Winemaker Louis Barruol
100% Syrah
Robert Parker on Louis Baauol: The brilliant young Louis Barruol continues to augment his impressive negociant line of wines from the northern Rhone as well as his handful of southern Rhones (see my reviews of his Cotes du Rhones and Chateauneuf du Papes in Issue 173), while also concentrating on the fabulous estate wines from Gigondas, among the best two or three wines of the appellation. Barruol represents all that is good that is happening in France and other countries – a young man taking over for his parents and revolutionizing what was being done, cutting yields, cleaning up the cellars, and looking at how to make the most expressive wines possible from not only Gigondas, but from purchased fruit and wine. He loves Chateauneuf du Pape, and I hope one day he is able to earn enough money to buy a vineyard there. He is certainly a skilled winemaker. As for his northern Rhones, he consistently does a fabulous job with Cote Rotie. Using 100% stems, he gets none of the vegetal character that can come from stem use. As Barruol says, the 2006s are wines of great charm, seductiveness, and beautiful fruit, with freshness and vibrancy, whereas 2005 represents density, structure, tannin, and a certain austerity. To Barruol’s credit, I taste through 60-70 domaines in Gigondas, and his wines, along with Yves Gras’ at Santa Duc, were among the finest.Barruol’s 2006 St.-Joseph exhibits similar weight as well as a certain leanness because of good acidity, but the fruit is gorgeously crunchy and vibrant – mostly cherries and strawberries with a hint of roasted herbs. The Wine Advocate.
Chateau de St-Cosme itself can trace its history back to the year Columbus made his celebrated trip to America, though the cellar itself includes stone tanks first lowered into position by Roman wine-growers (and identified by Barruol’s uncle – a celebrated local archaeologist). The softly spoken Louis took over his maternal family domain in 1992, its 500th anniversary year, but by 1997, he says, he felt “his brain getting smaller and smaller” – so he decided to set off up and down the valley to craft a range of micro-negociant wines as well as continuing to make St-Cosme. The relationships he has built as he’s done this, he says, have been as “enriching” as the wines he’s created: “I work with young people, old people, easy people, difficult people. My aim is to create wines that express their origin above all; for me that is the value of wine. To be reminded of a place on earth, especially when you at 10,000km away, is something fantastic for me. But there’s no doubt that human methods and human beings, are very important as well.”
Andrew Jefford: The ambitious and articulate Louis Barruol is one of the new stars of the Southern Rhone – and of the Northern Rhone too, since the wines he has signed from Condrieu and Cote Rotie are also superb. Grace, purity and singing fruit are three of the Barruol hallmarks; it is almost as if he is making Gigondas (always a potentially bruising wine) in the spirit of Cote Rotie itself. The Cotes du Rhone “Les Deux Albion” is a masterpiece of floral enchantment when young (this wine includes 10% Clairette); even Barruoul’s celebrated prestige Gigondas Valbelle has an almost pinot-like aromatic finesse, with beautifully restrained oak influence. The New France.