For a fresher wine from Rhône, head for the hills
Elodie Aubert owns some of the highest vineyards in the Southern Rhône – her ‘ mountain wines’ from the Rhône- Alpes give a very different expression of what we normally expect from the Côtes du Rhône.
“There are just two wineries here,” says Aubert. “My other neighbours sell grapes to the local co- operative, which is what my father did until I started bottling our own wines.”
Aubert is the sixth generation to run this small hillside domaine. When she returned to her family’s vineyards and mixed farm in 2007, she inherited a treasure trove of old vines and orchards: two hectares of vines, three hectares of apricots, cherries, almond and olive trees and a flock of mountain sheep and donkeys to graze between the vines. Interestingly, her father converted to organic viticulture in 1994, a philosophy she continues.
“After the devastating frost of 1956 when my family lost everything, my grandmother replanted all the vineyards and apricot trees – so our grenache blanc, grenache gris and noir, syrah and carignan vines are more than 60 years old,” she says.
Today Aubert has expanded to eight hectares of vines, but what is interesting is that she has not just replanted the same grapes from the area, but is experimenting with introducing alternative grape varieties she discovered on her travels to combat climate change: in particular white petit arvine and rare red cornalin ( humagne rouge) from Switzerland and chenin blanc from Loire.
Based one hour’s drive northeast of Chateauneuf du Pape, the climate in Merindol is very different to warmer appellations of southern Rhône. The diurnal temperature difference between day and night can be 10 degrees, so these fresh nights give Aubert’s wines a wonderful ‘ mountain freshness’ and brightness of fruit not found further south in
warmer Gigondas or Chateauneuf du Pape.
Whilst in Switzerland she also met her ex- husband Raphael Gonzales who introduced her to his homeland, the Loire, where she discovered a grape which she loves, chenin blanc. She has less than a hectare of chenin blanc planted at 500m at Clos des Cimes, but she says she wanted to taste the limits of the grape – and it has been successful on her limestone clay soils.
Another wine region Aubert adores is Priorat in Spain. “I discovered the wines of Rene Barbier of Clos Mogador which I thought were incredible. I became friends with him and worked for a year. Rene taught me how to prune grenache, use natural yeast, open barrel fermentation and to work with wood to get a different taste,” she says.
Rhône- Alpes is a semimountainous region, but hail and frost are not her biggest challenges. “Drought is my biggest worry, particularly for apricots.”
Clos des Cimes apricots are particularly sought after. She sells to the jam- maker for the famous La Tour d’argent restaurant in Paris, as well as bottling her own apricot nectar.
She labels her wines ‘ Vin de France’, leaving her free to experiment without getting involved with Côtes du Rhône authorities. Her wine production is tiny: 15,000 bottles, but she has no plans to expand as she wants to remain a small artisan winery.
Her ambition is to express the unusual terroir, climate and history
of her corner of southern Rhône. Judging from her wines, she has captured this with their fabulous clarity and freshness.
Clos des Cimes wines are available in the UK for the first time, imported by sommelier/ wine importer Severine Sloboda of Glasgow- based Sevslo Wine who discovered Aubert’s wines when a friend tasted them in a Parisian bar.
White Les Petits Sylphes 2019 Clos des Cimes
Unusual attractive eight- grape blend with bright fruits, vibrant acidity, superb freshness, rich pear and green apple flavours and honeyed undertones, a real ‘ mountain wine’. Wild yeast fermented in stainless steel with no oak; chenin blanc is fermented separately and added to the final blend. Little or no sulphur used.
£ 18.90, www. sevslowine. com
Red La Clef des Champs 2017 Clos des Cimes
Deep dark colour, liquorice and cherry notes with stewed fruits, pine trees and herby undertones. Meaty tobacco notes, fine grained tannins; good balance between ripe fruit and cool mid- palate freshness. Twelve months in barriques, unfiltered, with little sulphur used.
£ 20.80, www. sevslowine. com
Join Rose’s Meet the Winemaker in association with Raeburn Wines on 31 Oct and 7 Nov, www. rosemurraybrown. com