laurent

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: TARDIEU LAURENT CDP ’16

As we have stated previously, most of the selections from the brilliant 2016 vintage in the southern Rhone have passed through the marketplace. But as we have also made pretty clear, we are still going to take a serious look at anything from the vintage that surfaces moving forward. We just ran across a pretty special wine (it even says so on the bottle.

We’ll be the first to admit we are hard-core wine geeks and also students of our experienced history in the wine world. This dynamic duo has been a remarkable source of exciting wines. Laurent’s talent in the cellar matched with Tardieu’s savvy and intimate knowledge of the Rhone created many very memorable wines. Dominic Laurent had already gained quite the reputation as a Burgundy impresario and somewhat controversial with respect to his cellar practices. Given the stellar performances in both Burgundy and this pair’s exploit’s in the Rhone, the juice was always exceptional.

For no doubt several reasons, they didn’t necessarily always have distribution in this market. They changed distribution a time or two, and sometimes weren’t available at all for long stretches. Great old vine fruit, careful, polished winemaking, they never disappointed in the glass and we were rightly pleased when they reappeared with a very fair-minded purveyor not long ago. We did a piece on their ‘big kid’ Cotes du Rhone Bec Fin 2016 and their 2012 Chateauneuf was a revelation given the vintage. Well, here we go again as this Tardieu Laurent Chateauneuf Cuvee Especial 2016 absolutely wowed us, no small feat given the glorious wines we have seen from this vintage.

Since 2008, when Laurent decided to dial things back, the Tardieu family has been in control of the operation with Michel’s son, Bastien, at the helm of the winemaking. While they have apparently backed off the oak elements (Laurent created early ripples with his 200% new oak regimen), the wines still have that distinctive ‘polish’ no doubt in part because of having worked so long with a ‘Burgundy guy’. Now that the Burgundy guy isn’t around, who ya gonna call? Yes, Bastien can bounce ideas off none other than Philippe Cambie, the ‘Grenache whisperer ‘.

Clear given what we have tasted recently, this team still has the magic. The specifics here are a plot of 100-year-vines situated in sandy soils in the important Bas de la Crau vineyard. The ‘blend’ here, as they state it, is 99% Grenache and 1% ‘other’. The grapes are not destemmed and the juice spends 12 months in 2-3 year-old Tronçais and Allier barrels followed by another 12-month stay in foudre. Everything is done to let the fruit shine through, and ‘shine’ it does. This Chateauneuf is then bottled unfiltered and unfined.

The nose shows classic kirsch fruits with well woven in spice, floral, and earth tones. On the palate, it is broad and rich, yet polished and integrated. Lots of dark red and some black fruits, spice, pepper, a touch of garrigue and a hint of smoke. The balance is impeccable in this ‘Chateauneuf-meets-Burgundy from possibly the greatest vintage ever’ beverage. We went in with pretty high expectations and this wine exceeded them. We’ll offer up a barrage of press with our comment that, if anything. we might be a point or two higher. We will note that this, curiously, was not reviewed in Wine Advocate but there is no shortage of deserved praise.

From Jeb Dunnuck, “The tiny production 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Spéciale is Grenache dominated and comes from 100-year-old vines planted in the sandy portions of the famed la Crau lieu-dit. It looks to be one of the stars in the vintage. Blackberries, pepper, violets, and earth all emerge from this full-bodied, massively concentrated, Grenache that has sweet tannin, no hard edges and the opulence and purity of this sensational vintage… 95-97 points.”

From Vinous’ Josh Raynolds, “Deep bright-hued ruby. A highly perfumed bouquet evokes ripe red and blue fruits, sandalwood, garrigue, lavender and exotic spices, and a smoky mineral element builds in the glass. Sappy, penetrating and pure in the mouth, offering deeply concentrated Chambord, boysenberry and spicecake flavors that deepen steadily as the wine stretches out. Blends power and finesse with a smooth hand and finishes extremely long and seamless, the fine-grained tannins framing the wine’s intense berry fruit...95 points.”

From James Suckling, “The old-vine soul is compelling here with blue-fruit aromas and flavors. Some nuances of iodine and black, inky character, too. Long, suave and powerful tannins make for a compelling, intense and impressive Châteauneuf. Try in 2022…95 points.”

If there was ever a knock of Tardieu Laurent back in the day, it was that their pricing sometimes seemed a bit “Burgundian”. That is certainly not the case here. This can legitimately run with the biggest dogs of the vintage yet sits in the lower part of the price spectrum of elite bottlings ($59.98). Classy Chateauneuf and a significant find this late in the game, don’t miss it!

TARDIEU LAURENT CDP AT NEARLY HALF OFF? BON!

Things can happen for any number of reasons. We have to presume this curious opportunity is one of those that is simply a function of a variety of events. We could likely figure out the scenarios that led to this striking value, but in the end doesn’t really matter. It all starts with Tardieu-Laurent, the Rhone focused partnership between former patissier/ Burgundy virtuoso Dominique Laurent and Rhone native/insider Michel Tardieu. We have been following Laurent since the mid-90s when he became a sensation in Burgundy and were all-over this Rhone project from the get go.

It has been a remarkable source of exciting wines, Laurent’s talent in the cellar matched with Tardieu’s savvy and intimate knowledge of the Rhone teroirs. The only issue early on is that the prices were a bit above the market for the various appellation bottlings. Given the performance, the higher fares were more than justified. But also, for no doubt several reasons, they didn’t necessarily always have distribution in this market. They changed horses a time or two, and sometimes weren’t available at all. It took a little extra effort to sell the wines because of the elevated pricing, but we were always on board because the wines always performed at very high levels. Great old vine fruit, careful, polished winemaking, they never disappointed in the glass.

After one fairly long period of absence, the wines reappeared. The match of importer and vigneron was not, however, ‘made in heaven’. Not sure how it came together, but a producer that was never shy about pricing hooking up with an importer that took predictably high margins didn’t seem like the best fit. Not surprisingly, it didn’t work. The house now has a new, more ‘down-to-earth’ distribution scenario who, besides reintroducing the wines to the market in earnest, is in the process of cleaning up a few ‘odds and ends’. The Tardieu Laurent Chateau-du-Pape Vielles Vignes 2012 was quite the surprise in that process.

At face value, the vintage itself was not any kind of indicator. While a ripe and warm vintage that the critics seemed to like a little more than we did, there were a number of notable releases that were the best following 2010 until 2015. They were generally ripe, jammy and broad on the palate, but all too often bordered on too ripe. On the plus side they had weight and plenty of fruit, but lacked the kind of freshness a truly grand vintage possessed to give the wines drive. Based on our extensive tasting, we had kind of the same expectations for this wine. That turned out to be completely wrong.

This might well be the best effort we have tasted from the 2012 vintage, with the rich, expressive dark red fruit in abundance but also a purity to the flavors and a great tension and freshness on the palate. Now under the control of the Tardieu family, from Grenache vines that were 80 years old, it is broad, lifted and gregarious across the palate, with the kind of energy atypical for the 2012 vintage. Intense dark red fruits, layered elements to the flavors, this wine plays above even its exalted station for a 2012.

We loved the wine ‘straight up’ but weren’t surprised to find some nice words about it when we went looking. Josh Raynolds of Vinous Media offered, “Dark ruby. Deeply pitched cherry, black raspberry and Indian spice aromas are lifted by a sexy floral oil quality. Juicy and densely packed, showing excellent depth to its red and dark berry liqueur, cherry-cola and spicecake flavors. Stains the palate while coming across as energetic and precise. Closes with very good vivacity and length, with silky tannins adding structure and grip…93 Points.”

Even more from Wine Advocate, “Superb and with loads of potential, the 2012 Chateauneuf du Pape Vieilles Vignes (90% Grenache and 10% Syrah, with the Grenache aged in older barrel and the Syrah in new barrels) is more deep and layered than the Cuvee Speciale. Offering up impressive notes of mineral, new leather and smoky black fruits, this full-bodied, layered and textured 2012 has superb mid-palate depth, fine tannin and an all-around concentrated, backwards feel. It will require 3-4 years of bottle age and keep for 15 years or more…93-95+ (barrel score).”

The most recent of the two reviews was nearly five years ago, and clearly this Chateauneuf has gotten its 3-4 years of bottle age and has evolved marvelously. Given our negotiated ‘closeout’ price is substantially less than the lower of the only two prices we saw online, all is as it should be. This is a spectacular performer, particularly for the vintage, that is in peak form for current ‘applications’. A rare treat.

MAGIQUE: TARDIEU-LAURENT COTES DU RHONE VILLAGES BECS FIN 2016

It’s a bit of a mixed bag for us from the standpoint of history. We were heavily involved with this dynamic duo of winemakers a decade ago, only to barely see them at all for a substantial stretch of time since then. The story here makes for a great instructive tale on what a difference an importer can make in the marketplace by virtue of their ‘marketing’ regimen and pricing. That, however, is a story for another day and we mainly want to make the point that we are glad to have this house as an option once again.

Even though this isn’t a new brand label (in fact it was one of the most talked about labels during the 90s and early ‘oughts’), we are going to treat it as if it is because we are pretty sure a lot of people new to Rhones, or to wine in general, have little awareness of who these guys are. So we are going to do the quick ‘cliff notes’ version to get everyone caught up. It’s a pretty interesting story that gives great insight into why this is a negociant house unlike any other.

It is the partnership of two important wine entities. Dominique Laurent, who we met in the mid-90s, was one of the People Magazine stories of the time. A producer of Burgundies, with a style that showed a modern flair and new school philosophy, gained a lot of notoriety during those formative years for his use of ‘200 % new oak’ on his top bottlings. Simply stated, it was said that he would put certain wines in a new oak barrel and then, after a period of time, put the same wine in another new oak barrel. Whether or not that was the literal goings on, that was the buzz. But the result was a style of Burgundy that had a unique sheen of well-integrated vanillan oak tones. When we asked Dominique how it was done, he said simply ‘magique.’ Magic.

Michel Tardieu was a Provencal local who knew his way around the vineyards of the Rhone and South of France. He was a former state employee that had a passion for people, wine and a nose for sniffing out important vineyard sites with distinctive characteristics and old vines. The mantra was always to use the oldest vines from the best parcels in the Rhône, work with organic and biodynamic farmers, and establish long-term relationships with the growers they work with.

Together Dominique and Michel established quite a reputation for meticulous winemaking, polished wines and a rather modern flair for the genre. The reviews were consistently enthusiastic and we were huge fans as well, as their wines offered a unique choice stylistically for the genre. In all honesty though, they didn’t fly off the shelf back then because the prices were at a bit of a premium for the category. Subsequent ‘marketing arms’ sadly only added some additional tariff but little in the way of significant exposure in the market.

Since 2008, when Laurent decided to dial things back, the Tardieu family has been in control of the operation with Michel’s son, Bastien, at the helm of the winemaking. While they have apparently backed off the wood elements, the wines still have that distinctive textural ‘polish’ no doubt in part as a result of more experience with this particular site and having worked so long with a ‘Burgundy guy’. In other words, they still have the ‘magic’, and this is still a very sophisticated ‘Cotes du Rhone Village.’ Also note the price is about what it was ten years ago, which means that they have a more realistic approach to pricing and have found a new distribution scenario that doesn’t add excess to the fare.

The vineyard is comprised of 60-year-old Grenache and 30-year-old Syrah, with the Syrah the star of the show (it makes up 60% of the blend) while the Grenache wraps around and gives the wine a sexy mouth feel and an outgoing fruit component. The Tardieu-Laurent Cotes du Rhone Villages Becs Fin 2016 is no ordinary ‘Cotes du Rhone. ’ It plays well above its ‘station’. The fact that 2016 was a special vintage was not lost on these folks either.

As the esteemed MW Jancis Robinson summarizes, “Very ‘serious’, savoury, dense nose for a wine with this appellation. This tastes so much better than many a Châteauneuf I have had from less irreproachable sources! This is the first ambitious 2016 southern Rhône red I have tried and I am knocked out by the quality and concentration. No heat on the end. It would be a shame to drink this too young.” Sorry Jancis, that ‘early drinking’ is likely to happen with this one.

Jeb Dunnuck echoes Jancis, and us for that matter, in saying, “The 2016 Côtes du Rhône Les Becs Fins is slightly more forward and charming, with a modern style in its cassis, vanilla bean and blackberry jam aromas and flavors. Possessing both richness and elegance, it’s going to a delicious red that drinks well above its price point…90-92 points”. We’re glad to have Tardieu-Laurent back in the house!