Moore Brothers Blog: Meet the Winegrowers

Weingut Freiherr Von Heddesdorff

winegrowers Greg Moore

Andreas sharing a laugh with visitors in the towering Uhlen vineyard. Andreas von Canal is the grandson of the last Freiherr von Heddesdorff. His family has grown Riesling in Winningen since 1454, on steep, terraced vineyards near the confluence of the Mosel and the Rhine, just upriver from Koblenz. The estate includes two hectares of the Winninger Uhlen, one of the steepest vineyards in Germany, and small parcels in the Brückstück, Röttgen, and Domgarten (the Archbishop’s Garden). His four hectares of slate vineyards, all planted with the Riesling grape, located at the confluence of the Mosel and the Rhein always give well-extracted, spicy and bright wines.

Domaine Ricard

winegrowers Greg Moore

Vincent Ricard in his tasting room We had forgotten how much young Vincent Ricard had irritated the local growers ten years earlier when he withdrew from the cooperative to bottle his own wine. Why the fuss? With Vincent’s startling, terrifically concentrated, mineral wines withheld for estate bottling in his own new winery, the local cooperative's blend became little more than simple, anemic piquette. So the jealous locals tried everything they could to shut him down. They even petitioned the I.N.A.O. to deny him the status of Appellation Controlée. Their whine? Vincent Ricard’s wines are “atypical of the region.” Right. They’re too good. Vincent Ricard now farms seventeen hectares planted mostly to Sauvignon Blanc, with parcels of Malbec, Cabernet Franc, and Gamay. The farming is organic, incorporating practices taken from the discipline of biodynamics, which Vincent encountered during his stages with Didier Dagueneau in Pouilly-sur-Loire, and François Chidaine in Montlouis.

Ojai Vineyard

winegrowers Greg Moore

Adam Tolmach The key to Ojai is that Adam Tolmach knows every row in every consequential vineyard in Santa Barbara County, and that he purchases his grapes by the acre, rather than by the ton. In some vintages, that can cost more than twice as much. But it gives him direct control of the vineyard work, and by extension, of the quality of the grapes he buys. In the winery, Adam prefers to intervene as little as possible, allowing each vineyard to express its unique character with detail and clarity. All of which has conferred a sort of cult status on The Ojai Vineyard (when it’s not flying under the radar because of the winery’s strictly limited distribution, or because of Adam’s modest, self-effacing personality).

Domaine du Chateau Larroque

winegrowers Greg Moore

Pascal Bozzi in his cellar There are five hectares of vines (along with seventy-five hectares of cereals, sunflowers, and pasturage) at this ancient working farm in Sainte Christie, in the heart of the Armagnac region. Pascal Bozzi renovated the original eighteenth-century cellar ten years ago, and with the help of his enologist friend Stéphane Beuret, grows about 2000 cases of the most elegant red wine in all of the Côtes de Gascogne. Stéphane Beuret is best known for his work at the University of Bordeaux, where he won the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux Grand Prix in 1998. Today, his meticulous cellar work at Château Larroque (which includes aging the wine for twelve months in neutral barrels he buys from his clients in Bordeaux), along with Pascal’s impeccable organic farming (his Aubrac beef cattle enrich the compost), results in a unique wine that puts many more expensive Bordeaux to shame.

Stolpman Vineyards

winegrowers Greg Moore

Ruben Solorzano, Pete and Tom Stolpman Pete Stolpman’s unique estate, founded in 1990 by his father, Tom Stolpman, is located on a rare limestone outcropping in the heart of Ballard Canyon, and has provided grapes to such extraordinary producers as Manfred Krankl at Sine Qua Non, and Adam Tolmach at the Ojai Vineyard. In 2001, Tolmach’s protégé Sashi Moorman joined Stolpman as winemaker, and continues as a working consultant. Today, the entire production is estate-bottled. With ten-year Ballard Canyon veteran winemaker Kyle Knapp in charge of winemaking, and Ruben Solorzano, called “the vine whisperer” by the Santa Barbara Independent overseeing viticulture, Stolpman Vineyards is producing some of the most profoundly beautiful estate-bottled wines in California.

Domaine André Bonhomme

winegrowers Greg Moore

Aurélien Palthey in the cellar at Domaine André Bonhomme When André Bonhomme took over the family vineyards in 1956, he immediately quit selling the grapes in bulk to the local cooperative, exasperating his father, and alienating his neighbors. Setting out to bottle his own wine meant investing in winery equipment, buying bottles and corks, and finding his own customers. But being the first estate-bottler in the Mâconnais had a long-term advantage: he was able to get a good, first-hand look at individual wines from unique vineyard sites, and by experiment to learn which vineyards produced the best grapes. By selling his wine in bottle rather than in bulk he was able to earn enough to quietly assemble a patchwork of the best vineyards in the region. Aurélien Palthey, André Bonhomme’s grandson, is only in his early thirties, yet as the current director of the domaine, he holds the reins of a cultural monument–one of the greatest estates in Burgundy.

Roberto Ferraris

winegrowers Greg Moore

Roberto and Marco FerrarisThe Ferraris family estate was established in 1923, when Stefano Ferraris planted vines in a steep hillside vineyard in Agliano Terme. Today, the entire twelve-hectare estate produces just five thousand cases annually (almost 25% of which are sold by Moore Brothers). Like Gianni Doglia in nearby Castagnole delle Lanze, Roberto’s commitment to rigorous farming, low yields, and a sensitive approach in the cellar, has cemented his family’s reputation as one of the finest producers in Asti. Roberto’s wines are regularly awarded the prestigious “Tre Bicchieri” from Italy’s premier food and wine publication, Gambero Rosso.

Elio Grasso

winegrowers Greg Moore

Elio and Gianluca Grasso If there is any Barolo producer who perfectly embodies the idea of stewardship of his heritage, it is Elio Grasso. He was working in a bank in Torino in 1978 when his grandfather died, leaving him a small cascina and a few giornate of vines on the Gavarini and Ginestra hills of Monforte. Elio promptly quit the bank to become a wine grower. Today he still works every day in the vineyard, preferring to leave the cellar and business to his son Gianluca, The estate is one of the top producers of Barolo.

Château Roque le Mayne

winegrowers Greg Moore

Jean-François Meynard Château Roque Le Mayne has been in the Meynard family for three generations. The property is on gently rolling hills of Castillon, a “satellite” of Saint-Emilion. Jean-François Meynard is the current proprietor, managing his 14 hectares with in “lutte raisonée,” and harvesting manually with (some would say) obsessive sorting when the fruit arrives at the winery. The vines grow on the clay-limestone plateau above the right bank of the Dordogne, on the same ridge, and only a few kilometers away from vineyards that produce the most expensive wines in Saint-Émilion.

Diego Bolognani

winegrowers David Moore

Diego and his daughter The Northern Italian region of Trentino, beckoning skiers to the Dolomites and introducing the Alps, is home to self-effacing master oenologist Diego Bolognani. His father purchased the old buildings and winery in 1952.The whole Bolognani family is involved in the operations of this small winery. In addition to their “estate” vineyards, the family oversees the viticulture from a number of growers in the area.