a feat. But making wine, in California of all places in the ’60s and ’70s, that would compete in the fine wine world yet made with natural practices, wasn’t the only revolution he started.

Ingredient Labeling 

“After making my first four vintages of Monte Bello (’69, ’70, ’71, ’72) and tasting again the superb ’62 and ’64 made by the founding partners, I thought we should do something to show how few ingredients are needed to make truly fine wine,” noted Paul Draper. When Paul reached out to the federal authority that approved wine labels all those decades ago, he was told “no”; because it was not required, no one else did it and it would be confusing to customers. With federal approval in 2008, a neighboring winery in Santa Cruz Mountains had a list of ingredients on many of its wine labels, so Paul was determined that Ridge Vineyards would do the same. With Ridge’s 2011 vintage, they began to list ingredients on their labels as well as explain each ingredient on their website. Paul further explained his intentions, “As more of our estate vineyards were certified organic and we could put “organically grown” on the label, we began to ask ourselves, does “organic” mean anything at all for your health if chemical additives were used once the grapes reached the winery?” 

Ridge Vineyards is also atypical for a medium-sized winery as they have had their own lab since 1971, as most wineries back then had their analysis done by outside wine laboratories. Today’s head winemaker and COO of Ridge, John Olney, talked about how over the past several decades, Ridge has built a sophisticated laboratory that helps to complement their hands-off approach in their winery as it allows for natural fermentation, lower levels of sulfites and the minimum amount of invention during the winemaking practices by making sure that the wine is always in a stable state during each stage. 

Of course, this does not mean that those who are not using ingredient labeling should be accused of using undesirable additives as, for some, it is a cost that they cannot take on, or many producers find it could create fear and confusion of listing natural additives in tiny quantities that are misunderstood by the public; such as small amounts of sulfur in wine that is much lower than many of the food products that people eat daily. Yet one thing is for sure, Ridge gives a pure expression of their vineyards that deserve nothing less as the fruit is stunning.

Motive: Marketing or Philosophy 

Today, it has become trendy for relatively new, big-brand wines to list their ingredients, giving the impression that they are made of purer ingredients that are better for the consumer than most other wines on the market. This is a very dangerous marketing campaign because it maligns other wine producers who have decided to focus on their vineyards, history and philosophy instead of an ingredient list and just simply saying that there are grapes in the wine and not much else doesn’t tell a consumer the whole story of what is in that bottle.

But Ridge Vineyards, started by engineers and a philosophy major, wasn’t exactly being run by marketing experts – far from it! There is no doubt about Monte Bello having an illustrious history and sense of place that some have called America’s First Growth and Ridge is rooted in a solid commitment to avoid anything that gets in the way of wine drinkers being able to experience the true glory of their vineyards.

Paul made a valid point that putting “organic” on a wine label seemed pointless if one didn’t know the ingredients in the bottle. But what is remarkable is that many fine wine connoisseurs worldwide love the Ridge Vineyards wines and their hearts skip a beat when Monte Bello comes to the table – and some have no idea of their commitment to low-intervention winemaking and ingredient labeling. His philosophy in showing the world what is in the bottle, unadulterated, is to stand behind the greatness of his vineyards. And 60 years after the first official vintage of Ridge Vineyards, it is finally getting wider recognition for being one of the first to push for complete transparency in the wine world.  

***Link to original article on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathrinetodd/2022/11/30/the-california-wine-revolution-natural-practices-for-fine-wine-celebrates-60th-anniversary/

60th Anniversary Ridge Vineyards Tasting:

David Gates, senior vice president of vineyard operations, said that they only make a small quantity of Monte Bello Chardonnay in certain vintages. When it comes to the difference between the Estate Chardonnay and the Monte Bello Chardonnay, the Monte Bello is a parcel and barrel selection of the best Estate Chardonnay.

2012 Ridge Vineyards, Monte Bello Chardonnay: Ripe golden apples and honeysuckle with a smoky minerality with hints of nutmeg with good concentration balanced by a nimble energy.

2006 Ridge Vineyards, Monte Bello Chardonnay: Lots of chalky minerality right off the bat with lemon custard and graham cracker flavors that had a creamy yet textured body with bright acidity and lots of energy on the finish.

“The founders were looking for only Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards in California in the 1960s, and instead, they found all these field blends, including Lytton Springs and Geyserville,” said John Olney, head winemaker and COO. The first Ridge Zinfandel blend was Geyserville in 1966, with a section of the vineyard containing vines more than 130 years old; the vineyard is composed of Zinfandel, Carignane, Petite Sirah and Mataro (Mourvèdre). And another iconic Zinfandel of Ridge is Lytton Springs which had its first vintage in 1972. Lytton Springs has Zinfandel vines that are over a century old and interplanted with Petite Sirah, Carignane, Grenache and small amount of Mataro (Mourvèdre). And despite the vineyards only being two miles apart, the Geyserville “has a little firmer acidity, more red fruit, rounder, more forward” than the Lytton Springs, according to John Olney.

2005 Ridge Vineyards, Geyserville from 3-Liter bottle: An open and generous nose with lush red cherries and baking spices intermixed with star anise and a gracefully broad body with fleshy fruit that has lots of energy on the finish.

1999 Ridge Vineyards, Geyserville from 3-Liter: Broken earth with subtle hints of raspberries and rhubarb with white pepper and poppy seeds and silky tannins and refreshing acidity.

2005 Ridge Vineyards, Lytton Springs from 3-Liter: Blackcurrant fruit with notes of licorice and dried herbs with structured tannins that give lift to the concentrated fruit.

1999 Ridge Vineyards, Lytton Springs from 3-Liter: This shows how Ridge’s Zinfandel blends can age beautifully with plenty of supple black cherry fruit with added layers of black pepper and crushed rock that has tannins with big shoulders balanced by plush black fruit on the mid-palate; a harmonious wine.

Monte Bello was initially 100% Cabernet Sauvignon until 1975, but through time Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot were planted as it was difficult to fully ripen the Cabernet Sauvignon decades ago in the cool climate of Santa Cruz Mountains, just like in Bordeaux, and so other Bordeaux varieties were added to bring balance. The 1964, listed as the last wine, was only 11.5% alcohol.

2013 Ridge Vineyards, Monte Bello: 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Petit Verdot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 5% Merlot. Ridge Vineyards usually re-releases their Monte Bello wines again onto the market after ten years, and so this 2013 is currently available on the market. This is a stunning wine, from the multi-faceted aromas and flavors of cassis, espresso, truffles and a stony minerality with plush texture that has firm tannins with racy acidity giving vitality to the intensely concentrated fruit along the extraordinarily long finish. Wow!

2005 Ridge Vineyards, Monte Bello from Magnum: 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc. Redcurrant preserves with cocoa powder and upheaved earth with hints of fresh sage and slightly firm tannins that has lots of juicy fruit on the palate.

1996 Ridge Vineyards, Monte Bello from Magnum: 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot and 9% Petit Verdot. A lovely aromatic nose that is still so vibrant with boysenberry and black raspberry with allspice in the background that has intense flavors on the palate with lots of focused energy.

1988 Ridge Vineyards, Monte Bello from Magnum: John Olney said that this wine does have a bit of Brettanomyces (Brett) as it was a learning process of how to work naturally without unwanted yeasts converting into sometimes off-putting aromas during fermentation. But Brett can range in qualities from barnyard to gamey notes and this wine has a hint of grilled pork ribs, which is an aroma loved by some people and so the Brett may not be an issue for some, adding layers of smoldering earth, brambly fruit and tree bark with a textured body.

1977 Ridge Vineyards, Monte Bello from Magnum: Smoky note that is reminiscent of lit charcoal, wild berries and graphite with blueberry scones and bacon fat with a linear body with fierce energy and lift on the finish.

1964 Ridge Vineyards, Monte Bello: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. Fresh tobacco leaf and hints of tar with layers of sandalwood, cigar box and forest floor in the background that has well-integrated tannins and marked acidity, giving a mouthwatering finish.

The surreal California coastline seems like a dream to a young man from Burgundy, France, who was swept away by the place, the wines and the people who have a casual, warm temperament balanced by a fast-paced creative energy. He became completely inspired by the idea that anything is possible in this stunning paradise while meeting people from all over the world who have moved to “The Golden State” to live their dreams. The 24-year-old young man was to stay two to three years in California just after having graduated from the University of Dijon to gain international experience so he could return to his family’s wine estate, Edouard Delaunay, to work with his father, hopefully bringing valuable contributions back from his time spent in the U.S.

“You should come back! Your father is tired and he needs help!” said the young man’s mother on the phone one day after he had barely spent a year in California. And so, he didn’t question it but jumped on a plane back home where he would help his father. But something wasn’t right as the young man’s father did not seem like the same man that he was before he left. And his father’s ability to perform everyday tasks seemed to get more difficult for him as time went on; within a few months, his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. While mourning the loss of the father he knew, this young man needed to take over quickly during an unfortunate economic time in 1991. It was during the first Gulf War and inflation was high with a significant increase in the cost of living. Moreover, Burgundy’s property taxes had already become exorbitant and this young man needed to make sure his parents had enough money to live out the rest of their retirement.

So the young man reached out to one of his father’s longtime friends, Jean-Claude Boisset, who had already bought many vineyards and wineries in Burgundy to purchase Edouard Delaunay. That way, the young man’s parents would have a nice nest egg, even if it left him with nothing. So he decided to move down to the South of France with his future wife, a winemaker from the Rhône Valley (just south of Burgundy). She had heard that the Languedoc wine region in the South was the best place for young people with zero resources to start a winemaking business. 

No Money But a Strong Work Ethic 

That young man was Laurent Delaunay and his family’s estate, Edouard Delaunay, was named after the founder and his great-grandfather; in an ideal world, he would have been the fifth generation taking over. But life had other plans, so Laurent, with the help of his wife Catherine, went down to the Languedoc to figure out how they could make wine with “no winery, no vineyards, no money, no anything.”

“We were able to convince some local people to allow us to make our own wines in their wineries,” said Laurent. And with lots of hard work, they made wine while quickly developing new markets around the world, especially in the U.S., from 1995 to 2003. Then, one day, he received a call from an old friend back home as his friend’s father wanted to retire – he was an owner of a small company in Burgundy that distributed and marketed the wines of small Burgundy producers. It was an excellent opportunity to find a way back to Burgundy. Even though he and his wife had successful businesses in the South and they had very little time to dwell on the past, Laurent wanted to renew that connection with what he lost. They were back living in Burgundy and grew their business to represent 180 Burgundy producers, becoming the largest distributor of small, independent domaines¹. But as Laurent got older, frustration started to build as he wasn’t making his own wines in Burgundy. He had a few opportunities to buy some vineyards and then a négociant² house but none of those deals worked out and it didn’t seem right in his gut.

Then, one day, as fate would have it, Laurent saw Jean-Claude Boisset at a restaurant in the Burgundy village of Nuits-Saint-Georges and after Jean-Claude’s guests left, Laurent took that serendipitous moment to invite Jean-Claude to join him for coffee. At one point in their conversation, Laurent mentioned his old family’s estate that he sold to Jean-Claude and that he was seeing it on the market less and less, which Jean-Claude admitted that they had bought a lot of wineries lately and they hadn’t given the Edouard Delaunay name the attention that it needed. Laurent asked if he could buy his family’s estate name and winery back and Jean-Claude agreed as he always respected what Laurent did for his parents. But Jean-Claude would not sell back the vineyards, which probably would have been impossible for Laurent to buy anyways as some of their vineyards were in the very expensive village of Chambolle-Musigny.

Edouard Delaunay

When Laurent walked back into his family winery, he was struck by the intense emotions he felt that were buried deep within him. Seeing all the areas where he would play as a child and the smells that were unique to his family’s cellars brought back a flood of memories that mainly conjured all those times he spent with his father teaching him various winemaking techniques as an adolescent, an adolescent who dreamt of the day he would work side by side with his father as a man, which sadly never came to pass. At that moment, he swore he would bring Edouard Delaunay back to its glory by reestablishing the name among the top Burgundy wines of the world. So first, he completely renovated the winery with state-of-the-art equipment to accommodate small-volume, high-quality wine. Next, he hired his winemaker, Christophe Briotet, the chief winemaker and cellar master at the School of Viticulture in Beaune. Laurent’s father had always respected those chosen to be the chief winemaker at the School of Viticulture in Beaune as he felt they picked the people who had the best sense of how to express the terroir of the various vineyards in Burgundy.

The last thing he needed was to find grapes to buy, so Laurent reached out to everyone in his network to give him the contact information for the growers he most wanted to work with in Burgundy. And even though being from Burgundy himself, he knew that growers have long relationships with well-known winemakers and négociants², and they would never jeopardize those relationships by working with a new producer in town who wanted to give a go at making Burgundy wine. But never say never, especially when it comes to certain circumstances, as all the producers were thrilled that he was resurrecting his family’s estate and they were more than happy to sell him grapes; some would even set aside the equivalent of a couple of barrels of their grapes from their top Grand Cru vineyards just for him because as they saw it, it was his “birthright.”

His first vintage was 2017 and they produced wines from 20 different appellations³ from the heart of Burgundy in the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune. Laurent slowly increased their offerings over the years and today they make wines from around 30 different appellations. He has also taken on the task of expanding into the vineyards of the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, where his winery is located, only three miles outside of the well-known red wine village of Nuits-Saint-Georges. He makes the case that the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune, which makes up the most valuable Burgundy vineyard land known as the Golden Slope a.k.a. Côte-d’Or, were designated with incredible skill and accuracy by the monks many centuries ago yet no one has formally designated the vineyards of the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits. The Hautes-Côtes de Nuits has Jurassic limestone soil and the vineyards range in altitude between 980 to 1,300 feet; such altitude could be more ideal today with consistently warmer temperatures due to climate change.  

Within a short time, Laurent’s winemaker, Christophe Briotet, has won awards from the International Wine Challenge (IWC), first winning Red Winemaker of the Year in 2020 and then White Winemaker of the Year in 2021. And last year, Laurent was asked to become the president of the Bourgogne Wine Board (BIVB), a non-for-profit organization of wine growers/winemakers and négociants that handle the present and future challenges of the Burgundy wine region. As someone who had already been through a multi-generational wine family’s worst nightmare of having to sell, as well as being a great businessman and marketer by building a successful business with global distribution out of nothing, there is no one better suited for the job. And so Laurent goes around the world talking to various wine enthusiast groups to inform and inspire them about the current state of Burgundy and where the wine region wants to go in the future. One of the things he would like to implement is to inform English-speaking countries like the U.S. that the name of Burgundy in French is Bourgogne (pronounced bor·gaan·yuh) as they are the only wine region in France where the name is changed in English.

Stronger Foundation Avoids Desperation

Laurent had everything anyone wanted: successful businesses, fulfilling work and a great partner in life with his talented wife Catherine, however, there was still something missing as one should never live in regret, especially when life forces one’s hand. He did the right thing when it came to taking care of his parents but it was undoubtedly a very unfair position for someone who wasn’t even 25 years old to have to navigate. Overwhelmed with a bad economy, escalating inflation and excessive property taxes, he needed more than ever to talk to his father and lean on him for advice and comfort. But his father needed him and the clock was ticking so he did what he had to do, only thinking of his parents.

And so, although it doesn’t make business sense to try to reinvigorate and reestablish a neglected family estate in a highly competitive Burgundy fine wine market, when one hears Laurent’s story, it makes complete sense, as a part of him was taken the day he sold. 

Laurent is grateful for every grape that enters his winery from all the wine grape growers who are willing to sell him his “birthright” as no one knows more than he does what it is like to have great vineyards, that are part of one’s legacy, to be swiftly lost by the cruelty of the randomness of life. 

He has never felt closer to his father, as all the precious time he spends in the winery and cellars is filled with memories that are as vivid as if they happened yesterday. The transition of one generation to the other did not happen the way Laurent’s father wanted it to happen but Laurent has more than made up for that over the past five years. And as unfortunate as the initial selling of his family’s estate may seem, it gave him the drive to go down to the South of France to build a booming wine business gaining marketing savvy and global distribution know-how. And he is now part of helping other small, independent Burgundy wine producers build a strong business foundation for their multi-generational estates, so what happened to him decades ago never has to happen to another family again. 

***Link to original Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathrinetodd/2022/11/27/a-family-wine-estate-lost-while-dealing-with-fathers-alzheimers/

The French word Bourgogne is used below instead of the English word Burgundy:

2018 Edouard Delaunay, Chassagne-Montrachet 1^er Cru “Les Baudines”, Côte de Beaune, Bourgogne: 100% Chardonnay. Lovely Anjou pear, crumbled hazelnuts and a touch of warm spice on the nose with juicy nectarine fruit on the palate intermixed with dried lemon verbena and good mid-palate weight with a long, expressive finish.  

2020 Gruhier & Delaunay – Associated Cousins, Chablis Grand Cru “Les Preuses”, Chablis, Bourgogne: 100% Chardonnay. Intense chalky nose with a fierce stony minerality highlighted with lemon blossom that becomes mouthwatering on the palate with flavors of lemon zest and white peach that has lots of energy on the mineral-laced finish.

2020 Edouard Delaunay, Hautes-Côtes de Nuits “Les Rouards”, Bourgogne: 100% Pinot Noir. This non-designated vineyard called Les Rouards is near the Vosne-Romanée border and so it has similar beautiful floral notes with a silky texture that has plenty of backbone – interesting to see how this will age in time. Ripe black cherries, cinnamon stick and broken earth dominate the flavor profile at this time but there seems to be so much more underneath waiting to evolve with time.

2019 Edouard Delaunay, Nuits-Saint-Georges Village, Côte de Nuits, Bourgogne: 100% Pinot Noir. This Nuits-Saint-Georges village wine is a blend of three vineyards that come from older vines. One is north-facing and so the fruit is more aromatic with high acidity and the other two plots are south-facing and so they bring the richness and body to balance out the other plot. Crushed rocks, fresh tarragon and a touch of cumin seeds with concentrated and zingy flavors of raspberry coulis on the palate that has fine tannins and a linear drive to the finish.

2018 Edouard Delaunay, Nuits-Saint-Georges 1^er Cru “Aux Murgers”, Côte de Nuits, Bourgogne: 100% Pinot Noir. Wet stones and dried cranberries on the nose with an intoxicating smoldering incense aroma in the background that has dark, brooding fruit and finely etched tannins with a long, flavorful finish.

2019 Edouard Delaunay, Nuits-Saint-Georges 1^er Cru “Les Crots”, Côte de Nuits, Bourgogne: 100% Pinot Noir. Lifted aromatic nose with lilacs and cherry blossom grounded in an underlying compelling undergrowth aroma with extremely silky tannins that caress the palate with fleshy red cherry and a stunning delicacy on the finish with pristine fruit and minerality.

2019 Hospices de Nuits, Nuits-Saint-Georges 1^er Cru “Les Porrets St. Georges”, Côte de Nuits, Bourgogne: 100% Pinot Noir. A very pretty wine with lots of violets and blueberry fruit that has plum pie flavors on the palate intermixed with ripe red cherry fruit that has an overall elegance balanced by fruit generosity. Laurent talked about how the Hospices de Beaune is very well-known but the Hospices de Nuits needs to be rediscovered. It is much smaller than the Hospices de Beaune auction and it is focused on the 1er Crus of Nuits-Saint-Georges. The Hospices de Nuits, which owns 30 acres, is the largest land owner of 1^er Crus of Nuits-Saint-Georges, according to Laurent. The auction happens on the 3^rd Sunday of March and so it is later than the Hospices de Beaune, and hence, the wines are already tasting better and MLF has almost finished. The auction takes place at Château du Clos de Vougeot and it has recently been opened to the public.

2019 Edouard Delaunay, Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru, Côte de Nuits, Bourgogne: 100% Pinot Noir. This wine’s aroma was wafting from the glass the moment it was poured, begging the Burgundy lover to try an extraordinary wine that was multi-layered with black truffles, forest floor, pressed rose petals and jasmine flower; supple fruit on the exquisitely textured body with velvety tannins and sexy concentrated red fruit that is at the same time charming with its nuanced delivery of the fruit with an outstandingly long finish. Stellar wine!

¹Domaines are parcels of land under the control of the winemaker/owner in Burgundy.

²Standard wine négociants buy wine and handle the packaging, marketing and sales. Also, there are some négociants that will buy grapes or unfermented wine juice and do the winemaking themselves, or they buy fermented wine and make tiny improvements to the wine as well as age it.

³An appellation is a designated wine area many times to indicate quality status with it specifically used in Burgundy under categories such as villages (communes), 1er Cru (Premier Cru) vineyards and Grand Cru vineyards.

As the group descended the seemingly endless flights of stairs, the temperature significantly dropped with many throwing on a jacket they had brought. At the bottom of this downward journey, deep below the ground, was dim lighting sporadically placed at the top of the tunnels carved within the solid chalk soil. It was so quiet that one of the men in the group could hear his heartbeat as he walked down these passages. A tremendous amount of excitement started to build within him because this was his initiation into becoming an essential part of a great Champagne house with a longtime chief winemaker who is a living legend within the Champagne world. 

Suddenly, there it was, the purpose for such a journey finally presented itself after various smaller caves were passed until they arrived at the place where an extremely important induction would take place; the new chief winemaker for Piper-Heidsieck, Emilien Boutillat, was about to taste his first old vintage of Piper with the previous chief winemaker Régis Camus. In a section of the small cave in which Régis and Emilien entered was written “1982” on a sign with a stack of bottles behind it that seemed to have decades of dust on them. 

There Régis would choose one of the Extra Brut Vintage 1982 bottles that would be tasted with a twin 1982 bottle, a twin that was alike in almost every way except for one stage of its life, and that one change would end up placing the twins on different journeys.

1982 Vintage Hors-Série Edition 

Last year, the new chief winemaker at Piper-Heidsieck, Emilien Boutillat, released the first edition of his own personal Piper project called Hors-Série – a name used by French magazines to indicate a “special edition.” The Hors-Série project allows Emilien to be completely free in expressing his creativity, whether it is releasing an older vintage that displays an exciting aspect of Piper’s past or illustrates something new such as a winemaking technique or how they are combating climate change. The second edition of Hors-Série, just recently released, shows how Piper-Heidsieck was ahead of the trend, several decades ago, by making Extra Brut Champagne which is drier than Brut Champagne.¹ 

This Piper-Heidsieck Extra Brut was called ‘Brut Sauvage’ as it displayed the “wild” side of Piper; it was an extremely unorthodox choice in the 1980s as Extra Brut wasn’t a trend and barely known at the time and the fierce acidity that many times were present in these wines was too much for the consumers back then. Of course, the ‘Brut Sauvage’ of the 80s should not be confused with the Piper-Heidsieck Rosé Sauvage of today as that is a Brut Champagne Rosé and today Piper has an Extra Brut Champagne under the name ‘Essentiel.’

Emilien talked about how releasing the 1982 Extra Brut Champagne was a way to show consumers the “bold side” of Piper that was beyond its time and besides it being the first old vintage of Piper-Heidsieck he tasted, the vintage is similar to the current 2022 growing season; 1982 was considered a warmer vintage like 2022 yet what was considered warmer back in the 1980s is entirely different than today. The 1982 vintage produced concentrated grapes so it was ideal for making as an Extra Brut only adding four g/L (grams per liter) during the dosage² as the acidity wouldn’t have been as sharp. And in a way, it was unknowingly a first step in finding balance with climate change even though permanent changing conditions, such as higher average temperatures, weren’t considered the severe threat it is today.

And down the line, Emilien said he has some exciting bottlings to release that will show how Piper-Heidsieck finds harmony with much warmer vintages.

Twins with Different Life Experiences 

Not only will Champagne enthusiasts be able to try the limited edition of the Hors-Série 1982 bottle just recently released onto the market but they will also be able to taste two 1982 twins that have gone on two different journeys. There will be another release that will be extremely limited within a two-bottle box, including the Hors-Série, which was disgorged³ in January of 2022, and the other, the Brut Sauvage, disgorged in 1992. Both of the bottles not only come from the same vintage, but they are the same blend and went through the same winemaking process (both have four g/L residual sugar added during dosage), yet when it comes to disgorgement, they have taken two different paths. It is fascinating to taste them side by side, tasting two older Vintage Champagnes that have the same heart and soul, which are noted in both the core of each wine, yet there are several nuances of variations between the twins.

This new release of the 1982 Hors-Série, especially the box set of the twins, is multilayered in the wines’ expressions and their combined story; a story that shows the deep respect Piper-Heidsieck has for the past but is ready to make giant leaps into the future.

And in a way, these two bottles represent the changing of the guard from the legendary former chief winemaker Régis Camus to the current, Emilien Boutillat. Both men were born and raised in Champagne and have a passion for excelling by making the best Champagne in the world. Still, Régis started immediately working for a Champagne house. In contrast, Emilien worked in various wine regions such as iconic producers in Bordeaux, the Southern Rhône, as well as New Zealand, California, Chile and South Africa. One journey is not better than the other as they both have what they need at the core, but certainly, a different life experience is navigating Piper-Heidsieck into the future.

This is a future that still holds a lot of surprises and it is only just the beginning of this new chapter, a chapter that started when Emilien took his first sip of the 1982. 

***Link to original article published on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathrinetodd/2022/11/18/exciting-release-of-an-extra-brut-vintage-champagne-wine-that-is-40-years-old/

There are 2,500 single boxes of the 1982 Hors-Série and 500 dual boxes of the 1982 Hors-Série and the 1982 Brut Sauvage. Emilien and his team have tasted all the bottles to ensure that all bottles released onto the market are in great shape. And the labels of the wines are similar to the past Extra Brut Sauvage labels, with the dual box set highlighting the twins as there are two holograms which, when moved side to side, shows the changing names of Hors-Série and Sauvage alternating from box to box. 

Single Box release of Hors-Série:

Hors-Série 1982: 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay. There is a lifted brightness on the nose with intense minerality and notes of citrus flower that becomes more like juicy peach on the palate with vibrant acidity – a beautiful balance of complex aromatics, fresh fruit and lots of energy with a very long, expressive finish with notes of salty lemon and toasted bread. Suggested retail price is $599. 

Dual Box release of Hors-Série and Brut Sauvage:

Hors-Série 1982: 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay; tasting note given above. 

Brut Sauvage 1982: 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay. There is more evolution with the Brut Sauvage 1982 compared with the Hors-Série 1982. Decadent notes on the nose such as honeycomb, pineapple upside down cake and brioche with a creamier palate that feels lush in the mouth with a long, flavorful finish and a touch of caramelized apples. It is interesting how the 1982 Brut Sauvage is creamier and richer on the palate than the Hors-Série as one might think that the one on lees longer (the Hors-Série) would have more creaminess on the palate but the post-disgorgement aging, known as the maillard reaction between the sugars (added at dosage) and amino acids, can create a richness that might explain why the Brut Sauvage is creamier. Suggested retail price is $1,500.

¹ The Brut Champagne category is allowed to add 0 to 12 g/L of sugar to the dosage but many times, in practice, the amount added is between 10 to 12 g/L to balance the high acidity. The Extra Brut category is only allowed between 0 to 6g/L as it is a drier style.

² Dosage is the tiny amount of wine that tops off the Champagne bottle after disgorgement.

³ Disgorgement is the ejection of the deposit collected in the bottle’s neck due to the remuage process. Remuage is the process that allows the sediment (lees created by the second fermentation in the bottle to develop bubbles) to collect in the neck of the bottle in preparation for disgorgement.