Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 21
of the most ethereally floral and shimmeringly mineral nuances to which pinot can aspire, and also that
it thrives with bottle age.
Long hang-time under cool conditions might also
help explain the seemingly improbable success of
Sommerwein, an ostensibly seasonal pinot noir rosé
rendered by Ingrid Groiss in Austria's Weinviertel. An
exclusively white-wine grower, Groiss had nevertheless been approached by her US importer for rosé.
There were two parcels of pinot in Groiss's extended
family, growing in a woodsy, cool sector within sight
of the Czech frontier, so she thought, "Why not?"
"But if we were going to do this," she explained, "then
it must be by consciously grooming the vines and
pressing the fruit in search of white wine virtues: elegance, minerality and freshness." She achieved that
and much more-vividly fresh red-berry fruit, delicacy, mouthwatering salinity, invigoratingly radishlike bite-from a mid-October harvest, with some
assist, she speculates, from highly calcareous soil.
That pink pinot noir can succeed in the grape's
homeland, Burgundy, is demonstrated by Marsannay rosé, the 1919 brainchild of Joseph Clair that kept
viticulture alive in his hometown during the ensuing
precarious half century. Today, though, with Marsannay poised to proclaim premier cru status for reds
of distinctive complexity, it's plain that Marsannay's
rosés (unlike Sancerre's) offer only pale hints of their
appellation's personality or potential, and some
growers candidly admit to blending in chardonnay
in an attempt to confer "minerality." Yet this Burgundian rosé remains one of many commercial success
stories for pinot noir, while farther south, that grape's
most famous offspring (the mainstay of Beaujolais)
can make no such claim.
"It's not easy to make a good rosé from gamay,
and it doesn't sell," insists Morgon veteran Jean
Calot, echoing a familiar local refrain. But Christian
Ducroux's Esquisse (like all his wines, sans appellation) demonstrates what can be accomplished. High
above Regnié-Durette, with an uncommon northeasterly exposure, his horse-tilled gamay vines yield
a near-weightless (10 to 11 percent alcohol), silkentextured, infectiously juicy meld of tart red berries,
bittersweet, smoky nut oils, mysteriously musky
bite of radish and mouthwatering salinity. And JeanClaude Brun's brightly fruited Domaine des Terres
Dorées Rosé d'Folie from the high, calcareous southern Beaujeu Hills has, within ten years, become a surprising best seller despite getting labeled as Beaujolais only since 2014. Could altitude be a key to rarified
gamay rosé?
Steve Edmunds might say so. Best known for his
work with Rhône grape varieties over the last three
decades, Berkeley-based Edmunds was also inspired
by some of Beaujolais's recent pioneers. So when El
Dorado County viticulturist Ron Mansfield mentioned a 3,400-foot-high pear orchard whose owner,
Bob Witters, was thinking of planting to vines,
Edmunds suggested gamay. In 2000, this cool, volcanic clay-loam site hosted California's first fledgling
gamay in a quarter century. The resulting Bone-Jolly
Gamay Noir displayed an aromatic, tart-edged, saltand-pepper-tinged riot of red fruits that suggested
the secrets of gamay outside Beaujolais were being
unlocked.
Still, Edmunds hoped for additional depth of flavor, structure and textural allure that he wasn't convinced mere vine age would confer. So when opportunity arose in 2005 to plant a marginally lower nearby
site whose soil, like Beaujolais's, was decomposed
granite, Edmunds unhesitatingly requested more
gamay. But before the first crop could convince him
that this new Barsotti Vineyard was his gamay gold
strike, Edmunds had co-opted part of Witters for an
experiment. "I discovered Jean-Paul Brun's Beaujolais rosé," he relates, "and it was like this light bulb
went on in my head-why hadn't I already thought
of that?" The result was like a light bulb in the mouth,
and as Barsotti came into full production, Edmunds
began devoting Witters (plus some rows at Barsotti)
to rosé.
Two decades ago, rosé had fallen from fashion
among Americans who considered themselves at all
informed or sophisticated about wine. Today, kneejerk rejection of rosé is recognized as ignorant colorprejudice, and the outlook for discoveries, as well as
rediscoveries, looks rosy indeed. ■
"I discovered
Jean-Paul Brun's
Beaujolais rosé
and it was like this
light bulb went on
in my head-why
hadn't I already
thought of that?"
- Steve Edmunds
WINE & SPIRITS
AUGUST 2017
21
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - August 2017
Contents
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - Cover1
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - Cover2
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 1
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 2
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 3
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 4
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - Contents
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 6
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 7
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 8
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 9
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 10
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 11
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 12
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 13
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 14
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 15
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 16
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 17
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 18
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 19
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 20
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 21
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 22
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 23
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 24
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 25
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 26
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 27
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 28
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 29
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 30
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 31
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 32
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 33
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 34
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 35
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 36
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 37
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 38
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 39
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 40
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 41
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 42
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 43
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Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 45
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 46
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 47
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 48
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 49
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 50
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 51
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 52
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 53
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 54
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 55
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 56
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 57
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 58
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Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 60
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 61
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 62
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 63
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Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 65
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 66
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 67
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Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 71
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Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 73
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Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 79
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Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 87
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Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - Cover3
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - Cover4
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