Lagrezette Blog

120,000 bottles

By Jean Courtois (Managing director)

Since Michel Rolland last returned to the Château, in February, our  2006 vintage wines are resting in their barrels.

It's always an impressive and intense moment to see him preside over the assemblage of a forthcoming vintage of Château Lagrézette. The next step comes between June and September. We’ll bottle and then store some 120,000 bottles, for just this one vintage…

It pleases us to imagine the bottles leaving the vineyard, over the months and years, for the pleasure of consumers worldwide.

The art of wine is an art apart

By Alain Dominique Perrin

I’m often asked, even today, whether my passion for wine and viticulture is influenced by my taste for Art. I do not honestly think so.

I love art, that is obvious: I always need art all around me. When I find myself surrounded by walls without art, I’m bored to death and ill at ease. Working inside the house of Cartier taught me extreme refinement, excellence, the search for perfection. So, when I’m making wine, I want to make a fine wine, not a supermarket wine. But the approach is different. Wine is not, and must never become, an exclusive, luxury item. When I talk about our wine, I am first talking about the passion that we put into making it. There is love in working and cultivating the vines, in finding the best assemblages and in waiting to share the fruit of our labor. But if I had to find a link with art and if I had to compare my wine to a work of art, I would choose one of César’s compression works, for its strength, force and density.

Our wines are masculine. They have body and a strong personality, just like the works of Cesar. He was like a brother, my best friend, and wine is inseparable from friendship.

Speaking of Cesar, this note gives me the chance to announce that an exhibition revolving around his work will be held in the near future at the Fondation Cartier… Dear friends and readers of this blog, don’t miss this retrospective, which I await impatiently. All the more so as it is being staged by the great architect, Jean Nouvel.

 

In search of the ideal wine…

By Alain Dominique Perrin
If there is no ideal wine, I would be tempted all the same to say that in my particular situation as a winemaker, the ideal wine is quite simply the wine that I feel like drinking rather than the wine that I want to sell.
I love fruity, masculine wines with body. Astringent and elegant. Here, the Pigeonnier comes close; and I am proud of it. Otherwise, I love Côtes du Rhône wines: Cornas, Hermitage, etc. Côte Rôtie from Guigal, I just love it… And sure, I obviously love a good Bordeaux. A Pape Clément is magnificent… even if I'm not ready to sell my soul for one. Romanée Conti is, of course, absolutely fabulous...

A good wine is, first of all, a wine that you are going to drink with friends. Drinking alone—I never do it—would depress me. You drink with friends, pals, family—it is a matter of good humor, conviviality. I don’t like acidic wines… And while I am not trying to be disagreeable, I hate nothing more than a bad Bordeaux. And God knows there are some… In fact, my ideal wine would first be a wine that you drink and enjoy without looking at the label—one that you taste blind, without some flag.

Here is an experiment that regularly works: have some friends taste 3 or 4 red wines in a blind test (with their eyes blindfolded). Meanwhile, slip in a white wine, without saying anything. I challenge your friends to locate it. We are conditioned by ready-made flags, labels, ideas… And this is just as often true for the professionals. A blind taste test is the hour of truth… and even the biggest experts can be taken in!

Advance sales: good buys or a fool’s bargain?

by AD Perrin The interview by Alain Dominique Perrin published in the “Revue des vins de France” (February issue) continues to stir up a storm. It is now the internet’s turn to take it up. Of course, we couldn’t be happier. A discussion of good wines on the web indicates that the cyber generations are also connecting with the pleasures of the table, and so much the better.

The french cooperative blog by the name of Bakchich Info scrutinizes the news in a spirit of independence and not without impertinence. Its editorial board includes french journalists whose freedom of speech is appreciated (Serge Faubert, Anne Giudicelli), libertarian agitators (Noel Gaudin, better known by the feared nickname of the Cream Pie Thrower), and impish cartoonists (Kerleroux).

Quite fittingly, the wine column, entitled “In Vino Veritas”, is entrusted to a gentleman by the name of Jean Pierre Bacchus; these days, he has mischievously and gleefully authored a grating piece on 2007’s advance sales in the Bordelais. The author quotes me in the very first lines, singling out some of my most acid words, which are likely to have been unpopular in the area...

“2007 will be plenty of fun, for the year is positively bad. The good folk of Bordeaux can say what they like. Will they try to sell at 500 euros a bottle? If there is any morality in the world of wine, the greatest of them should all drop below 100 euros”.

Bacchus issues no denial. Quite the contrary. He explains that advance sales used to allow consumers to have access to fine wines without spending a fortune before they became available at the wine cellar, that is, at lower prices. As for the owners, they would improve their cash position by selling earlier. Alas, this “win/win” strategy appears to be a thing of the past. Today, it usually backfires on the final customer, as Bacchus explains: “Today the wine lover is cheated, and Bordeaux’s chateaux and merchants pocket the profits. Many vintages deemed mediocre or average were overpriced in advance sales, only to turn up at rock bottom rates in supermarket wine fairs a few years later. Worse still, since the mythical 2000, speculation is raging. The owners of the greatest Bordeaux vineyards, who are only too glad to fleece not always well-informed Asian or Russian millionaires, now “forget” to adjust their prices according to the quality of the vintage.

As was the case for 2006, acceptable but no more than that, which sold for just a little less on an advance basis after the stratospheric rates hit by the superb 2005.” Wine lovers beware, therefore. Better take a second sip when the time comes...

Pourpre: The Color "Purple"

By

Jean Courtois

It was the title of a beautiful Spielberg film. In a few weeks, "Pourpre" which means "Purple" in french, will be found on the menus at restaurants in Paris and throughout France.

You’ll be pleased by its lasting savor. So remember the name "Pourpre", next time you visit France. We want it to become "the exquisite color of a great region”, accompanying red meat, cooked pork meats and cheeses on the tables of cafés and pubs. To that end, we have created an elegant, modern wine with fine red-fruit accents and silky tannins for pleasant times with friends or during a night out. Here is a preview of its label, contemporary, modern, elegant—like the Malbec grape—encouraging conviviality.

Reasoned Agriculture: an idea that makes sense

By Jean Courtois

I hear people talking about "reasoned agriculture" on television news. This idea of managing the use of pesticides and fertilizers, of being careful about their impact on the ecosystem and environment, without, however, shrugging off the issue of economic equilibrium, seems to me to be born of common sense.

We should not conclude from this that farmers are wanting in common sense but the reality is that we cannot continue to envision an exclusively production-oriented agriculture, which would be practiced regardless of the quality of the products, the soils, etc.

With that in mind, we first dug up the old vines in the Landiech vineyard, the latest parcel acquired by the Domaine de Lagrézette, and then, this year, sowed grains that will cleanse the soil without the need for chemicals. We find this method to be preferable at all levels. It is more respectful towards nature and we are convinced that it will be beneficial to the quality of the grapes to come, and, therefore, to that of the wines—our daily obsession. For more information, you can visit the French wikipedia page devoted to reasoned agriculture as It has the merit of raising the issues, without sidestepping possible items for dispute, and avoids partisan or excessively polemical approaches.

You can also visit the page at the website dedicated to FARRE (Forum pour une Agriculture Raisonnée Respectueuse de l’Environnement), a french association created in 1993 to promote this approach, which should not be confused with organic farming.

French wines versus New World wines

By Alain Dominique Perrin

French wine is not doing well. It is living on a false reputation. Today, "new world wines" are making life difficult for us. The French are unaware of this because wines from Argentina, Chile, Australia or South Africa have trouble penetrating our market and those of Spain or Italy, large producers who wich are, first of all, consumers of their own wines. But throughout all the big countries that previously bought French wines— Great Britain, USA, Canada, —we are losing market share every year! Every year the new producers sell more and more because their wines are often as good as ours… but cheaper.

Obviously, we shouldn’t be defeatist, but it is high time that this nation’s producers are given the material resources to fight against this competition, instead of blocking the system with regulations from another era… Administrative sluggishness and the apathy of certain mentalities prevent us from competing with the new world wines, using their own weapons. It is high time that all this changes if we want to return French wines to the standing owed to them.

When ADP tackles the Bordeaux…

By Alain Dominique Perrin

A recent interview in the magazine Vin de France caused a stir in "le Landerneau bordelais"… Alain Dominique Perrin stood up and pointed out the outrageous rates at which the "Great" Bordeaux wines are being sold today, including vintages that are, after all, qualified—out of kindness—as rather mediocre.

Whether they like it or not, I often stand up against the astronomical prices now charged for what they are calling the "great Bordeaux” wines. We should not forget that they were purchased in bulk 40 years ago… I remember very well buying magnums of Petrus, new wines, in 1975. I had paid 60 francs for them at the time. That might be 500 francs today, let’s say €80… Now, you can expect to pay €2,000! So there is a problem, right? Admittedly, quality has a price but beyond a certain amount, we are no longer talking about wine.

At Lagrézette, we work every day to produce an excellent wine but we will never produce a luxury item. That would be contrary to what I have believed in since the start: viz., offering a wine we are proud of at an honest price. I know luxury; I devoted the largest part of my working life to it. But I am fighting—and will continue to fight—to make sure wine remains a pleasure accessible to the greatest number of people.

Two Gold Medals for Lagrézette

By Jean Courtois (Managing Director of Lagrezette)

While we were busy, last Wednesday, bottling the 2005 Pigeonnier and the 2007 Blanche de Grézette vintages, we received good news from the Agricultural Show: these two vintages—one red, one white—were each honored with a Gold Medal in the 2008 All-around Farming Competition.

It is better to put things into perspective—and into oak barrels—than to engage in hollow platitudes. Our wines have often been praised, and yet, there have been other years when we’ve produced fine wines that were nevertheless overlooked. And vine-grower is a profession in which you also have to expect some criticism. Still, let’s not be overly modest. In a world where the obstacles are many, there is an obvious, deep satisfaction in receiving such rewards. It is a recognition of the work that we have done and it attests to the fact that we are on the right path.

As we see it, winning medals is not an end in itself. The real reward is the success that our wines enjoy among consumers—the very wines that we were hard at work bottling when the goods news broke!

This 2005 Pigeonnier is a highly complex wine; spectacular! It just spent 28 months in new oak barrels and can age up to 25 years.  And the Blanche de Grézette comes from Rocamadour vines that we have been tending since 2001. The medal for this wine also honors the work of our new Cellar Master, Cédric Blanc. After just a year at the vineyard, he has succeeded in demonstrating his many skills.

So, we have all gone back to work… not yet having found the time to open a bottle and celebrate!

Our 2007 red wines: outlook on a good year

Throughout this year, the press has duly reported the worries of the wine growers, faced with the unusually fickle weather. Global warming and unpredictable climate have been topics on everyone's lips. But finally, this summer finished on a positive note.

September: a comprehensive inspection tour of the Lagrézette vineyard allowed us to develop an initial understanding of its condition and to predict the qualitative prospects for the October harvest. The final tasting report states: "The grape skins are thick, allowing us to predict a wine with a good constitution. We have not noticed any aggressiveness. Absence of pronounced astringency and of vegetal notes. At this stage, we can already anticipate wines with an attractive color and heightened aromatic qualities. "

At the beginning of October, we began the harvest – by hand, of course – of the Malbec and Merlot, two varieties that we will vinify separately. Their blending will not take place until early 2009, after the ageing in oak barrels has done its work. One third of the wine will be aged in new barrels, which are reserved in priority for the Dame Honneur and Pigeonnier cuvees. The profile of these forthcoming wines is already predictable. The 2007 red wines will be well-rounded; soft yet powerful, with a good constitution. They will be expressive and fruity, with notes of ripe fruit and harmonious tannins. They promise a combination of suppleness, charm and elegance, as well as fullness.