Natural Wine Makers in France – Vinosseur.com

Natural Wine Makers in France – Part II – Jean-Pierre Robinot

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:25:43 +0000

(I am sorry for the quality of the photo’s in this post. Since I am not a photographer, I should really apologize at the beginning of every post, but the photos in this post are especially low quality – blamed on the settings being incorrect on my “wonderful” camera phone. Oh, and although this post seems long, it’s mostly full of pictures to entertain you)

Tuesday November 3rd, 2009

Our goal was to reach Jean-Pierre Robinot sometime in the afternoon, but when visiting with natural wine makers, it’s really best not to have a schedule! We left Griottes quite late, and it was at least a 2 hour drive to Robinot’s, so we didn’t arrive until around 2200 (10pm) that evening. Nevertheless, we were greeted by the very energetic Jean-Pierre and his wonderful wife Noella. He immediately took us into the cellar where we began to sample his 2009 harvest of Pineau d’Aunis right from the fiberglass containers where they had just finished fermenting. We started with the 2009 Concerto d’Oniss which was fermented using purchased grapes from farmers (and friends) who have the same values and ideals in the vineyards as he does. This “basic” wine of his will be bottled straight from the fiberglass tank and spend no time in any other container. Wines made from purchased grapes go into bottles labeled under the product line “L’Opera des Vins”. This is one of my favorite of Robinot’s wines due to the clean, precise fruit and no oak influences.

We also tasted the just finished fermenting wine from grapes growing in Jean-Pierre’s own vineyards which will for the most part spend some time in oak before being bottled with labels indicating that the grapes were his own by the product line “Les Vignes de L’Ange Vin (L’Ange Vin for short)”. These were so stunning that I feel confident when I say that the 2009 vintage for Jean-Pierre Robinot will be top!

After a few quick hours in the cellar tasting the new wines, we retreated back to the home of Jean-Pierre and Noella, where Noella started to cook a wonderful home-cooked meal which consisted of vegetables from their “natural garden”. Grown in the same way their grapes are grown, the vegetables are left to grow “wild” without the use of any chemicals nor fertilizers. We started dinner at around 130am, which I must admit was probably the latest dinner I had ever had! Jean-Pierre’s energy never faltering!

The totally natural, totally awesome Robinot vegetable garden

Jean-Pierre’s labels for his wine bottles are reproductions of his full-size paintings which are scattered through-out the Robinot home. It’s obvious that when Jean-Pierre is not hard at work with his vine and wine, he is painting, his other passion. His labels are all different, unique and my opinion, very beautiful.

Jean-Pierre Robinot's label paintings - absoultely beautiful

The next day, we had a quick lunch together as Jean-Pierre hurriedly ate so that he could be off to great a small group of Japanese wine tourists who were looking forward to tasting Robinot’s wonderful wines. It seems that the Japanese really appreciate and understand natural wines. After lunch, Noella took us to see the vineyards, and I have to say, they were truly a sight. Now I have seen many vineyards including biodynamic ones, but these had to be the most natural vineyards I have ever seen. The vineyards that in my opinion were the most stunning, were his old-vine Pineau d’Aunis. These 100 year-old+ vines where growing in a field of weeds, they were covered in moss and ivy and looked absolutely at home there. She mentioned that the vineyards were the laughing-stock of his conventional neighbors, yet produced the greatest grapes in the area by far. When walking through the vineyards, I couldn’t help but notice the way the soil was soft and just gave way under the weight of my body. The soil was very much alive, and the bugs and insect in the area were proof of this. By contrast, when we walked through the vines of the neighboring vineyards, it was like walking on cement. The soil was extremely packed and dead. Not a bug in sight. Soils that have been killed by the use of chemicals take years and years to recover. I am told that even 10 years after converting the agriculture to organics, the soil is still not completely alive.

Jean-Pierre Robinot's 100 Year-Old+ Pineau d'Aunis Vineyard

After our vineyard tour, we met with Jean-Pierre in his cellars to taste from the barrels. We tasted at least 40 wines ranging from his top reds, base whites (Chenin Blanc) to some of his sweet wines and even some Vin-Jaune-like wines that had been in barrel for 5 years and more and had developed the wonderful flor that develops in the wines of Jerez and the Jura. Jean-Pierre left us to run off to Paris for the weekend, where we were to meet again on Saturday night for dinner!

We spent two nights at the Robinot’s modest home where were fed only vegetables from their garden and meat from friends who had raised the animals in a natural environment. For their hospitality, I am completely grateful. They were extremely gracious hosts. Simple, yet complex people who truly lived off the land and who enjoyed every moment.

My final thoughts about the wines of Robinot are that his wines are dark, haunting, complex, while maintaining a certain freshness and drinkability which I find too many wines lack. His wines are not easy to understand and are full of mystery, as are the Robinot’s

Natural Wine Makers in France – Part I – Domaine Griottes

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:59:16 +0000

On my recent trip to France, I dove head first into the natural wine world, meeting with some of the greatest wine makers making wine today. Between tasting the wines of these “hero’s” of natural wine at the various natural wine bars in Paris, to visiting them at their “domains”, I got to better understand their wines and the people behind them. I would like to apologize in advance for the quality of these photos!

The "Wine List" at Racines natural wine bar & restaurant, Paris

Monday, November 2nd 2009

After having lunch with Jean-Marc Brignot (Jura) at Racines in Paris, where we consumed a 2002 skin-macerated Riesling from Alsace produced by Gérard Schueller with a gorgeous plate of pork, we headed for the Loire Valley. Our destination was Domaine Griottes, an approximate 5 hour drive south and West of Paris. Since their wine “P’tite Gâterie” (here’s a tasting note for this wine) had been on my wine list for the past 6 months, this was a visit I was looking forward to.

Domaine des Griottes label detail with logo

Domaine Griottes is located in the small village of Saint Lambert du Lattay. Located in the Loire Valley (within the Anjou appellation) about 26km south of Angers, 175km from the West Coast. Patrick Desplats & Sébastien Dervieux are growing and making delicious wines from an almost unheard of local variety called Pineau d’Aunis. A grape that made wines consumed by the nobility between the 13th and 15th centuries, it has almost completely disappeared from the Loire Valley save for some brave & passionate wine makers like Patrick and Sébastien. The grape produces some of the most exciting spicy red wines with aromas of grapefruit and pencil shavings. In my opinion, Domaine Griottes make some of the best examples in the Loire Valley from this grape. (Griottes also produces whites from the Chenin Blanc grape). All work in the vineyards and harvesting is done by hand with the help of Patrick’s ageing horse, Caroline. Grapes are subsequently fermented in fiberglass. The P’tite Gâterie is then bottled, while the rest of the red cuvée’s and the whites spend some time in oak after fermentation. Although the use of oak is moderate and these wines are great, the oak is detectable and not entirely to my palate.

Patrick Desplats

We arrived around 2100 (9pm) and were quickly greeted by a very outgoing Patrick Desplats, a table full of things to eat

naturally fermenting apple sauce

and of course wine by the magnum pouring.

We tasted all of the wines from previous vintages. Stunning wines all the way through the gamma, even the oak-influenced wines had stunning fruit qualities that could have only come from extremely healthy grapes that were subsequently spontaneously fermented, aged and bottled without even a milligram of sulfur! My kind of wines.

Tuesday, November 3rd 2009

After a good night’s rest at Patrick’s house, we came down for a nice breakfast where we got to sample some of his home-dried natural teas made from various flowers and herbs growing in his yard. Very inspirational! We then headed over to the vineyards to see where his Pinea d’Aunis and Chenin Blanc was growing. In some of their vineyards, the two grapes were growing together, side by side. We shared a glass of wine with Patrick as we looked over the Loire Valley and talked about the nature and how passionate he was about what he was doing and the nature around him. He and Sébastien had actually purchased a piece of forest separating his vineyards from the vineyards on the other side of the river. He wanted to keep the conventionally farmed vineyards as far away from his as possible.

As the sun began to set, we headed over to his winery and sampled his 2009’s directly from the fiberglass tanks. The fermentation was just finished. At this time, his 2009’s seem to be stunning. Fantastically concentrated wines with incredible amounts of structure while they were still light and fresh. His P’tite Gâterie (which is a blend of Pinea d’Aunis, Gamay and Grouillot, the amounts, and grapes, varying from vintage to vintage) will be bottled directly from the fiberglass tank it was fermented in. His other cuvées like La Griotte, will spend some time in oak before being bottled. After tasting the current vintage and as we headed towards the door to leave, we noticed a tank of SO2 hanging from the ceiling where Patrick had placed it to express his dislike of sulfur!