Day 4: The Crossing

The View across the Gironde from the Pauillac quai

No, this will not be some nihilistic redressing of the American west, i.e. no old man McCarthy crotchedy-ness. No western writer can one-up Wallace Stegner in this department, lets be serious.

For those of you who do not know what the hell you just read, it’s ok. I do not really know what I just wrote. So onto subjects on which I can throw a bit more elucidation.

From left to right in the distance, Pichon-Baron, Pichon-Lalande, Latour

Our morning started with a couple more stops in the Medoc. The first was at Ch. Lagrange– the Medoc’s largest classed estate and certainly a third growth with a history of variability. Located far inland on the plateau of St. Julien, Lagrange was on a downhill slide until its purchase by Japanese Suntory in 1983. At this point Suntory brought in the inimitable Marcel Ducasse, a scientific researcher, to guide the rebuilding of the chateau’s everything. Marcel, the scientist, brought in stainless steel, cultured yeasts, filtration, a new philosophy towards grape receiving, and sanitation. At the time I am sure it was a sparkling miracle. And the wines improved dramatically in quality.

Also, the second wine, Les Fiefs de Lagrange. Lagrange, as stated before, is comparatively enormous in acreage. The result is a large variation in quality. On top of this, the estate is gradually being replanted to the more accepted 10,000 vines/hectare spacing from its previous looser planting grid. This means more young vines. The second wine, implemented in the late 1980’s has been a boon for the chateau’s first wine. Young vines and lesser plots can be triaged away from the first wine. That said, for the price, Les Fiefs de Lagrange is always an excellent value– though it would certainly dilute the quality of the first wine if still included.

The extensive and beautiful grounds of Lagrange

Marcel retired last year and his place has been taken by his longtime assistant Bruno. To replace Bruno Lagrange hired the earnest, friendly, Mathieu Bordes, who showed us around.

Compared to other estates, Lagrange is obsessive about wine microbiology and quality control. ML takes place in tank rather than barrel to reduce the possibility of bret and VA issues– the staff is phobic about bret. Each lot that is bottled is coded, so that if there is any trouble they can look back on everything that happened to the wine in bottle. They have also installed a totally flash new bottling line to help them in this endeavor.

Last time I visited I asked Marcel what cooperages he liked. To which he answered, “I like no cooperages.” This is not to say that no new oak is used in the cellars, it is just that Marcel held a healthy skepticism for barrel builders. To this end, Lagrange is starting to cooper their own barrels, exploring an idea that has worked well for Smith-Haut-Lafitte, Petrus, and others.

All in all, I will always have a soft spot for Lagrange. I never find the wines to be as amazing as the more eastward properties of St. Julien– there is none of the power of Leoville or the sex-appeal of Ducru– but Lagrange makes hearty wines for a relatively fair price. Or perhaps it is simple flattery that done it. Marcel Ducasse is the only Bordelaise winemaker I know that admits to loving California Zinfandel (or can even pronounce it for that matter).

After our visit concluded. we worked our way south to Arsac for our next appointment. Arsac, located almost due west from the commune of Margaux, lies along the main artery of the Medoc. There, an industrious business-man and negocient named Philippe Raoux has designed a place called “The Winery.”

Did the room go silent? Can you hear the pin drop? Did the priest drop the incense ball?

The premise behind the location is that wine should be fun.

That wine should be accessible for tasting by anyone driving by.

That wine exists outside of Bordeaux.

Essentially M. Raoux is building up a large mailing list from people who visit the winery. When there, the taster has tasted through a number of wines, and based on the ones he likes, he is given a coded tasting profile. Then, wines can be sent to him that match his tastes. Raoux buys wines made from around the country– he has Corbieres, Roussillon, Cotes du Rhone, Picpoul from Pinet, etc.– that he bottles under custom format. People who like the Cote du Rhone get other wines with similar fruit profiles.

Visitors can also browse the wineshop and its extensive selection of wines from around the globe. For French wines it is one of the best shops I have ever seen outside of Paris. Also, people can select the wine from the ship and enjoy it at the excellent WY restaurant also on premise.

The Man Who Measured the Clouds, view from the restaurant XY

For those of us who know the Napa Valley this may not seem like such an extraordinary thing, but for the Medoc this is nearly revolutionary. Whether it works will remain to be seen but M. Raoux is certainly mixing things up.

Following our lunch, we said goodbye to the Medoc and worked our way east towards the land where Merlot and Cabernet Franc are king.

The crossing over from the Medoc to the Right Bank is like shifting countries in many ways. The essentially flat landscape marked by the grandeur of 18th century nouveau-riche chateaux gives way to hills and humbler, and many times older, structural attempts. The hills here, compared to the steep embankments of the northern Rhone or the Vosgian landslides of Alsace, are meager. Compared to the Medoc though they are epic embankments. Driving up the hills of Fronsac I was reminded of the little-film “The Englishman who went up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain,”– one of the few Hugh “I am so charmingly befuddled” Grant films that is not total tripe. The landscape is hilly, but in the context of Bordeaux they are mountains.

The vineyards of Ch. Dalem

Our first stop was in Fronsac at Chateau Dalem. For those unfamiliar with Fronsac the appellation makes a bit of a U-shape around the ridge of the hill with most vineyard facing south and east. The best vineyards, such as those of Dalem, lie on shallow soils over limestone embankments. Closer to the foot of the river there is more clay in the soil and the wines are a touch coarser.

The Cellar

We were greeted at Dalem by the friendly owner Michel Rullier and his consultant winemaker, Christian Veyre. Compared to many other chateaux in this “satellite” location the grounds of Dalem are in excellent shape. This is no doubt because M. Rullier runs a successful winemaking and farming equipment company with locations sprinkled throughout the Aquitaine region. In today’s world of Bordeaux it is virtually impossible to make a living off of wine-alone in areas other than the vaunted Pomerol or St. Emilion.

A few major differences in winemaking stand-out on the right bank. Generally, winemakers and proprietors seem less hampered by tradition, i.e. silicon bungs are actually used, and things such as micro-ox are more openly talked about. That said, traditional fermenters made of concrete abound here– and proprietors still swear by the supposedly better fermentation kinetics for Merlot in concrete (this includes Petrus and Lafleur). Oaking tends to be about the same, but there is a little bit more toast thrown on some of the barrels which seems to marry better with the greater alcoholic strength of most Merlot here.

In front of concrete fermentation vessels with M. Rullier (left) and M. Veyre

The wines of Dalem were excellent. M. Veyre, who has been the consultant here for over a decade, has learned to assuage the tannins and reach into the realm of ripe fruits. Plums, sweet pipe tobacco, and soil inflection notes are the name of the game. Like many other places, the 2003 showed a bit of the phenolic harshness typical of the execrably hot vintage, but the 2001, 2004, and 2005 showed absolutely brilliantly. Though not endowed with as much power as Pomerol, or perhaps as much grace as the finest examples of St. Emilion, the wines were admirable in their taut elegance. For those frustrated with shelling out major bones for mid-rate St. Emilion see if you can get your hands on some of these wines. They can be just as good if not better, and the price is a lot friendlier.

After a quick visit to the newly remodeled Ch. Dauphine with M. Rullier we headed towards our chambres d’hotes just outside of St. Emilion. We had a nice, simple dinner in St. Emilion before heading back to sleep in preparation of what would be another long, informative, day.