‘Every picture tells a story’ they say. We would suggest you could say the same thing about a wine. For each glassful of finished juice there are lands, grapes, and people that contribute to that end result. If the site, or the winemakers have their own unique history, all the better. We have been telling those stories for a long time, but every so often one comes along that is truly one of a kind.
As we started to do the research for this piece about the remarkable Chateau Maucoil Cotes du Rhone ‘1895’ 2017, we looked to see if the property had a website. While such endeavors can be frustrating for technical, language and content reasons to name a few, we feel the best place to get relevant information is from the source. It started, “The history of Château Maucoil began several centuries ago. Ancient documents state that its first occupants were Romans and that they set up a base there for Caesar’s legions…”
“Later, Joseph de La Pise, Lord of Maucoil and archivist of the House of Orange-Nassau, the Dutch royal family, inherited the estate and the castle which was built in 1624. From then on, winegrowing became an intrinsic part of the history of Château Maucoil.” It’s all good stuff, to be sure, establishing a long history for this particular property. But even the story of this particular wine, from one specific piece of dirt, stretches across three centuries.
The first reported case of the dreaded root louse phylloxera in France was in 1865, and it hit hard in Chateaueuf in 1866. Two thirds of the Châteauneuf du Pape vineyards were destroyed over the next ten years. Fortunately, with the introduction of what was at the time phylloxera-resistant American rootstock, the vineyards were replanted and ‘the bug’ gradually disappeared over the following years. This vineyard of 100% Grenache was planted in 1895!
We have spoken time and again about the special character of old vines. Deep root stocks that reach down several meters and the naturally low yields of such ancient vines produce fruit of surprising harmony and layered complexity. The current owners of the property have taken the vines and worked it organically, receiving certification in 2014. They also recognize this plot as something special and treat it as such even though it is a ‘mere’ Cote du Rhone. Of course we see it as a Cotes du Rhone more like Fonsalette for Chateau Rayas or Clavin for Vieille Jullienne, which means not ‘mere’ at all. Destemming, sorting, native yeasts, and 18 months in barrel, the result in an excellent and decidedly outgoing vintage like 2017 is clearly an enviably juicy, seamless, engaging bottle of Grenache.
Of course now many of you are waiting for us to regale you with scores. Again, as we have said often, wines like this are tasted generally alongside wines with higher pedigrees (Maucoil, for example, makes three Chateauneufs including two ‘special cuvees’). Two reports we read didn’t mention this wine at all. This one isn’t jammy and over the top. It isn’t going to stick out at some megatasting by virtue of its balance and harmony. We tasted it one on one and the impression was immediate, love at first sip.
There are wines to win tastings, there are wines with stories to impress the table, and there are wines to live with. While this one could conceivably be one of the first two, it is definitely the third and most important…a wine whose elegance, complexity, harmony and versatility never get old. In a barrel review from last year, Jeb Dunnuck did give it some deserved love, “Not yet bottled, the 2017 Côtes du Rhône Villages 1895 is a beauty! Deeply colored, concentrated, full-bodied and layered, it has a modern style but terrific purity and depth of fruit.” It is all of that, and we think a little more, and it’s a rare find to get something with this kind of polish and presence for under $20. We suggest a case. It’s only going to get better.