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The grapes we don’t talk about

They don’t call us the company that sells wines from 250 grape varieties for nothing. Actually, no-one calls us that, but this is to let you know that we do venerate the rare, obscure and precious things even if it is not written into our constitution.

Growers love to work with these varieties because it helps them to understand their territory and also creates a link to the former wines from the region. Some varieties are rarer than others, some have been transplanted into other regions or have obscure origin stories. Certain vignerons collect rare grapes like stamp collectors, others have found or bought or revived co-planted vineyards or taken cuttings or sourced from local nurseries.

They don’t call us the company that sells wines from 250 grape varieties for nothing.

At Les Caves, we love and celebrate diversity. Different grapes show different flavours especially when allied to sensitive farming and a respect for the terroir and the very nature of the place where they originate.

Thierry Navarre:

Loving the Unloved Ones

Thierry Navarre is a fan of the forgotten varieties ( les cépages oubliés as he describes them) and makes henstoothsome wines from the following: Terret Gris, Terret Blanc, Ribeyrenc Blanc, Oeillades and Ribeyrenc Noir. Several of these naturally ripen early and come in at low abvs –  which make their juice ideal components for blending  – but they are also fascinating in their right. Oeillades (a relation to Cinsault) and Ribeyrenc (also known as Aspiran Noir) seem to produce  twinkle-eyed floral, red-fruited wines with nuances of herbs and white pepper, a far cry from the more muscular Grenache and Carignan which dominate this region.

Clos du Gravillas, located in the beautiful stony terroir of Saint-Jean-de-Minervois has long exalted the former ugly duckling Carignan (now more widely appreciated), but over the years John and Nicole Bojanowski have also acquired parcels of the lesser-appreciated varieties such as Counoise and Piquepoul Gris. Meanwhile, in Trausse-Minervois, Jean-Baptiste Senat has planted Piquepoul Noir in response to global warming. With its lighter alcohol, it gives freshness and levity to blends.

In South West France we work with several growers who honour the history of their regions.

The Plageoles Family:

Grape Resurrectionists

Robert Plageoles (Florent and Romain’s grandfather) was an enthusiastic historian, writing two books- one about the local Gaillac grape varieties and another about local viticultural and wine-making traditions. He and all members of the Plageoles family have made the conservation and protection of traditional indigenous Gaillac grape varieties their “conservatoire ampelographique”, an unrivalled collection of grape varieties that had been abandoned local vignerons after their own vines were destroyed by the phylloxera in the nineteenth century. The Plageoles subsequently planted the fourteen historical Gaillacoise grape varieties: notably, the white Ondenc, and Verdanel, all seven of the different varieties of Mauzac, and Mauzac Noir, Prunelart and Braucol for the reds. They made their name with a wide range of natural and terroir-driven “confidential wines”, some of which recreate the traditional wines once made in Gaillac, most notably the ‘Vin de Voile’ (aged for seven years in barrel, in a similar way that the Jura’s Vin Jaune is made), the ‘Vin d’Autan’ (a vin liquoreux) and the Mauzac Nature (the traditional sparkling wine of Gaillac).

And there is the red cuvée called Terroirists. The story is that Romain Plageoles celebrated his return to the family winery (having worked in London) by hatching a wheeze with bro’ Florent to create a simple vin de soif blend from the rare and forgotten ancient Gaillacoise grape varieties that Robert and Bernard had assembled in their conservatoire. The two brothers thus made a co-ferment of a baker’s dozen plus two including Nebelescol, Piquepoul Gris, Marrocain, Morrastel, Mourtes, Jurançon Noir, Prunelart Noir and Blanc, Verdanel, an assortment of types of Duras and a lickety-lick of Mauzac Vert. The label says it all, a fist-punching, glass-brandishing celebration of terroir and drinkability and sucks-boo to all things appellation.

Clos Lapeyre:

Camaralet, the lost grape of Jurançon

Jean-Bernard Larrieu at Clos Lapeyre use the white grapes of Gascony and the Pyrenees: Gros Manseng, Petit Manseng and Petit Courbu for his dry and sweet Jurançon wines. More recently, in the spirit of ampelographical curiosity, he planted vines from the ancient Caramalet grape in a lieu-dit called Mantoulan, 500m west of the Clos Lapeyre domaine.

New/old grape alert and consequent digression:

Camaralet de Lasseube, or simply Camaralet, is an ancient and strongly flavoured French white-wine grape variety on the verge of extinction. It is primarily used as a blending component in Jurançon’s whites wines along with varieties such as Petit Manseng, Gros Manseng and Petit Courbu. In 2000, just half an acre of Camaralet de Lasseube remained in southwestern France.

Its decline is in part due to an unusual characteristic: it is a female vine, not hermaphroditic like most other vines. This means that it must be planted very closely with other vines in order to pollinate, either male or hermaphrodite. This peculiarity makes it more of a challenge in the vineyard, along with its low yields.

The grapes from this 1.5 ha plot are harvested by hand. After slow pressing, the slightly settled juices ferment slowly in foudres (aged 1 to 5 years), before spending one further year on lees (regularly stirred) in vats and six months in vats before being bottled after two winters. The wine itself is extraordinary – rich in body and golden in autumnal fruit character. Bright amber, somewhat waxy, with a half-nutty oxidative nose featuring complex aromas of rhubarb, pink grapefruit, marzipan and ripe green apples. The finish is particularly long with a pleasing interplay between bruised orchard fruits and ripe citrus and even herbs.

Albert de Conti La Vigne d’Albert:

Honouring the grandfather

This is another example of looking back to look forward. The Conti family has always focused on the farming, bringing the soil back to life and preserving the environment for future generations. The winemaking has moved over the years away from new oak and extraction towards more delicate fruit flavours and deliciousness. This particular cuvée is emblematic of that journey being made from Périgord (Mérille), Abouriou, Merlot, Cabernets (Franc and Sauvignon), Côt et Fer. It was this plot that Albert, Guillaume’s grandfather, took grapes for his wine of the year, vinified without sulphur. An homage to him, therefore. a wine as he made them, as he loved them! La Vigne d’Albert sports intense aromas of fresh & ripe fruit combined with a soft floral note. You could drink it from the jug, lightly chilled.

Savoie-Faire:

Yann Pernuit’s local knowledge

Les Vins de Belema Yann Pernuit’s project in Ayze in the Haute-Savoie. Yann has worked in the region for fifteen years, often as a biodynamic consultant, where he supervised the conversion of Château de la Merande to this proactive method of farming. Having bought grapes originally for his negoce project, Yann planted vines in 2015 on a 1.5-hectare plot of mixed limestone scree, marls and red clay soils, all to indigenous alpine grapes such as Mondeuse, Etraire de la D’huy, and Altesse. Excitingly, he had also taken cuttings from Dominique Belluard’s vineyard (Dominique was his friend and mentor) of the rare indigenous Gringet grape and planted these. The resulting wine does great justice to Dominique’s iconic wines.

The Imago (the name works on two levels of the meaning of the word) is a lovely wine, light in body, yet rich, complex and spicy in flavour. Fermented and aged in sandstone jars and terracotta eggs, this Gringet is textural with notes of meadow-flowers, beeswax, pear-skin and cinnamon. Really nourishing with terrific energy. The red, called Sans Pareil, features Etraire de la D’huy alongside Mondeuse, and has a wonderful al dente quality with sappy fruit and finely-grained tannins.

The Savoie region is a wonderful repository of local grape varieties that often transmit the unique nature of the mountainous terrain.

Loire unto themselves

Over in the forests of the Sologne, arch-terroirist and rule-flouter extraordinaire Claude Courtois and sons work with historic Gascon, Romorantin and Menu Pineau. Secret field blends featuring these appear in their cuvées called Racines and Nacarat. If you were to ask which outlawed varieties might feature in these particular wines, you would be met with the deadest of dead bats, for grape patrimony for them is not always about teasing out and isolating the individual varieties but using them in conjunction with others to express a certain inalienable truth about the terroir.

Having said that, Etienne Courtois still make a 100% Gascon (called L’Icaunais – the unknown one). The parentage (parenthood) is unclear. It does not come from Gascony (that much is known), but probably from the area around Orléans in the Département Loiret in central northern France and has an abundance of synonyms – including Abondance. The grape as already mentioned as Rochelle Noire in 1667. Supposedly, around 1-hectare of this variety is planted and at one heady time we had two iterations on our list. The wines are/were both inky red with high acidity, slightly funky and refreshingly unique.

Supposedly, around 1-hectare of this variety is planted and at one heady time we had two iterations on our list.

Menu Pineau is a very old grape that has been cultivated in the Loire Valley since at least the 16th century, where it was first mentioned in print by François Rabelais. It is also referred to as Arbois/Orbois, which is a corruption of the name Herbois, which is what the grape was called in the Loir-et-Cher region where it is most widely grown. In the local dialect, Herbois was spelled/pronounced Orboé or Orboué, which ultimately became Orbois and then Arbois (nothing to do with the region in Jura).

Our pure example is Brin de Chevre, the cadastral name of the vineyard in the Touraine belonging to the Puzelat family. Planted around 80 years ago, parts of it are being replaced with massale selection cuttings.

In the glass the wine was a medium golden bronze color and was a little bit hazy. The nose is usually intense with bruised apple and pear, peach stone and honeysuckle aromas. The palate is characterised flavours of apple cider and fresh cut green apples along with apricot, honey and lemony citrus. In cooler vintages, the wine has a delicious nerve to it, in warmer years the fruit is waxier.

Menu Pineau also features as a component in the 10 grape multi-blend called Racines Blanc made by the Courtois family.

A mention in dispatches for the Romorantin grape. Legend has it that Romorantin was introduced to the Loire by King Francis 1 (1494–1547). The commune of Romorantin-Lanthenay not far from the grape’s stronghold in Cheverny, suggesting that the grape’s name reflects a geographical connection – the king was from the region.

DNA fingerprinting has shown that it is one of many grapes to be the result of a cross between Gouais Blanc and Pinot Fin Teinturier, making it a sibling of Chardonnay, amongst others.

Romorantin is the designated grape for Cour-Cheverny appellation and around thirty producers work with it. Its reputation is being secured by natural wine growers who see its potential and are able to produce extraordinary wines from it.

Back with Puzelat. The family have worked with the grape for some time. Originally, it was as part of a joint project with Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme and a centenarian vineyard (planted on French rootstock). This wine was a veritable vin de garde and had an intensity that lingered remarkably on the palate. Aromas jostled for attention: lemon and chalk followed by mixed white fruits (white peaches, Mirabelle plums, pears), honey, almonds and clean, minerally scents reminiscent of finely-spun wool. It was complex on the palate, too, extremely vinous showing lemon-cream and honey. Ripe apple juiciness gave way to tart, steely acidity that sings like a taut violin string, providing balance and structure for the full, luscious fruit. On the second day the acidity became steelier and more penetrating, the flinty minerality more pronounced taking on back notes of ginger, white pepper, pear-skin and hell’s granny smiths…

More recent versions have been from younger vineyards planted to selection massale vines. From here, the wines are more fluid, expressing a bright chalky freshness.

Hervé Villemade, in Cour-Cheverny, makes two versions of Romorantin. We import “Les Acacias”, a wine characterised by its power and sheer intensity. Here the fleshy apricot fruit melds with a touch of oxidation and creates a multi-layered wine with liquorice bitters, warm ginger and fine tannins.

“Nature admits no lie”, as Carlyle said, and Courtois (Claude) often says that his wine is made from “true grapes.” The wines he and Etienne craft are pure and vibrantly alive, testament to outstanding farming and precise winemaking. Claude, as we know, is one of the wild men of the region, fierce, generous and capricious, guiding beautiful, naturally expressive wines to the bottle. There is something about Romorantin with almost sherry aromas of oxidation and this example grows in the glass as if eating the oxygen that should be destroying it. The texture evolves into lanolin, warmth pervades the mouth. It is like nothing you have ever tasted, and one imagines that every time one tries the wine it will be a different experience.

Stay tuned!

Next time, we explore the Georgian grape heritage, look at some rare wines from the Lebanon, pop into Italy to remind ourselves of its rich vinicultural heritage and finish in Spain, where ancient varieties seem to be coming back into fashion.

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