Translation missing: en.Alessandro Viola + Domaine Belargus + Domaine de Saint Pierre: Alessandro Viola + Domaine Belargus + Domaine de Saint Pierre
Alessandro Viola
From a young age, Alessandro was intrigued by grape growing having a father who owned vines but always sold the grapes, save for a few odd home bottlings. After learning the ropes of winemaking with some vintages under his belt, Alessandro enrolled in an oenology degree and developed his scientific knowledge after which he worked for a winery in the north as well as one on Etna.
Today Alessandro works with 7 hectares of organically grown grapes across 2 areas, the first in Pietra Rinosa close to Alcamo in the north-western tip of Sicily, the soil is made of clay and the vineyards sit at 200m above sea level taking a large influence from the ocean. The second vineyard in Fastuchera is higher at 400 meters; the soil is calcareous producing more mineral driven and finer wines. His mantra has always been the idea that nothing needed to be added or taken away from the wine if the grapes, soil and winemaking were all working together. A champion of indigenous grape varieties - Alessandro's wines are primarily made from the Sicilian grapes Catarratto and Grillo for the whites and Nero d'Avola and Nerello Mascalese for his reds. With organic viticulture, hands-off winemaking and autochtonous grapes, Alessandro is able to craft stunningly distinct wines that set themselves apart from his peers.
We've just picked up a nice range of Alessandro's wines starting with the 'Catarratto Blanc des Blancs' - 100% sparkling Catarratto bottled without dosage. Effervescent and finely detailed. The '24 'Rose' is made from the younger vines of Nero d'Avola and spends 6 months in steel to preserve a fresh and crisp Rosato style. The '23 'Le Mie Origini Catarratto' comes from a selection of old vines on limestone slopes that sees a year in 5000L botti. This is Alessandro's signature wine. The '24 'Note di Rosso' is a 40/40/20 blend of Nero d'Avola/Nerello Mascalese/Perricone that harmoniously comes together to create a light, fresh and spicy red. Finally, the 'Vendemmia Tardiva' is a unique sweet wine made from late harvested Grillo. These are sensational Sicilian wines that we are constantly asked for all year round. Don't hesitate to snap some of these up!
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Domaine Belargus
Domaine Belargus is the passionate venture of wine enthusiast - Ivan Massonat, seeking to restore the prestige and honour of a 1000 year-old vineyard in the heart of Anjou. Ivan built the estate himself, stone by stone, and is 100% dedicated to Chenin Blanc and exploring the special micro-terroirs of Anjou Noir, in a single-plot manner similar to the climats of Burgundy.
Le jardin du roi, or "The King's Garden" AKA Loire Valley, was planted with vines in the 11th century by religious orders and the wines of Anjou were served to royalty and aristocracy for almost a millennium. This dropped off some time around the late 19th century as tastes and technology changed, but passionate winemakers like Ivan are restoring Anjou Chenin to its rightful throne. Anjou Noir is known for its schisteous soils, formed 500 million years ago, but is also home to purple, black and layered schists, pudding sandstone, magmatic rocks, rolled pebbles, fine clays and aeolian sands. The interplay of variety and soil here in unrivalled. Domaine Belargus own 10 hectares out of the 40 that are classified Grand Cru in the Loire Valley, known as Quarts-de-Chaume. Ivan employs the same techniques that Burgundy built it's reputation on: single plots, old vines, low yields, long elevage, and minimum intervention. The low-yielding single plots are cropped at only 25 hectolitres/hectare to produce wines of concentration and intrigue.
We've picked up some of the latest release from this incredible Domaine and have some wines across multiple vintages and in both dry and sweet expressions. The newest "entry-level" offering is the '22 'Anjou Noir' which shows all the great hallmarks of their more exclusive Chenins (weight, texture, phenolic ripeness with a slight gastronomic bitterness) at an earlier stage of its life. We have the classic '22 'Ronceray Anjou' which is great as always. A little jump up we have the 'Rouères Anjou' in both the '19 and '20 vintages as well as the '20 'Quarts Anjou' which both comes from the prestigious Quarts-de-Chaume. The Rouères is the more crystalline and ready to go whereas the Quarts would benefit with some time to tame its power. Then we have the monolithic '21 'Treilles Anjou' which hails from a 2.72-hectare plot of "geological chaos" and biodiversity that combines the classic Anjou power with elegance and freshness. We have a suite of Ivan's sweet wines including: '18 'Coteaux du Layon', '18 'Rouères - Quarts-de-Chaume', '20 'Rouères - Coteaux du Layon' and the 2018 'Echarderie - Coteaux-du-Layon Chaume 1er cru'. These sweet wines are excellent for those Sauternes lovers that want to try something new and exciting from the best area in the world for sweet Chenin. Domaine Belargus is making some of the most exceptional wine in the Loire Valley, don't miss these!
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Domaine de Saint Pierre
Domaine de Saint Pierre is one the greatest producers in Jura with wines that can rival and often surpass the legends such as Overnoy, Ganevat and Labet. Fabrice Dodane studied oenology at the Beaune Wine University in Burgundy before taking the reins of the Cooperative of Pupillin. In 1989, Fabrice had the opportunity to manage Domaine de Saint-Pierre and has gradually increased the holdings of the vineyards which have been farmed organically since 2002 and shortly after implementing biodynamic practices.
As an Arbois native, Fabrice has a great understanding and connection with this land. The philosophy applied in the vineyard is to preserve the life in and above the soils and to restrain the vine's vigour to produce grapes of greater concentration. Fabrice does not add anything to these wines during the winemaking process save for a tiny splash of sulphur as needed depending on the cuvee. Ultimately these wines are intended to be made without sulphur and to express the terroir. These wines are aged in older oak vats so as not to impede the vibrant limestone soils expressing themselves with winemaking artifice. Most of the wines are made “ouillé” i.e. topped up rather than allowing oxidation so that the wines remain pristine and bursting with nervous energy.
We've just brought in these sensational wines after a couple year's absence. Starting with the 'Fabrice Dodane' line which includes small portions of grapes bought from friends to supplement his own, we have the '23 'Le Dos d'Chat Tout Facile' which is a fun, light and vibrant red composed of Syrah, Grenache, Trousseau and even Chardonnay! The '23 'Le Dos d'Chat G. G. Gamay' is a light and silky Gamay that is dangerously quaffable. The '23 'Fabrice Dodane Ploussard' and '23 'Fabrice Dodane Trousseau' are both supplemented with some grapes from Arbois due to low yields but still offer great detail, deftness and subtlety. The '23 'Fabrice Dodane Arbois Chardonnay' offers excellent value compared to most other Jura Chardonnay at this price - nice flesh and sting line of acid. Finally, we have the '20 'Domaine de Saint Pierre Les Brulées Chardonnay' is his top wine and one of the greatest in the region. Comparable to a reductive Meursault - this is ready to go now with a small decant but will unfurl its secrets with some time in the bottle as well. We only have tiny quantities of this Jura legend's wines - don't hesitate on these!