I only have one estate in Savoie and the reason is pretty simple; it's because I believe with every fiber of my being that not only it is it the best estate in the Savoie but it's one of the world's great wine estates. I have a cellar the size of Churchill and can drink what I like, and to be truthful, I drink almost as much Berlioz as I do white Burgundy.
Why?
1) The wines are remarkably well made. I mean remarkably. Balanced, concentrated and flawless.
2) They all have stunning acidity and minerality.
3) Frankly, each time I try one, it's a new experience. Every vintage is slightly different and there's nothing in the world remotely like these wines.
The 2016 Gilles Berlioz (Domaine de la Partage) Rousette de Savoie "El Hem" ($34.99 a bottle on a 4-pack) is easily another Berlioz freak show. It's my sentimental favorite of all the wines. The Roussanne and Jacquere get all the attention but the Altesse is just as deserving and perhaps even more interesting. The wine is that special and deserves its own email.
It also has a very unique flavor profile. Huge deep aromas of mountain violets, other mountainous wild flowers, earth, pine trees and intense almost saline minerality. When you smell this wine, it almost transports you to a mountain meadow. There's nothing quite like it. Fruit, flowers and spices galore. A regular aromatic symphony that is so unexpected and also so inviting once you get attuned to it.
The palate is in a word, stunning. Just so sick. Palate is at once unctuous and rich yet super fine, elegant and shockingly refined and balanced. Like Batard-Montrachet made from Altesse. Musky pear fruit, lavender, Hawthorne Apple, spices and even some smoke make this palate unforgettable and distinctive. Prodigious concentration and purity sap out on the finish while the acid brings thunder and electricity throughout and the finish crashes and echoes like a symbol. Opulent yet fresh and super precise. Amazing power. Amazing density yet playful. Great great wine. Another virtuoso performance by the inimitable Gilles Berlioz.
There is no other way to describe this wine than as a work of art made by a transcendent genius. I've had a good amount of Altesse (known as Rousette locally) to know it's hard to make wine that one would pontificate about for hours on end. It can be good, but the pontification is left for Riesling and Chardonnay. This wine gets forgotten because every other example only rises to the level of merely very good while this rises to the level of some of the great white of the world. Why? Because Gilles is a genius and it's from some damn good terroir. The vines are not that old at 15 years. It's just Gilles, Altesse and a special slice of terroir. Altesse is late ripening and is famous for its high acidity. This enables these wines to age for a long time. 10-15 years easy and probably longer. I'm hiding all of my older El Hems. They truly transform. But they are thrilling thrilling wines young. What Muscdat might taste like if it was more interesting with more fruit and depth. It has echoes of so many grapes. Chardonnay, Jacquere, Melon de Bourgogne to name a few. What also makes this wine special is the utter refinement and grace of it all. It takes the lavender, the honey, the mountain flowers, the bergamot, the sometimes jarring acid found in Altesse, and wraps it in a package of ultimate refinement you just don't see with this grape. Ever. This is so special. In 2016 it's a wow wine. As it was in 15, 14 and 13. It always is but I think 15 and 16 ramp it up a notch. It's just sick wine.
I finally found out what El Hem means. Gilles named this cuvée after a Moroccan lawyer (Hem means inspiration in arabic), who free of charge, helped Gilles out of a tight spot after a driving violation! I'd name a wine after that guy as well. Heck, I'd throw him a parade!
2016 Gilles Berlioz Rousette de Savoie "El Hem" - $36.99
($139.96 4-pack)
No comments:
Post a Comment