I was at the tasting table a couple of weekends ago sampling the Chateau d’Or et de Gueules Costieres de Nimes “La Bolida” when I ran to the iPad to get some info on the property for a guest and saw what the French call the fiche technique, or technical data sheet for the wine. I was very surprised to see in it that the yield was a jaw-dropping, gob-smacking, eye-popping 10 hectoliters per hectare. It’s an astonishingly low number. Maybe one-fifth what is typically seen in quality wines. In fact the legal maximum yield for AOC Costieres de Nimes is 60 hl/ha, more than six times what we see here.
[Digression #1: If you’ve never seen an example of a complete protocol for a legally demarcated French wine region — called a Cahier des Charges — pop over here and have a look at the degree of detail involved]
I intend to email the winemaker to see if I can get some information on why the yield in this vineyard is so very low, but I think I already know what the answer is. The fiche also notes that the mourvedre vines from which the wine is sourced are nearly 100 years old. This tells me that what she’s got here is a vineyard with a lot of very old and probably rather feeble – if not actually sick – vines whose production is, as a result, meager.
We know that one of the steps winemakers can take when striving to improve the overall quality of their wine is to lower vineyard yields. They can do this by severe pruning (thereby limiting the number of buds per bearing cane), by cramming more vines into a smaller space (so there’s more competition for vine nutrition), and performing a ‘green harvest’ at some point once berries have appeared. A number of bunches are cut away leaving fewer to grow to maturity.
[Digression #2: Listen to Dora Forsoni of Sanguineto explain why she won’t practice green harvesting in her Montalcino vineyards here.]
We also know that striving for lower and lower yields artificially can produce unbalanced wines with higher alcohols, lower acididty, and pruney fruit flavors. We don’t get any of this in La Bolida, an observation that begs the question: are old, sick vines the real secret of quality in wine? Ask David Mitchell of Mise Wines what he thinks next time you see him. He’s given it some thought.
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As we continue to fill our database with tasting notes we hope will be useful to guests and fellow staffers it might be worthwhile to think about how tasting notes evolved and arrived at their present state of . . . well . . . flamboyance. Sean Shesgreen, professor of English at Northern Illinois University has done that and in 2003 produced the essay “Wet Dogs and Gushing Oranges” that’s both hilarious and insightful. I’ve posted a copy here. It’s really worth your time.
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Finally a toast to Andrew for pointing out last weekend that pinot d’Alsace is indeed NOT a grape name (as I assumed) but a way of identifying a proprietary blend of pinot blanc, pinot gris, auxerrois, and chardonnay used in Alsace. Thanks, professor.