Moore Brothers Blog: Meet the Winegrowers

Domaine Jean-Pierre Sève

winegrowers Greg Moore

Jean-Pierre Sève in Pouilly-FuisséJean-Pierre Sève represents the fourth generation of his family to grow Chardonnay on this seven-hectare estate in Solutré-Pouilly. His father, Roger Sève, replanted many of the old parcels in the 1970s, and was the first to sell the wine in bottle. But Jean-Pierre is the first to draw the attention of the Michelin stars. Even so, outside of restaurants in France and Belgium (and “Le Gavroche” in London), almost every bottle of every harvest is bought by the hundreds of private customers who drive to Solutré from Brussels and Paris and Lyon to collect their annual allocation of one of the finest wines in the Mâconnais.

Ettore Germano

winegrowers Greg Moore

Sergio Germano in Serralunga Since 1856, the Germanos have farmed vineyards in Cerretta, one of Serralunga d’Alba’s most prestigious Crus. Francesco Germano, Sergio’s great grandfather, and his grandfather, Alberto, sold the grapes to friends and neighbors. His father, Ettore, for whom the estate is named, was the first to sell wine in bottles. But Sergio was the first to bottle the entire production of the estate, beginning in 1993. He is the perfect example of a modern, scientifically trained winegrower who is grounded in the traditions of his region. His goal, he says, is to express in his wines the character of each vineyard, of each grape variety, and of each vintage, as well as the “connection between Sergio Germano and Serralunga d’Alba.”

Domaine du Carrou

winegrowers Greg Moore

Dominique Roger in Sancerre If you visit Dominique Roger at his Domaine du Carrou in Bué, don’t expect to spend a leisurely time indoors tasting the latest vintage and hearing all about the new Vaslin pneumatic press or the Tronçais barrels from a famous cooper in Burgundy. Dominique Roger isn’t interested in impressing you with his tools. But if you can keep up with him on a brisk climb through his immaculate, steep vineyards, you’ll learn a lot more about wine, and maybe find that you suddenly care a lot more about who grows it and where it comes from than you ever did before.

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.