AMAZING find in Paso...Clos Solene

WINE TALK
1

We have been tasting in Paso Robles since 1997. Our first major find (not counting Saxum) was over two years ago when we tasted Epoch out of the barrel at Denner before their first vintage was released.

On our last trip we were fortunate to meet up with Guillaume Fabre and his wife Solene. Guillaume is assisting Stephan Asseo at L’Aventure and Solene is working at Halter Ranch.

Guillaume sources his grapes from Russel Family Vineyards, Booker and Saxum.

We tasted through his remaining 2009’s and his 2010 production. Each and every bottle was a a knockout. Not inexpensive, but far and away the best wine we have had in Paso in a long, long time.

While not taking formal notes, here is what we sampled:

2010 La Grande Cote Rose (42% Mourvedre; 32% Syrah; remainder in Grenache) [350 cases]
2010 Essence de Roussane (100% Roussane) [100 cases]

2009 Ma Premiere (80% Grenache; 20% Syrah) [50 cases]
2009 Hommage a Nos Pairs (92% Syrah; 8% Grenache) [100 cases]

It’s truly a labor of love for both of them. All bottles are hand signed and wrapped by them.

GREAT folks; GREAT juice…try to get to taste them when you are in the area.

2

Can you tell us any more about the style of the wines and the pricing? Also, do they do walk-in tastings or do you need an appointment?

3

Guillaume is a great guy - and he’s sourcing some amazing fruit. Obviously both Booker and Saxum are well known, but Russell is equally as fantastic a site, and Erich Russell is one of the best growers we work with. I’m not sure if all his Grenache is coming from Russell Family or not, be we do share a block with him there (yes, we’re getting some Grenache now)… and the stuff is KILLER. The Rose is STUNNING, and that’s from a guy (me) who’s not generally a Rose fan. [cheers.gif]

4

Re pricing, I could only find one of the reds available on WineSearcher for $90; the RhoneReport shows list prices for the rose’ at $35, the Roussanne at $60 and the two reds at $95.

2010 La Grande Cote Rose (42% Mourvedre; 32% Syrah; remainder in Grenache) [350 cases]
2010 Essence de Roussane (100% Roussane) [100 cases]

2009 Ma Premiere (80% Grenache; 20% Syrah) [50 cases]
2009 Hommage a Nos Pairs (92% Syrah; 8% Grenache) [100 cases]

5

The Rose is sourced from Russell Family and is $25
The Roussane is sourced from Booker and Saxum and is $60
Hommage ($95) and Ma Premiere ($105) are from the Russell Family Vineyard

The Rose is very lean and light as is the Roussane. The Hommage and Ma Premiere are more Paso style, bold and a lot of fruit, but backed off a little, so they are well balanced and not over the top.

If anyone is into points Parker, Tanzer and Rhone Report are rating the Roussanne, Hommage and Ma Premiere in the 92 to 93/94 range.

You do need an appointment. It’s his second job so he needs to work around his L’Aventure comitments.

6

Eric Anderson and a bunch of the Grape-Nutz crew visited Guillaume last December. Eric’s full notes and photos are in the link - his tasting notes (all barrel samples) are below:

Clos Solène 2010 La Rose – Paso Robles. A GSM blend, using the saignee method for the juice, with stainless steel fermenting thereafter. Nice mouthfeel, and very good fruit, with plenty of acids to balance it all out through the long finish.

Clos Solène 2010 Roussanne – Booker Vnyd, Paso Robles. Four days cold soak and stainless fermentation. Lovely aromatics of pear and apricot. Slightly viscous, yet elegant in mouthfeel. Some oak and minerality in both nose and mouth.
Clos Solène 2010 Viognier – Russell Vnyd, Paso Robles. Lovely honeysuckle aroma, with floral notes and a hint of buttered toast. Elegant, seamless melding of peach and nectarine. Low tonnage, 9 days cold soak, stainless steel fermented.

Clos Solène 2009 Syrah – Russell Vnyd, Paso Robles. Estrella clone. Gorgeous nose of black fruit and some herbs. Lots of jammy fruit, and just delicious with juicy acids to ramp up the finish.

Clos Solène 2009 Grenache – Russell Vnyd, Paso Robles. 20% syrah. Obvious Grenache-influenced nose of raspberry, as well as a nice dollop of dark fruit flavors on the palate. Nice balance throughout with juicy acids through the finish.

Clos Solène 2010 Mourvedre – Russell Vnyd, Paso Robles. Blended with 25% Grenache. Still getting coaxed through fermentation, this lot was from a barrel covered with heating blanket. Fascinating aromatics of roasted and macerated fruit in the nose. A bit monolithic and sweet in mouthfeel, but you can sense where this is going and want to accompany it on the journey.

Clos Solène 2010 Grenache – Russell Vnyd, Paso Robles. Given general alcohol levels in many Paso wines, a fortified Grenache may seem a bit like carrying sand to the beach. That said, this was a terrific rendition, and avoids that often old vine sappiness and astringency of many late harvest wines.

7

The wines and the story behind them sound nice, but the prices — yowza! [wow.gif] No thanks.

8

+1 Cute story on the web site, and I’m sure these are passionate and talented people. Problem is, I have very little room in my cellar for $95+ wine.

9

Come on folks, this is a Veblen good–why isn’t the high price making you want it more?!?

At any rate, this is a tiny side project from a winemaker who works at a different $100 bottle with 95+ Parker ratings producer. It shouldn’t be a problem finding enough customers to buy his juice even at $95, so good for him. California has many of these “big fish in a little pond” types of wines that will sell to well-off locals without much context of value in the international wine market or get a high enough rating from Parker or Laube that will move their 50-100 cases.

And if it doesn’t sell? He’s still got his day job and a cellar full of rocket juice he can source at cost (my guess around $20-$30 per bottle, tops). Win-win for the intrepid Veblen wine seller!

10

Hello Gentleman,
Thanks for your posting and comments!!
Clos Solene is the result of my labor after my day job at L’'Aventure as you said but the approach is different. I’m working in the winebusiness since I born with my family and this passion drive me to do some things I dreamt since a long long long time. This project didn’t come down from a tree after I woke up one day. Arrived in 2004 like an Intern at L’Aventure for a year, I felt inlove about Paso and the potential we have here. My dad was really disapointed but he understood. Clos Solene born in 2007 with my Essence de Roussanne I make from Booker Vineyards and now with James Berry Vineyards. He took me 3 years before to launch the project, to find the right fruit. Early on It was easy to find some really good fruit at inexpensive price, now the price achieve NAPA about 5000 to 8000 $ a ton. But my main reason why I started small since the begining, essentially for the quality. I completely handle everything myself begining to the end. I take care on a beautifull piece of Land at “Russel Family Vineyards” ,my personnal rows. They are marked and nobody else touch them. I prun, shootthin, canopy management everything with high care. After that everyrow and cluster are picked they have been put by gravity directly in small tank call puncheons(400l) in oak mainly almost new french oak and all the work for the fermentation is doing by hand by rotation. Pressed,The wine stay in new french oak barrique 225l for an other remaining of 15 to 20 month,The wine never touch a pump. Yes I started at 50 cases but Im mooving to 300 cases now myself and don’t forget arrived 6 years ago with 2 luggage, no english but passionated…I will say its INEXPENSIVE!!! And I will never buy bulk wine!not in my philosophy…
So come see me!!
Cheers,
Guillaume

11

Post of the year? This gets my vote