Moore Brothers Blog

Marjorie & Stéphane Gallet

winegrowers Greg Moore

Marjorie and Stéphane Gallet in Montner These wines come from selected parcels grown in the stony, red clay soil of Rivesaltes, and are made at the Cave Cooperative de Rivsaltes under the direction of Stéphane and Marjorie Gallet of Roc des Anges. By helping the cooperative’s growers understand the benefits of sustainable farming, limited yields and harvesting before the grapes are over mature, the Gallets are hoping to raise the general quality of wine in their appellation. It’s demanding work, but the results are producing the finest wines ever made at the Cave Cooperative de Rivesaltes.

Giovanni Almondo

winegrowers Greg Moore

Domenico Almondo The Almondos have grown grapes in Roero for more than three centuries, but it was Domenico’s father, Giovanni Almondo, who was the first to bottle a tiny quantity of wine. The estate comprises six hectares of Arneis, the noble white variety of Piemonte; four hectares of Nebbiolo for the Roeros; one-and-a-half hectares of Barbera; and a tiny parcel of Brachetto, for the delicate, sweet sparkling red Mosto Parzialmente Fermentato “Fosso della Rosa.” With the day-to-day operations in the hands of Domenico, who is both an uncompromising perfectionist in the vineyard and an immensely talented winemaker, the estate is widely regarded as the top producer in Roero.

Fabrice Gasnier

winegrowers Greg Moore

Fabrice Gasnier in Chinon When we last saw Fabrice Gasnier at his beautiful home in Cravant-les-Coteaux, he had just completed a five-year transformation of his 24-hectare estate to biodynamics; the agricultural discipline based on a series of lectures by Rudolph Steiner titled The Spiritual Foundation for the Renewal of Agriculture. Steiner was an Austrian philosopher active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who is best known today as the founder of the Waldorf Schools. It would be easy to describe biodynamics as something like “Organic Plus,” but more than simple labor-intensive organic farming, biodynamics includes a strong belief in interdependence among the “forces” of Earth, Life, and Cosmos. “In the past,” Fabrice says, “we would have sprayed fungicide in the vineyard whenever we had cold, wet weather.” Scooping up a handful of clay-calcareous soil he smiles and says, “But I don't think that way anymore. Now when I see mildew in the vines, I see it as

A Note on Barolo

wine David Moore

A Salumeria's sign in Monforte It’s always an interesting question; “What’s the difference between this Barolo and THAT Barolo?” When talking about how “place” determines what the wine will be, the “geeks” among us like to talk about soils, altitude, and exposure - each giving something to the wine that can’t be reproduced in the next town over. But the one other aspect of “terroir” that’s often missed is “culture.” And differences in culture shape the viticolotore’s aesthetic just as much as soils. You can see this in looking at the two Barolo villages represented at Moore Brothers; Monforte and Serralunga. Monforte is a much larger town than Serralunga. It was one of the important centers of commerce in the area which became known as the “Barolo” zone. Quite broadly speaking, the inhabitants of this town were much “better off” than their counterparts in Serralunga. In Serralunga, the market for grapes was dominated by the large Fontanafredda winery, and most of the farmers s

Bérèche Pere et Fils

winegrowers Greg Moore

Raphaël and Vincent Bérêche The original Bérêche estate is centered around 2.5 hectares of vines established by Leon and Albert Bérêche in 1847. Successive generations expanded the property, and today there are a total of 9.5 ha in and around the communes of Craon de Ludes, Ormes, Trépail, and Mailly, all in the Montagne de Reims, as well as the area around Mareuil-le-Port on the left bank of the Marne. The 0.15 ha Mailly parcel, acquired in 2012, is their first Grand Cru vineyard. Since joining their father Jean-Pierre in 2004 and 2008 respectively, Raphaël and Vincent Bérêche have risen to the head of the class of Champagne’s corp of elite grower producers. Most of their wines are sold directly to private customers, who drive from Brussels and Paris and London to pick up their six or twelve bottle allocations at the winery in Craon de Ludes. Almost all the rest goes to Michelin-starred, like Gérard Boyer’s iconic Les Crayères in Reims, or to specialist retailers like Le Ver

Three Wine Company

winegrowers Greg Moore

>Matt Cline in the old vineyards of Oakley Along with Joel Peterson at Ravenswood in Sonoma, and Paul Draper at Ridge Vineyards in Santa Cruz, Matt Cline was one of the original champions of single-vineyard, old-vine Zinfandel. Before establishing Three Wine Company in 2006, Matt was a founding partner of Trinitas Cellars (which he sold in 2006), and had worked with his brother Fred at Cline Cellars. Along the way, he has quietly produced some of the most dramatic red wines ever made in California, mostly from grapes purchased under contract with third and fourth generation farmers of ancient parcels in Oakley and Lodi in Contra Costa County.

Domaine Le Roc des Anges

winegrowers Greg Moore

Marjorie and Stéphane Gallet in Montner Marjorie Gallet was twenty-three years-old (and recently married to her young winemaker husband, Stéphane), when she came upon old vineyards near her home. Many of these sites were abandoned, and most were available for sale. Borrowing money from her friends, she founded her Domaine Le Roc Des Anges — the name being a play on the rocky schist and quartz soils of the area. With her first vintage in 2003, she established herself as a “superstar” in the Roussillon, producing wines of dense complexity in a region most known for mediocre, overcropped “cheap wine.” “Old vines, old soil. I’m the only young thing at the domaine,” Marjorie told an interviewer shortly after she created Domaine Le Roc des Anges. We are extremely privileged to have a relationship with Marjorie and her husband, who joined her at the domaine in 2008 after spending ten years making wine at Domaine du Mas Amiel in nearby Maury. There are about thirty hectares in fif

Château Le Hauts d'Aglan

winegrowers Greg Moore

Isabelle in her vineyards Here is another sensitive, intelligent young woman with school-aged children, like Marjorie Gallet of Domaine Le Roc des Anges, and Hélène Thibon at Mas de Libian. Isabelle Rey-Auriat inherited her fourteen-hectare estate from her mother. She is deeply committed to traditional Cahors, its unique terroir, and to Malbec. She is also a tireless advocate for small-farm wine growers. From 1995 until 2000 she served as President of the Vignerons Indépendants du Lot, and was a founding member and the first President of the Fédération Interdépartementale des Vignerons Indépendants de Midi-Pyrénées. In 2007 she was inducted as a Chevalier dans l’Ordre National du Mérite Agricole.

Château Brûlesécaille

winegrowers Greg Moore

Jacques Rodet No doubt Château Brûlesécaille, which was classified a Cru Bourgeois in 1868, would be better known today if the wine were sold on the Place de Bordeaux. But Jacques and Martine Rodet, who took charge of the family estate in 1974, prefer to sell their wine directly, in mutually rewarding personal relationships like the one that established Château Brûlesécaille at “Les Trois Marches” in Versailles more than thirty years ago, and the one I hope will continue long into the future. The 26-hectare estate lies on an elevated croupe of gravelly clay limestone overlooking the Dordogne in Tauriac, one of the most privileged locations in the Côtes de Bourg. Of special interest is that many of the vines are more than seventy years old, having escaped the ravages of the terrible freeze of February 1956, which destroyed nearly three fourths of the vines on the Right Bank. Stéphane Beuret, the brilliant enologist who also makes the wine at Château Larroque, supervises the winema

Domaine Etienne Daulny

winegrowers Greg Moore

Etiènne Daulny showing the map of his vineyards to Terry Moore If you ask Bertrand Daulny, the winemaker and chef de cave at this impeccable 15-hectare estate in Verdigny, why his elegant Sancerres are always counted among the finest white wines of the middle Loire Valley, he’ll point you to his older brother Etiènne, who grows the grapes. “Il s’agit de la vigne; pas de la cave.” (“It’s all about the vineyards; not about the cellar.”) But if you ask Etiènne, he’ll point you right back to Bertrand. “We grow healthy grapes, but Sauvignon Blanc is a capricious variety, with aromatics that depend on great cellar work.”