Nicolas Gonin Persan - Mondeuse Vin de Pays des Balmes Dauphinoises Saint-Chef France
Are you kidding me? Is that a joke? We are the 1st of April, Fool's Day, and the weather is crappy; melting snow has been falling since this morning in New York, and it is not really motivating. It has been a really long, bad winter, and I'm not even talking about the recent news on TV worldwide.
On a more positive note, my wife and I continue to contemplate our newborn daughter, who just turned three months old. Like our older son, she is the sunshine of our life at that age. It doesn't mean our son isn't anymore, but a few years have passed, and he is not a little baby anymore.
However, because winter seems that it will last a bit longer before we turn the page and start drinking more whites and springy roses, my wife and I continue to drink our favorite earthy, wintery reds from small, artisanal, sometimes hard-to-find producers from the lesser-known region. Talking of those, the following one is a great example of rare gems.
Michael, my rep from Metropolis, came to the store today to discuss some wines we had recently tasted. Before leaving, he left me a bottle of red wine with a peculiar name. "Bring it home and tell me what you think!" he said.
I look at the label with a doubtful look... "Vin de Pays des Balmes Dauphinoises"??? Where is this? I asked Michael. I never heard of it, simultaneously thinking: "Damn! They don't know what "Vin de Pays" to invent to be able to sell their wines, these French(s)!"
I had to investigate and share this discovery with you.
From what Micheal said, Nicolas Gonin is a character with a big heart and a passion for winemaking and developing indigenous, unusual grapes. You will immediately understand by looking at the label of this wine: "Mondeuse" and "Persian" are two local Indigenous red grapes from the region. But where is this region of "Balmes Dauphinoises"?
Mondeuse is a good indication because it mainly grows in the Savoie region in France. Therefore, we must be near or in Savoie. Good thinking. By searching on a map where the wine comes from, I realized that the village of "Saint-Chef" is located west of the Savoie region, about halfway (60 kilometers on both sides) between Lyon and Chambéry, in the "Dauphiné" (which evidently explains "Dauphinoises" on the label).
The "Dauphiné" or "Dauphiné Viennois" is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme, and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was an independent state from 1040 to 1349, under the rule of the Counts of Albon, before joining the Kingdom of France. As a French province, the Dauphiné maintained its autonomy until 1457, and Grenoble has been its capital since the 11th century.
Under the Ancien Régime, the province was bordered to the North by the River Rhône, which separated the Dauphiné from the provinces of Bresse ("Brêsse") and Bugey ("Bugê"). To the east, it bordered the Savoie and Piedmont, and to the south, the Comtat Venaissin and Provence. The western border was marked by the Rhône to the south of Lyon. The Dauphiné extended up to what is now the center of Lyon.
To talk about the grapes:
Mondeuse (or Mondeuse Noire) is a red grape variety primarily grown in the Savoie region of France. It can also be found in Argentina, Australia, and California. The grape was hit hard during the phylloxera epidemic of the 19th century, which nearly wiped out three-quarters of the European vineyards between the 1860s and 1930s. In Savoie, the grape is used in blending with Gamay, Pinot Noir, and Poulsard, where it contributes its dark color and high acid level, allowing the wines to age well.
Persan is a fairly old, indigenous red grape variety that was nearly extinct and definitely forgotten until only a few years ago. Nicolas Gonin spends a lot of time nurturing his vines as a passionate, attentive, and perseverant grower and a talented yet humble winemaker. A few years ago, intrigued and unsure of his discovery, he had some grapes analyzed to confirm his feeling that he was in the presence of a supposedly gone variety. "Persan" was reborn, and Nicolas, ecstatic about his find, started to replant it.
In these difficult times of pollution and globalization in terms of agriculture, it is very inspiring to witness that there are still some producers who dare to come back to the old style of winemaking, practicing Organic, Biodynamic, Sustainable, and other Natural culture to protect the environment, revive the soil, enhance the natural habitat of the local fauna and flora, to produce healthier wines and other agricultural products.
It is even more exciting and enticing when some offer a true renaissance to older, unheard-of grapes rather than easily fall into the trap of the now "too-international" Cabernet, Merlot, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon grapes.
Domaine Nicolas Gonin
Born in 1975, Nicolas obtained his oenologist's national diploma at the Dijon faculty and has trained with master winemakers from Domaine Tempier in Bandol, Domaine Forey in Vosne-Romanée, Chateau Gilette in Sauternes, Domaine Jean-Jacques Confuron in Nuits-St-Georges, and Ridge Vineyards in California …
His wish to return and produce quality wines in his native region goes back to the end of the 1990s, although several very interesting positions were proposed to him. The official installation took place in 2005 with the takeover of his uncle’s vineyard, Gaston Gonin, in Saint Chef, which is about 30 minutes from Côte-Rôtie.
However, the surface area of this vineyard was not sufficient to qualify him as a wine grower and obtain plantation rights. He needed to rent other plots of land, most of them in poor condition and further away, vineyards that nobody wanted to work …
The Domaine was slowly created with bits and pieces of vineyards from 20 owners.
From 2003 to 2007, 2,4 hectares of local vines were planted: Altesse, Mondeuse, and Persan.
In 2005, a cellar of 250 m² was built with alveolar brick in terra cotta and a roof of local Dauphinois style. Today, the vineyard is completely restructured; the bad plots of land were eliminated, and the current surface of the domain is 5 hectares. Other projects of plantation are in progress.
He started producing his first vintage from young vines in 2005. The Domaine now encompasses 6 hectares, 2 of which are not in production but soon will be.
2009 Nicolas Gonin Persan - Mondeuse Vin de Pays des Balmes Dauphinoises Saint Chef France
Suggested price $19-$22
Imported by MC2 / distributed by Metropolis in NYC
Crafted with roughly 50% Persan and 50% Mondeuse, depending on the vintage—I think that actually, it is 60% Persan and 40% Mondeuse for this 2009 vintage—this wine was vinified 100% Organic. It was the second harvest for the Persan wine from vines planted between 2003 and 2005.
The vineyard was already worked under the Biodynamic method, but it has been fully Biodynamic certified since 2010. The vineyard is totally herbed. In 2010, Nicolas Gonin will make a 100% Persan, a grape variety highly subject to mildiou and high acidity levels, which convinced ancient producers to abandon it until its renaissance a few years ago.
The grapes underwent 12 days of Maceration with pigeage every other day to gently maximize extraction and highlight the grapes' character. I don’t think it has seen any oak, or if it did, it was surely old, neutral oak for a short time. In any case, it doesn’t show on the palate. 500 cases were made, and only a few reached the US market.
2009 Nicolas Gonin Persan - Mondeuse Vin de Pays des Balmes Dauphinoises presents a dark ruby color. The nose is somewhat restrained, but distinct yet discreet aromas of dark berry, earth, and soil are immediately recognizable. The attack is quite juicy and fresh on the palate, with rapidly developing flavors of really dark, ripe berries mingled with earthy components. This natural, terroir-oriented wine possesses great balance and enhances the acidity nicely, carrying the fruit toward the dark, earthy, structured, and somewhat rustic, lingering finish. Mondeuse usually produces light, crisp, fresh reds, yet it seems that Persan confers a lot of earthiness, texture, and structure with a good grip of integrated tannins. Definitely a food-friendly wine, revealing both the Terroir from which it comes and the tendency of the producer to produce true, authentic, and varietally expressive wines.
Enjoy!
Cheers! Santé!
Dom
LeDomduVin aka Dominique Noël
Info partly taken and edited from the Importer website at
http://www.winemc2.com/ and partly taken and edited from
www.wikipedia.org/ for some of the info on the Dauphiné and Mondeuse. You can also go to the winery website, which is in French at
www.vins-nicolas-gonin.com/ (I will, by the way, try to translate a bit from it soon to complete this post with more accurate info.)
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