The American Rhône wine producer Steve Edmunds loves to tell a story about a seminal event in his life as a winemaker. This was in 1987, early in his career, and the Berkeley wine merchant Kermit Lynch arranged for Edmunds to meet with Francois Peyraud, the legendary winemaker from Domaine Tempier, the best known domaine in Bandol, indeed in all of Provence.
Tempier’s reputation was made with rosé, but Tempier reds, made with the earthy, intense Mourvedre variety, have long been considered among the world’s finest wines made from that grape. Edmunds had just started working with Mourvedre, and pulled a sample from a barrel for Peyraud to try.
‘When he got to the Mourvedre,’ says Edmunds, ‘he stuck his nose in the glass, and he absolutely just stopped and stood there, for about two minutes. And then very slowly he lowered the glass and his head came up and his eyes rolled back and he took this deep breath and he said, ‘La terre parle’ — the earth speaks. And it was magic, it was a moment when I just felt ‘all right! finally somebody who gets what I’m trying to do.’
Mourvedre is not a grape that tends to inspire epiphanies. Indeed, it’s not high on the agendas of most American wine drinkers — only a handful of American wines are made solely from the variety. But few grapes are more distinctive, with a fruit profile that usually runs darkly from plum to blackberries and black fig. Its extraordinary aromatic notes, however – black olive, leather, tobacco, and rich, loamy earth — leave little doubt that few grapes are better at expressing the parlance du terre. On a recent tour of the southern Rhône Valley, I found that its virtues were evident in glass after glass.
Mourvedre’s home turf is probably the warm Mediterranean slopes of Bandol, but it is perhaps most expressive in the southern Rhône, most notably Châteauneuf du Pape. The southern Rhône is relatively cooler than Provence, and the longer growing season seems to lend a great deal of complexity to the fruit.
In Châteauneuf du Pape, Mourvedre serves, with Syrah, to support the Grenache that typically comprises most of the blend. But Mourvedre seems to have an intensely symbiotic relationship with the Grenache; in fact few marriages are as harmonious. Mourvedre’s gout du terroir, its earthiness, is much easier to appreciate when it’s leavened by the fruitiness of Grenache. And Grenache without that additional oomph of tannin from Mourvedre can seem simple and one dimensional.
Few Rhône producers champion Mourvedre more than Chateau de Beaucastel, which possesses some of the oldest Mourvedre vines in Châteauneuf du Pape, planted near the turn of the century. According to Marc Perrin, not only are these the oldest Mourvedre vines in the region, they are also the most northerly. (Older vines exist, however, in Australia, and even in California’s Contra Costa County). It’s hard to imagine the southern Rhône as marginal, but since Mourvedre is notoriously late-ripening, and there are years when it simply doesn’t reach peak ripeness. But like the chateaux of Bordeaux, Châteauneuf producers keep their options open, altering the blend to suit the vintage. When dealing with the vagaries of weather, it doesn’t hurt to have thirteen varieties to choose from.
But at least as far as Beaucastel is concerned, it’s pretty clear that Mourvedre is their bellwether variety: their tête de cuvee bottling, ‘Hommage à Jacques Perrin,’ is only made in years when the Mourvedre is exceptional. That has happened only in 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, and once again in 2001, a wine I had the privilege of tasting in the cellars of Beaucastel last week.
The 2001 Hommage à Jacques Perrin is made with 70% Mourvedre, with the remainder an equal cepage of Syrah, Grenache, and Counoise. It is a profound wine, all dark herbs and black fruit in aroma, exhibiting a kind of light-bending depth that earthy varieties like Mourvedre possess. On the palate it was surprisingly forward, with a bright and pure red cherry fruit flavor grounded by flavors of earth and tobacco leaf. But it was in the finish that the Mourvedre took the stage: the fruit became more tawny, accented by deep, grounded layers of tanned leather, tobacco, and black pepper; with just uncanny, astonishing length. It was a wine that lingered for several minutes in the mouth, holding all those present in thrall.
Having tasted Hommage, one of Mourvedre’s most profound expressions, what more is there to say? But one of the most unexpected delights this trip came from a small domaine named Domaine de l’Oratoire St. Martin, in the village of Cairanne. Frederic and Francois Alary are the tenth generation of winemakers to farm this estate, and it’s marked by a relatively large planting of Mourvedre on largely limestone/clay soils. Their Haut-Coustias rouge is typically made with about 60% Mourvedre, with the balance Syrah and Grenache, from vines that are on average 65 years old.
The current vintage is 2004, and while not as burnished as the Hommage, it is still Mourvedre at its best: it’s a brooding, smoldering, smoky wine with gorgeous dark plummy flavors (south-facing slopes and less punishing soils yield a riper fruit profile, evidently, despite the fact that Cairanne is north of Châteauneuf); just a touch of oak rounds out the limestone minerality and brings with it a complement of spice to the earthy tannins of the Mourvedre.
Meanwhile in the States, the vineyard that Steve Edmunds used in that iconic mid-eighties bottling has long been ripped out; that is often the fate of varieties that Americans aren’t quick to embrace. But Edmunds still blends Mourvedre into many of his wines, including the 2004 ‘Rocks and Gravel,’ and especially the 2001 ‘Los Robles Viejos,’ where its mark can still be felt. Such is the power of this underappreciated grape, through which the earth still has much to say.
Here are a few examples that are well worth a listen:
Chateau de Beaucastel, Châteauneuf du Pape (Rhône, France) 2003 ($60, Vineyard Brands): Beaucastel blends as much as 30% Mourvedre into its Châteauneuf, more than any other producer. This wine, from one of the ripest vintages in recent memory in southern France, has a rich and heady scent of tobacco leaf and garrigue, which underscores aromas of dried fruits and a brighter, strawberry jam scent. It’s remarkably rich and sappy on the palate, without being overripe; the fruit deepens to a ripe cherry and black fig fruit as well as a deep, black herb component that builds into an impressive finish. 93
Chateau de Beaucastel, Châteauneuf du Pape (Rhône, France) ‘Hommage à Jacques Perrin’ 2001 ($300, Vineyard Brands): This remarkable wine is made only in exceptional vintages, and that means only when the Mourvedre reaches sufficient ripeness to merit a special bottling. The 2001consists of 70% Mourvedre, and that sort of commitment yields an especially visceral, powerfully earthy wine, with a potent aroma of dark herbs, plum, black raisin, tobacco leaf, leather and macerated black cherries. The first impression on the palate is profound; an attack of fresh black cherries, but it’s then that the wine seems to gather energy and strength, with earthy layers supported by supple tannins and a grounding of warm savory spices and tobacco, which draw the flavors deeper, into a finish of extraordinary length and persistence. 97
Domaine de l’Oratoire St. Martin, Cairanne Côtes du Rhône Village (Rhône, France) ‘Haute Coustias Cairanne’ 2004 ($20, Estate Wines Ltd.): This remarkably complete wine is comprised of 60% Mourvedre, with a balance of equal parts Syrah and Grenache. The aromas are of smoke, violets and dark sweet plum fruit, youthful and still a bit unformed. Flavors are similar — black plum and dark herbs with a hint of floral spice. Its texture, though, is remarkable – smooth and silky, with tannins so fine you almost don’t notice their mineral grip. An ageable beauty. 92
Edmunds St. John, Paso Robles (California) ‘Los Robles Viejos’ 2001 ($25): Blended from nearly half Mourvedre, with the balance comprised of Grenache, Syrah, and Counoise. All of the fruit comes from Rozet Vineyard, located just west of the town of Paso Robles. This wine shows the darker, more shadowy face of Mourvedre. It leads with scents of lavender, smoked meat, tanned leather, and dark plum fruit. Its flavors are all about fruit in the attack — black raspberry and plum, supported by a grainy herbal component that contributes much to the texture, with fine tannins that render a firm, long finish. A substantial wine for grilled meats. 91
Edmunds St. John, California (United States) ‘Rocks and Gravel’ 2004 ($18): Blended from sources in Paso Robles, the Sierra Foothills, and Sonoma Mountain, this release from Steve Edmunds has about a third Mourvedre, and that variety lends some attractive earthiness to a very juicy, plumpot of a wine. Its flavors are grounded by a smoky, meaty savor that fairly screams for barbecue. 89