Moore Brothers Blog

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.”

Domaine Combier

winegrowers Greg Moore

Ghislaine and Laurent Combier Maurice Combier purchased the Domaine's original 10 hectares of vines north of Pont-de-l'Isère in 1962. During the 1960s, he had an allergic reaction to a chemical used in fruit orchards and vineyards to fight plant diseases. In an experiment, he adopted organic farming in half of his property to learn the processes necessary to keep the fruit healthy, naturally. By the 1980s, the entire estate was transformed to organic farming, and the family sold their fruit to the cooperative at Tain l'Hermitage. In 1990, when son Laurent finished oenology school, they left the cooperative and have made their own distinctive style of Crozes-Hermitage ever since. Certified biodynamic farming, low yields, hand-harvesting,and rigorous selection are at the heart of his graceful wines.

Azienda Agricola Kuenhof

winegrowers David Moore

Peter and Brigitte Pliger began producing wines under the Kuen hof name in 1990. Their six hectares of land–located just outside the town of Bressanone, a short distance from the Austrian border–have been in the family for two hundred years and planted to vines since the twelfth century.Perfectly situated at 600 meters above sea level for the traditional varietals, Veltliner, Sylvaner, Riesling and Traminer, the schisty soils produce nuanced, lengthy, highly aromatic wines. The term, Eisacktaler, is the German name for this former Austrian region known as the Valle Isarco in Italian.Peter practices his own form of sustainable agriculture, combining organic and bio-dynamic principles along with his Zen training to find the best mix for each growing season's need. The winemaking is geared towards preserving the vibrant minerality and structure his soils provide resulting in wines that are completely dry, with a complelling richness and complexity. His total production is fewer than 3,000

Peter Fischer at Château Revelette on Organic Winegrowing

winegrowers David Moore

The peacock at Château Revelette (photo: Greg Moore) Here's an interesting snippet from Provence. Here Peter Fischer, proprietor of Château Revelette talks about his organic farming, the importance of genetic diversity in his vineyards, and treating vine disease without chemicals.

Chateau Martinat

winegrowers Greg Moore

Lucie Donze in her cellar Lucie & Stéphane Donze are the owners of this small estate in the Côte de Bourg. Both were successful in their respective businesses; Lucie was a landscape architect, and Stéphane was in maritime transport. In 1994 they bought the old vineyards and run-down farmhouse of Chateau Martinat with borrowed money. Three years of planning went into the career change. There are only about 24 acres (American) under vine. These hold the Merlot and Cabernet vines which were planted in the late nineteen fifties. The Malbec plantings are much older. The farming is “Lutte Raisonée,” with grass between the rows, and the harvests are by hand.