Last night we went to a dinner where the star attraction was 1998 Almaviva from magnum but what made me go was the supporting cast, two wines from a young biodynamic Chilean winery, Clos Ouvert, run by Matthieu de Genevraye et Sylvain Potin under Marcel Lapierre’s guidance (caveat: all info about Clos Ouvert was pieced together from various internet sources).
Lyle Fass recently wrote enthusiastically about two varietals he tasted, newly brought in by Louis-Dressner: a 2008 Loncomilla (Carménère) and a 2008 Huaso (Païs). Ours were blends, and from 2007, but I was hoping some of the magic might have rubbed on.
First some words about Clos Ouvert, and I bother with this because Chilean wine has disappointed me so often for so long that I was desperate for this to work out.
The name Clos Ouvert is cute wordplay (as I understand it), sort of like Enclosed Open. They began in 2006, when Louis-Antoine Luyt and Matthieu de Genevraye, originally from Anjou, bought some vineyards in the Maule Valley in Chile (some reports mention a third dude, Sylvain Potin, who must have dropped out). Their project was to create terroir wines in a country more famous for industrial wine. Their vineyards are in a valley located a few meters from the Loncomilla and Maule rivers. The total area of the estate is 150 ha, of which only about one third is currently in production. The property has pre-phylloxera vines over 100 years old and is run according to biodynamic principles. After manual harvesting, the grapes are gently pressed and subjected to carbonic (60%) and traditional (40%) maceration for three weeks, using indigenous yeasts and temperature control. Each variety is then aged for six months in first and second use French oak barrels (75%) and stainless steel (25%), and blended just before bottling, without filtration. I found no information about their irrigation or acidulation philosophies (I give them the benefit of the doubt, but in the Andes one can, or should, only presume so much).
Clos Ouvert was present at the last two Dive Bouteilles (2009 and 2010), where I suspect the Dressner delegation must have encountered them, possibly with a nudge from Marcel.
There are currently three bottlings available in France:
2008 Otoño is a blend of Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Carménère, Cabernet-Sauvignon and Païs.
2008 Loncomilla is a pure Carménère.
2008 Huaso is a pure Païs.
Lyle liked the latter two, soon to be available at a retailer near you (in the US). Down here, since we know shit and don’t know any better, we get the stuff nobody wants.
2007 Clos Ouvert Franco Chileno 14.5%
Cabernet Franc (85 %), Cabernet Sauvignon (15 %). Nose is garden variety raspberry jam. Some heat, traditional Andean over-baked fruit, the usual insufficient acid, and a confectionery edge to the sweetness. Only plus is pleasant tannins. The fruit has a short finish, allowing the acid to take over after a few seconds, and what acid there is seems natural. Unwilling to call it BD spoof, I just wonder if nature trumped the winemaker’s best intentions, and they’re buggering their neighbors with it.
2007 Clos Ouvert Otoño 14.0%
Cabernet Sauvignon (15 %), Carignan (15 %), Carménère (35 %), Syrah (20 %), Païs (15%). Less jammy, but still too much. Zingy acidity, showing some smoked meat and that trademark Carménère green herbaceousness. Also some medicinal tones, we exchanged words like menthol, eucalyptus, quinine and camphor. Quite an interesting wine, intellectually speaking, but not delish.
1998 Almaviva Maipo Valley 13.5%
Joint venture between Concha y Toro and Baron Phillippe de Rothschild, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (72%), Carménère (26%) and Cabernet Franc (2%), spent sixteen months in new French oak. I was ready to wince at this as a harbinger of modernity but rather enjoyed the sour cherry, leather and airplane glue aromas. Satisfying mouth feel, with good acidity, resolved tannins, and integrated alcohol. Best of all: the fruit is perfectly ripe, not more, not less. What more could you want? Well, some indigenous personality, for a start. This is an extremely competent clone of fine, classic Bordeaux, an oenological Dolly the sheep, and would have an assured spot in the natural order of things if it were more affordable.
Unexpectedly, it was Almaviva, rather than Clos Ouvert, that showed how Andean wine can have traditional family values, that grapes there CAN be picked before super maturity without showing green tannins. It has been suggested that global warming has made traditional balance difficult to achieve, and that may be so. Hence my interest in what the folks at Clos Ouvert were up to, and my disappointment with the overripe blends we tried last night. Now I must seek out the two varietals.