There are endless ways to choose which wine you are going to have with dinner tonight. There’s grape variety of course, or place of origin, or even label. According to one recent survey, having an animal on the front of the bottle makes us twice as likely to pick it off the shelf. Personally, I have a few key pointers that tell me whether a wine that I know nothing about is likely to be worth the investment. I am swayed by the label, I have to admit, and increasingly by a screw-cap, which to me says the producer cares about preserving freshness and fruitiness. But wherever possible I like to know about the winery itself – whether the wine has been made in surroundings that inspire, or merely fulfil requirements.
A corollary first; I’m always slightly suspicious of wineries that get more press for their building than for their wine – can they really be spending their money on things that are going to be most useful for us; the suckers who bring a bottle round to our friend’s house for a Friday night dinner?
However, there are some properties that, while being undeniably beautiful in terms of their architecture and design, have created something of specific benefit to the final wine. My favourite recent buzz word is ‘gravity-led winemaking’– meaning no pumping, no mechanized movement, no harsh treatment of the grapes from picking to bottling. The theory is that the less you interfere with the grapes, the more you preserve their natural personality and purity of flavour.
I’ve selected some of the most impressive here – and they really are worth seeking out.
Bodegas Baigorri, Rioja – Baigorri Reserva 2002
Definitely on the modern side of Riojan style, the tempranillo fruit here is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and pretty much irresistible. The man behind the winery, Jesus Baigorri, looks like a cross between Tony Soprano and Che Guevara, and he’s created something truly unusual.
The entire winery spans seven floors. All you see from the outside is a simple glass box sitting on the hillside, standing sentry to a hi-tech lair below ground. The first underground level is reserved for administration and a shop, but the rest of the space is dedicated to the serious business of winemaking – the second level for receiving the grapes, the third for dropping them into the tanks, the fourth for pressing them after fermentation, the fifth for ageing, the sixth for bottling, and the final one for distribution.
The wine I tasted is from his first vintage; a fact that is hard to reconcile with how smooth, polished and confident it is. But close your eyes, really concentrate on the flavour, and you’ll know what I mean; these grapes have been given the space to shine.
Petra, Tuscany, Italy – Petra IGT Toscana 2002
They have a bit of a head start here, as the owner Vittorio Moretti previously ran a construction company responsible for the building of 120 wineries. No surprise then that he had very particular ideas when it came to his own. Enlisting the help of Swiss architect Mario Botta, the entire structure is built around a cylinder shape, high enough to ensure that gravity creates a stress-free vinification process.
The grapes, hand picked, arrive at the first floor of the winery, and are then moved by vibrating belts to the destemming maching and a crusher that is placed right over the mouth of the tank. Even the skins, after fermentation, fall into the press without the use of any pump.
It’s not just the inside of this winery that is picturesque – Petra is right in front of the Tuscan archipelagos, from where you can spot Elba Island, Capraia Island and on a clear day even Corsica. They themselves say, ‘Image is key in all aspects: the bottle, the label, the packaging, the spotless vineyards, the gardens and of course the architecture.’ The wine is the merlot and cabernet sauvignon mix so favoured by Super Tuscans, turbo-charged like you rarely get in France, with lovely notes of chocolate and cherry.
Malartic Lagraviere, Pessac Leognan, Bordeaux, – Malartic Lagraviere Rouge 2002
In the middle of Bordeaux, a young couple run this winery in a way that is fast becoming the envy of their more staid neighbours. Owned by champagne house Laurent Perrier until 1997, the Bonnie family has invested heavily since taking over, and you can really see the improvement in quality. Again, it is the conscious decision to let the grapes, and the terroir, speak for themselves that I like so much.
Robert Parker called it one of Bordeaux’s ‘rising stars’, and at any given moment, you might be overtaken on your visit by a group of architects or winemakers coming to have a gawp. Designed by Bordeaux architect Bernard Mazières (who has also turned his hand to Yquem and Mouton Rothschild), the cellar has rendered physical handling of the grapes almost completely unnecessary. Here, a pulley system operates a natty C2D2-type gadget called a ‘douil’ that moves the grapes from the harvest table to the vats. The cellar is octagonal in design and has 26 small-sized stainless steel and wooden vats that vinify each plot separately.
The wine is rich and full, with plenty of round tannins and brambly fruit. If you’ve given up on Bordeaux recently, try this; you’ll remember just what it is that makes people clamour to get good clarets in their cellars the world over.
Casa Lapostelle, Chile – Clos Apalta 2002
I first sampled this at a press tasting in London, where we met the dauntingly well-presented owner, Alexandra Marnier Lapostelle. I was very impressed with the mainly carmanère and merlot mix of their flagship wine Clos Apalta, noted down dutifully that its delicious black cherry and raspberry notes were helped by a high-tech, gravity-fed winery, and thought little more about it.
A few months later, I drank it at a particularly liquid dinner party, and it was the only bottle I clearly remembered the next morning. Then all of a sudden I saw it everywhere. But this is one of those rare wines that manages to be both ubiquitous and good, and should be applauded as such.
The winery itself was designed by Chilean architects Roberto Benavente and Bernd Haller, and is again 100% gravity-fed spanning five levels, three of which are buried into the granite of the Apalta hillside to provide a naturally cool environment for cellaring and ageing.
Alois Lageder, Alto Aldige, Italy – Lindenburg Lagrein 2002
If gravity-led vinification isn’t thorough enough for you, try this one; tucked into the northern corner of Italy, Alois Lageder also uses sustainable agriculture and is bio-organic.
The entire building was constructed to ensure minimum energy consumption, using biological materials, heat-sealing panels on the roof and a photovoltaic energy system to cover electricity needs. Again a key feature is a high (14-foot in this case) vinification tower that gets rid of pumps and any mechanical intervention. The fermentation tanks are set up in a circle; and the grapes only travel a minimal distance before descending into them. Plans are underway for a cellar to be cut out of the limestone rock walls so to obtain underground space for barrel ageing.
Given all of that, you can feel assured that you’re drinking a wine that has been made with utmost respect. This has plenty of food-friendly acidity and is deft with its fruit delivery but, as with all of the wines featured here, it’s the smoothness on drinking that most strikes me, and that most makes me think there really is something in this technique that is worth celebrating – and taking a corkscrew to.
