Chez Gaillard (#1)
The invitation for a classical wine-tasting, bon vivant style, came all of a sudden. Without really knowing where were we heading, we found ourselfs in the house of Pierre Gaillard, one of the renowned winemakers in the northern Rhone, a region spread between Lyon and Valence. Our big gratitude pays to Guillaume Clusel, who drove us to this romantic medieval village called Malleval, and gave us the opportunity to meet the Gaillard family.
Being late is not very appropriate, but in France quite a usual fact. We entered a tasting room with an oval table with around fifteen people already seated, table covered with wine glasses, baskets with fresh baguettes, spit buckets and a bunch of bottles wrapped in a dark cloak with colored question mark. Spitters-beginners can make a detour to this introductory video of Winefolly.
We didn't really know what was about to happen. Honestly, we were expecting a bacchanalian party in an internationnal company with a variety of drinks and loud music. But this is never the case in a winemakers house.
There was a spiritually respectful, almost a pious silence. We were welcome at the door by our host and his wife, we were offered a chair in addition, our glasses were filled in and the ritual could continue. But we still didn't get the scenario.
Then we understood what are the papers and pens for. The notes should be taken as all of the others had been doing with a concentrated look. Nobody of us would even try to guess the specific producers, varieties or vintage. However our verbal descriptions, comparisions, the used adjectives or interjections were more and more figurative - limy, elderberry like, woody, bread-full, honneyful, or yummy. When we found out that all we had to do was to follow our senses and not to disturb our more knowledgeable colleagues, there was a short break.
At that moment the meaning of the tasting was revealed to us. Up until now were just having our glasses poured with unknown bottles. Now we were asked by our hosts to express our impressions and point out some prefered wines. Afterwards the identity of the first eight white wines was uncovered.
Amongst the wines from Condrieu region made out of the aromatic variety Viognier, there were also some exceptions. All were surpassed by the chinesse Chardonnay, simply because it was so different. I am not sure if anybody at the table would agree with me, but I really appreciated this unusual bouquet which reminded me of a corny tortilla. I was explained that this Chardonnay is made with very similar procedures as in Europe. In that case, it seems to me that for professionals the chinesse terroir will be a hard nut to crack.
Comming back to Viognier I would say that it is a playful type. When it is young, it is well perfumed, full of roses or other flowers. But if you let it lay in a barrique for a while, it would ripen too. This was proved by a bottle of La Grande Vallon by Francois Villard, 2005. Maybe it was already on its peak but was always having a lively amber like tint, the fragrance of honeycomb and a full oily structure. With its pleasant balance this grande vallon was teasing me to take a glass more.
Nevertheless, we were in a region where the robust red wine rules. So for the next phase we had to keep the concentration high, therefore I resisted the Viognier. Because there were still thirty fullbodied Syrah type wines waiting for us...