Author: Jean-Sébastien LASSERE

Château de Vaux – Les Hautes-Bassières

I don’t know whether it’s since I started taking the time to break wines down, but here’s one I’m not about to forget.

A Pinot Noir from the Moselle! Put like that, you might well think: yeah, OK, so what?

This wine will make you forget every preconception about Pinot Noir, and even more so about the wines of the Moselle.

On the nose it will already have you doubting! An impressively woody nose for a Pinot Noir, and the subtle spices will already tell you that this wine wasn’t thrown together in a hurry!

On the palate it’s powerful, and the Pinot Noir only appears in a second wave.

The spices, the wood — I’m astounded by the taste of this wine. I can’t make out the other aromas beyond the wood; it’s ample and wraps around the whole palate.

On the finish it’s quick, and that isn’t its strong point — but the rest more than makes up for that slight lapse. We’ve just been reminded that we have a Pinot Noir in the glass!

Since 2013, Château de Vaux has produced wines with organic and biodynamic certification. Rest assured, this wine is good, very good — don’t let the label worry you, quite the opposite.

Château de Vaux is a wine estate located in the Moselle region of France, near the city of Metz. It’s renowned for the quality of its wines, notably its whites from the Auxerrois variety and its reds made from Pinot Noir and Gamay.

The estate covers 13 hectares, planted on steep, south-east-facing slopes that enjoy optimal sunshine for ripening the grapes. The vines are farmed with respect for the environment and biodiversity, with particular attention paid to the quality of the fruit.

The Château de Vaux estate is also a place to visit, where you can discover the vines and the cellars, as well as taste the estate’s wines: https://chateaudevaux.com

Apremont wines are made from the Jacquère grape, which has been grown in the mountains of Savoie for centuries. The Apremont vineyards sit on steep slopes, at an average altitude of 450 metres, and enjoy a cool, dry climate.

Apremont wines are known for their freshness and lightness, as well as for their floral and fruity aromas, such as apple, pear and lime. On the palate they are generally dry and mineral, with a lively acidity and flinty flavours.

Philippe Viallet’s white wines are particularly renowned. They’re made from local varieties such as Jacquère and Altesse, grown on steep slopes in the mountains of Savoie. These whites are fresh, light and mineral, with aromas of white fruit and flowers.

For this 2021, a robe of mineral clarity; I make out aromas of pear. Highly pleasant and lightly spiced, we’ll taste it with pleasure.

On the palate this wine is light and the fruit is subtle. At 11.5 degrees and with a touch of chill, it’s agreeable, and it followed me right through the meal — after the main course, it delighted us with its company alongside the cheese.

Apremont wines offer exceptional value for money; to go without them is sacrilege.

I can’t help loving this grape variety… Chardonnay…

They’re beautiful and always surprising, with a lovely robe that’s never the same twice. This is a declaration of love: I adore these white wines. But why?

Might a woman be behind all this? It’s true that when you read certain reviews, you sometimes wonder whether the author is talking about a wine or about a woman.

Wine is often compared to a woman, for its sophistication, its beauty. Just like a woman, wine can be elegant, refined and subtle, with delicate aromas and flavours that gradually reveal their richness and depth — a unique and fascinating personality, with infinite nuances and variations that testify to its complexity and its character.

If I brought her the taste for wine, my wife has, without any doubt, made me love white wines and Chardonnays in particular. Those little moments together tasting these wines always remain special and intimate.

Now that we’ve talked about love, let’s go and taste this wine:

A pale, mineral robe; it’s very pure and discreet.

A nose scented with orange zest and citrus; I make out a little walnut, but I’m not sure — I hesitate.

With a touch of chill, its scent is undeniably in lovely balance — so pleasant that I stayed several minutes without drinking it, just enjoying the sensation.

On the palate, that walnut — I really can’t dismiss it; the sensation comes back and my palate reminds me not to forget it. But naturally it goes and hides just behind that wood which comes to wrap the whole thing.

Through the length it lingers as a lovely suspended moment, and it’s true you don’t want it to stop…

The motto “Servio Fideliter” of Château Branas Grand-Poujeaux was chosen in reference to the property’s history. The estate was once owned by the nuns of the order of Saint Vincent de Paul, who founded a school for girls near the château. “Servio Fideliter” was the order’s motto, meaning “I serve faithfully”.

This motto reflects the property’s commitment to producing wines of superior quality while respecting Bordeaux traditions, all the while bringing forward its own style and its unique terroir.

But why am I telling you about this wine? Quite simply because I had the chance to meet the owner at the time, Jacques. I greatly enjoyed those moments of conversation around wine, and he had a gift for introducing me to appellations I still keep in my cellar today — I owe him the “Loupiac” wines, so beautiful and so good.

In 2002 the estate became the property of Justin Onclin (also the owner of Villemaurine in Saint-Émilion). In 2020, he acquired Ch. Granins Grand Poujeaux — but that’s another story…

Nonetheless, in more than 20 years he transformed Branas, and it has become a safe bet in Grand-Poujeaux, among the prestigious “Chasse-Spleen” and “Château Poujeaux”. Branas is therefore continuing its rise…

Sadly I won’t be telling you about a tasting in this article, because I haven’t dared open the few bottles of Branas and Clos des Demoiselles from the 1998 vintage. I want to keep them in tribute to this gentleman. But there’s no doubt I’ll soon be telling you about a vintage from the Justin Onclin era.

For those who don’t know the “Cru Artisan” designation, here’s what makes it distinctive:

“Cru artisan” wines are a relatively recent Bordeaux designation. It was created in 2012 to recognise small wine producers who take an artisanal approach to growing and winemaking.

These wines are produced using traditional, artisanal methods, with particular attention paid to every stage of production. The vines are farmed organically or sustainably, without excessive use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers. The grapes are hand-harvested and carefully sorted so that only the best are kept.

“Cru artisan” wines are produced on a small scale, often by family vineyard owners. They’re frequently vinified in concrete or wooden vats and aged in oak barrels for varying periods. The result is a quality wine, complex and balanced, that reflects the terroir and the winemaker’s know-how.

“Cru artisan” wines are seen as an alternative to the better-known and more expensive Bordeaux wines. They offer excellent value for money and are often more affordable than Bordeaux’s grands crus classés.

On to the tasting:

A dark robe with chocolatey tones; the nose is very woody, and aromas of red fruit emerge, though discreetly.

On the palate it’s discreet at first, but it offers a lovely balanced length with a little spike of acidity.

There’s that length I call “flat” — meaning the aromas are non-existent at the start, almost absent, and then explode all at once. I haven’t managed to find a way to describe this phenomenon, but I’m working on it 😉

This wine will be tricky to find, but a visit to the Médoc is probably the best way!

Tavel is considered by many connoisseurs to be the finest rosé in the world. This grand cru is grown in the Rhône Valley, on the slopes lining the river’s right bank, between the Pont d’Avignon and the Pont du Gard. The Tavel area covers the communes of Tavel and Roquemaure, in the Gard.

Tavel owes its uniqueness to a winemaking process that sets it completely apart from all other rosés, and which resembles that of a red wine: long macerations of 48 to 72 hours. After pressing, fermentations of 10 to 15 days are carried out at low temperature (13-14°C). It comes from a blend of free-run juice, which brings the aromas, the fruit, the freshness and the necessary acidity, and press juice, which preserves its richness, its structure and its power.

I had the chance to taste the one produced by the winegrowers of Tavel & Lirac (thanks Hervé). Visually it’s brilliant, with a flamboyant red colour.

On the palate, the wine is ample and round. It expresses a lovely aromatic power with a finish on spice, staying soft without excessive acidity. Naturally its price will be a little higher than traditional rosés, but it can be kept and will be enjoyed at any time — even in winter.