What, another new Chardonnay? Well, yes, on the surface it would appear that way. But there is much more to the story than that, starting with the name. Not many folks will know the name Thomas Pico off the top of their heads, but he is a Chardonnay producer of some repute. But he is known for the wines of his own estate, Pattes Loup. We started selling Pattes Loup a few years ago and hailed Thomas as one of the most impressive new talents on the scene. The reputation of Pattes Loup only expanded as he had additional vintages under his belt, received significant attention from the media, and established a fiercely loyal following among Chablis ‘dorks’ in particular. It is a label of importance even if the guy’s name isn’t a household word.
If you saw the ‘Fire and Ice’ piece we posted in the ‘Stock Report’ on Sept 3, we talked a lot about how, with all the concern about global warming, ‘ice’ has been a much more devastating enemy of the grape than heat in certain parts of the wine world. There have been numerous incidents of frost and hail that have wreaked havoc on a number of vineyards in Europe. The Loire has been ‘abused’ on multiple occasions and 2017 in particular has created an extensive ‘casualty list’ in France, Spain and northern Italy.
As you may know, 2016 was a particularly brutal year for Thomas Pico and many other growers in Chablis. Frost in April adversely effected bud break and vine health and then hail in May came in and devastated much of what was left of the he crop. What little did survive was assaulted by mildew following the heavy rains of May and June. Joys of farming? Not so much this time.
Yields at Pattes Loup are uncommonly low to begin with and the Pattes Loup wines have been a success thanks to talented winemaking but also because Pico keeps his yields down as a practice. In 2016, thanks to all of the various weather malaise, Thomas was now expecting only 20% of his normal harvest, which is well below the norm under normal circumstances. What was left would not generate enough income to keep Pattes Loups full time employees.
Fortunately, some friends who grow organic Chardonnay in high altitude vineyards of the Limoux region came to the rescue and offered Thomas a small quantity of wine to supplement his own harvest. Thomas was able to pick the grapes with his friends in Limoux to the south (it is southwest of Carcassone in the Languedoc, and then truck the juice back to Chablis in time to harvest his own grapes.
Thomas apparently bottled what little Chablis he had as Chablis. But from the Limoux Chardonnay, Thomas made a Vin de France, aged in steel tanks. The Vin de France label thing has to do with not bottling the wine in Limoux or some other technicality under French wine law, as opposed to something to do with sketchy grape sourcing.
Meanwhile, Pico has put a lot of work and energy into developing his name among the wine cognoscenti, he wasn’t going to put his name on something substandard now. There is a brightness and energy to the Thomas Pico Chardonnay Vin de France 2016 that is reminiscent of Chablis, with all of the verve that Pico’s wines are known for. But the flavors are naturally a little different than the citrus and salinity of his usual produce, these high elevation, organic grapes flavors leaning to floral scents, stone fruits, honeyed notes, and a different mineral undercurrent. Clarity, purity and lift, the guy’s talents show through and it’s pretty compelling juice for the tab. It is certainly the best Limoux Chardonnay we have ever had!….$19.98