Champagne’s climate can be fickle. Of all the fine wine regions around the world it has to be the most unpredictable. Lucie Pereyre de Nonancourt chuckles as she recalls the countless times she has heard the latest vintage described as “unlike any they have seen in 50 years”. She explains: “We hear this all the time. No vintage in Champagne is the same!” It is the region’s capricious nature that dictates the thought process behind Laurent-Perrier’s prestige cuvée, Grand Siècle. A blend of three vintages, all with very different, complementary personalities, the idea is, that when blended together, they capture all the potential qualities a vintage in Champagne is capable of – but are rarely found in one. While Laurent-Perrier is widely recognised as one of the region’s great Champagne houses, Grand Siècle hasn’t necessarily garnered the same sort of attention as other prestige cuvées. Possibly one could argue this is because it is the only non-vintage Grande Marque prestige cuvée – but it is almost definitely because, up until recently, the vintages that made up each new release of Grand Siècle weren’t revealed. That all changed in April 2019 when the house first released Grand Siècle Itération No 24 in bottle and Itération No 22 in magnum – identifying the blend of vintages and what each brought to the blend. Fundamentally each vintage should bring one of the three elements that can typically define a great Champagne year – structure, freshness and elegance or acidity. There have been just 24 different iterations of Grand Siècle since its conception in 1959. Pereyre’s grandfather and Champagne legend Bernard de Nonancourt first had the idea for the cuvée. (It was Bernard who took Laurent-Perrier from a small Champagne house to one of the region’s most recognised brands.) The concept came to him “from observing nature”, says Pereyre. “Champagne has a difficult climate – every harvest is very different but quality is also very different.” The perfect year didn’t exist. For him, a great Champagne was one that has reached aromatic complexity, without losing any of its vivacity and freshness – and that was the aim with Grand Siècle. Bernard’s concept had three rules. Firstly, it should always be made up of three vintages. Secondly, it should always be Chardonnay-dominant – a signature of the Laurent-Perrier house. And thirdly, it must all come exclusively from the Grands Crus of the Côte des Blancs and Montagne de Reims. Speaking with Pereyre, it becomes clear just how much work and time goes into each Itération of Grand Siècle. Each release is 15 years in the making: once all three vintages have been selected, they are blended then spend at least 10 years on lees. The wines do not see any oak and are made as reductively as possible, another key to the cuvée’s freshness. The wine is only released when ready to drink, but Pereyre is confident each has the potential to age 20, 30, even 40 years without losing its vibrancy. As larger-format bottles evolve more slowly, magnums of each Itération are typically released a couple of years later. Pereyre has spent her life in Champagne. Baptised with Grand Siècle as a baby, it seems fitting that today she is charged with the prestige cuvée. Laurent-Perrier is one of the few Grandes Marques still under family ownership. Her mother and aunt took over from her grandfather in 2010, with Peyeyre joining the business in 2019.  Ever since she joined, Pereyre has been training under the watchful eye of Chef de Cave Michel Fauconnet, one of Champagne’s most experienced winemakers. Fauconnet has been working at Laurent-Perrier since 1974 and headed up the winemaking in 2004. He is also the winemaker of the illustrious Salon (also owned by Laurent-Perrier). Fauconnet has Pereyre studying how each parcel tastes, how it develops and how it works in the blend. While Grand Siècle always comes from 11 Grands Crus – Mailly, Ambonnay, Bouzy, Verzy, Verzenay, Tours-sur-Marne in Montagne de Reims, and Cramant, Oger, Mesnil-sur-Oger, Chouilly and Avize in the Côte des Blancs – the proportion in each Itération is different. “The top of the hill versus the bottom can bring very different expressions to each vintage,” says Pereyre. “All the hard work of Champagne is in the blending – every cellar master knows what they have in mind and what style they want to express. Ever since my grandfather created the first Grand Siècle, it has been the cellar master’s job to try to recreate this style – linear, taut, mineral, a lot of acidity, not too open aromatically – but not too acidic and to have some roundness.” It is still very early days for Pereyre, but she is tasting all the time – the only way to learn, and appreciates she is blessed with a great teacher. With the contents of each Itération now in the public domain, the wine is gaining huge scores from the region’s leading critics – perhaps unsurprising given the pedigree of the vineyards and cellar team. Grand Siècle is the greatest expression of Laurent-Perrier’s house style. Browse all Champagne Laurent-Perrier listings

Ahead of the long-awaited release of Grand Siècle Itération No 23 in magnum, we speak to Champagne Laurent-Perrier’s Lucie Pereyre de Nonancourt to find out what’s so special about their prestige cuvée 

We speak to Champagne Laurent-Perrier’s Lucie Pereyre de Nonancourt to find out what’s so special about their prestige cuvée Grand Siècle

Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle and the perfect year

Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle: recreating the perfect year

Highlights of the programme: Daniel Johnnes (right) and Brunello Cucinelli (middle) introduce the programme and present Michel Troisgros (left) as the guest chef of La Paulée in Solomeo. A vertical tasting of Castello di Solomeo, featuring the 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 vintages, was led by Michele Baiocco (enologist), Pietro Grelloni (winemaker) and Riccardo Cotarella (consultant winemaker) on the first night. From left to right: Cristian Rimoldi (Champagne Salon and Champagne Delamotte), Olivier Krug (Champagne Krug), Guillaume d'Angerville (Domaine Marquis d'Angerville), Saskia de Rothschild (Château Lafite Rothschild and Château L'Évangile), Brunello Cucinelli, Pierre-Henry Gagey (Maison Louis Jadot), Daniel Johnnes (La Paulée) and Jacky Rigaux (University of Burgundy) at the winery at Castello di Solomeo. View over the vineyards from the winery at Castello di Solomeo, inspired by a Renaissance garden. Sir John Hegarty tasting the 2022 vintages of Château Lafite-Rothschild, Château Duhart-Milon and Château L’Évangile. Brunello Cucinelli's CEOs, Riccardo Stefanelli (left) and Luca Lisandroni (right), at the tasting in the hamlet of Solomeo. Guests are gathering at the Cucinelli Theatre in Solomeo, waiting for the conference to begin. Olivier Krug, sharing how Champagne Krug embodies quality, innovation and a deep respect for tradition, while staying true to its enduring family values. Brunello Cucinelli (left) with Michelin-starred chef Michel Troisgros (right), who traveled from Roanne to Solomeo with his esteemed kitchen team led by César Troisgros. The remarkable lineup for the final dinner (from left to right): 2010 Chevalier-Montrachet, Grand Cru, Les Demoiselles, Maison Louis Jadot (from jéroboam) 1986 Château Cheval Blanc 2017 Volnay, Premier Cru, Clos des Ducs Monopole, Domaine Marquis d’Angerville 1988 Château Lafite Rothschild (from double magnum) 2018 Castello di Solomeo (from magnum) Champagne Krug Rosé 21ème Edition (from magnum) 1988 Château d’Yquem 2013 Champagne Salon Champagne Delamotte Brut (from jéroboam) All images by Enrico Galletti (Brunello Cucinelli).

FINE+RARE, in partnership with Brunello Cucinelli and La Paulée, hosted an exceptional gathering on 13th and 14th of November 2024. This exclusive event, inspired by Burgundy’s traditional end-of-harvest celebration, was held in the breathtaking village of Solomeo, Umbria—home to Brunello Cucinelli.

In November FINE+RARE invited to an exceptional gathering inspired by Burgundy’s traditional end-of-harvest celebration in Solomeo, Umbria.     

Castello di Solomeo Welcomes La Paulée

Few wine regions have seen a transformation as significant as Tuscany has over the last 15 years. These days the region regularly produces some of the finest wines found anywhere on the planet, while retaining a distinct sense of place.  Tuscany is the only region in the world to have truly tamed Sangiovese, with nowhere else able to grow this fussy grape variety and produce wines of the same level. At the same time, Tuscany has managed to produce some of the world’s finest renditions of the better-travelled international varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot; even Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are finding a foothold in this magical enclave of central Italy. Few have been as influential in this transformative journey than San Guisto a Rentennano’s Luca Martini di Cigala, who has managed to produce not one but two of the region’s most iconic wines – Percarlo (100% Sangiovese) and La Ricolma (100% Merlot). In his typically modest manner, however, he does not believe great wines are made by great winemakers – but by understanding where a vigneron must focus their attention in the vineyard. According to Martini di Cigala, winemaking can improve the quality of a wine by no more than 10%. “Great wine, however, is made with great fruit,” he says. So what is it about Tuscany that has resulted in the region’s recent renaissance? For Martini di Cigala, it has been understanding how the region’s unique soils and climate, if allowed, can produce wines where the character of the terroir prevales, rather than the varietal. “When it is the opposite and the varietal character is more evident than the character of the place, of the area, of the soil,” says Cigale, “to me it doesn’t make much sense.” It is the vineyard that must do the talking, not the grape variety, nor the winemaking. While the Tuscan wine renaissance began in the late 1970s and early ’80s, the meteoric rise of the region was far from linear. Among the new wave of pioneers, there was naivety too and, understandably, external influences started to impact how wine was being made. Back then, San Giusto A Rentennano didn’t have their own personal brand, and were selling wine to the big wineries like Antinori and Ruffino.  Following in the footsteps of the likes of Fontodi, Isole e Elena and Montevertini they decided to focus on improving the quality of their Sangiovese – which began, fundamentally, by reducing the yields in the vineyard. “Before that, we used to produce a good Chianti,” says Martini di Cigala, “a simple wine.” But, with these changes, “The stye completely changed and we began to focus on making wines for long ageing.” As the movement progressed, however, he began to sense a period of self-doubt looming. “Compared to today, where there is a big improvement in the culture of tasting wines and recognising the character of the different varieties,” he says, “people were used to drinking rounder, softer wines. And Sangiovese [made at lower yields] can be so aggressive, so hard with the tannins – especially when young. It was a problem.” At the time, many of the vignerons felt that in order to increase the wine’s ageing potential, the wines needed to be darker and more concentrated, while also exposing the wine to plenty of new oak and more oxygen – opting for smaller 225-litre barrels (barriques) rather than the region’s traditional larger casks. You could see the commercial attraction too, since this approach softened Sangiovese’s tannins. Emerging regions like Tuscany were all looking towards more established fine wine regions for inspiration. The use of new barriques was fashionable around the world but, most notably, part of the Bordeaux recipe of the time. Twenty years ago, Martini di Cigala believes, they wrongly followed these trends, producing intense, overripe, over-oaked wines. “It was a mistake because many wineries didn’t keep the character of the Sangiovese – either due to excessive use of wood, which does not integrate well with Sangiovese, or because it was blended with other varieties to build the wine’s intensity, while softening its aggressive nature.” For Martini di Cigala, even his Merlot plantings weren’t performing well – despite being a variety better suited to the current trends, with better resistance to new oak’s influence. The current recipe was not working for him – or for Tuscany. Early in its renaissance, the region began to stumble. Martini di Cigala’s success came when he realised that, despite sharing the same vineyards, his Merlot and Sangiovese had very little in common. To produce anything better than ordinary, he had to start treating the two varieties completely differently and let the vines do the talking. Sangiovese is a frustratingly fickle variety. It has the potential to produce wines as ethereal as the finest Pinot Noir and as rich and elegant as fine Bordeaux. Yet it has failed to make any real imprint outside Italy and, even today in Tuscany, it remains maddeningly inconsistent. “Compared to other varieties like Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah,” he says, “these varieties can produce wine everywhere. With Sangiovese it is hard because it needs calcareous soil in order to produce the right balance of tannins. In any other kinds of soil, it either increases acidity too much or the opposite, making the wine very flat. To produce a wine with a precise character with a lot of tannin but at the same time integrated with the fruit, Sangiovese needs calcareous soil.” But, he stresses, it is not only the soil but the climate that is important too. “It is difficult to have great Sangiovese that is very, very light, low in alcohol and low in polyphenols [tannins]. The wine must be rich,” he says. The region must be hot. The elegance and the precision, however, come from another distinct attribute of the hillsides of Tuscany: cool night-time temperatures. This, Martini di Cigala believes, is vital for the elegance of the wines – and something that can be lost in warmer vintages. “Sangiovese is very delicate, if there is too much concentration, the level of tannins risk damaging the wine’s natural elegance and the balance,” says Cigala. For me it is a great wine when the wine doesn’t need to show muscle. It is not important to be extremely concentrated or to have a lot of colour for a great vintage. It is more about the balance of the different factors.” He notes that some of the most celebrated vintages aren’t necessarily the longest-lived, highlighting that the cooler 2013 and 2014 vintages will outlive the much applauded, warmer 2015s – although he insists 2016 has proved to be spectacular. Percarlo evolved as Martini di Cigala gradually understood Sangiovese’s sensitivities. Up until 2008, Percarlo was aged 100% in barriques. First produced in 1983, the amount of new wood has been reduced over the years. Today he doesn’t use any barriques at all for Percarlo, or for any of his other Sangiovese wines (Chianti Classico and Riserva). He believes Sangiovese is too sensitive to oxygen to age in smaller barriques. Today it is matured 50/50 in large 5,000-litre and 3,000-litre barrels. Martini di Cigala didn’t start producing Merlot until 1993, but for the first 10 years, he managed the vines similarly to his Sangiovese – with mixed results. “Sometimes the vintage would be very Tuscan in style and then the opposite in other vintages – the aromas were more like Merlot from north Italy with more pepper on the nose. I was never convinced with the results,” he says. The Merlot in Chianti Classico is also very different to the Merlot grown on the Tuscan coast of Bolgheri. The bigger diurnal temperature shifts in the Tuscan hills produce Merlot with more acidity. The wines are, in Martini di Cigala’s words, “more vertical”. The real success of both Percarlo and La Ricolma, Martini di Cigala believes, lies in the bespoke adaptations he started to make in the vineyard for each variety. Sangiovese really benefits from an early green harvest in July – reducing the natural yield. Merlot, on the other hand, proves to be a disaster if you do the same thing and limit your yields so early in the growing season – causing a spike in sugar production at the expense of tannin development.  Martini di Cigala also painstakingly picks the Sangiovese destined for his Percarlo bunch by bunch, assessing each vine individually. Picking Merlot bunch by bunch, in contrast, makes no sense – “it is far too irregular”. While Sangiovese yields can be manipulated throughout véraison to its benefit, Merlot needs to be left alone. “The key for Merlot”, he says, “is to try to slow down its ripening. If the variety doesn’t have a long growing cycle, the wine remains short.” Over the years Martini di Cigala has moved his Merlot vines to the coolest parts of his vineyards. He admits his original La Ricolma Merlot plot is his worst, its west-facing exposition making it too warm. He much prefers his plots closer to the river where temperatures are lower. But the key viticultural work for both his Merlot and Sangiovese starts earlier – he is keen to point out that there is no recipe each year, the cultivation has to be very precise depending on the vines’ needs. “You have to be a good interpreter of the season. Often you don’t notice the stress in the vineyard until July, by which time it is too late. You have to follow the trends of the weather earlier – this is the most difficult point of our job and has become especially true in the last few hotter years.” Each viticultural step has to follow the trend of the season. That, for him, is the key. Over nearly 40 years Martini di Cigala has continued to make tweaks in the vineyards, further improving the wines. Up until 2004 he used to select the Percarlo grapes only from certain parts of the vineyard, but now the fruit is picked bunch by bunch – another fundamental reason, he believes, the wines’ quality has escalated. Martini di Cigala has proven that wines made from Sangiovese and Merlot can be both bold and beautiful, aligning the Tuscan hills’ unique climate with precision viticulture. The hot summers and cool night-time temperatures matched with the calcareous soils are the perfect combination for Sangiovese and are testament to Merlot’s adaptability. After a period of self-doubt and mixed results for the region, the Tuscan renaissance today has well and truly found its foothold and is on an extraordinary run. And it is Percarlo and La Ricolma leading the pack. “If you asked me to name 15 great wineries in Chianti Classico 20 years ago, I would be in trouble,” says Martini di Cigala. “Today I could arrive at 50 or 60.” What has changed most today, according to the winemaker, is a paradigm shift in focus from winery to vineyard. While he is a little disappointed more of them haven’t turned to organic farming (of which he is a longstanding proponent), he believes the change has been very positive. A noble name, a castle, or a famous winemaker today no longer makes the headlines in Tuscany. It is precision viticulture that has taken these distinct wines from the Tuscan hills to the top of many collectors’ wish lists. Keep an eye out for the latest releases from San Giusto a Rentennano, coming soon. Browse all current listings of San Giusto a Rentennano or read more Editorial

Luca Martini di Cigala, the man behind Percarlo and La Ricolma, is one of Tuscany’s viticultural pioneers. We spoke to the San Giusto a Rentennano winemaker about his role in the region’s renaissance and how he turned to the vineyard to reveal his wines’ true potential

Exploring how San Giusto a Rentennano’s Luca Martini di Cigala discovered Tuscany’s true wine potential with his iconic Percarlo and La Ricolma wines.


San Giusto a Rentennano's iconic Tuscan reds

Two titans of Tuscany: Percarlo and La Ricolma

Percarlo and La Ricolma are two of Italy’s finest wines – both crafted by Luca Martini di Cigala at San Giusto a Rentennano. Percarlo is the Tuscan estate’s top Sangiovese bottling, made with the most concentrated and best fruit, picked in a third and final pass through their vines (with the previous passes used for the estate’s Chianti Classico and Chianti Classico Riserva). When Martini di Cigala first made the wine in 1983, however, it was illegal for Chianti Classico to be 100% Sangiovese, so he had no choice but to declassify the wine to an IGT. Although the rules have since changed, Percarlo’s reputation precedes that of the Chianti Classico denomination and remains an IGT.  La Ricolma is 100% Merlot – a variety with a very different temperament to Sangiovese. The fruit for this wine is picked all in one go; the secret to finding balance in Merlot, the Martini di Cigala says, is to slow its ripening – a challenge that must be tackled throughout the season.   The result is two completely different wines from two different varieties grown on the same estate in Gaiole – Chianti Classico’s southernmost district.  Last Thursday, we hosted a special dinner pitting these two legendary wines against each other. Luca Martini di Cigala returned to London for the first time in over 30 years, with his wife Bettina, to present some of the estate’s finest bottlings, with vintages back to 1998. Tasting these wines at full maturity was a privilege, made all the more special by the fact they were all served from magnum – and came from Martini di Cigala’s personal cellar. With so few magnums produced, many of the wines on show had never been commercially available – the large formats reserved for the family’s private consumption.   Martini di Cigala selected a range of vintages that he felt were in their sweet-spot and included the 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004 of both Percarlo and La Ricolma – followed by a rare 1998 Percarlo. The wines were extraordinary.   Having been fortunate enough to have tasted the 2018 La Ricoma and Percarlo earlier in the day – which were stunning in their youth – it is mind-blowing to see how these wines develop with 15 years or more in bottle. With age, the purity of fruit found in the younger vintages takes on hedonistic, richer aromas that set the drinker’s pulse racing.   The aromatic appeal of La Ricolma is about as beguiling as wine gets and the 2007 (in what Cigala describes as a hot vintage) was arguably the wine of the night. It just shows how resilient Merlot is in San Giusto’s vineyards. A grape often seen as too alcoholic and overpowering in hot vintages, in the right place it produces a wine of outstanding purity. While having all the opulence the finest Merlots can muster (which is not dissimilar to Pétrus), the balance is impeccable. Tasting 2007 Percarlo alongside 2007 La Ricolma was a fascinating comparison – something that rang true throughout the vertical we tasted. Where the Ricolma was more exuberant, Percarlo was more austere, although this seems too stern a word, such is the wine’s finesse. The Percarlo certainly seems more vertical – yet it is one of the smoothest and most rounded Sangioveses you are ever likely to taste.   Martini di Cigala notes that the San Giusto vineyards are not that high in altitude compared to his neighbours at Castello di Ama. This means that during the day his vineyards are as hot as those in the more southerly, warmer Montalcino; the difference is that San Giusto has much cooler temperatures at night, allowing the fruit to retain vibrancy and cooler fruit tones – something that shone through in all the wines tasted.  Martini di Cigala is one of the most modest winemakers I have ever met. Asked what his secret is, he says he has none. But, as he talks about his wines, the terroir – and his amazing memory of weather episodes decades ago –  he clearly has an exhaustive understanding of his craft. It was a delight therefore to see him become so animated when the 2006 Percarlo was poured. Tasting the wine, he professed to the guests, with a big smile on his face, that this was one of the finest Percarlos he has ever made – this was the wine he always wanted to make. He recalls the harvest and said, “These were the best grapes I had seen in my life.” It was a joy to taste this wine 16 years on with its deservedly proud maker.  The 2005 vintage, noted Martini di Cigala, was a vintage full of expectation. Vignerons were very excited about the wines’ prospects, but then the vineyards were hit by wet weather during harvest. Despite this, the 2005 Percarlo and La Ricoma are magical. While they don’t have the concentration of the 2007 and 2006, they still capture the San Giusto magic. In my 2005 La Ricolma tasting note, it says “otherworldly” – so it must have been pretty special.  The 2004 La Ricolma is particularly elegant. The nose is again extraordinary – the palate texturally sublime and the wine has impeccable balance. The 2004 Percarlo is, as Martini di Cigala noted, “a particularly elegant vintage for Sangiovese”.  The wine has fantastic clarity to the fruit, mouthwateringly juicy but with amazing structure too. The tannins are just so fine – it is incredible. Just 18 magnums of the 2005 and 2004 La Ricolma were ever made – so it was a real privilege to have them at the tasting and for them to be showing so well.  After comparing the four vintages Martini di Cigala felt the 2005 and 2004 have reached optimum maturity, having fully opened and reached their peak. The 2006 and 2007 on the other hand, “still have a certain amount of coiled spring energy to the wine – they still have more to give”.  We begged Martini di Cigala to bring a very rare 1998 Percarlo from his cellar – providing a particularly grand finale. At nearly 25 years of age, the wine was magnificent. It captures all the character that runs through the previous vintages of Percarlo – with incredibly refined tannins, vibrant acidity and classic Sangiovese structure, while also being so smooth and rounded. Even with age, the structure was solid and had matured beautifully.  Looking back at the wines, it is the Tuscan terroir that clearly defines these two wines. La Ricolma has the opulence and complexity of Pomerol but with that austere edge, that vibrancy and verticality that you only get from Tuscan soils. In comparison, the Percarlo has the vibrancy and Tuscan verticality, but there is no astringent edge – such is the finesse of the tannins. Some preferred Percarlo’s more classic Italian acerbity, while others loved the uniqueness and profundity of La Ricolma. Tasting them side by side was such a joy, the wines offering two very different varietal expressions while also sharing a similarity of place. These wines – even the Merlot – just couldn’t be from anywhere but Tuscany.  It's fitting that Alessandro Masnaghetti – the man who created the groundbreaking viticultural maps of Barolo and Barbaresco – has just published his new book, mapping the terroirs of Chianti Classico. It’s a book Luca Martini di Cigala is immensely proud of, having championed the differences in sub-zones for decades; now he has the proof – and he brought a copy for both us and the River Café’s Ruth Rogers. Her late business partner and co-founder of the London institution, Rose Gray visited San Giusto many years ago – it was fitting for Martini di Cigala to be able to repay the favour for this special evening.  While the tasting might have been billed as Percarlo versus La Ricolma, it was a friendly battle. It was great to see them both showing so well and how complementary they were tasted side by side. One of the most notable takeaways from the evening was the outstanding consistency. Every wine on the table sang. Every wine was impeccably balanced. Every wine was full of character and complexity. It was a special, rare opportunity that will live long in the memory. I just hope we don’t have to wait another 30 years before convincing Martini di Cigala to come back.    Explore all listings from San Giusto a Rentennano or register interest in future events 

San Giusto a Rentennano is one of Chianti, Tuscany and Italy’s finest producers –best known for its iconic Percarlo and La Ricolma. After an incredible dinner tasting a vertical of these wines back to 1998, we report on what defines these special Super Tuscans 

Digging into San Giusto a Rentennano’s La Ricolma and Percarlo – with a vertical of the Super Tuscan icons with Luca Martini di Cigala

La Ricolma vs Percarlo vertical wine tasting

Tasting La Ricolma versus Percarlo: a special Super Tuscan vertical

Coming off the back of an extremely successful 2015 vintage, 2016 is a fascinating comparison. Both are exceptional but with distinctly different personalities. 2015 is exuberant, rich and decadent; 2016 is arguably more precise, detailed and elegant. No doubt these vintages will be forever compared, showcasing the extraordinary potential of Sangiovese in this special part of Tuscany.  Speaking to some of the top producers in the region, you can’t help but feel their personal preference is with 2016 – a vintage that might not be so immediate as 2015 but is more complex, classic and with a huge capacity to age. Either way, both vintages are a testament to the increasingly adept handling of the delicate Sangiovese grape in Montalcino in recent times, producing wines of great depth and complexity. 2016 is a touchstone vintage for Brunello di Montalcino. It is a vintage of purity, so free from affectation that it will no doubt be the benchmark against which all other vintages are compared, past and future. The growing season  For many vignerons in Montalcino the growing season in 2016 requires little exploration simply because it was so temperate. “2016 was the perfect vintage for my mental state” says Francesco Ripaccioli from Canalicchio di Sopra. From start to finish the growing season could not have been better. Francesco explains how in some vintages it is the growing climate that dictates the style of the vintage. If it is a hot vintage you feel it in the grapes, the sugar concentration, the berry flavour, the added alcohol and power this brings. In a cool vintage you feel the balsamic notes and the ethereal perfume. “Nature cannot be controlled but can be interpreted” he states, “and sometimes a big effort is needed to interpret a vintage”. But 2016 was the complete opposite. In 2016, nature did not dictate style. The moderation and clemency of the climate allowed the grapes to develop in pristine condition devoid of any characteristics brought about by extremes. This, Francesco contently concludes, “allowed for each of the territorial identities throughout Montalcino to shine through”. The year began with a very cold spell in January with 12 days below freezing, which cleaned the vineyards of disease and mildew spores from the previous vintage. Bianca Ferrini of Podere Giodo outlined the importance of the rainy winter that followed, building up good groundwater reserves for the drier summer months ahead. The spring brought more rain but the risk from fungal attacks stayed low, no doubt due to the cold winter leaving the vines in good health. Budding, flowering and fruit-set all came and went without issue. Ideal conditions saw impressive yields with good, even cluster formation and healthy vines right up to the point of veraison (when the grapes start to ripen). Despite good yields there is little concern this will lead to diluted wines, Francesco Ripaccioli commented. Under the DOCG, grapes grown within the Brunello di Montalcino designation have strict rules on production – capped at 8,000 kilos per hectare (which results in just 1.5 kilos of grapes per vine). Although Canalicchio di Sopra crop a little lower than that, over-production in the region more generally in 2016 is not an issue. Intermittent rain showers continued up until August meaning that Poggio di Sotto (who practices organic viticulture) found the growing season more challenging than most. Fortunately for them, explains Luca Marrone, the southern location of their vineyards and the “never-ending west breeze from the valley kept the vineyards dry”, protecting the grapes from any onset of mildew.  Bianca Ferrini also outlined the importance of the winds during the summer: “the constant breeze in the vineyards encouraged good balance in the vines and was central to the outstanding organoleptic properties that developed in the grapes”. For Bianca, the “regularly paced rainfall, the summer heat and the drying winds laid the foundations for a great vintage.”  Another key element to the style and success of the 2016s was the notable diurnal drop in temperature between day and night during the summer months. This ensured long, slow ripening of the grapes which Ferrini states “was crucial both for aromas and tannin development”. Riccardo Talenti also emphasised how this kept pH levels low in the grapes, giving the wine high levels of freshness and acidity despite the ripeness, a great sign for longevity. For Sabina Sassetti “2016 was another near-perfect vintage in Montalcino.”   “I cannot remember a better last 20 days prior to harvest.”  – Francesco Ripaccioli, Canalicchio di Sopra
 The most important part of the growing season is always veraison during the last 20 days leading up to harvest. It is here where rain, humidity, sun hours and diurnal temperatures are key. It is where the aromas, flavours and acid profile of the wines are formulated and in 2016 Francesco Ripaccioli cannot remember a better last 20 days prior to harvest. There was no huge temperature hikes of 40 degrees like 2015. The highest it reached was 35 degrees. A great vintage he believes, needs to reach 2000 on the Huglin sun hours index and in 2016 it was up to 2500. As Gianpiero Bertolini at Biondi-Santi states, right through veraison “the autumn day and night temperature swings played an important role in the final complexity of flavour and health of the grapes at harvest.” Biondi-Santi picked early, starting on the 19th September. “Our concept of “grape maturity” favours the fragrance of the fruity notes and a well-balanced alcohol content” states Gianpiero. Poggio di Sotto also picked some of their crop early, picking their first grapes three weeks earlier than most in Montalcino.  Harvest of the oldest vineyards at lower altitude (200 metres), where the berries are more sensitive to the heat, took place from the 2nd to the 15th of September. “We don't mind if the sugar content is relatively low for the current standard”, states Luca Marrone. “In 2016 the alcohol content was typical for Poggio di Sotto, around 13% to 13.5 % in the first days of picking and 14% in the last days”. Unlike 2015 it was a long harvest for them, picking their final plots in October. Riccardo Talenti started picking on the 18th September: “A normal picking date for Talenti in a great vintage”.  “2016 is the deepest and most elegant of vintages”  – Riccardo Talenti, Talenti For Canalicchio di Sopra the harvest was quick – just 10 days beginning on the 27th September. It was very clear to Francesco that all the fruit was ripe and ready, with very little concern regarding analysis. In vintages which are more difficult to read, he is constantly in the vineyard measuring potential sugar levels, tasting berries, and getting analysis from the laboratory to make picking decisions. In 2016 virtually no analysis was required, the quality of the fruit so effortlessly transparent. For Sabina Sassetti harvest began at the beginning of October. For her, this is when the grapes reached perfect ripening and, consequently, the proper accumulation of polyphenols, allowing tannins to be gentle and easily accessible on the palate.  Comparing two epic vintages in Brunello: 2015 versus 2016  2015 produced wines that were a product of the extremes of the vintage. The warmth brought a fantastic maturity to the fruit, a richness and opulence to the palate and generally more rounded tannins. 2016 in comparison is less forward and more serious. Francesco Ripaccioli describes the wines as “extremely elegant, more complex, more ethereal”. He appraises the vintages perfectly by describing the 2015s as horizontal wines and the 2016s as vertical wines. Whilst the 2015s might be more approachable and their appeal more immediate, the 2016s are more cerebral and he believes have “double the length of the 2015s on the finish”. He explains that 2015 was a vintage made great by the climate, and you can feel that impact in the wines. 2016 in comparison does not have the exuberance and warmth but instead offers complex floral sensations, tighter, more linear structure and a beguiling freshness which he believes will see the vintage age beautifully.  “2016 is a wine of “nerve” and energy, with lots of fresh fruit and a well present acidic backbone.” – Giampiero Bertolini, Biondi-Santi Francesco is still a great fan of 2015 and so he should be, his La Casaccia was awarded perfect scores in 2015. He believes 2015 and 2016 will be compared to the last great duo of top Brunello vintages: 2006 and 2007. It will be down to each drinker’s opinion which vintage is better. “The vintages will always be divided by personal preference”, he concludes. What is so exciting is that whilst 2016 and 2015 are both great vintages, they are also completely contrasting in style.  Biondi-Santi’s Giampiero Bertolini believes “2015 is a vintage of sun and warm temperatures. A vintage of generosity, both in structure and alcohol, where the ripe, fruity notes abound. Whereas 2016 is a wine of “nerve” and energy, with lots of fresh fruit and a well present acidic backbone.”  For Sabina Sassetti, the slightly cooler weather in 2016 versus the previous year, gives the wine a higher acidity, resembling the widely praised 2006 vintage. The result is a fresh and elegant wine with a firm structure. James Suckling’s recent report declared Sassetti’s 2016 Brunello potentially the wine of the vintage, awarding it 100 points.  “Think of the 2015s as horizontal wines and the 2016s as vertical wines” – Francesco Ripaccioli, Canalicchio di Sopra Riccardo Talenti feels “2015 is warmest and most voluminous, 2016 deeper and more elegant”, comparing 2016 to 2006 or a more complex 2010. Luca Marrone of Poggio di Sotto likes to consider the mood of 2015 as “explosive – already lively with the immediate impact of its complexity, in such a way mirroring the early ripeness of the vintage.” The wines of 2016 also imitate its growing season. “It was a slow and steady path. It's gentle and shy at the first approach, with an introverted talent that will reveal power and elegance in the long run.”  Canalicchio di Sopra also compares 2016 to 2006 and 2010 but believes 2016 is better. “It has something more than 2010, more identity, more freshness. He describes 2016 as a cross between 2013 (one of his favourite vintages for its freshness and floral notes) combined with the fruit purity and ripeness of 2010. For Biondi-Santi, 2016 in terms of freshness and ageing ability is similar to 2010, whilst Ferrini compares it to 2006, 2010, 2015 and 2019.  Perhaps the most important factors when it comes to considering your 2016 purchases are purity of site and style. The growing season being so perfect, so unaffected by any climatic extremes, 2016 offers the purest expression of terroir, of variety and of each of the individual Brunello winemaker’s talents. This is a touchstone of a vintage, against which all other vintages, past and future, will be compared. Read all our coverage of Brunello di Montalcino here

We caught up with some of Brunello di Montalcino’s top producers for their insight into the exceptional 2019 wine vintage

Comparing two epic vintages in Brunello: 2015 versus 2016 with Poggio di Sotto, Talenti estate, Canalicchio di Sopra, Biondi-Santi

Brunello 2016 a magical year for Montalcino wines

Brunello 2016: a magical year in Montalcino

It all started, as the best things in life often do, with a glass of wine and something of an epiphany. Budding Shanghai-based chef, Alex Xu, was holidaying with his then-girlfriend (now his wife) in New Zealand in 2012. It was their first trip together, and the pair had decided to do some tastings at wineries in Central Otago and Marlborough. One particular Pinot Noir they encountered awoke something in Xu. He didn’t know it at the time, but this was the first in a series of wine-tasting experiences that would change the course of his life. “We were on a tastings tour,” recalls Xu of the seminal moment. “There was a group of us travelling from winery to winery on a bus, but when we got to Aurum in Cromwell, our last stop of the day, the owner, Brook Lawrence, came and really spent some time with us. He walked and talked us through the vineyards, we tasted out of a barrel, and he opened a few bottles to taste. He talked about – in a very straightforward way – why each wine tasted a bit different even though they were all from the same parcel, essentially. He spoke to us about how there were different approaches to making wine from using whole-cluster or de-stemmed grapes, to oak, to length in barrel.” Sipping the wine as Lawrence spoke about the various methodologies and decisions that contribute to its flavour, made Xu realise in that moment, that the way wine is made – grown, picked and then prepared and vinified – is similar to the way a chef works. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh, making wine is like farming and cooking, but maybe the cycle is a bit longer.’” How flavours and textures work to deliver deliciousness in food is something that Xu was increasingly fascinated by, but his experience at Aurum that afternoon in 2012, opened his mind to the complexity of winemaking and the different elements at play in the glass and on his palate. “It was so fascinating to me to taste a wine made using 100% whole cluster and then compare it to essentially the same wine made using de-stemmed grapes. It was probably the first time I tasted wine and was simultaneously aware of how it was made. We’d visited maybe three wineries before Aurum, and I really remember how the tannins were entirely different, texturally, from anything else we had tasted. Those whole-cluster wines were much more expressive and seductive to me – specifically Aurum’s Madeleine Pinot Noir. It was spiced, really floral, lifted and bright. I already knew that I loved Pinot Noir, but that was a real ‘wow’ moment.” Shortly afterwards, Xu signed up to WSET, not because he knew he wanted to be a wine professional, “but simply to understand better what I was tasting and why I was enjoying those things,” he explains. The principles and tasting techniques he started to adopt soon began to feed into his approach to cooking.  “It gave me a kind of mental grid to help evaluate wines – colour, aroma, flavours, acidity, alcohol, tannin, body, intensity, complexity, length,” he explains. “On one super fun R&D trip to Tokyo to learn as much as I could about ramen, I applied that kind of thinking and rigour to how I evaluated a whole bunch of different varieties.” His interest in wine, it would seem, was sharpening Xu’s critical faculties and improving his ability to identify and appraise different elements of flavour. In 2015, just as he was making the final preparations to open his restaurant, Baoism, in Shanghai, Xu became ill with mononucleosis (glandular fever). Locked in a fever for days, he decided to head to the countryside to recuperate. More specifically, to his family’s country retreat in Yuhu Village in the foothills of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in rural Yunnan. Yunnan is one of China’s most southwestern provinces, lying south of Sichuan and bordering Tibet to the northwest, Myanmar to the west, and Laos and Vietnam to the south. There’s no heavy industry, making Yunnan one of the least polluted corners of China. Instead, its 394,000 square kilometres encompass snow-capped mountains, rice terraces, lakes, forests and agricultural land.  Xu describes Yunnan as ‘China’s breadbasket’, explaining that the variation across the province in elevation and climate means that the region enjoys a long growing season, yielding all kinds of gastronomic wonders that are prized throughout the country and beyond. As well as the tea, coffee and tobacco of central Yunnan, the province is probably best known for the wide variety of mushrooms it produces. Wild morels, porcini, truffles and a mushroom called matsutake or ‘pine mushroom’ in Japanese. Yunnan still exports tonnes upon tonnes of them to Japan each year, although they’re also enjoyed locally, sliced very thin and dipped in soy sauce and wasabi. The food of Yunnan reflects many influences. “I’m Han Chinese and that’s the majority ethnic group,” explains Xu, “but we have, I think, 25 different ethnic minorities in Yunnan. There are Tibetans, Laotians, ethnic Thai, ethnic Leong – and that’s just the tip of the cultural diversity iceberg. And even though we’re pretty far from Vietnam and Laos here in the Northwest, we still have a lot of lime and mint here. In the summer, the sun is really intense because of the high UV radiation at the altitude, so we eat a lot of foods that are very fresh. Our cuisine puts a lot of value on nuance and delicate complexity, rather than power and spice.” Xu’s Shanghai-resident parents holidayed in Yunnan in the early 2000s and fell in love with Yuhu Village. On discovering there was no running water, they helped the villagers build a pipeline from a glacier atop the mountain, and as a show of thanks, the villagers gave them some land on which they built a house.  Despite the abundance of beautiful fresh produce grown elsewhere in the province, the landscape around Yuhu Village is almost completely devoid of agriculture due to the barrenness of the soil. But its wide-open spaces and fresh mountain air (at an elevation of 2,800 metres) were the perfect tonic for Xu’s mononucleosis recovery. Within two days, he shook off the blanket under which he had been shivering for weeks and, almost suddenly, was back to rude health and able to enjoy being out in the sunshine and open countryside. And that’s when he saw something he’d never seen before: a group of villagers digging melon-sized rocks out of the ground. “I asked my friend what was going on,” says Xu, “and he explained that the rocky soil is so poor and so bad at retaining water that nothing really grows. So instead of harvesting crops, the locals dig up rocks that can be used for building projects.” Sloping landscape, poor and rocky soil, cool climate – something clicked in the back of Xu’s mind. “I remember thinking ‘Maybe we could plant vineyards here.’ It’s weird because there are no vineyards in that part of Yunnan, and I had never considered planting vines or making wine until that very moment.” Two weeks later, Xu was back in Shanghai, busier than ever as the head chef and proprietor of his just-opened restaurant. But he had made some calls, reaching out to friends about his ‘crazy idea’. He was introduced to David Tyney, an Australian viticultural consultant who had been working in New Zealand for around 15 years. Over the next 12 months, also working with Simon Clark and Feng Liu, they collaborated to establish whether or not growing vines would be feasible – installing a weather station, analysing soil samples and, ultimately, identifying a small parcel of land outside Xu’s village that had potential. Xu planted vines in May 2017 knowing that, at some point, he’d have to choose between the restaurant and the vineyard project. When his landlord got in touch later in the year to say that he was upping the rent at Baoism, it made the decision easier than anticipated. Now able to focus solely on the vineyard, Xu asked his viticultural consultant the best and fastest way to learn about making wine. The answer came: “Work vintages”. The memory of the Pinot Noirs he had tasted at Aurum called him back to New Zealand, where husband and wife team Brook and Lucie Lawrence welcomed Xu’s request to come and work the 2017 harvest with them as their only additional help managing their four-hectare site. “I’d heard from my consultants that making wine is very much like working in a kitchen,” says Xu. “It’s mostly cleaning but I would be there to work hard, observe and absorb. I was already used to a world where cleaning and physical labour were very much part of the job, but what I found on my first vintage, working with Lucie and Brook, was that winemaking has this incredible combination of intellectual curiosity and satisfaction.  You’re constantly thinking about how and why, trialling different things here and there, understanding how different viticultural or vinification decisions affect what ends up in the glass. Plus, you have this real satisfaction from doing physical labour that you don’t get in a lot of work. It had a pace that was a little bit slower than restaurants – still very intense – but it felt more sustainable. And at Aurum I saw that when people are really good at what they do, they kind of glide around the winery, the way great chefs glide around their kitchens. It made me want to become better. I understood that that’s what I want to be like, and I understood how the work would appeal to me. I also learned that this was a real business – that I couldn’t just throw myself into it without giving it proper respect.” One of Xu’s big learnings at Aurum was about quality over quantity. “They’d been hit hard in the economic crisis of 2008 and had to shed 10 hectares of their site, leaving them with just four. So they were down to bare bones. What they were doing, if they got it right, would just about support them.” A sobering thought, but Xu was inspired.  Despite the pressure they were under to make it work, he admired the decisions Brook and Lucie made in the field, in the winery and beyond. For example, as part of their uncompromising focus on quality, they held on to bottles for the amount of time they felt was necessary before releasing them. “While I was there, one of their 2014 Pinots (they make three) won Best Pinot Noir in New Zealand,” says Xu. “It was a testament to how good they are as winemakers.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, Xu trusted his tastebuds to lead him to his next vintage experience. In 2015, he had attended a blind tasting event in Hong Kong hosted by Jancis Robinson MW. One wine stood out. “The theme of the event was to blind taste Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines from across the world,” says Xu, “and I look up to Jancis immensely, so I felt I had to be there. As everyone does at some point or another, Jancis called one wine completely wrong. What she had called as ‘a great, great white Burgundy’, turned out to be a Quartz Chardonnay by Australian winery, Bindi. When it was revealed, Jancis wasn’t surprised: ‘It’s a Bindi? Of course, that makes sense,’ and she spoke about how serious the work is there and how great the winemakers are.” As Xu contemplated the delicious liquid in his glass, he found himself thinking what a triumph it was for New World wine; that it in the unprejudiced environment of a blind tasting event, the Jancis Robinson had put an Aussie Chardonnay in the same quality bracket as top white Burgundy.  Having sought out and enjoyed Bindi wines on several subsequent occasions, Xu applied to work the 2018 vintage with owner-winemaker Michael Dhillon. Though almost twice as big in size as Aurum’s, Bindi’s operation was still small enough for Xu to have a hand in everything during the vintage. And beyond the day-to-day harvest and winemaking work, Xu got to taste and discuss wines with Michael and his family in the evenings. “What was wonderful at Bindi was, because I was living with the family, I cooked a lot for them – almost every night – and they opened a lot of very special bottles. I found that so valuable; that they shared so many incredible wines with me, that we talked about them, and they were able to articulate why those wines appealed to them. And the wines weren’t all monolithic, there was quite a bit of variation in how the wines were built, structurally, even in the grape varieties, but you could see that Michael had a very clear idea of what he valued, of what mattered in wine to him. I realised that I needed to do that too, that my responsibility to my work, to my dream, wasn’t just about becoming a technician – simply knowing how to make wine – because that’s not enough. I needed to figure out what matters to me, to understand it and to be able to articulate it, and to evaluate wine from that vantage point.” Xu still speaks to Dhillon regularly, having gained a mentor as well as invaluable experience. He has also stayed in touch with Brook and Lucie at Aurum. In fact, when he mentioned to them that he was keen to do a vintage at Domaine Dujac in Burgundy, they told Xu that they knew the Seysses family personally, and would be happy to write a recommendation. They did, and Xu was offered a spot on Dujac’s 2018 harvest crew. “That was such a nice moment for me and a really great example of how people in the wine industry are much less directly competitive than people in restaurants,” says Xu. “There’s a much greater sense of sharing knowledge, and I love that. It’s still amazing to me, not just how much information the best winemakers in the world are willing to share about how they make their secret sauce, but also that they’re willing to go out of their way to help people like me find opportunities to learn and grow.” Xu’s winemaking learning curve and his palate education continued apace at Dujac under the tutelage of Jeremy Seysses and his wife Diana (who splits her time between Dujac and Napa where she is the winemaker at both her family vineyard, Snowden, and Ashes & Diamonds). Xu was one of just four stagiaires along with a sommelier from a 3-star Michelin restaurant in New York and a young but experienced Australian couple, who were all encouraged to take it in turns to choose four bottles from the cellars to open in the evenings after a hard day’s work.  “They would give us the inventory for the cellar and say ‘Ok, pick four wines and we’ll blind taste them.’ It was so much fun! We would taste and talk – and the really cool thing was that most of the wines we were trying were made by the family’s friends at neighbouring domaines. When you blind taste with people, you start to understand what they like, what they don’t like, and particularly how they think about wine. Because we were in the winery tasting the fermenting wines every day, and also out of barrels – when it came to tasting these amazing bottles every evening, we really got a sense of what Jeremy and his father Jacques valued in wine. It was such a privilege – so many wines I’ll never taste again but will remember forever.” Xu particularly remembers the wine he tasted on the evening of Jeremy’s birthday. Diana asked him to cook a special birthday meal (Chinese dumplings from scratch), while Jeremy brought up some very special bottles from the cellar. Two bottles of La Tâche – a 1966 and a ’72 – for starters, and Xu’s eyes glaze over at the memory of them. “Those wines were magical to me. First of all, the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) bottles in the Dujac cellars are direct exchanges because the families are close. Aubert de Villaine is the godfather of Jeremy’s son – he came to lunch one day, and I think I was slack-jawed the entire time – but you know, those wines had entered the cellars in the 60s and not moved. Talk about pristine storage conditions – they’d travelled only a few kilometres to get there! The next thing to say is that these tasting experiences were my first with Pinot Noir that old – around 50 years.  Tasting them was mind-blowing as I had no concept of what it would look and taste like at that age, but simultaneously a validation of all the things that I love about Pinot Noir. 1966 was one of those years, a bit like 2017, where the vintage produced wines that people just drank straight out the gate as it was so delicious.  People didn’t really know if wine like that would fare well over time. But tasting it confirmed that the ’66 La Tâche had retained the balance it started with. Yes, it had gained all the savoury, leather and undergrowth characteristics, but all the purity of fruit and aromatic expressiveness and complexity still formed the core of the wine. But maybe the roses had gone from fresh to dried, and strawberries from fresh to gently baked – but the sweetness and succulence, the perfume and the spice, everything was still there. The ’72 was interesting too because, unlike the ’66, it was a really difficult vintage. And yet the wine had aged remarkably gracefully – all the elements were there, it was just a bit quieter perhaps, less intense than the ’66.” Xu also remembers Jeremy opening a magnum of 1964 Clos de la Pousse d’Or – the first vintage made by Gérard Potel whom Jeremy’s father, Jacques, had worked with and learned a lot from. “The magnum was pristine, and the wine exhibited all the things I love about Burgundy: perfume, texture, massive complexity and spice. You know that way that Pinot Noir can be weightless without being light or lacking intensity or energy? It had this weightless intensity and a savoury complexity that was just stunning. So beautiful.” Through the wines Xu was tasting, he wasn’t just building a vision for the kinds of wine he hopes to make in Yunnan, he was starting to understand something much more profound – the kind of life in wine he wants to make for himself. At the end of his season at Dujac, when Jeremy asked him if he wanted to visit some other Burgundy domaines to do some tasting and maybe think about where next to approach to do a vintage (as a result of the subsequent tastings – and Dujac’s influence – Xu worked the 2019 vintage with Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey), Xu had perhaps the biggest epiphany on his wine adventure to date. He knew that he didn’t just want to nurture fruit on the vine and turn it into wine, but also – like his own mentors – nurture and encourage like-minded people to follow their noses, awaken and educate their palates, and start their own wine adventures. With just under three hectares of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines planted on the south-facing slopes of his Miao Lu vineyard in Yunnan, Xu is fully committed to maintaining more than a flow of vinified grape juice in the coming years. The knowledge and passion that flows freely around the vigneron’s dinner table, and the convivial spirit of generosity Xu discovered at each world-class winery, are just as important to his vision for Miao Lu. Yes, making exquisite, thoughtful wine with love and care is vital – but so too is the culture of sharing, savouring and celebrating good wine in good company, and raising a well-nosed glass – as often as possible – to hard work, friendship, and the magic you simply can’t bottle. This article was originally published in FONDATA, Issue One

FONDATA’s Gavin Lucas speaks to the restaurateur-turned-winegrower Alex Xu about the series of epiphanic moments in the company of great winemakers that completely reshaped his future

Restaurateur-turned-winegrower Alex Xu shares the series of epiphanic moments with great winemakers that completely reshaped his future

FONDATA: Epiphany Wines

Epiphany Wines 

Adrianna Catena (Catena and El Enemigo) – 1999 La Tache, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Christmas in Argentina is a summer affair – the days are long, and the heat is intense. This year we will gather with family and friends at our home in Mendoza, spending the day together – lunch and a siesta – before dinner on the 24th. I live far from my parents and these are special moments, so we pick our wines for the memories too! They'll include an Adrianna Vineyard White Bones Chardonnay (my mother's favourite), and some Nicolás Catena Zapata (1999 or 2004, perhaps). My father also has a Burgundy collection and always makes a trip to the cellar at some point in the evening, reappearing with a cheeky smile and something extraordinary – like a 1999 La Tâche. For the end – what we call the sobremesa, that long and magical moment after the meal when we are all still gathered at the table, sharing old stories and laughter – a 2008 Vin de Constance.”  Isabel Ferrando (Domaine Saint-Préfert) – 1990 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Spéciale, Domaine Henri Bonneau “What I love! First Champagne – maybe a great bottle of aged Champagne, either Selosse or Agrapart (the opposite of Selosse). Ideally around 20 years old – for aperitif. After that a white Burgundy – maybe a great Meursault or Puligny-Montrachet. I love Henri Boillot’s Clos de la Mouchère, that would be a great choice. For the red, it is going to be the 1990 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Spéciale by Henri Bonneau because I love this man. I remember him with a lot of tenderness and it will be a lovely bottle to share with the family. And to finish a 1995 or 1997 Sardat Mallet, which is a lovely sweet wine from the Languedoc-Roussillon... Then for New Year I think probably L’Ermita from Alvaro Palacios. I don’t know which vintage I have in my cellar and an old bottle of Ch. Latour for sure. For a white wine, it will be a German Riesling from Markus Molitor. The spirit of opening wines, opening to a new world. I love that! And it is me who is doing the cooking – capon, fish and truffles.”  Matthieu Mangenot (Domaine Long-Depaquit) – 1995 Ch. Lafite Rothschild “Christmas usually offers the occasion to open a wide variety of wines, especially when the family come from various parts of the planet (Washington DC, São Paulo, various parts of France…), bringing back a few fun things. But when it comes to eating and celebrating, serious things are beginning and I can’t skip Burgundy, at least for a part of the banquet! 2016 Chablis Grand Cru La Moutonne, Domaine Long-Depaquit in magnum would be a perfect candidate to pair with our Christmas dinner, especially the seafood part. I love the pure and saline expression of the Chardonnay in Chablis and the fleshy-zesty character that La Moutonne shows with ageing, a combination of structure, refinement and elegance. This 2016 vintage also has a personal meaning for me for two reasons: first because the climatic conditions in spring 2016 were dramatic with a major frost that really made this vintage difficult to make, as well as a rare and unique product. But also because my son Léon was born just before harvest, so this vintage is his! While re-exploring my personal cellar, I came across a bottle of 1995 Ch. Lafite Rothschild, remaining from a series of six I was offered while a trainee at the estate in 1999. I think it is high time to celebrate more than 20 years of activity as a winemaker and we will take this opportunity to pay tribute to this monument from Pauillac! Other wines I will be opening include 2015 Domaine de la Chevalerie, Cuvée Bretêche Rouge, 2019 Crozes-Hermitage Cap Nord, Domaine Combier and 2018 Meursault, Chevalières, Domaine Henri Germain. I like this domaine for it’s personal vision of Meursault, insensitive to more trendy styles.” Luca Martini di Cigala (San Giusto a Rentennano) – 2009 L’Apparita, Castello di Ama “Marco Pallanti and his son Arturo from Castello di Ama visited us in late October, then we visited them a few days ago. I swapped some older bottles of San Giusto with a 2007 Chianti Classico Vigneto Bellavista and a 2009 L’Apparita especially for this year’s Christmas table. The 2007 vintage produced very powerful wines and despite expectations has got good ageing potential but is already drinking well. The 2009 is a medium-power vintage, easy to drink in a relative short time but now in perfect condition. We are looking forward to drinking both this Christmas.”  Desiree Reid (Cardrona) – N.V. Cardrona Otago Pinot Cask, Single Malt Whisky “The day will start with a glass of Bollinger, while the children open their stockings, and the Christmas ham bakes in the oven. Later that evening I’ll finish with a dram or two of the Cardrona seventh birthday release – Otago Pinot Cask. The perfect way to finish a Southern Hemisphere Christmas.” Alvina Pernot and Philippe Abadie (Domaine Alvina Pernot) – 2014 Champagne Cédric Bouchard, Roses de Jeanne, La Haute Lemblé Blanc de Blancs “We love Cédric Bouchard’s Champagnes because he works his Champagne cuvées in the same way as what is done in Burgundy. Each bottling is one terroir and one vintage. For the reds we will be opening 2012 Petite Siberié from Domaine du Clos des Fées – a great producer from the Languedoc-Rouissilon as well as a 2010 Vega Sicilia Unico and a 2005 Ch. Haut-Brion.” Marco Ferraresso (Guado al Tasso) – 2013 Guado al Tasso Matarocchio “I have always spent the Christmas holidays at home with my family. It may seem trivial but it is an opportunity to open something of my own with them, as the rare times I haven't done so they almost got offended! This year will be an opportunity to let them taste the 2019 Guado al Tasso which represents a lucky and sought-after vintage for me. Lucky because mother nature has been merciful, sought-after because it goes in the stylistic direction that we like for this wine. Another wine that I would like to open for them is 2013 Matarocchio. With this vintage the Cabernet Franc has kept a strong varietal identity with a beautiful balance between acidity and tannic structure, a wine that should be in its full maturity and with which I hope to give a moment of happiness to my loved ones."  Christian Leusder (East Asia Whisky Company) – Ch. Rauzan-Ségla “It's really the simple stable stuff that takes centre stage during Christmas drinks. To start the evening a nice crisp Yebisu, Asahi SuperDry or a Suntory Premium Malt. The main course usually goes well with sake or red wine, depending on the cuisine of course. My favourite reds this year are Ch. Rauzan-Ségla's Margaux or Ch. Pape Clément from Pessac. When it comes to after-dinner drinks: the one and only Christmas spirit is Irish. Nothing beats a Baileys to remember what Christmas tasted like when you were allowed a sip of what the grown-ups were having once a year.”  Read more Editorial

Christmas and the New Year offer the perfect opportunity to open special bottles with family and friends – but what do the people behind the world’s finest wines and spirits drink? We caught up with some of our favourite winemakers and distillers and asked them what they will be uncorking – and why

We find out the special bottles some of our favourite winemakers and distillers are uncorking this Christmas

What producers are drinking this Christmas

Of all the misconceptions about rum – and there are many – the belief that there aren’t any rules is arguably the most rife. “There is not a lack of regulation in rum,” Mitch Wilson, Global Brand Ambassador for Black Tot, says. “Rum is an umbrella term for an entire category, it does not specify a particular locale like ‘Barbados Rum’, ‘Jamaican Rum', 'Guyanese Rum’ would. Just as there is no 'one rule' for all the different whiskies around the world, there is no one rule for all of the different rums either.” Industry legend Richard Seale picks up the point. “Rules do vary from country to country in rum but that is no different to any spirit. What is different about rum is that it is rarely protected in export markets with a generic rule applying to all origins. “For example, rhum Agricole is a protected term in the EU, but in the US, you can use the term agricole with impunity. Jamaica excise law has protected its rum from adulteration for as long as Scotch whisky [regulations have existed] but you can find Jamaican rum with added sugar for sale in the EU and there is nothing at the moment to stop it.” Herein lies one of rum’s greatest problems and a source of the most heated debates: abuse. “Many rum brands have got away with misleading age claims and egregiously adulterating their products,” Seale explains. “There is little impetus to regulate. I am quite sure if similar happened with whisky, the Scotch Whisky Association would be pressing authorities to act.” Instead, it’s been something of a people’s movement and Seale says consumers are demanding more transparency. “I think huge progress has been made at the level of enthusiasts and industry professionals,” he adds. “Of course, there are many duped consumers but they are typically at a level that they do not care, so we do not care. “We have a mantra: ‘drink what you like, know what you are drinking’. Simply put, make an informed choice.” Daniele Bondi, who works for Hampden Estate's global distributor La Maison & Velier, agrees and says it’s only fair that people are made aware of the content in their glass. He adds: “You can keep adding whatever you like but tell me please. If there is a lot of sugar in what you buy, you should at least know about it like other food categories.” There are countless examples of European entities buying rum in bulk and adding sugar before bottling. They are not lawfully required to declare this and can brandish the words “Jamaican rum” on the label. This, argues many, is deceitful and incredibly harmful. “It’s important to limit this sort of practice and preserve the rum style and not create confusion,” Bondi adds. The Export Director says people will taste a sweetened Jamaican rum and not realise the liquid isn’t true to Jamaican style or that it has been adulterated. The need to disclose these practices extends beyond the consumer’s welfare and is of vital importance to the preservation of rum heritage and production methods. While valiant efforts are being made, the vested interests of some, who wield great power, are thwarting progress. For this reason, the team at Foursquare has created #saveBarbadosRum and are working towards getting the EU to recognise a Geographical Indication (GI) for rum from Barbados and Jamaica. “This would protect our rums from the adulteration that currently happens,” Seale says. “While the US does not recognise GIs, we could communicate to consumers which are the certified rums.” Seale says this is not universally popular. “At the moment, a single foreign interest who bottles adulterated rums sourced from distilleries in which they have a financial interest is taking whatever action they can to effectively derail the process.” The campaign hopes to raise awareness of this and what he calls the “long-term threat to the integrity of our rums”. He continues: “The hubris of some European companies towards rum is astounding. They continue to have an extraordinary sense of entitlement notwithstanding Barbados and Jamaica are sovereign countries.” The ethos at Foursquare and many other distilleries, including Mount Gay in Barbados, is to produce unsweetened, unadulterated rum in the centuries old tradition. Beyond the skulduggery that occurs, rum has struggled with another image issue and this is largely due to classification. Wilson says an insistence on grouping all rums as the same thing, irrespective of who made them – and their local laws, know-how and traditions – perpetuates the myth and undoes a lot of hard work over the past five to 10 years. The only way for this to truly change is through better education. “Without a doubt rum’s greatest struggle is to catch up our education with that of the whisky category,” he says. “On one hand you have hundreds if not thousands of whisky aficionados able to rattle off dozens of distilleries and their corresponding nuances throughout each Scottish region and the rest of the whisky world, with well-established whisky shows and dozens and dozens of books on the subject. Meanwhile, most people still think of rum as ‘white, gold, dark, or spiced’ and have very little understanding of the various regions of rum, raw materials or the differences that lay within.” He says there are undoubtedly a brave few who bang the “rum drum”, but they are “vastly outnumbered”. Another key difference, he says, is the way the rum world is set up compared to the whisky world. There are considerably more whisky distilleries than rum producers, and the majority are owned by behemoths with deep pockets to fund whisky education on various styles and regions. By contrast, many rum distilleries are independent or government controlled. In the instances where big multinationals do own rum distilleries, Wilson says, they typically only own one or two and understandably finance education on their offerings rather than the wider rum world. For the most part, he says this different structure is a positive thing, resulting in a “fiercely independent style” from each region and act as a “great preventative against homogenisation in the industry”. But the cost is felt by others who have struggled to get their message to the masses. “It’s like wine,” Dictador Creative Director Ken Grier explains. “Pinot Noir from the New World tends to be lighter but with a higher abv. Those from Old World producers are often darker and lower strength. It’s the same in rum; you really need to look beyond the headlines on the label. We have to explain the differences between rums from different regions and the distinction between brands. “We need to educate about provenance (cultural influences, stories), production, maturation etc. They will all become key.” One way to educate consumers, in Wilson’s view, is through conversations about blends. “The very essence behind blending rum from different regions is because each distillery’s flavour profile can be so unique and so varied,” he says. “If we choose to tell the customer why we picked the rums we did, and why each region has its own unique flavour profile and is individually important, I think we can give people a great snapshot of the wider rum world, and at the very least give them a starting point as to where to look should they be interested in researching further.” During the pandemic, Black Tot has – via the medium of technology – hosted tastings to do just this. “Rather than just let them taste our finished blend, we also deconstruct the blend into its individual components, allowing people to try rum from Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica individually, and understand what each one brings flavour wise to our blend. I believe this is the future of blends, to not just look at the finished product, but to really celebrate the provenance of where the rum is coming from.” In a similar vein, Venezuela’s Diplomatico has championed alternative production methods with its Distillery Collection. “The concept behind the collection is to produce, in limited quantities, rums from a single distillation method that are subsequently aged for a certain number of years,” Maestro Ronero Nelson Hernandez says. “The objective is to offer the opportunity to connoisseurs and rum lovers to discover the very own character of each one of these rums, in a collection that reflects our distillery’s wealth.” It might sound simple but tasting the liquid and reading the label can be the difference between cutting this misconception off at source or continuing down the sticky road. Bondi says it is sometimes easier for him to speak with single malt drinkers rather than “rum drinkers” who are used to a lighter and sweeter liquid. He often gets them to try the Hampden 8 Year Old – the most approachable rum – and asks what they think, and if they thought rum could taste like this. The reaction is instantaneous and incredibly satisfying for the Export Director when he gets to explain that this style is rum, in the authentic sense. Historically, “global” rums have tended to be lighter and sweeter, and far removed from the authentic liquid that is recognisable to the rum purist. To satisfy the global market, sugar has been added to sweeten the taste and in many cases caramel to darken the colour. “The first conversation is always – no, this is rum and all the other sweeter stuff, what you think is rum, maybe is not. At least from a historical point of view,” Bondi adds. “If you speak with single malt experts, they are normally super happy because there is sort of a resistance among the single malt community because ‘rum is sweet’, so when you approach with something like this [Hampden] they say wow, this is something that I can easily recognise because it is dry, it’s full-bodied, it’s funky, it’s flavourful like all the single malts they like.” Bondi finds adopting his boss, Luca Gargano’s – the man responsible for the classification of the same name – production-driven terminology helpful when introducing people to real rum. In the same way whisky drinkers understand Scotch whisky has regional styles – Speyside, Highlands, Islay etc – rum can be communicated in the same way. “Like a different category within a category,” he adds. Hampden is famous for its funky, high ester style, that Bondi says appeals to the peated whisky fan. “It’s more for the adventurers”, he says. “They love this crazy taste of Lagavulin and Laphroaig and maybe they will love to try rum with a different, funky taste.” Undoubtedly, the conversations and appreciation for rum are maturing. The category is shedding its skin of these unhelpful labels that have besmirched its reputation and the right questions are now being asked. Thankfully, there’s a formidable cohort armed with the answers and willing to speak truth to power in order to protect something that is truly sacred. Explore rum or read more Editorial 

Rum isn’t regulated. It is either dark or white. It all comes from the Caribbean. It’s nowhere near as high quality as Scotch. These are just some of the misconceptions that hang around the category like a millstone. Holly Motion speaks to some of those fighting to be heard among all the mistruths

Exploring some of the greatest misconceptions that hang around rum like a millstone, including miscategorisation and questions concerning quality.

How sugarcane spirit mistruths are coming unstuck

Rum: the sticky issues

Château Lucia

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