Purists enjoy the specific flavours single-vineyard wines offer. They consider aromas and flavours grown on a single site to be particularly enticing, as the vines on it have had sufficient time to adapt to the soil. Climate changes every season, but soil conditions change very little and if so over time.
Generally, single vineyards or parcels within it possess unique or very desirable soil and/or geological characteristics that yield fruit of specific flavours and aromas. Yet, even this definition is somewhat incomplete, as growers tending parcels of sections of a vineyard take care of vines differently. Some prune more severely than others, and then there is the thorny question of canopy management which influences ripening. The human contribution in grape growing must not be underestimated.
Clos de Vougeot, in Burgundy is an enclosed single vineyard of 56 hectares. It has in excess of 70 growers, some of whom own one or two rows. The quality of fruit of one grower differs from the next.
For this reason the French like to blend to achieve better quality and taste results. The same is true in chateaux in Bordeaux. Management knows well which parcels or sections yield better grapes and harvest separately. The grapes are vinified separately and then used for blending or for the second label.
Then there are vineyards on the Mosel River in Germany. Several individuals or wineries own some. The wines of the same vintage from any single vineyard taste different because of exposure, running, time of harvest and handling of the fruit.
Egyptians, Greeks and Romans knew about the importance of soil and thought about the concept of single vineyard, but the monks in Burgundy, particularly the Cistercian monks, and clerics elsewhere had more knowledge of advanced viticulture and defined single vineyards, maybe even as marketing tool. Who has not heard of Romanee-Conti or Chevalier Montrachet?
In Bordeaux the château concept encapsulates the single vineyard, but here several grape varieties are involved and winemakers blend to achieve the best balance. Yet all the wines of each vintage cannot be used and/or may be unsuitable for the blend. These casks are handled separately, blended into a second wine, then sold as a separate brand.
Second labels are still very fine wines but lack the finesse of the “grand vin” of the property.
Single vineyards wines are one of a kind and it is the uniqueness that brings out their special faults and attributes.
In Piedmont, single vineyard wines are also popular. Sub-regions within Barolo have several single-vineyard i.e Barolo Villero, Barolo Cannubi, Barolo Brunate, Barolo Zonchera just to name a few. But Piedmontese go one step further; they distinguish the parcel on top of the hill or mountain of the vineyard and call it Bricco, i.e top of the vineyard. Here the vines are exposed to more sun, and higher altitude both of which contribute to the taste of grapes.
In Germany, single vineyards yield different qualities ranging from Qulaitatswein mit Pradikat to trockenbeerenauslese. All depend on teh ripens of the fruit and partially ont eh exact location of the section. The lowest blocks of the vineyard are harvested first and qualify for Qualitatswein mit Pradikat, a few days later and sometimes weeks, the other parts are harvested yielding much riper grapes that also contain higher levels of sugar.
The following single vineyards represent a small selection, and worthwhile looking for:
Barolo Bricco Roche, Torres Mas La Plana, Chadwick Sena , Casa Lapostolle Clos Apalta,
Malivoire Moira, Deinhard Bernkasteler Doktor, Le Clos Chablis (owned by several), Henschke Hill of Grace.
There are some who look for consistency in their preferred brand of wine. They forfeit seasonal variance and uniqueness of the wine for consistency.
Connoisseurs accept the fact that wine, particularly of a single vineyard reflects uniqueness and therefore by definition varies from year to year. After all wine must reflect uniqueness and not uniformity with the passing of time.
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Tags: SINGLE VINEYARD WINES
