2018 Hospice du Rhône Seminars
Each of HdR seminars lasted a little over an hour. What follows is a brief summary of each summary, as well as my notes on some of my favorite wines from each seminar.
Friday, April 27, 2018
- South Africa’s Cinsault Renaissance. This was the first of the 2018 HdR seminars, with Lauren Buzzeo (Wine Enthusiast) as the moderator. The panelists were Ryan Mostert (Silwervis), Andrea Mullineux (Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines), Tremayne Smith (The Blacksmith), and Danie Steytler (Kaapzicht Wine Estate).
Prior to this seminar, I knew very little about South African Cinsault. Thus, it was instructive to hear the winemaking panelists talk about the history of Cinsault in South Africa. The panelists also talked about the typical characteristics of Cinsault—a dark, fairly thick-skinned grape in large, tight bunches. It’s a relatively aromatic variety, but with low acidity and soft tannins. It can be a hearty producer, so you need to control yields to get a quality wine.
Until 1973, South African law only required that a wine contain 25% (!!) of a certain grape to be labeled as a single-variety wine. Thus, Cinsault could easily comprise a large portion of a blend in the “old days” without anyone really knowing how much Cinsault was in the final blend. But much more attention has been paid recently to Cinsault, which the panelists referred to as a relatively “site-specific” grape.
One of the best lines of the seminars came from Ryan Mostert. When addressing the question of estimating how long a wine might age when you’re first making it, he commented that it was like shooting the first monkey into space—you have no idea how long it will live!
Some of my favorite wines from this seminar were:
a. 2017 The Blacksmith Barebones W.O. Paarl (from 93 year old vines). A very spicy red fruited wine, with cranberry notes and overall good balance.
b. 2016 AA Badenhorst Ramnasgras Cinsault W.O. Swartland. Big smoky plums, with herbs and leather throughout. A very complex, savory wine with excellent fruit/acid balance. My favorite of this seminar.
c. 2016 Kaapzicht 1952 Cinsault W.O. Stellenbosch. More of a rhubarb and blueberry fruited wine, with lighter notes of earth and leather.
d. 2015 Silwervis Cinsault, W.O. Swartland. More plum fruited, with a deep, savory midpalate. Some cranberry notes emerge with swirling.
- A Sixth Generation Crusade in the Barossa Valley. The second morning seminar covered Barossa Valley growers, with Chuck Hayward (Vinroads) as the moderator. The panelists were Paul Heinecke (Soul Growers), Adrian Hoffmann (Hoffmann Vineyards), Micheal Twelftree (Two Hands Winery and Twelftree), Russell Johnstone (RBJ Vintners), and Chris Ringland (North Barossa Vintners Collaboration).
The focus of this seminar was family owned/managed vineyards in the Barossa Valley of Australia. Adrian Hoffmann represented his family’s Hoffmann Vineyards, sections of which date back to 1912 (!!). There are now 17 blocks in those vineyards, comprised of Shiraz, Grenache, and Mataro. In addition, they have been experimenting with other varieties such as Carignan, Zinfandel, Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Cinsault, and Durif. The vines are on their own roots, and the soil is red-brown earth, sandy over clay or Biscay over limestone. The other panelists commented about the differences between sourcing fruit from long-held family vineyards (on one hand) versus larger, more corporate vineyards (on the other). Clearly, the winemakers represented on this panel preferred developing a strong personal relationship with family vineyards to tweak the growing conditions in the vineyard.
Some of my favorite wines from this seminar were:
a. 2010 Two Hands Shiraz Ares. This is an extremely aromatic Shiraz, with lots of cloves and baking spices. The palate follows the nose, with a rich, full-bodied midpalate. Bottle age has really brought a good balance to this wine.
b. 2012 RBJ Mataro Grenache Theologicum. A more blackberry/savory wine, with a slight note of baking spices in the midpalate. Very good balance.
c. 2002 RBJ Mataro. Brought in part to show the ageability of screwtop wines. Some clear bricking in the color, but still very aromatic—herbs, black licorice, and baking spices. The palate follows the nose, with greater complexity than sheer fruit at this point.
d. 2012 Chris Ringland Shiraz Dimchurch Cuvee. This would probably be a wine that would be very divisive—you would either love or hate it. An example of what I coined years ago as the “Aussie oozemonster” style of Shiraz. Very ripe fruit, with cough drop/menthol notes throughout. A very intense midpalate, with lots of black licorice and menthol. The acidity keeps it in balance for its style. Not for everyone, to be sure, but extremely well-made in its genre.
Saturday, April 28, 2018
- Lost and Found: Old Vine Rhônes Across California. This third morning HdR seminar discussed the oldest known Rhône variety vineyards around California. The moderator was John Alban, and the panelists were Tegan Passalacqua (Sandlands and Turley Wine Cellars) and Morgan Twain-Peterson, MW (Bedrock Wine Company).
In many ways, this historical survey seminar was the most intellectually stimulating of these four HdR seminars. The history of “old vine” vineyards in California is fairly exhaustive, as truly old vineyards appear up and down California. Much of the material presented came from the Historic Vineyard Society. According to HVS, an “old vineyard” is:
–A currently producing California vineyard,
–With an original planting date of at least 50 years ago, and
–With at least 1/3 of the existing producing vines traceable back to the original planting date.
For a complete list of Registered (and Unregistered) historic vineyards, go to:
https://historicvineyardsociety.org/vineyards
Both Morgan and Tegan are on the HVS Team, and so the seminar discussed at great length the history of some of California’s oldest vineyards, some of which date back to the 1880’s and 1890’s. In addition, the seminar pulled together wines made from many of these vineyards around the state. One comment made was that some of the earliest vines were planted by arborists, not people with viticultural training. For a good discussion of California “old vines” vineyards I strongly recommend perusing the HVS website.
For example, if you want more information on “Two Acre” vineyard used by Carlisle, you’ll find it at:
https://historicvineyardsociety.org/vineyard/two-acres
The story was told of how Mike Officer “found” the vineyard while out riding his bike one day. As I recall, he was told that the vineyard was basically Zinfandel, and he had to tear out lots of foliage (including poison ivy) to get at the vines. As it turned out, Two Acre was predominantly Mouvedre.
The panelists also talked about the 1882 work of the State Board of California Viticultural Commissioners who attempted to analyze existing varieties and make recommendations for improving wine quality. Their work in turn affected what got planted. [For those interested in more history on California’s Rhône varieties, I recommend Patrick Comiskey’s “American Rhone” book]
For each wine tasted, there was a brief discussion of the underlying vineyard. So for the first wine, the 2016 Turley Cinsault Bechtold Vineyard Lodi, this is the oldest known Cinsault left in the world (!!). The vineyard dates back to 1886.
Other favorite wines from the seminar included:
a. 2015 Sandlands Mataro Contra Costa County. Very perfumy wine, with dark chocolate notes throughout. A very deep, rich wine, but well-balanced.
b. 2015 Once & Future Wines Mataro Oakley Road Vineyard Contra Costa County. A somewhat savory wine, with leather and a touch of funk. Overall, one of the most complex wines tasted at this seminar, with good length.
c. 2016 Carlisle Two Acres Mataro field blend Russian River Valley. I’ve been drinking the Carlisle wines for years, including the Two Acres designation. Lots of dark plums and a bit of smoke throughout, with excellent midpalate depth and complexity. Smoother tannins make this a very enjoyable wine already.
- The Majesty of Guigal. This final HdR seminar surveyed the wines of E. Guigal. The moderator was Patrick Will (Vintus, the importer), and the two panelists were Philippe Guigal (E. Guigal) and Michael Quinttus (also of Vintus).
Ten years ago, in 2008, one of the most anticipated HdR seminars was a survey of the E. Guigal wines. This seminar provided an opportunity to update the survey ten years on, and as you might expect, it had probably the largest attendance of the four seminars this year.
Philippe Guigal and the other participants discussed the different appellations of the E. Guigal wines, with a fair amount of detail provided about the E. Guigal vineyards. For example, there was a slide that had an aerial view of the E. Guigal vineyard in Saint-Joseph, and Philippe spent a fair amount of time discussing the soil, the sun orientation, and the different segments of the vineyard.
The seminar was notable in how much time was spent on the Saint-Joseph wines. While E. Guigal tends to be known in the wine geek circles for the LaLa Côte-Rôtie wines, their Saint-Joseph wines presented at the seminar were as good (and sometimes better). In terms of vintages, Philippe especially praised the “terroir-driven” reds produced in 2014.
Even so, of course there was some discussion of La Turque. There was no La Turque produced from about 1935 to 1985 (per my notes), and the vineyard was replanted in the early 1980s. So La Turque came back into production with the 1985 vintage.
Some of my favorite wines from this seminar were:
a. 2016 E. Guigal Saint-Joseph Lieu-Dit Blanc. This is mostly Marsanne, with a little bit of Roussane. Very floral white fruits on the nose, with a strong, peach/pear/wax midpalate. Ripe fruit married with good acidity, a “wow” white Rhône!
b. 2014 E. Guigal Saint-Joseph Vignes de l’Hospice. This Saint-Joseph was from the portion of the vineyard (per the photo we saw) to the right, with very steeply terraced vineyards. It is just across from Hermitage, and it’s 100% Syrah. If tasted blind, I think I might guess Hermitage. Earth, black pepper, smoke, leather, and ripe dark fruits. It’s a great balance of power and elegance. Another “wow” wine and showing much better right now than the 2015 tasted just before it!
c. 2005 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque. Like the Côte-Rôtie Chateau d’Ampuis, it’s 7% viognier along with the Syrah. This vineyard gets the most sun exposure of the LaLa’s. An elegant, perfumy nose, but the midpalate was still very young and somewhat undifferentiated. With more time in the glass, though, it started to pick up steam. More lavendar and black licorice emerge with aeration. I don’t know how long it had sat in the glass before we got to taste it, but this was still drinking very young. Tremendous potential, and certainly is a “wow” wine with aeration, but its best days are yet to come.
