Today Jancis Robinson published a very interesting – as usual – article in Financial Times on 2012 Southern Rhone. A very nice vintage according to our recent tastings but Jancis mentions: ‘Producers are worried about ever hotter summers – in very high temperatures the ripening process can simply stop’. So what would be the ideal solution for vignerons? She reports Michel Chapoutier’s comment: “How about simply adding back the water lost by evaporation?” and she also mentions a place that sees its cooler climate as a positive advantage: Ventoux. Here, Ventoux’s top producer Sébastien Fondréche from Domaine de Fondrèche talks about the 2012 vintage that Jancis Robinson has analyzed in her article. He says massal Selections and a biodynamic approach are essential to make balanced wines in the Southern Rhone.
From vines planted in the Southern Rhone Valley, your rosé wine called “Instant Rosé” is 12 percent alcohol. How can you achieve such a performance in your region?
Sébastien Vincenti: “It is the fruit of 10 years of hard work. Ten years of research, of experimentation on the ground, on the choice of grape varieties, on the winemaking approach… to make this Instant Rose as I wanted it to be. We had to think differently at several stages: how to get maturity earlier to keep freshness? What kind of grape variety should be planted? What should be the ideal soil? First, the Terroir. We replanted the vines on soils with sand and silt. We keep our vines very low, very close to the ground with a large foliar exposition and 2 meters high in order to have more shadow. Thus, the grapes are protected from the sun, they ripen slowly, they keep acidity and they can be picked with a potential 12% in alcohol. These vines are ideal for making rosé wine; a red wine would not reach maturity under these conditions. In a sense, this rosé wine becomes unique. Then we selected the right grape varieties. Three varieties were planted on these soils: a majority of Cinsault, some Syrah and Grenache. Our Cinsault, as our Syrah, are from “selections massales”, that is to say old selections, not cloned, with smaller grapes which favour an homogeneous maturity. OK, you must pick at a potentially 12% in alcohol but you can’t improvise, it must be ripe. Finally, the conduct of the vineyards is on organic farming with, in addition, a full respect of the lunar calendar. Without this approach, we simply could not achieve this. If you want to get ripe fruits and also keep the acidity and the freshness potential, you must do a lot of work on the soils. With no grass, interractions between the soil and the vines are too limited. To make a rosé wine, we can’t use overripe grapes! As for the wine-making process, we keep it very simple to stick to the terroir. Of course, our rosé is made like a white wine, ageing on lees for 6 months without racking. For the bottling, in order to keep the genuine taste of the wine, we prefer during the “flower” days and on a waning moon down. I wanted a pale rosé, a fresh and delicate wine that is the expression of its terroir. A simple rosé, but to make it simple is often the most complicated. I think that after 10 years of work, we may have achieved our goal.”
What are your impressions about this 2012 vintage?
Sébastien Vincenti: “In 2012, we picked the grapes for our white and rosé wines very early, at the end of August. It is 2 to 3 weeks before the other wines estates. We made the choice to pick relatively early in order to preserve the freshness we like with a low PH and a beautiful acidity. Freshness, which is the print of the estate, was our guide to determine the right time to harvest. Our grapes were ripe with that typical minerality from Domaine de Fondrèche. 2012 is surprising because, at the end, we are close to ideal conditions while we feared to suffer from water stress, in fact to be in the 2003 situation because of the lack of water in July / August. But surprisingly, vines have not suffered during the summer. We now know that this is partly because yields are much smaller than expected, which is a general trend in the region. This explains that the vines have not suffered, and our organic treatments and soil tillage – being extremely respectful to Nature –also allowed the vines to develop despite the high temperatures. Finally, the rain we had at the end has unblocked the situation and it was followed by cool nights at 10 degrees celsius with the Mistral wind. For reds, whites and rosé, this 2012 vintage is delicious!“”
Ventoux, the “coolest” place of the Southern Rhone?
Sébastien Vincenti:” This is more than 10 years of hard work that finally delivers fresh, fine and balanced wines. It is 10 years indeed since we began to restructure the vineyards, to replant, to work our soils with organic farming methods. And today vines are grateful for what we have done and show it in their own way with this great quality. Actually the nice thing in our job is when you have a strong belief in a style of wine and that customers, as well as journalists, validate your choices. It gives you even more willingness to continue in this direction, motivation becomes even greater. When Robert Parker compares the 2010 Cuvee Persia to a red Hermitage or when he says that the freshness of our white wine reminds him of a Chablis, I am very happy. So I definitely think that Ventoux is pretty cool!”
If you want to know more about what wine estates think of Climate change: Read here
Please drink moderately. (Contact the writer at info@vitabella.fr)
