Most wine drinkers know the top wines in Burgundy, Bordeaux, Champagne and the Rhone. Many of the people on this list are familiar with the hard to get wines from lesser appreciated regions in France.
Languedoc - Domaine Peyre Rose
Loire - Clos Rougeard, Roches Neuves, Vatan, Guiberteau, Collier and the Cotats
Provence - Trevallon
Those who have tried these wines will tell you that when properly aged they are singular and remarkable drinking experiences that can compare with the great wines from their brethren in the more well known (and vastly more expensive) regions.
Why is this?
Well, among other reasons, there is terroir and then there is terroir. The more famous regions have traditionally had a heck of a lot more top tier terroir than regions like the Loire or Provence. But even these less revered regions have some terroir that is so perfect that, in the hands of a master, can result in spectacular, world class wine.
Today, I am proud to introduce to the United States one of these wines.
Many of you have tasted the brilliant Savoie wines of Gilles Berlioz and realize my hype was justified. If the countless texts and emails from happy clients are any indication. Gilles' wines are some of the purest, elegant, juicy and oh so drinkable wines in the portfolio.
Today, I am offering his best wine, his piece de resistance, his magnum opus. It is the 2014 Gilles Berlioz Chignin Bergeron Les Christine ($59.99 a 3-pack) and it is a masterpiece (and 2014 is the debut vintage). The best wine I've tasted from Gilles. Easy. It is pricey for a Savoie wine (and through 3 tier it would cost $100) but think of this not as a Savoie wine but one of the world's great white wines, comparable to a great white Burgundy or a top Northern Rhone white. This is comparable to the great Beaucastel Roussanne Vieilles Vignes in my opinion yet with a much different mineral expression as it is more appealingly alpine. But it is right there qualitatively with that wine. I prefer it. Along with the exotic fruit profile of the Roussanne, and the texture, oh my god the texture of this wine is to die for, ridiculous aromatics, and this compelling alternate alpine reality minerality, you've got a really profound bottle of wine. The color is deep and golden but with a green glimmer. Even the color cannot escape the alpine qualities of Chignin. There is a lovely almost Champagne-like brioche quality to the expansive aromas as well. The aromas are crazy complex and reveal more and more with coaxing and extended aeration. Floral and spice notes complicate things even more. Add to this a smokey complexity and you have aromas that are just ever changing. The palate delivers all that the freakishly awesome Roussanne can. Elderberry, pineapple, brioche, lychee, more smokiness and even some fenugreek that Gilles communicated to me via my translator. It is honeyed but so fresh, juicy and mineral as well. There is stunning volume here. The wine really is distinctive and specific with its aromatic and flavor spectrum as well (fenugreek, etc). With all of this it is utterly beguilingly fresh with beautiful minerality. So pure. So precise. Truly one of the most special wines I've sold. I do now know how long it will age but I'd say 10-12 years. Love to see it in 5-6. That nose and that texture will only get better.
Also it has all the ingredients of a unicorn wine, or should I say pre unicorn wine as I've only tasted it and it's not out there. It is made in minuscule quantities, 2014 is the debut vintage, it is more expensive than his other wines, which are all insane as it is, it is made in a fiberglass egg, with natural yeast, little to no sulfur and no chapatalization and he is close friends with another unicorn wine producer, Ganevat. There is a juicy quality from the acidity because 2014 has that juiciness down. This is from a very special plot of 18 year old Roussanne vines that the "two Christines" his wife Christine and his worker at the Domaine, Christine Meitas, have selected as a special parcel right below the castle in town of the best grapes of Roussanne at the estate. They have picked well. They are pictured here with the egg that this very limited cuvee is aged in.
2014 Gilles Berlioz Chignin Bergeron "Les Christine" - $62.99
($179.97 3-pack)
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