What's Pressoir Drinking - Jaboulet Ainé Chateauneuf du Pape "Les Cèdres" 1978

Edouard Bourgeois
December 5, 2023

I Iike to get in the mood before our wine festivals by opening a nice bottle of the appropriate wine. So, a week before we kicked off La Tablee, I decided to taste a bottle of 1978 Chateauneuf du Pape “Les Cedres” from Jaboulet Aine. I had bought it just last month as a full twelve pack in original carton at one of the rolling Global Acker web auctions. I usually find amazing deals on this rolling auction and boy that lot surely was a hit! I couldn’t believe the perfectly impeccable conditions of each of the twelve bottles. Individually wrapped in plastic film by their previous owner, the fills were right under the cork, the color super healthy and the foils all spinning (a sign to look for in old wines that most likely mean no wine has leaked through the cork). When I pulled the cork, it appeared as a brand new one, as if the wine had just been bottled last year. At this point I thought it was too good to be true but then, the wine spoke, and it delivered the most satisfying pleasure. The nose immediately gave these typical roasted fig jam and herb aromatics Chateauneuf lovers crave. This rich palette kept intensifying as the wine opened up. I decided to decant it after judging a little oxygen would help amplify the richness. I was expecting heady alcohol and weight on the palate but found the most refined elegance instead. I am a strong believer in letting high quality Chateauneuf du Pape age and this bottle just confirmed my sentiment.

Les Cedres 1978 is no ordinary Chateauneuf du Pape. First, this was arguably the best vintage of the decade and maybe even until the exceptional 1989.

Back then, a typical Les Cèdres blend was two-thirds old-vine Grenache, with the balance largely Syrah. The winemaking was classic: whole-cluster fermentation in concrete tank, a month-long maceration and 12-18 months aging in foudres.

Jaboulet was known as the leading negociant in terms of volume produced but also as the one with access to some of the best fruit available. It is believed that sources may have been from Henri Bonneau and Domaine de Pegau among other growers, today known as reference producers.

I also like how these wines are somewhat mysterious. It is quite difficult to know exactly where the grapes came from but it is almost better that way, as it leaves the taster wondering. This wine will only become more sought after as Jaboulet is progressively stopping their production of Southern Rhône wine altogether.

What's Pressoir drinking - Pedres Blanques 2019

Edouard Bourgeois
June 14, 2023

Just last week, I spent a couple nights at a dear friend’s in Montpellier. Known on his Instagram account as the punny name @accordhedoniste, he always finds ways to taste me on some eye-opening wine discoveries from tiny productions and under the radar producers. Together, we opened many fun wines including a mind-blowing bottle of “Pedres Blanques”. This wine is like nothing else. Driven by the talented Japanese couple of Rié and Hiro Shoji, this tiny domaine makes the epitome of what we refer to as a unicorn wine. After working for Fred Mugnier and Domaine de Chassorney in Burgundy, Rié and Hiro settled in Collioure, France where they founded Pedres Blanques, (“White Rocks” in Catalan), in 2017.

The young Japanese couple have since then produced just a handful of vintages that are really difficult if not nearly impossible to find, such as the 2020 vintage of which they only produced 230 magnums.

Their holdings cover 3.5 hectares of vines acquired from a retired vigneron in Languedoc-Roussillon, just above the town of Collioure and the vineyard is planted with 50 year old Grenache on granite.

Collioure is a charming little town in the Roussillon, France. It faces the Mediterranean Sea and this is where I spent many of my summer vacations as a kid for as long as I can remember. These family gatherings were filled with excitement and impacted my childhood with memories of fresh seafood, warm smells of wild rosemary and thyme, so exotic and unfamiliar to me who grew up in cold and rainy Champagne. I also remember the powerful wind, locally known as “tramontane” that would blow all kinds of flotation devices from the neighboring beaches. It really felt like Christmas in July when all the kids, me included, would gather on the other side of the beach to collect them!

The proximity of “La Grande Bleue”, the Mediterranean Sea, coupled with the forceful wind, can be felt in Pedres Blanques. The wine magically encapsules this brininess, a feature I rarely see in a red wine. I was also blown away by the energy and the life in the wine. Every time I would bring the glass to my nose, a new aromatic layer would unfold, revealing notes of smoke and stone before expressing aromas of tart cherries and clove with hints of candied, ethereal Grenache. A wine so profound, you can smell it for minutes and keep finding new accents.

On the palate, the personality is felt right away. While certainly not shy, Pedres Blanques sings loud and clear, but it is also pitch perfect. The acidity is the structural element of this well built but elegant wine and in a region that is so hot, with so many heavy wines, this is quite a masterstroke that should be pointed out.

Luckily for the Shojis, this arid and windy area leaves no chance for frost to strike and there is very minimum rot pressure which allows them to farm organically. They do not need to use copper either, but they do have to do everything by hand or with a rototiller. Unsulfured, the wine is raw but squeaky clean and you should not miss an opportunity to taste it.

Paired with delicious “Tielles Sétoises” from Maison Dassé, the brininess of the wine perfectly matches the saltiness of the dish, made of octopus, red peppers and tomatoes, wrapped in pastry

Dinner recap: Châteauneuf du Pape

Edouard Bourgeois
September 30, 2022

Châteauneuf du Pape, « the new pope’s castle » is not a shy wine, to say the least. The Grenache that typically composes the base of the blend receives enough sunlight and heat to ripen every year gloriously, producing wines with big personalities. Of course, Châteauneuf is regarded as a high alcohol wine and that is certainly true, but as always it is the balance that matters, and it is ok to reach 15 +% alcohol by volume as long as the other elements are there to define an harmonious picture. I find that bottle age can have an essential impact on the balance of the wine, as our dinner at Houseman proved last Thursday.

We kicked things off with a surprising flight of white Châteauneuf du Pape. Only about 7% of the Châteauneuf production is white, which explains why this category is often unknown to the consumers. Clairette here is the star of the show. At Domaine Saint Prefert, the Cuvée Spéciale Vieilles Clairettes pays homage to this grape variety magnificently with a wine reminiscent of honey and profound minerality. The domaine, organic since 2003, uses very old vines of Clairette for that cuvée, some plants in their hundred years of age. We also tasted Chateau La Nerthe white Châteauneuf, this time a blend of Clairette and the more aromatic Roussanne. The beautiful property ferments its wines in large oak vessels while aging takes place in stainless steel in order to keep a clean character. Finally for this flight of whites, we poured Domaine de Cristia and Domaine de la Solitude. Cristia, founded in 1942, shared similar qualities and blend of varieties than La Nerthe while Domaine de la Solitude, fermented and aged in barrels, showed a bit more power. Grenache Blanc represented a good quarter of the blend also in that one.

We then went back to Saint Prefert with a flight of three reds from the two top cuvées produced at the estate. A beautiful comparison of 2019 and 2015 Cuvee Charles Giraud showed what young Châteauneuf can do as far as exuberance and power. The Cuvee Giraud uses the oldest vines of the estate, planted on two different sites, one composed of sand, in a lieu dit named Cristia, and the other covered with the famous pebbles in “les Serres”. Whole cluster is used for the fermentation for the Cuvee Giraud. The other wine from Saint Prefert, the Reserve Auguste Favier, is a blend of 80% Grenache and 20% Cinsault with a pinch of Syrah, aged in demi-muids. This was a 2010 and proved my initial point that age can make wonders in Châteauneuf. It should be noted that 2010 in the region is considered exceptional, but the decade old bottle showed more refinement and delicious confiture aromas than its younger siblings from 2015 and 2019.

Moving on, the third flight was dedicated to one of the most classic producers in the region, Domaine de Pegau. I really like these wines where all thirteen grape varieties allowed are used in the blend. Fermentation in concrete is also a feature I like, making the wine a touch lighter and very elegant. The aging in 50 hectoliter oak foudres for two years only adds to the beauty. We tasted Pegau’s Cuvee Reservée 2019 and 2010 side by side. Not surprisingly again here, the young one was marked by alcohol while the 2010 was among my favorite wines of the night, explosive with a bouquet of garrigue and other “herbes de Provence”. To close that flight, we opened two “Cuvee Laurence”, named after the daughter, currently in charge of the domaine and aged for 4 years instead of 2 for the Cuvee Reservee we just reviewed. “Laurence 2017” surprised me with its fresh acidity, a feature I don’t find myself mentioning when talking about Châteauneuf. The 2013, served from a magnum, was good but not excellent. I had a magnum of the exact same wine a month prior, and it showed a tad more freshness. Nevertheless, 2013, a vintage known for its early drinking ability was in a good spot before its decade old birthday.

We closed the dinner with three gorgeous magnums. First, a Vieux Donjon 2015 made with very old vines , following the traditional GSM (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre) base and considered very traditional in the region, making only one wine, blending all their parcels together rather than bottling them separately. The second mag, a Domaine de la Janasse 2006, seemed so hot that I could barely taste it. I found the wine to be tannic and massively alcoholic. I generally enjoy the wines of Janasse, a large 90 hectare domaine founded in 1973. Fortunately, we finished on a very high note with a magnum of Chateau la Nerthe Cuvée des Cadettes 1998. Of course, the age distinguished this wine among the others, but I was so enamored with the level of distinction and class in this Châteauneuf. Made from 85 to 100 year old vines planted on sandy-clay soils, it was almost Burgundian with refined tannins that made me think of Barolo and an impressively long finish.

What's Pressoir Drinking?

by Edouard Bourgeois

September 22, 2020

Château des Tours, Côtes du Rhône 2015

Last week, during David Gordon’s THIRST class on Châteauneuf du Pape, I decided to open a bottle of Château des Tours, Côtes-du Rhône 2015. It did not disappoint! As soon as I sank my nose in the glass, I was reminded of the importance of the producer over the appellation or even the vintage. After all, this was only a simple Côtes-du-Rhône, an appellation that designates the entry level wines of the region. Frankly, many wines made under this lower designation can be very uninteresting. However, in the hands of Chateau Rayas’ superstar winemaker Emmanuel Reynaud, even this Côtes-du-Rhône had the panache of some of the best Chateauneuf du Pape. Light in color, the Grenache core was evident, offering a generous, heady bouquet of sweet figs, laced with Provençal herbs. The alcohol level was high (14.5%) but not overwhelming. Yet, I suggest to drink it at around 55 Fahrenheit as service temperature is key to kind of “tame” that power.

Emmanuel Reynaud