We’re busy getting ready for Vinisud at the moment. You’ll find us at Hall 11 Aisle A Stand 99 (or  11A99 in Vinisud talk). We will, once again, be sharing a booth with Laurent and Julien Brechet and Philippe Cambie.

In addition to our latest vintages of Costieres de Nîmes in Château de Nages, Nostre Païs, and Lou Coucardié, you will also be able to savor Château de Vaudieu of Châteauneuf du Pâpe; Les Halos de Jupiter by Philippe Cambie; Domaine des Bosquets of Gigondas; Les Piliers and Les Insolites of  Michel Gassier; Château de la Coulerette of Côtes de Provence; Domaine de la Jérôme in Côtes du Rhône Villages; Cercius in Côtes du Rhône; and finally but not least Plateau des Chênes of Lirac.

In reds we will largely be showing the 2010 vintages and in whites and rosés the 2011 vintages. Please feel free to stop by. You’ll be able to discover our full range of wines in a relaxed and accessible environment. If you’d like some privileged one-on-one time, don’t hesitate to contact us at info@michelgassier.com or +334.66.38.44.30 and schedule an appointment.

Pruning is a delicate and crucial task for the lives of our vineyards. It determines in great part the evolution of each vine with respect to its growth, health, form, and the quantity and quality of its grapes at harvest. The objective of pruning is to train vines to produce without excess, in order to concentrate the natural sugars and flavors in the summer, and evenly distribute the grapes on the vines so that they can take advantage of maximum space and ventilation in the foliage.

Slow and tedious work, pruning starts as soon as the leaves fall, and continues through the dormancy of the vines, until budbreak.  Here in Costieres de Nimes that means from early November to March. What is a pleasant job under a bright winter sun becomes painful during damp, icy days or, even worse, when facing the freezing mistral winds.

In addition, the pruner needs to have a real know-how. At each vine, he (or she) has to take into account the varietal, its vigor, and the wine the parcel is destined to become. Upon reflection, vine by vine, the pruner will leave in place the number of buds necessary to obtain the ideal number of clusters on each branch of the vine.

In order to imagine the sheer scale of the task at hand, let’s do a little math exercise: there are, on average 5,000 vines per hectare, or 500,000 vines to be pruned at Château de Nages and Mas Molines combined. We leave 6 spurs (branch cuts) per vine for a total of approximately 3,000,000 cuts from a pair of shears (the truth is actually closer to twice that!).

Best Buy ! 90 points

Michel Gassier 2009 Les Piliers Cabernet Sauvignon (Pays d’Oc)

With 12 months spent in oak, this wine has a strong streak of vanilla and sweet spice throughout. Additional notes of clove, black cherry, plum and cassis abound on the nose and mouth, and linger well into the close alongside a touch of fudgy chocolate. The creamy texture is framed by medium tannins and balanced acidity. A great value ready to drink now. L.B. (2/1/2012)  — 90 2012_Feb_Wine_Enthusiast_Michel_Gassier_Piliers_Cabernet_09

The large swath of France’s Southern Rhône Valley outside of Châteauneuf-du-Pape continues to churn out an ocean of ripe, mouthfilling, character-filled reds at often very modest prices…  Further south and west, past Avignon, is Michel Gassier’s domaine, which manages to pull minerality and finesse from the overlooked Costières de Nîmes area.

MICHEL GASSIER Costières de Nîmes White Château de Nages Cuvée JT 2010 Score: 91 | $22  This starts plump, displaying a salted butter and creamed melon profile, but picks up mouthwatering yellow apple and verbena notes along the way for freshness and length. Very tasty. Drink now through 2013. 3,000 cases imported. —J.M.

MICHEL GASSIER Costières de Nîmes Lou Coucardié White 2010 Score: 90 | $30  This has richness, but stays bright and pure, with delicious Cavaillon melon, green fig and yellow apple flavors laced with a floral note. Nice underlying acidity carries the finish. Drink now through 2013. 2,500 cases imported. —J.M.

MICHEL GASSIER Costières de Nîmes Nostre Païs White 2010 Score: 90 | $20   A very bright, floral style, with lots of chamomile, honeysuckle and quinine notes leading the way for verbena, white peach and yellow apple flavors. The racy finish lets the quinine edge hang on nicely. Drink now through 2013. 5,000 cases imported. —J.M.

MICHEL GASSIER Costières de Nîmes White Château de Nages Vieilles Vignes 2010 Score: 89 | $18  This has a ripe core of melon, plantain and Jonagold apple flavors, but stays racy, as floral and quinine notes run along the edges. The fresh finish stays brightly defined. Drink now. 5,000 cases imported. —J.M.

Costières de Nîmes is most southern of the Rhone vineyards. Our plateau and hills stretch 45 km towards the Petit Rhône River and down to the edges of the Camargue. We are a low altitude vineyard.

Our Costières is a ridge of the earth’s crust that has been forced upward between two faults raised by the pressure of Tertiary sediments from the bottom of the sea. At the end of this period, the warming temperature caused the glaciers to melt. Bodies of water and ice jams, ancestors of the Rhone and the Durance, carved their way to the sea, destroying and dragging in their path boulders, rocks, gravel and silt.

The journey was long and had a natural sorting: the biggest rocks sank and later littered the landscape, the smallest and most eroded were transported and later deposited in the alluvial fan between the Rhone and the Durance. The rounded stones so typical of Chateauneuf and Costieres are essentially siliceous (sedimentary silica). But they were not the only ones to have been carried by the two rivers. Granite and other limestone were also taken with erosion doing its bit as well. What remains today are polished stones, sometimes attacked on one side by the wind. This deposit took millions of years to accumulate.

We can identify the older rocks (or galets) under layers of loess (silt brought by the wind) from their rough aspect. They are in fact a result of limestone that was percolated by the rains and then solidified onto the rocks’ surface. The younger rocks from the Rhone keep their soft patina.

In contrast, those of the Durance are totally different. They are found south of St Gilles where the Durance mixed with the Rhone. They are called variolites, because of holes and other crevices of the surface (as in smallpox). The photo above shows the terroir in southern Costières. You’ll also notice that the rocks and stones have sharper edges and more uneven weights.

So what difference does any of this make for our vineyards? In northern Costières de Nimes, the surface layer of several meters of large stones stores up the heat of the sun during the day and releases it during the night, as in Chateauneuf du Pape. The result is rich, powerful, round wines.

The smaller, sharper-edged galets of the south create a soil that remains soft. You only have to walk the vineyards here to feel just how much the soil gives under foot. The land here rarely has to be tilled. In addition it has tremendous draining ability, even after the flooding rains that we often get in late fall. The vineyards here give elegant, vibrant and mineral wines.

So although Costières de Nîmes has two very different terroir, they both have a very unique common characteristic. The mass of heat produced by our stones reinforces the effect of convection at night: the fresh sea air that comes in off of the Camargue meets this hot air mass when rolling up the length of the Costières, in this way causing a vacuum of air. The temperate effect of this breeze increases the temperature range between day and night. As a result, a freshness and purity of fruit is preserved in the wines produced from our vineyards.

Here is James Molesworth’s video of southern Costières (you’ll see the water of the Camargue over Michel’s shoulder): http://t.co/ChcQnVHM

Here is James Molesworth’s video of northern Costières: http://t.co/DetSqMcw

And finally you can read James Molesworth’s November 11th post from his blog “Stirring the Lees” where he talks about his visit with us and his impressions of some of our 2010s as well as a few of Philippe Cambie’s Halos of Jupiter.  2011 -blog JM – Wine Spectator

The 2010 Costières de Nîmes Lou Coucardié is a selection of very old vines and is a blend of 60% Mourvedre, 30%Grenache and 10% Syrah. Its black/purple color is accompanied by notes of mint, blueberry and blackberry liqueur, incense, camphor and charcoal. This amazing tour de force should age nicely for 10+ years.   92-94 pts

2010 Costières de Nîmes Château de Nages Cuvee J.T. Revealing lots of spicebox, blackberry jam, licorice and lavender notes, it is one of the most concentrated and interesting wines I have ever tasted from the Costieres de Nimes. It should drink well for a decade.      92-94 pts

2010 Costières de Nîmes Nostre Païs Its dense purple color isfollowed by garrigue, smoke, chocolate, blackberry, strawberry and cherry aromas. Ripe, full-bodied and voluptuously textured with decent acidity, it should drink nicely for 5-6 years.         90-93 pts

2010 Costières de Nîmes Château de Nages Vieilles Vignes This sensational offering shows the direction Gassier and his consultant, Philippe Cambie, are heading. It exhibits a dense ruby/purple color as well as copious floral notes intermixed with complex aromas of garrigue, bouquet garni, forest floor and lavish quantities of pepper, spice, black cherries and black currants. This opulent, soft, luscious 2010 can be enjoyed during its first 4-5 years of life.   88-90 pts

Here are the full descriptions of these four wines: 2011_Oct_Robert_Parker_Michel_Gassier

During our recent working vacations in California and Burgundy we met a handful of winemakers that swear by whole cluster fermentation. Seduced by their wines we decided to see if this approach could help us go further in our quest for freshness, balance and minerality.

With absolutely no point of reference, we first invested in some 500L puncheons to start experimenting on a small scale. So beguiled by the initial results, we decided to experiment on a larger scale and this year we have fermented some tanks of Cinsault, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre using the whole cluster approach. Of course everything we’ve gleaned from this adventure only relates to one vintage – a vintage of outstanding phenolic maturity, but we are already very excited about the wines!

After malolactic fermentation, the noses are amazingly open, with an incredible degree of freshness and complexity.  The mouth-feel shows a lot of silkiness, even if the final is, at this point, a little more tannic than the corresponding wines made from destemmed grapes.  I think these wines will require some aging during which their already impressive complexity should increase further. See you in 2013 to taste these promising 2011 wines!

If you’re interested  in discovering a little more about our harvest experiments, you can find a variety of our videos on Youtube at :  http://www.youtube.com/user/michelgassier

2010 Michel Gassier Costières-de-Nîmes Lou Coucardié – “A rock solid barrel sample …it’s meaty and very rich, showing loads of Mourvèdre character with tree bark, truffle, and meaty characteristics giving way to gorgeously pure dark fruit…” 92-94 pts

2009 Michel Gassier Costières-de-Nîmes Lou Coucardié – “A rich, substantial, and serious red… The wine exhibits …brilliant, rich aromatics of crème de cassis, spice, graphite, chocolate, and earth. While decidedly rich and leaning into the decadent realm, this stays beautifully fresh and focused. … a superb wine… 93 pts

2010 Michel Gassier Costières-de-Nîmes Nostre Païs – “shows loads of promise, with outstanding aromas of violets, potpourri, and assorted black and blue fruits, a medium to full-bodied, concentrated palate, and excellent balance..” 91-93 pts

2009 Michel Gassier Costières-de-Nîmes Nostre Païs – “A completely brilliant red…the wine sports upfront, beautifully perfumed aromas of rolled stones, licorice, roasted meats, and anise on the nose.  …a textured, supple wine … of balance and freshness. More minerality shows on the finish…” 92 pts

2009 Michel Gassier Syrah Les Piliers –  ”Showing fantastic Syrah character on the nose with smoky dark fruits, serious minerality, smoke, and meat-laced aromatics, the wine is medium-bodied on the palate with a fresh, clean texture, excellent balance, and plenty of length on the finish.” 90 pts

2008 Michel Gassier Syrah Les Piliers - “…shows…deep minerality as well as copious blackberry and crème de cassis styled fruit characteristics. This is followed by a medium-bodied, very well- balanced wine that shows good acidity, a classic, focused texture, and solid length on the finish.” 89 pts

And now for the whites…

2009 Michel Gassier Costières-de-Nîmes Lou Coucardié White – “Upfront and rich on the nose …the wine delivers a mouthful of fruit on the palate, yet maintains fantastic focus and edge with racy acidity and a long, clean finish. …a recent bottle of ’06 was still drinking very well, so this wine can age.” 91 pts

2010 Michel Gassier Costières-de-Nîmes Nostre Païs White – “A seriously impressive white… it displays a beautifully fresh, pure bouquet … and serious minerality. …the wine shows fantastic balance, a rich, full mid-palate, juicy acidity, and a classic, clean finish. Top-flight stuff…” 91 pts

2010 Michel Gassier Cercius White – “A thrilling white, as well as an unbelievable value… delivers a perfumed, intense array…and brilliant…minerality  …beautiful purity of fruit, and brilliant acidity carries the finish. Extremely versatile on the dinner table, this outstanding white should be purchased by the case load…” 91 pts

For those of you interested in the details, here are the complete tasting notes for the Michel Gassier wines from Issue 9: 2011_Sept_RhoneReport9_Michel_Gassier

“These wines represent superb values at every level, with the top wines equaling the quality of more widely known AOCs. Both ’09 and ’10 are very strong here and readers should not miss these wines.”

Honor goes to the reds first…

2010 Château de Nages Costières-de-Nîmes Cuvée JT Red “…possesses knockout aromatics, a powerful, fill-bodied mouth feel, fantastic purity, and solid length on the finish… A fantastic effort that will compete with any number of wines from more prestigious AOCs, and well worth the effort to track down” 91-93+ pts

2009 Château de Nages Costières-de-Nîmes Cuvée JT Red “…sports brilliant aromas of blackberry, crème de cassis, toasty oak, licorice, and smoke on the nose. While still very youthful…the purity of fruit & class here is front & center.” 92 pts

2010 Château de Nages Costières-de-Nîmes Vieilles Vignes Red “…has the fleshy, full fruit of the vintage, as well as beautiful freshness, notable structure, and solid length.” 90-92 pts

2009 Château de Nages Vieilles Vignes Red – “Deep & dark on the nose, with loads of scorched earth, black pepper and crushed rock notes that are balanced by ripe, edgy fruit, spice and subtle floral nuances…”  90 pts

2010 Château de Nages Costières-de-Nîmes La Réserve Red – “Looking even better than the ’09, [the 2010] boasts huge aromatics of garrigue, violets, crushed rock, and pure, fresh fruit on the nose. Very well done… 88-90 pts

2009 Château de Nages Costières-de-Nîmes La Réserve Red - “A beautiful, fresh, and supple red that delivers loads of southern Rhône flair with garrigue, spice, and mineral aromas, as well as excellent red and black fruit characteristics…” – 88 pts

What follows are the whites and the rosé, as noted:

2010 Château de Nages Costières-de-Nîmes Cuvée JT White – “A brilliant white that will compete with anything coming out of the Rhône valley! …the wine delivers a fantastically pure array of ripe peach, white flowers, spice, buttered toast and green almond on the nose…” 92 pts

2009 Château de Nages Costières-de-Nîmes Cuvée JT White - ”showing excellent aromas of crisp pineapple, citrus rind, chamomile, and crushed flowers, medium to full body, notable balance, racy acidity, and superb focus and clarity on the finish…a top-notch effort…” 91 pts

2010 Château de Nages Costières-de-Nîmes Vieilles Vignes White – “The wine shows classic southern Rhône character with notions of white peaches, lemon, subtle floral nuances, and solid minerality on the nose… a beautifully put together white that carries a balanced, fresh texture, solid acidity, and a good finish.” 89 pts

2010 Château de Nages Costières-de-Nîmes La Réserve White - “The estate’s entry level white…delivers a beautifully fresh, vibrant bouquet… Perfumed, intense, and lively on the nose, the wine … shows racy acidity, a clean, fresh texture, and a classic finish. …an excellent, versatile white that should put a smile on anyone face over the coming 2-3 years.” 89 pts

2010 Château de Nages Costières-de-Nîmes La Réserve Rosé – “A textbook, delicious rosé…  The acidity and fruit will make this versatile on the dinner table…” 88 pts

For those of you interesed in reading Jeb Dunnuck’s complete review of our wines from the Rhone Report Issue 9, you can consult it here: 2011_Sept_RhoneReport9_Nages

So these are my observations thus far.  This year’s winter gave us enough cold for a solid period of dormancy and sufficient rain to rebuild our soil’s water reserves. A hot, dry spring generated an early budding, consistent with the 2 to 3 week lead from the previous year. It was easy to talk about global warming and that we would have “the earliest harvest in history.” But as farmers say “trees don’t reach the heavens” and from mid-June to mid-August, we had a cool rainy summer that made us doubt our previous certainties.

Today I find myself constantly delaying the harvest of most of my parcels because based on our maturity checks the vineyards just aren’t ready. Thus far we’ve only brought in our 70% of our Viognier and most of our Roussanne. The grapes are of high quality, characterized by good acidity and rich colors that promise to be deep. The amounts of tannins are below average and it seems we’re heading towards a good coordination of physiological maturity (sugar / acid), aromatic maturity, and phenolic maturity (tannins). This would mean that we won’t have to push too far for ripe tannins and thus have reasonable levels of acidity. A very drinkable vintage !

But, as always “it ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings” and to date the grapes are relatively fragile. Clusters are large and compact due to exceptional conditions during the spring bloom, the skins are thin because the vineyards were not stressed water-wise and the successive generations of grape moths were virulent this year. We are seeing some symptoms of rot in a few parcels, so sorting will be paramount this year.

Harvesting conditions will be key for this vintage.  I’m just thankful for all the quality work we’ve done in our vineyards (green harvest, budding and tying), it will surely increase our chances for bringing in healthy well-ripened grapes.  We will know more after Oct. 15 …