Question: Sid would you kindly provide a short explanation of the difference in how a wine shows when made from young or old vines?
Answer: Very difficult to do succinctly and the issue is somewhat controversial. So many factors influence how a wine shows when it ultimately is poured into your glass for tasting. Young vines with their first few crops can express an interesting explosion of fresh fruit. Generally though IMHO older vines produce lower yields of smaller concentrated berries resulting in more complex intense aromas & flavours reflecting their terroir. Some feel that opinion is a myth and you can get the same result from mature vines densely planted cropped for lower yields. Interesting to learn that the average age of cabernet sauvignon vines in Napa Valley is well below 20 years of age. A mature vine usually needs to be roughly 15-25. “Old vines” must be older but the “historic” classification required over 50 but there are discussions to move downward to 40. With global climate change it is becoming more important to note that younger vines usually show a higher pH level with lower acidity (tending to lose that acidity more quickly) than older vines of lower pH and higher acidity tending to retain it. Increasing warmer vintages everywhere may well show a difference in the balance of the wines from young and old vines in the future from the decade of 2020s.
Pleased to learn that so many of the members of IWFS are keen to get together for this new reality of virtual wine tastings. Your scribe was invited to be the guest speaker at 2 inaugural ones held this past week by the Vancouver Branch on May 25 featuring wonderfully delicious Okanagan pinot noirs and by Boston on May 31 on the topic of Chablis. President Peter Graffman with Communications Chair Sandy Kraft organized a super turn-out of enthusiastic Chablis lovers. Scheduled to open with my half hour overview on Chablis history and especially vineyard differences it turned into over an hour masterclass with questions followed by apparently another hour of further discussions after I left the Zoom meeting. Well done.
There is an ever increasing focus on terroir with a sense of place for all wines from around the world. Chablis has become one of the top benchmarks for this movement. No other wine region is better in spotlighting their unique style they are able to produce in spite of difficulties from frost, hail and global warming. Detailed analysis of the vineyards was useful in differentiating the supposed limit of 6800 hectares with on-going plantings in Petit Chablis (885+) and Chablis AC (3370+) plus Premier Cru (780) and Grand Cru (110: only 250+ acres or 2% of the total). Time spent on differences between Premier Cru Right Bank “warm rich & powerful” led by Montee de Tonnerre (in 3 parts of Pied D’Aloup at top of the slope facing East, Chapelot more South facing and Cote de Brechin on the Western slopes) next to Blanchots and on the other West end of Vaulorent 17ha of 115ha Fourchaume next to Les Preuses. Left Bank tend to be “more austere, seaweed, saline and flinty”. Opened and discussed a sensational Cuvee Guy Moreau old vines from 1933 singing in 2014 Vaillons (104 ha on Portlandian lime bed with less clay) compared with their regular 2018 Vaillons as well as some Testut Montee de Tonnerre. All seven Grand Crus (plus Moutonne monopole of Long-Depaquit of 2.35 ha 95% in Vaudesir & 5% in Preuses) reviewed in detail explaining soils of blue clay in Blanchots, Valmur (L’Endroit facing South & L’Envers facing West) more marl, Vaudesir very steep and richer in clay with less limestone, and special Kimmeridgian limestone firm bed in largest 26 ha Les Clos the best aging cru.
Lots of interest shown in Vintages and your scribe’s brief summary:
PRE-2010: 1975 a terrible Cotes de Beaune year for whites (79, 85, 86 can be great) is still tremendous. IWFS Vintage card 2020 ranks only 7/7 for 02 (outstanding), 05 (Almost too generous, alcohol, overrated), and 14 (truly the best!). Classic 08 & riper softer 09 are underrated.
2010: Classic. Lower yields. Dense concentration. Ripe yet structured. Lovely drinking plateau but no rush.
2011: Wet Summer Lighter. Early Drinking.
2012: Classic. Spring frosts. Very dry Summer. Helpful Sept. rain. Smaller crop.
2013: Wet Spring. Late flowering (end of June-mid July). Some Coulure (shatter) & Millerandage (“hens & chicks” berry size). Hot end of July. Harvest late Sept. to early Oct. before heavy rains Oct 4/5. Early pickers did best. Some botrytis rot with overly earthy mushroom character. Mixed.
2014: Classic. Your scribe’s favourite of the decade! Warm Spring. Some April frost but no hail as in Cote de Beaune on June 28. July & August cooler with rain. Saved by hottest September to date with some refreshing rains. Early pickers mid Sept. but most stopped. No rot. Acidity good but not that austere. Perfectly balanced tightness with that green flint colour of real stony mineral Chablis of olden days.
2015: Frost early on. Flowering OK. Warm dry Summer. Bad hail storm Sept. 1st damaged Les Clos, Blanchots, and Montee de Tonnerre. Rest are ripe quite fresh but forwardly without steely acidity.
2016: Somewhat classic but frost April 26/27 & May 13 & 27 reduced the crop substantially in Petit Chablis & Chablis AC by over 50% but even in 1er cru 30-40% and Grand Cru around 15% loss. Good quality from a very small crop.
2017: April frosts yet again over a two week period but not as bad as 2016 (except in the very Northern parts) with smaller crop well harvested 3 weeks ahead of 2016 in a fresh bright style.
2018: Classic but a very big crop. Hot easy year. Attractive but variable with some over-cropping. Impressive Brocard Montee de Tonnerre. Liked winemaker Fabien’s comment from Christian Moreau that it took 10 vines to fill one basket in 2017 but only 1 vine in 2018. That frost sure makes a big difference in yields.
2019: Early budding in April with frost threats continuing into May. Summer hot & dry with temperatures above 40C showing global climate change. Very little rain but some mildew issues. Normal mid-September harvest. Below average volume and variable. Monitor the potential.
You can be a Chablis expert by knowledgeably stating you prefer the even years which are more classic over the uneven ones. Get on the growing Chablis band wagon and enjoy a bottle from this amazing appellation! Do you have a special fondness for any particular vineyard or vintage year in Chablis? Consider holding your own virtual wine tasting on line.
Question: Where did the first Zinfandel grape come from? Was it in Italy?
Answer: Yes has been rather confusing. For a while it seemed that the Zinfandel grape in California was the same one as the Primitivo grape in Puglia Italy. However though they are genetically similar their wine styles are different. They are both clones of the original Crljenak Kastelanski grape variety (back to the 1300s) from Croatia. It is called Tribidrag there so that name has been used by the Lagier Meredith Vineyard for their Mt. Veeder Napa Valley Zinfandel. One of the winery principals Carole Meredith was a professor in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at University of California at Davis whose team used DNA profiling to discover the origin and decided to adopt this name for their Zin.
The wineinstitute.org was founded in 1934 and now represents over 1000 member wineries from every wine region of California. They have done an excellent job over the years of marketing their wines with their popular annual touring road shows that are presently on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In their place they have cleverly started some impressive wine webinars called Behind The Wines hosted by the insightful educator Elaine Chukan Brown. They have held 7 enlightening episodes so far on every Tuesday starting at 10 am Pacific time with 6 more already scheduled with details set out below. Definitely are in depth and worth tuning in to enjoy. Episode 6 featured Randall Grahm founder & winemaker at Bonny Doon Vineyard for Rhone varieties and his innovative new experimental landscape of unusual special grape varieties with his “Popelouchum” project with first fruit harvest this year. Episode 7 had the fascinating story of Paul Draper with Ridge Vineyards on Monte Bello Ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA tasting the delightful warmer 1984 vintage (structured 1985 will age longer) with 7% merlot at traditionally low alcohol of 12.9. Both pioneers also talked about the importance of ingredient labeling on wine bottles. The good thing is that all episodes can be referenced on the You Tube Channel for California Wines with additional info on questions and answers not addressed during the live session. Outstanding wine education material! Well done series. Look forward to these upcoming sessions:
May 26, Episode 8 – Carole Meredith and Steve Lagier, Lagier Meredith Special guest: Anthony Truchard, Truchard Vineyards
In the eighth episode of the series, Elaine will speak with Carole Meredith and Steve Lagier, husband and wife owners of Lagier Meredith Vineyard in the Mt. Veeder AVA of Napa Valley. The two have lived there since they bought the property in 1986, first planting vines in 1994 and producing their first commercial wine in 1998. Carole and Steve have no employees and do the vineyard work and winemaking themselves.
June 2 – Ep. 9 – Zinfandel Tegan Passalacqua, Turley and Sandlands
June 9 – Ep. 10 – Chardonnay Stephane Vivier, Stony Hill Michael McNeill, Hanzell Vineyards
June 16 – Ep. 11 – Pinot Noir Sarah Wuethrich, Maggy Hawk
June 23 – Ep. 12 – Sparkling Nicole Hitchcock, J Vineyards and Winery
Question: Will we see changes in wine bottle packaging?
Answer: Yes interesting question. The ongoing pressures of climate change plus now this lingering Covid-19 pandemic should result in a real stimulus to wine packaging and design changes. We are already noticing lighter weight glass being en vogue. Other materials are being used and further considered for expansion including improved technology for bag-in-the-box. This latter category is very convenient to use and suits what will be more social distancing of outdoor dining trends. Expect to see a lot of new innovative design features on labels to take advantage of a more aware conscientious consumer.
