Translation missing: en.Château-Grillet + Domaine Belargus + Domaine Rougeot + Tasting of Wines That Have Excited Us Saturday 12th 3pm-6pm: Château-Grillet + Domaine Belargus + Domaine Rougeot + Tasting of Wines That Have Excited Us Saturday 12th 3pm-6pm
Château-Grillet
Château-Grillet is by far one of the most unique and greatest white wines of the world. Nestled between the villages of Vérin and Saint-Michel-sur-Rhône, immediately south of the Condrieu area, Château-Grillet is a spectacular 3.8-hectare site rising dramatically above the Rhône from 150 to 250 meters. Château-Grillet is one of only 2 monopole appellations outside of Burgundy (the other being Joly's Coulée de Serrant) due to its extremely unique conditions that set it apart from the rest of Condrieu. Vines were planted on the site as far back as the third century by Emperor Probus and it has enjoyed a distinctly high reputation being in the cellars of the likes of Thomas Jefferson and King George IV. There were some inconsistent vintages in the latter half of the twentieth century; however, since François Pinault (owner of Château Latour and Clos de Tart) purchased the estate in 2011, there has been a significant push in quality to reaffirm the legendary wine's place amongst the best in the world.
The vines of the estate are perched on 76 dry-stone wall terraces (chaillées) and are worked by hand, hoe and horse-drawn plough. Unusually for the region, the property forms a south-facing natural amphitheatre, which is protected from the La Bise north wind. Here, the sandy soils are poorer and more friable than those of most of the Condrieu appellation, derived from decomposed granite, quartz, feldspar and mica, combined with wind-blown loess. The average age of the vines is 45 years, with the eldest now just over 70 years old. With François Pinault's vision of restoring Château-Grillet to its former glory; yields have been significantly reduced, he has obtained organic certification and is also consulting with the legendary Jean-Louis Chave. The wines are vinified in a combination of stainless steel and oak barrels, with a moderate amount of new wood and mature for roughly 12-18 months. The resulting wines are concentrated, detailed, saline and can age well for over a decade unlike most other wines made from Viognier.
We've managed to get out hands on all 3 of wines from the estate across a couple of vintages. These wines are extremely rare, especially in Australia where we usually only import about 200 bottles of the top wine. We have the 'Cotes du Rhone Blanc' in both the 2020 and 2021 vintages. This is also made from 100% Viognier and the selection of grapes that make the cut for even this "entry" wine has become even stricter since Pinault's takeover in 2011. These wines are an excellent chance to taste the greatness of the Château! We also have the 2020 and 2021 vintages of 'Condrieu La Carthery' which is a relatively new addition to their portfolio following a purchase of some vines in the Condrieu appellation right next to Château-Grillet. This is handled the same way as the top wine but is aged for a slightly shorter amount of time, producing a wine that is more pleasurable in its youth. Finally, the flagship 'Château-Grillet' we have in the 2019 and 2020 vintages. This wine has a marked minerality that is often never found in Viognier with a wide aromatic spectrum from floral, to fruity and even notes of honey, nougat, hazelnut, white truffle and saffron. This is one of the world's iconic wines for a reason. Don't miss out!
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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're excited to share a large range of The Belargus wines with you, across multiple vintages and in both dry and sweet expressions. From the more "entry-level" offerings, we have the 'Ronceray Anjou' in both '19 and '20 vintages. Having drunk the 2019 recently, I can vouch that this is a sensational wine that punches above its weight and was a favourite at a table of people that aren't into wine. A little jump up we have the 'Rouères Anjou' in both the '19 and '20 vintages too as well as the 'Veau Anjou' from 2020. Les Rouères is on a South-Eastern slope of the rump of Quarts-de-Chaume. The thin and warm soils rest on puddingstones (sand concretions and rolled gravel), accumulating heat during the day and releasing it during the night. Le Veau is on a western slope with very thin soils (to non-existent in some parts) as the plot rests on a flush schist area, providing mineral tension and long ageing potential to the wines. Our top Belargus is the 'Quarts Anjou' from the '19 and '20 vintages which comes from spectacular terroir in the Quarts-de-Chaume appellation. The soils rest on Precambrian schists, which provide finesse and length. A fine bitterness, signature of this terroir, brings complexity and length on the palate. Of Ivan's sweet wines, we have: '18 'Coteaux du Layon', '18 'Quarts - Quarts-de-Chaume', '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 Rougeot
Domaine Rougeot have been producing stunning wines for 5 generations: Marc Rougeot is now working alongside his son Pierre-Henri and produces wines in the villages of: Meursault, Monthélie, St Romain, Pommard and Volnay.
Domaine Rougeot have been working organically for some time now and have received certification in 2020 for their efforts. Marc's vision and approach to making wine is one that has been shaped by his travels around France, with friends making wine in places such as Saumur and Cahors which has ultimately led to a natural minimal-intervention approach along with traditional Burgundian techniques. In short, tradition draped in modernity.
All of the 13 hectares of Rougeot's vines are located in or around the prestigious village of Meursault - known for producing robust and textural Chardonnay. All of their wines are vinified sans soufre (without sulphur), although each barrel is tasted throughout élevage to determine if small amounts are needed for certain barrels. Any barrels that make it through this process without sulphur (and they try their best to make this happen) are then bottled with the aesthetic diagonal label. These are very limited in production and hard to get, luckily we have them.
Each terroir gets its chance to shine within their portfolio as every bottling they do is bottled as a single-vineyard designation, even under the regional 'Bourgogne' appellation. We have a great range of wines from this producer in whites and reds and across a spectrum of prices; something for everyone. From the whites we have: '21 'Les Plumes' Aligote, '21 'La Monatine' Bourgogne Blanc and we can't forget the flagship '21 'Sous la Velle' Meursault of which we only have one bottle left. In the way of reds, we have: '22 'Les Vercherres' Passetoutgrain (Pinot and Gamay blend) as well as the '21 'Mon Plaisir' Passetoutgrain under the Pierre-Henri Rougeot label. Under this label we also have the '21 'Plantes du Bois' Cote-de-Nuits Rouge. Back to the Domaine Rougeot label, we have the '20 'Les Lameroses' and '21 'Les Vaux' Bourgone Rouges and finally the stellar '21 'Volnay-Santenots' Premier Cru. These are some incredible wines from a Burgundy producer that has flown under the radar for too long. We want to get them out there so be sure to snap up some of these bottles and show some support for this organic Burg Domaine!
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Tasting of Wines That Have Excited Us
Saturday 12th
3pm-6pm
Join us this Saturday as we taste through some excellent value wines that have piqued our interest.
Luckily in our job we get to taste many wines from samples, to sales reps showcasing their portfolio and even some generous customers that might give us a taste before taking the bottle to dinner. All of this helps us to better understand the wines and their differences to be able to make recommendations to you more accurately. We've selected 5 wines below that all have a single bottle price below $50 that we were impressed with and thought more people should be drinking. These are the wines that we'll be pouring on the day.
Mount Horrocks Watervale Riesling 2024
Garagiste Le Stagiaire Chardonnay 2024
Shadowfax Macedon Pinot Noir 2022
Crudo (Luke Lambert) Shiraz 2022
Come down this weekend to taste some excellent wines at an excellent price!
Wishing you a great week from the team: Chris, Pete and Aaron.