Moore Brothers Blog: Meet the Winegrowers

Domaine Jaume

winegrowers Greg Moore

Richard, Anthony, and Pascal Jaume in Vinsobres The modern history of this eighty-hectare estate in Vinsobres began with Henri Chauvet and Baron Le Roy, who, in the 1920s, introduced the idea of “appellation contrôlée” in France. Henri Chauvet’s son-in-law Pierre Jaume was the driving force in the development of the estate, but it was Pierre’s son Claude who was the first to estate-bottle the wines.Grandsons Pascal and Richard took over in the 1980s, and have continued to enlarge and improve Domaine Jaume; with carefully considered purchases, like the vineyard they call “Altitude 420,” and the “Clos des Échelas.” Richard’s son Anthony joined them in 2010. The estate’s unwavering commitment to sustainable, organic viticulture is outlined in its “Charter Vinéa Natura,” which every producer in the world should adopt.

Domaine Henri Germain

winegrowers Greg Moore

Jean-François Germain in Meursault Perrières Henri Germain established his Domaine in 1973, when he left Château de Chorey les Beaune and moved to Meursault. The first vineyard was a small parcel in Meursault Charmes, but the estate grew substantially when Henri married Paulette Pillot, who had inherited vineyards in Chassagne-Montrachet, including an exceptional parcel in the sub-climat of Fairendes in Morgeot. Today there are eight hectares of vines in Meursault, Beaune, and Chassagne-Montrachet, producing about 30,000 bottles annually, of which 70% is white wine. Henri Germain retired years ago, but his modest, soft-spoken son, Jean-François, continues the production of some of the finest wines in all of the Côte de Beaune.

Château Reverdi

winegrowers Greg Moore

Mathieu and Audrey Thomas in the cellar Château Reverdi lies in Listrac, the smallest of six communes in the Médoc which give their names to their wines. Of special interest is that 15% of the vineyard is planted to Petit Verdot, the rare, thick skinned, low pH variety which contributes racy aromatic complexity, freshness, and longevity, and is admired for the role it plays in some of the greatest wines of Margaux. No doubt Château Reverdi would be better known if the wine were sold on the Place de Bordeaux. But Mathieu Thomas and his sister Audrey, who took charge of the family estate in 2002, have seen how the lives of their friends in Burgundy, Alsace, and the Loire have been enriched by their personal relationships with their customers.

Azienda Agricola Andreas Baron Widmann

winegrowers David Moore

Andreas Widmann Andreas Widmann produces small quantities of pristine wine from eight hectares of land perched on hillsides above the Strada del Vino in Caldaro, Alto Adige. His beautiful house and cellar are in the old part of Cortaccia, very near his family's original residence, where they have lived and farmed (not just wine grapes—Andreas also oversees several hectares of apple and cherry orchards) since 1824.

Château Revelette

winegrowers Greg Moore

Peter and Sandra Fischer at Château Revelette (photo: Greg Moore) Although Peter Fischer was born in Germany, he dreamed of becoming a cowboy. So he went to California in the late 1970s where he worked on a ranch, before enrolling at UC Davis and becoming a winemaker. After a short stay at Buena Vista, and a year with the Provençal enologist Emmanuel Gaujal he set out on his own. With the help of his parents, he purchased Château Revelette (and just as his new father-in-law had done thirty years earlier, married the owner’s daughter). The incredible, park-like estate is high on the northern flank of Cézanne’s Mont Sainte-Victoire, which rises above the town of Aix-en-Provence, and shelters the vineyards from the warming influence of the Mediterranean. Harvest is a full two weeks later than further south, so the grapes can achieve physiologic maturity before they become overripe, giving the wines a more “northern” aromatic and structural profile than any others in this part of Prove

Diebolt-Vallois

winegrowers Greg Moore

Jacques Diebolt in his tiny office When I was first invited to pour this creamy Champagne Blanc de Blanc at George Perrier’s Le Bec-Fin in Philadelphia, I was admitted into a very privileged club: sommeliers at restaurants like Marc Meneau’s L’Espérance in Père-sous-Vézelay, and Gerard Vié’s Les Trois Marches in Versailles. At the time, there were only six hectares of vines, all on the southeast-facing slope below Cramant, which meant there was very little wine available. Even private customers, who drove to Cramant from Paris or Brussels after tasting the wine in a Michelin-starred restaurant, were often disappointed to find nothing for sale at Diebolt-Vallois. More became available when Diebolt acquired vineyards in Chouilly and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger (“putting the family in debt for 100 years,” he chuckles). But more supply only attracted more sommeliers, including Eric Beaumard, the 1992 Meilleur Sommelier de France, and the 1994 Meilleur Sommelier d’Europe. Every year, he buys

Domaine Saint Amant

winegrowers Greg Moore

Camille Wallut in her vines Camille Wallut is an architect by training, and a second-generation vigneronne, who returned to take the reins of one of the most extraordinary estates in the southern Côtes-du-Rhône when her father retired in 1997. Her 13 hectares of vines are planted at an average altitude of 500 meters, in the shale and limestone foothills of the Dentelles de Montmirail above the village of Suzette. Some of the Grenache was planted more than eighty years ago. Included is a parcel lying on a Mistral-swept terrace at 620 meters, which is the highest vineyard in all the Côtes-du-Rhône. Because of the altitude, the temperature is much cooler at night than in the valley, so the grapes retain acidity, ripen more evenly, and form more complex aromas. A second benefit is that organic viticulture is much easier than down in the valley, because common valley vine diseases like mildew and grey rot, which often require aggressive chemical treatment, are rarely found at such

Domaine Corsin

winegrowers Greg Moore

Gilles Corsin decanting 30 year-old Saint-Véran.Gilles Corsin splits his time between the courtier business he took over from his father thirty years ago, and the cellar at Domaine Corsin, where he makes the finest wine in Saint-Véran. As a courtier, he tastes the wine of dozens of growers and cooperatives, and is responsible for the purchase of thousands of hectoliters for Georges Dubœuf, Louis Jadot, and Jean-Marie Guffens’ Maison Verget. Tasting so many wines from so many sources gives him a unique frame of reference when he tastes his own.“Gilles doesn’t like my wines,” his friend and colleague Michel Paquet once told me. “Then again, he doesn’t like his own wines. His palate is so fine-tuned that he magnifies every insignificant flaw, which makes it impossible for him to enjoy what he’s drinking.” Jean-Jacques Corsin, who has recently retired, has passed along his calm and deliberate manner to his son Jeremie Corsin – all the better for a young vineyard manager whose decisions

Château Panchille

winegrowers Greg Moore

Pascal Sirat and his son When Pascal Sirat took over at Château Panchille in 1981, he was able to save only five of the more than twenty hectares his father had farmed - and then lost - in a succession of unhappy personal and financial disasters. But by 1994, Pascal had increased the size of the domaine to twelve hectares, quit the regional cooperative where three previous generations of Sirats had always taken their grapes, and released his first vintage of estate-bottled Château Panchille. The vineyards slope down nearly to the bank of the Dordogne, a few kilometers southeast of Libourne, where the clay limestone over deep gravel is a continuation of the soils of nearby Saint Emilion and Fronsac: best suited to growing fine, expressive Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

Weingut Keller

winegrowers Greg Moore

Julia and Klaus-Peter Keller at home When Klaus-Peter and his wife Julia took over at Weingut Keller in 2001, they had an enviable advantage: his parents had laid a solid foundation for the future of the estate with their work in soil analysis and clonal selection, and were already producing the best wines in Rheinhessen. But Klaus-Peter has taken Weingut Keller to even higher heights, inspiring a renaissance of viniculture in the Hügelland, where the Benedictines of the Kloster Lorch grew some of the most prestigious wines in the Rheinland, in vineyards that were forgotten after the French Revolution. But Klaus-Peter doesn’t have time for media stardom, and is quick to point out that “great wine would not be possible here, if it weren’t for these great limestone soils. It’s only that someone had to remember the old tradition and just make good wine.”