Monday,
9 December 2002Overview (Review 1 of 1)
Not far from the city of Pau lies the beautiful wine region of the Jurançon where wonderful white wines are produced. The gem of this area is the Petit Manseng grape. With its loose bunches, tiny berries and thick skin, this variety is suitable for raisining and producing great sweet wines. Gros Manseng and to a lesser extent, Courbu, are also grown.
The vines are grown over an area of 800 hectares on the hillsides facing the Pyrénées Mountains. The average vineyard elevation is 1,200 feet and most are southfacing. The soils, deposited during the formation of the Pyrénées, are silicoclay and contain many round pebbles. The lay of the land is remarkably similar to the upper piedmont of Virginia. Spring weather, influenced by the mountains, can be cold and rainy. Due to the risk of spring frost, vines are trained high off the ground, which is unusual in France. The summers, influenced by the mild oceanic climate, bring consistent rainfall. In fact, Jurançon experiences rainfall similar to what we have in Virginia, 1,300mm of rain per year. The fall season, influenced by the hot southern climate, creates long Indian summers that enable the raisining of the grapes.
At
Château Jolys we were hosted by the charming Marion Henry and her memorable
Papa. Château Jolys was Papa’s creation. He started from scratch,
working the soils in 1959 and planting in 1962. In 1983 he started making wine.
Today Château Jolys is the largest privately owned vineyard in the Jurançon.
They have 36 hectares under vine (22 ha of Gros Manseng and 14 ha of Petit Manseng).
The property is divided into parcels with the average being 340 meters (1,000 feet) above sea level. Just as we heard elsewhere, the various types of soils located through the vineyards are responsible for the different styles of wine. Eight to ten bud canes are replaced each year and are massaged and bent in a curved umbrella shape. This technique is similar to the German pendlebogen pruning and known in France as corbure. This technique in theory helps spread the vigor evenly to each shoot, although in practice shoot development was uneven. Rootstocks commonly used are 3309, SO4 and Riperia. SO4 is considered excessively vigorous.
Marion mentioned that they were having problems in the vineyard with Esca, Eutypa, and nematodes. Powdery mildew pressure is high. Additional challenges in the vineyard come from bird damage as well as boar and deer damage. They utilize netting to try to combat the problem.
Spacing
between the rows is 2.1 meters and spacing between the vines is 1.0 meter. The
canopy stands 2.2 to 2.3 meters tall. The Manseng vines are vigorous and produce
lots of vegetation. It was common to see one post per vine to help support the
vigor of the plant. The vigor did not seem to be an issue for the vines from
which the dry whites are produced but it did seem to be an issue for the sweet
wines where they were looking for the most concentration. When picking grapes
for the dry white wines, they look for green berries that in their opinion will
have the most aromas of freshness. The dry whites could not be successfully
made from too mature fruit.
All work in the vineyard is done by hand except for spraying and hedging. Leaf pulling is practiced to prevent rot. Thirteen people work at Château Jolys with ten of them working full time in the vineyard. An additional crew of workers is brought in for harvest. Papa estimated that it costs roughly 10,000 Euro per hectare to farm ($4,000 per acre).
The soils appeared to be predominantly clay-based. Large stones could be seen. Due to weathering, the soils have been depleted of calcium. Their acidity ranged between 6.2 and 6.5.
Unlike
most of the neighbors, Château Jolys prefers the Gros Manseng. Papa explained
that the both the Petit and Gros Manseng originated from the same plant family.
The Manseng’s ability to drop its acidity to a point and level it off
while its sugars continue to climb makes it a very special grape. They favor
the Gros Manseng because it hangs onto the vine longer. They find that even
though the Petit Manseng has thicker skin, it is more fragile. While the Gros
Manseng is a more vigorous plant, it has fewer leaves. Yields on the Petit Manseng
were 40 hl/ha (3 tons per acre), while yields on the Gros Manseng were 68 hl/ha
(4.5 tons per acre).
There
was an obvious generational difference in opinion concerning key vineyard management
decisions. The older generation was quite content with the status quo. The new
generation was anxious to focus more on crop thinning and more aggressive leaf
pulling.
Harvest usually starts around the 15th of October. Yellowing leaves are one of the indicators of fruit maturity. The first pass through the vineyard is for the dry white wine. They pick the green Gros Manseng berries. For the sweet wines they do a triage selection with a total of four passages through the vineyard, often ending in January.
The functional winery was constructed from an old sheep barn. The tall stainless steel tanks, equipped with heat exchangers, had to be custom built. A sorting table is utilized for selecting only the healthy berries. All grapes are de-stemmed and then cold-soaked for six to twelve hours before being pressed. Adding yeast starts fermentation. Two yeast strains are used (Saccharomyces and Bayanus). Inoculating the juice provides the winemaker with more control and control is important because of the high sugar, high acid and low pH. The wine goes through malolactic fermentation with great difficulty due to low pH levels. ML strains from Champagne have been most effective. Direct "dry" inoculations have not worked and a pied de cuve is expanded to achieve high enough population levels.
DAP (nitrogen) is added regularly as very clear, filtered juice is used. Dry wines are made in tanks, sweet wines in barrel. The wines are crossflow filtered.
After the tour at Château Jolys we were hosted at Clos Lapeyre. We did not have an in-depth tour, but got an overview of the 12 ha (30 acre) operation by owner Jean-Bernard Larrieu and his English winemaker Daniel Cracker. We all observed the general esprit de corps among the different wineries. Through an association they hire an enologist that consults for all the wineries in the area. Her responsibilities include regular visits to all wineries and lab analysis throughout the year, and especially at harvest.
Prior to a wonderful duck lunch, we were able to taste several wines from Jurançon. General comments regarding the wines:
Dry
whites were grassy and crisp with extremely high levels of acidity as well as
a fair amount of alcohol. Floral, herbal aromas were the dominating theme. The
acid was reminiscent of unripe green apples and was somewhat overly aggressive.
The piercing acidity was almost tannic in nature. In some cases, extended aging
sur lie in older barrels helped to better integrate the acidity. The dry wines
were usually made from the Gros Manseng. The wines could be served as an aperitif
or paired with seafood.
The sweet wines were very special. They were usually wonderfully concentrated and took on remarkable spicy or nutty flavors. Exotic spices, honey, grapefruit, pineapple and ripe peaches could all be detected on the nose. One could taste greater and greater complexity with each pass in the picking, first in October, then November, December and occasionally January. The sweetness was balanced by the very high acidity. The wines could be aged or enjoyed in their youth. The wines could be served as an aperitif or paired with fois gras or with cheeses.
Petit Manseng is being experimentally planted by several Virginia producers. It is hoped that with its thick skins (rot resistance) and high acidity it could adapt well to our hot, humid climate. There could be potential for both dry and sweet wine production.
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