A milestone celebration at Maison Clusel-Roch

by Daniel Johnnes

April 21, 2022

I was in Cote Rôtie this past Saturday attending the the retirement party of Brigitte and Gilbert Clusel-Roch, winemakers I met in 1992.

After reading about this producer in Clive Coates’ The Vine and having just started my import business, I was dreaming of adding a famous appellation such as Cote Rôtie to my blossoming portfolio.

Upon finding a fax number for them (no internet back then), I asked for a visit. Upon arrival, we spent about an hour talking about New York, wine, my background and my interest in their region and then several more hours tasting the current vintage, 1990, and older vintages of both the Cuvée Classique and Les Grandes Places, which were the only two wines they made at the time from about 2.5 hectares of vines in the Côte Brune district. Their other holdings are in Viallière, planted in 1984, Le Plomb, Champon and Fongeant which were all blended into the Classique. When Viallière reached 25 years of age in 2009, they started bottling it under that named “Lieu Dit”.

Gilbert’s first vintage was 1980 after taking over from his father, René Clusel, who officially retired in 1987. Like much of the Northern Rhone, the 70’s and 80’s were tough times, with most of the producers owning small plots of land and dependent on their vegetable and fruit production to subsist. The larger part of their grape production went to Guigal or other large negociants.

Gilbert, however, was committed to making “real” wine. He inherited from his father and grandfather old vines planted with Serine which is the legacy variety or true Syrah before the more productive clones became popular. He did all the work by hand, was one of the first to work organically and was the first in the appellation to be certified organic in 2002.

With the arrival of Guillaume who is now officially in charge, the domaine has grown substantially. Today their are about 11 hectares, 3 bottlings of Côte Rôtie, a delicous Condrieu, plus a more recent project in the Cote Roannaise.

The wines have never been better, and Brigitte and Gilbert can relax and enjoy the fruits of their hard work knowing the next generation is taking the domaine to the next level!

What to Read!

by Edouard Bourgeois

May 11, 2021

I was never the straight A student in school. Being told to study and learn specific topics often did not work with me. It was not due to a lack of interest in learning or laziness (maybe a little) but more because I had my own agenda. For example, I would sneakily be reading a book on the history of the blues in the Mississippi while in science class at age 12.

When I turned 18, I did not know what career path to choose and gave the hospitality industry a try, entering culinary school. It quickly became obvious that this decision proved to be the right one, especially when the topic of wine presented itself.

The reason why I am telling this story of mine is because I found in the subject of wine a meaningful outlet that allowed studying a large spectrum of topics. There is much more than just the trivia question of “what’s the grape variety of Cour Cheverny” (do you know?). Understanding wine means exploring the science of fermentation, the philosophy of so many inspiring producers, the geography of the different wine regions and among all of these subjects I would typically overlook in school, history.

In addition to travelling to wine regions, tasting wines, and meeting various wine producers, reading the right wine books can obviously provide an immense source of information. I recently discovered one of these volumes that I believe should be a reference for all wine afficionados and frankly any history lover. Its title is “Nine Centuries in the Heart of Burgundy” a publication centered on the fabulous story of the Cellier aux Moines, a Burgundy domaine that we are featuring in our live THIRST Class on Saturday May 22nd.

The book features in depth information on the long and eventful history of Burgundy, anecdotes and stunning pictures of the landscape of the region, rare antique maps and other fascinating elements.