Ferrand Côtes-du-Rhône Vieilles Vignes Cuvée Antique 2007
Thanks to Oliver. 90% Grenache and 10% Syrah, Cinsault, Carignan and some white varieties. Deep inky-purple colour. Reductive and thus “animal” as Oliver termed it (I tend to just call the effect reductive – “animal” to me, in the Rhône, means something else, both positive and negative) especially on the nose. A bit heavily floral yet minty-fresh thanks to lively fruit and acids. Spicy and minerally (more so than most CdRs). More roasted Provençal herbs with airing. The 14% alcohol is very well integrated. Love the freshness of the acids here, especially the tannin quality. Quite long on the finish. Lighter in fruit the next day, more emphasis on the lightly dusty tannin. All in all, I feel the style is inferior to e.g. Charvin’s: it seems to favour (extended) bottle age, but experience has taught me it is going to be of no avail. The problem is that with bottle age, all that can surface needs to be there in terms of (potential) terroir expression in the first place, and there is not much to it (in neither Charvin’s or Ferrand’s CdR – and they are two of the finest I know, very highly recommended QPR buys at this price!). In short, the CdR comes across as a smaller-scaled version of the CdP – which it is not. Qualitatively, it is a huge step down. That similarity is one of (per se admirably traditional) wine-making style, no more, no less. In other words: drink this anytime you feel like pulling a cork. Already looking forward to comparing this to the Charvin from the same vintage (seems as if 2007 may be even greater as a CdR vintage than CdP – thus far liked every single one I have tasted, and I am planning to sample more soon). Rating: 88+/89-?
Ferrand Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2007
Thanks to Oliver. I am trying to remember when I last had something this good at this price: a wine that I would categorize as “great”, priced under 40 bucks... Wow! Of course, as it turns out, availability is a major problem (it just has to be that way, it seems – the days of buying Montrose or Beauséjour Duffau Lagarrosse 1990 at 25 or 35 per bottle respectively, yet by the case, are long gone...). And I am not claiming this to be quite on the level of the latter, but I cannot help it: when did something this good come at this price last? The trick is not fruit, overwhelming body or size, but minerality and depth. The way I see Châteauneuf today, the market seems roughly divided into three (price) levels: firstly, trophy bottles that are all costly and that range from questionable (e.g. those hyped Philippe Cambie wines – I could list domaine names now as if I were able to tell the wines apart, but I am quite sure he could not do it himself) to truly memorable; secondly, there are those producers whose wines we CdP lovers not born yesterday used to buy on (almost?) a yearly basis (you know which – we grumpy old CdP lovers have all got our list of favourites), and that I would still buy with regularity if they were not manoeuvring themselves into a price category that is effectively making them fall between two stools (so far as QPR considerations are concerned – feel free to continue buying all you can afford); thirdly, there are those who, I am afraid, are all going to aspire after that middling QPR category in the long run, but who, for the time being, are worth cueing at cellar door (forgive me for not going into detail about a fourth category of wines I will neither buy nor drink, that is, unless offered to sample for free). Now is the time to admit I did not even know Ferrand’s wines until a couple of weeks ago. God, how I love that – the sense of discovery, that is (and if I am the only who is/was ignorant around here, well, I could not care less!). A blend of 90% Grenache and the rest Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault, from vines in La Gardiole and Cabrières, planted in 1910 and 1930, aged 12-14 months in tank before being bottled without filtration. Cannot emphasize this enough: old-vine Grenache, oak-free – as it should be! Opaque-inky purple colour. Not surprisingly, the style is the same as that of the CdR here, a bit reductive to pull corks now, but what floral essence underneath, lavender and sea salt (including to the youthfully bitter tannin), great freshness, incredible depth, complexity, minerality, balance and intensity for a wine in this price category. Some (by far not all!) CdPs in the aforementioned trophy bottle category tend to offer more multi-layered, and no doubt “thicker” fruit – I could not care less (in the paradigm of CdP I grew up with, this would have fallen in the “fruity” category). Floral tobacco, minty cocoa, some pit fruit, fresh prune, with airing. Racy wine with real cut and grip. Long and quite palate-staining. Terrific alcohol integration (= what almost everyone else claims impossible – albeit not for the right reasons). Traditional, ageworthy wine, the rare kind that, as Michelle once termed it, “makes me happy.” Have been thinking about it every day since then. Thinking this over, I have come to the conclusion that in Châteauneuf alone, this may be the finest QPR buy since at least the 1998 Charvin – which, if I remember correctly, cost more, and my gut instinct suggests that the 2007 Ferrand should surpass it in time, maybe not by much, but still... Rating: 95+/96?
Charvin Côtes-du-Rhône 2001
Opened our last, pristine bottle for Oliver as an illustration why it ultimately does not make sense to cellar per se well-made and naturally well-structured wine stemming from not too great terroir. Cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Mind you, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this wine, quite on the contrary, it has been a pleasure to drink right from release, and it has the necessary “stuffing” to age (that is, keep versus improve) in bottle. I will also admit that the 2001 has been, as so many wines of the vintage (thinking of CdP more than CdR – knowing fewer of the latter than the former), always been on a fast evolutionary track (an otherwise classy, balanced, if early-harmonious vintage). Bretty-sweaty but fairly complex with tertiary aromas and flavours. Round, quite smooth, yet racy, with nice acids. Mild and round Kirsch Schnaps fruit that is fanning out and showing more cut and freshness (and less brett) on the back end. Some green and black pepper. No longer holding up too well in the decanter/open bottle. Smoky-minerally if not flintstony-burnt with an ashtray top note the following day. Shiitake and woodear mushrooms. Opened a bottle of the comparatively unevolved 2003 for comparison the following day – not that holding on to that forever would make any more sense... Rating: 89-/88(-?)
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
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„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti