The second day of our trip started with a 40min drive to Saint-Pierre-de-Boeuf. Here in the northern parts of the Saint-Joseph appellation one can - with enough patience or just a lot of luck - find Aurélien Chatagnier’s domaine. Indeed the address does not state any kind of a number and there is no sign whatsoever to indicate the presence of a winery. Fortunately my friend had a good hunch after we had driven past the domaine three times and indeed we finally found Aurélien.
This young fellow has been running the domaine since 2002. What started with a plot of Gamay now consists of around 10 hectares, covering the appellations of Saint-Joseph, Condrieu and Côte-Rôtie. Additionally Aurélien gives Guy Farge some Condrieu in exchange for some really high quality Cornas. Aurélien does not speak perfect English but that was only a mere challenge as he had all the eagerness in the world to discuss his wines with us while tasting through the whole range (10 wines, if I am not mistaken). It is of really, really high quality all the way from the IGP Gamay to the Côte-Rôtie and the Cornas. They are very much terroir-driven, elegant and thoroughly drinkable while being also very classic. The farming is organic and native yeasts are used for fermentation. Of the reds my favorite was the Cornas, funny enough, but that is not a knock on the wines he has farmed himself. I also really enjoyed the lighter Saint-Joseph rouge called La Sybarite and his IGP single parcel wine Le Crêt Louison, which very much is a superb Saint-Joseph in disguise. Of the whites I liked the energetic Saint-Joseph Blanc the most.
Aurélien is a really funny character and we got to see more of that as he was present at the Condrieu wine and cheese fair the next day. While he did have a stand there he was mostly seen away from it, eagerly tasting other producers’ wines. He is a super friendly guy and I have zero doubt that he is on his way to significant renown. The wines are affordable right now but that is bound to change due to the quality and scarcity. No sales were offered at the domaine but fortunately it could be arranged that he brought the bottles we wanted to buy to the Condrieu fair the next day.
For lunch we (finally) were able to go to Le Mangevins. As we walked in Vincent the owner happily welcomed us and right away we felt like at home. The food and the wines were once again on point as together with the 2016 Domaine du Colombier Crozes-Hermitage blanc we had a magnificently singular and tasty first course of white asparagus velouté and poached egg. The wine was fresh and floral and complemented the dish very nicely. The main was some perfectly cooked duckling with green vegetables and it was paired with the 2015 Saint-Joseph rouge ‘Aléofane’ by Natacha Chave, the sister of Yann we were told. Stylistically this wine was (perhaps partly due to the vintage) not quite my cup of tea as it has a roasted note to it but with the food it served its purpose without problems. To finish things off we had some cheeses and there was no disagreement between us that the very old Ossau-Iraty was one of the best we have ever had. I have had several versions of it before and always liked it a lot but this was something else - as deliciously hedonistic as it gets.
After the lunch we decided to visit the other top spot of Tain, the Compagnie de l’Hermitage wine shop. I had visited and seen the owner Georges Lelektsoglu a couple of times last year but now it was his son Adrien who was present. He seemed like a very approachable and easy-going fellow, happy to talk about wines in the shop and otherwise. Together with his wife/girlfriend he runs a wine bar called Le Bateau Ivre on the way to the river from the wine shop. While the shop is full of great items what really turned our heads this time were the 1996 and 2000 Cornas bottles from a domaine called Cuchet-Beliando. We were not familiar with this name but once we were told that the wines had been made by Robert Michel until 2006 it was clear we must buy a bottle.
Next we headed to Mauves for an appointment at the Bernard Gripa winery. Unfortunately the experience was not a special one. We were welcomed by a lady (easy on the eyes, it must be said) who was merely there to pour the wines before getting back to her office work, or so it seemed. On top of that only two wines - the regular 2016 Saint-Joseph and an IGP wine with 70 % Cabernet Sauvignon) - were poured. The Saint-Joseph was very good for its level but otherwise there is not much to say about this visit. We had been informed beforehand that “all the whites are sold out” but I think this expression does not quite achieve what they had probably tried to communicate.
Leaving the Gripa winery disappointed we decided to try our luck with the Jean-Claude Marsanne winery next door. There is a really old sign announcing that inside the walls is indeed a winery and another big sign indicating the doorbell. After waiting a minute or so we were about to leave but suddenly started hearing some signs of life. Soon the door was opened by a small elderly lady. While my French vocabulary is seriously lacking there is one word I know particularly well and indeed ‘dégustation?’ is all that was needed for us to get in the cellar and taste through the range. The lady did not speak any English whatsoever so no discussion took place but nevertheless we were happy just to taste the wines. Especially the Saint-Joseph rouge is a nice wine that provides the most authentic experience, I think. A Gonon Light, if you will.
There were a couple of hours of spare time before our third visit so some time-killing was to be done. We first headed to a wine shop in Tournon called La Cave Balthazar. While a shop with a very nice selection the experience was a strange one. Whenever we would comment or ask about a wine the owner would try to steer us towards some other bottle. When we praised his selection he responded that the really good bottles are in the back. When we then asked whether it would be possible to go and have a look the response was a delightfully strict “no”. We really had no idea if the guy was messing with us or not but as this all had us feeling as strange as it did we chose to pick up a couple of bottles of the 2015 Marc Sorrel Crozes-Hermitage and get on our way.
As we still had some time left before returning to Mauves we decided to go back to Compagnie de l’Hermitage to get bottles of Gripa’s Saint-Joseph Le Berceau. Even though the visit was far from a great one we had nevertheless left the winery confident about the quality of their wines and this one had a great allure being priced so highly.
Finally it was time for our third visit of the day: Domaine Pierre Gonon. My friend had visited Jean several years ago but for me this was a first. The winery has reached quite a fame by now and prices are on the rise. One might think that visits would be hard to come by but no; Jean greeted us with great enthusiasm, handing us Zalto glasses. We took the round stairs down to the dark cellar. During a short chat and introduction Jean told us that my friend is one of his German merchant’s biggest customers when it comes to his wines. My friend was not aware of this as he does not really buy anything crazy but I guess it’s more about the size of the shop’s allocation. In any case quite a funny occurrence, we thought.
We tasted through the barrel samples of the new vintage. When my friend first visited in 2012 Jean did not yet blend all the parcels right away, ageing them separately instead, but shortly after he changed to doing so as he feels it brings the best results. Next we tasted 2016s and 2015s from the bottle. The wines were of uniform high quality but it really cannot be overstated how unusual of a vintage the 2015 is, especially when compared to 2016 (and 2014 in some addresses now and last year). Jean commented that is has really started to close down and it is not hard to agree. Right now I feel that I really prefer the more classic vintages but it will be extremely interesting to see how the 2015s turn out once they approach maturity.
While the wines were unsurprisingly great the real highlight of the visit was getting to meet Jean. He seems to be the most down-to-earth guy - confident about his wines but as far from arrogant as possible. When we mentioned the hype surrounding his wines currently he smiled widely and responded: Yes. People are crazy." He happily answered all our questions and was really talkative otherwise too. When we mentioned our earlier Marsanne visit he was really supporting about his neighbor and praised how the quality of the wines has improved ever since they stopped selling the best fruit to a co-op. He also mentioned that he never drinks his own wines at home as he would only be too critical and analytical. He is a big fan of the wines of Burgundy and raved about a restaurant in Meursault (Le Soufflot) that he had just been to during the weekend. Overall this was a dream of a visit and made me an even bigger fan of the domaine.
By now it should not come as a surprise that we ended up at Le Mangevins again in the evening. As Vincent was aware that we had had plenty of domaine visits and tasted lots of Syrah he displayed great professionalism when he poured - without showing the label - us glasses of white wine for aperitif and to go with the entrée which was the most pretty dish with scallops as the main attraction. We are under no illusion that nailing a young Sancerre blind is a hard task but that is what we did and Vincent revealed the bottle to be one from Domaine Delaporte. Indeed just the right thing for a somewhat tired palate and really great with the scallops.
The main was just greatest piece of lamb I have ever had - perfectly cooked to a pink color and incredibly juicy and tender. There was quite a bit of pepper in the seasoning and because of that Vincent recommended we order something a bit more hefty. He suggested us a few bottles of Côte-Rôtie but as all were familiar (and a bit more modern/unspectacular than we would have preferred) to us he turned to Cornas. In the end we chose the 2012 Clape. Right after PnP it seemed a bit timid and light but only around 10 minutes were needed for the beast to come alive. Indeed the nose was all about the ‘sauvage’ character and rich, vivid blackberry fruit. On the palate it was not huge but the presence was incredible and the strongly gripping tannins really wonderful. The perfectly ripe fruit complemented the pepper in the dish very nicely and the tannins were not over-powering. Despite its youth it was actually drinking very nicely and no cheeses were needed for us to finish the bottle. Thus we opted for some desserts - even for those without a proper sweet tooth the desserts here are a safe bet. Only Valrhona chocolate is used in chocolate-y ones, however I was really ecstatic about my strawberry tartelette.
Next up: Condrieu wine and cheese fair