Philippe Bovet

Best of Merlots: Zurich awards

27/05/2016 by Ellen Wallace 2 Comments

New vs Old World Merlots; love at first sip

Wine from Argentina: macerated much longer than most — An unusual wine from Argentina: macerated much longer than most from the country

The top wine at the Mondial du Merlot, which handed out awards 18 May in Zurich, is from Uruguay’s Bouza Bodega Boutique – a winner that provided the start of some interesting discoveries made during the event (it also made me want to catch the next plane to Uruguay).

A gold medal winner from Argentina and another from Mexico gave those of us who were tasting the wines at the event a chance to compare Old and New World Merlots, albeit on a small scale. Krasia May‘s Merlot from Mendosa in Argentina, from grapes grown at about 1,300 metres, is not typical for a Merlot from this area: while most macerate their grapes for 3-5 days, the skins stay in contact with the wine for weeks, at a low temperature here, resulting in rich fruit and a lush mouth feel.

My absolute favourite of the wines I tasted, however, is Ticino winery Cantina Monti’s Merlot 2011, which has everything a perfect Merlot should offer: deep fruit, balance, elegance: a very classy wine. Further down here I’ll list my other favourites, tasted after awards were handed out.

About the competition

Ticino producer Sergio Monti, winner of the Gran Maestro award for 3 vintages of "Il Canto Della Terra", with Maria Luisa Trabal and Luis Bouza from Bouza Bodega Boutique of Montevideo, the only Great Gold medal winner in 2016. — Ticino producer Sergio Monti, winner of the Gran Maestro award for 3 vintages of “Il Canto Della Terra”, with Maria Luisa Trabal and Luis Bouza from Bouza Bodega Boutique of Montevideo, the only Great Gold medal winner in 2016.

The international competition is organized by the Vinea Association in Sierre, canton Valais. It has been growing in importance, pulling in more wines from more countries every year. The Mondial, held in April, saw 420 wines entered, from 238 producers in 22 countries.

Half the entries were from Switzerland, a reflection of canton Ticino’s traditional investment in Merlot grapes, as well as the fact that Switzerland is the host country. Given that Merlot is among the most widely grown grapes in the world, if not the most, the numbers seem small – but keep in mind that a lot of Merlot is grown to play a minor role in blends, and in some places the grape has been viewed indifferently for so long that wineries don’t attempt to make premium wines from it.

Wine snobs who turn up their snouts at Merlot

Merlot wines, single-grape and blends (up to 50%) from around the world, at the awards in Zurich

It’s a beautiful grape that deserves to be treated well: it’s time to get past the bad rap given by wine snobs who watched the movie Sideways. Wikipedia notes that “Throughout the film, Miles speaks fondly of the red wine varietal Pinot Noir, while denigrating Merlot. Following the film’s US release in October 2004, Merlot sales dropped 2% while Pinot Noir sales increased 16% in the Western United States. A similar trend occurred in British wine outlets. Other reports also claimed anecdotally that sales of Merlot dropped after the film’s release.”

I’ve recently heard two complaints about Merlot. The first is local, from an industry person who argues that some Swiss ones are “too extracted”, meaning the skins are pushed to their limits for flavour and colour. I simply don’t agree, nor do I think today’s consumers are looking for something else – the argument that was put forward.

Trends come and go; good wines are always loved. Ticino in particular offers a good range of Merlots, with many styles. Here’s more on extraction, from Jamie Goode, so you can chew that over while sipping a nicely balanced Merlot like Monti’s.

My mother's brown velvet wedding dress and matching bow for her hair: class that hasn't faded in the 80 years since this photo was taken — My mother’s brown velvet wedding dress and matching dark chocolate bow for her hair: class that hasn’t faded in the 80 years since this photo was take.

The second complaint is that some people who’ve learned to love wine through Bordeaux have trouble with what Jancis Robinson calls Merlot’s “lush, plummy, velvety” side. Some of this is a fashion issue, with Merlot hugely popular in the 1990s before the anti-velvet mood kicked in, about the time of the film.

My mother worn a slinky chocolate-coloured velvet wedding dress with tiny velvet buttons all the way to her calves. Forty years later we all thought crisp white frothy wedding dresses were so much more sophisticated. Now I look at both and velvet is the clear winner.

So if you’re cowed by wine snobs who won’t touch Merlot, consider yourself lucky and drink their share. They will eventually realize what they’re missing.

When made well it is rich in fruit, smooth and round in mouth, with silky tannins and a long beautiful finish.

Hotel Widder, very old and very new, a wonderful setting for the Merlot awards and public tasting session in the evening

I love it with red meats, particularly good steak or roast lamb, but Ticino polenta is a nice companion for it, too.

Here’s a list of my favourites from the Zurich awards, although I didn’t manage to taste them all, including the two gold winners from Tamborini in Ticino, whose several Merlots never fail to please, and a silver medal winner from Agriloro, whose large collection of wines I love, as well as Trapletti’s winners – a winery that I find exciting for its daring. And I ran out of time before I found the Valais winners, so I’ll be visiting those wineries soon to see what I missed.

Complete list of awards can be downloaded as a pdf on the Mondial du Merlot & Assemblages site

Gialdi Vini SA, Mendrisio Trentasei, Ticino DOC, 2010

Merlot Krasia May, Mendoza Argentina, 2010

Right, Brivio Vini SA, Mendrisio Platinum, Ticino DOC, 2012

Bouza Merlot Vinedos Pan de Azucar 2013, Maldonado, Bouza Bodega Boutique, Montevideo, Uruguay

Two gold medal winners from Philippe Bovet, Givrins, canton Vaud: Merlot, Vaud AOC, 2011 and Cima del Adula, Vin de Pays Suisse, 2012 and

Bovet’s winning Merlots are a reminder that the Geneva area has grown this grape for more than 60 years

Cave Uvavin in Vaud also had 2 gold medals: Uvavins – Cave Cidis SA, Tolochenaz Merlot Empreinte, La Côte AOC, 2014 in the unusual bottle and the one I personally preferred (smoother, more elegant), Bernardin Collection Vin Vivant B. Ravet, La Côte AOC, 2012

A silver and not a gold this year for a wine I love – and it was a shade under other vintages, but still a beauty: Gialdi Vini SA, Mendrisio Sassi Grossi, Ticino DOC, 2013

Vini Rovio Gianfranco Chiesa, Rovio IL 2011, Ticino DOC, 2011

A beauty from Dézaley in Lavaux, canton Vaud, so famous for its Chasselas – don’t let anyone tell you they have no reds! Domaine Bovy, Chexbres Merlot Dézaley, Lavaux, 2013

Another silver medal winner that I very much like, elegant

Vaud’s Merlots are starting to make a serious impression: a fresh and contemporary wine here, Cave Beetschen, Bursins Cachoteries, La Côte AOC, 2012

A young Italian producer from just over the Alps, a very dense and fruity wine that needs more time (some other people tasting with me felt it was over the top)

Azienda Valba di Micheli Laura, Cenate Sopra (BG) Lavinia, IGT della Bergamasca, 2012

Mondial du Merlot: Bordeaux was there, and making a statement with a fine Merlot that is also an organic wine, winner of the competition’s prize for best organic wine – Château Bourdicotte AOC Bordeaux 2015, SCEA Rolet Jarbin, St Magne de Castillon, France

2015 harvest: simply beautiful

10/09/2015 by Ellen Wallace Leave a Comment

David Kind’s grapes and fine old oaks, at Terre-Neuve in St Prex, Vaud – expect quiet roads to suddenly come alive now

Vines waiting for the harvest to start, Salgesch, Valais 9 September 2015

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The weather gods have been good. The 2015 grape harvest is officially underway in many areas and we can now say it: very good to great wine grape quality in most parts of Switzerland, with a slight dip in quantity. The sun has been shining, the evenings have been cool, the rain has held off. In short, it’s turning out to be close to a wine producer’s dream year, which is good news for wine-lovers, too.

But. The harvest isn’t in yet, for the most part, and wine producers, remember, are farmers. Don’t expect them to get excited just yet. Things could still go wrong. Rains could suddenly drive hard and rot the grapes before they can be rushed to the cellar, the biggest worry at this point.

Still. The grapes are beautiful and abundant without excess. Regional news reports from the three largest wine-producing cantons of Valais, Vaud and Geneva carry interviews with cantonal grape experts and their reports are rosy.

Review of the 2015 grape year

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Here’s what happened right in 2015, at crucial points in the grapevine’s season:

Flowering – We had enough rain but not big storms, no major frost. Just as for fruit trees, this is a critical moment. If there is too little water at this point, there are fewer and smaller berries. Gilles Cornut from Cave Cidis/Uvavin, who is also head of the Vaud growers association, told Le Temps at the end of August that the lower rainfall in the spring means the quantity of grapes is 15-20% down. Producers with whom I spoke last weekend at the Vinea wine fair in Sierre confirmed that quantities are lower in Vaud, but not to the same extent as in Vaud and Geneva.

Quotas – Cantons set quotas, part of the programme to limit yields (fewer grapes on a vine generally mean better quality grapes) and maintain decent wine stocks without flooding the market with lesser wines. Vaud, for example, said at the start of the season that the La Côte region could slightly increase its yields for red wines, Gamay excepted, and Chablais could go up a bit for Chasselas, compared to 2014. But in the end the quotas are not an issue this year because nature reduced the yields for the growers.

One square metre of vines should be giving under 1 litre, except for simpler vin du pays wines, and the precise amount depends on the grape variety and the region.

June-July vine growing – We had unusually warm temperatures, which speeded up vine growth and by the end of July we were hearing musings, not yet predictions, about a very early harvest. What the rest of us noticed was not just the heat, but the dryness, with beaches and gardens looking sadly thirsty. Vines have very deep roots, often several metres down, and dryness is usually not a major problem. Raymond Paccot at La Colombe in Féchy, Vaud, puts it in perspective, noting that for older vines, especially those treated biodynamically, the dry spell wasn’t a problem, for they can find the water. The younger vines, planted in soil that drains well, had to be watered, to avoid their younger, smaller roots from drying out.

Pinot Gris grapes as they change: the veraison, next to the Rhone River, Valais, 30 August 2015

Veraison – The point at which grapes begin to change colour and take on their final tones, a process of several days. The hard skins begin to soften. The summer’s heat was suddenly replaced for a week or so by cool temperatures and heavy rainfall in many areas, causing the vines to suddenly put more energy into their shoots, which is not what the grower wants at this point. The energy should be going into the grapes. Happily, the heavy rains were short-lived, allowing growers to put up protective netting, for this is the time when birds and wasps begin take a great interest in grapes, which are now easy for them to pierce.

Pre-harvest – The moment when we all want sunshine and warm days; for a grower this means the grapes are ripening, with the sugar level rising and acidity falling. Cool nights allow the vines a moment’s respite. The goal is balance, and in 2015, this is what we are getting, so far. “The perfect programme for grapes to ripen,” says Joel Briguet from Cave La Romaine in Flanthey, Valais. As one sunny day moves into another and the grapes look and taste good, we can finally say that 2015 is a very good year. “Not quite as good as 2003, also a very warm year”, I’ve had several growers say – remember, they are farmers, a cautious group – “but still very, very good.”

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Suzukii damage was less in 2015 due to hot weather, but some growers nevertheless used the experimental technique of putting ash on the grapes to make the colour less attractive to the beetles - St Prex, Vaud, September 8, 2015 — Suzukii damage was less in 2015 due to hot weather, but some growers nevertheless used the experimental technique of putting ash on the grapes to make the colour less attractive to the beetles – St Prex, Vaud, September 8, 2015

Bonuses in 2015 – The plague of Suzukii beetles that caused trouble in 2014 and promised more for 2015 apparently didn’t like the hot, dry weather, and it failed to cause much damage. Neuchatel was hit by hail, but otherwise most areas were spared major hailstorms. Powdery mildew was kept to a minimum. Many producers were able to use fewer disease-control treatments on their vines. The grape bunches are mostly healthy, as a result.

Philippe Bovet in Givrins, Vaud, is very upbeat. After the massively destructive hailstorms in 2013, which destroyed much of his vineyard, the vines are producing happily again, and stocks are getting back to normal. “I’ll have wines again for those people who were disappointed, and that’s great, really great!”

Winemakers from Valais, Vaud, Ticino, told me they’re happy about the 2015 harvest.

Catherine Mercier, Sierre, Valais

Philippe Bovet, Givrins, Vaud

Francesco Tettamanti, Agriloro, Ticino

The harvest – Switzerland’s now 30-year-old drive for top quality wines is partly responsible for a shift in harvest times. Growers have more freedom to decide themselves, based on several factors, mainly the full ripeness of the fruit. Grapes in Switzerland have three “periods”, so that some, such as Pinot Noir, ripen before others, and each vine parcel has its own micro-climate, with its own ripening schedule.

Electus 2010, the top wine from Provins tasted last week - a world-class top wine from Switzerland — Electus 2010, the top wine from Provins tasted last week – a world-class top wine from Switzerland

Managing this well in addition to scheduling and having housing ready for grape-pickers, who often work the harvest in other areas or countries, is tricky. The harvest this year runs from early September to November or late December or possibly even later for the sweet late-harvest wines, where grapes are left to wither on the vines but harvested before they are hit by freezing weather.

The rest of September and October will be a busy time on back roads throughout Switzerland, where 15,000 hectares are devoted to vineyards. Use care on the roads and be patient, because tractors aren’t speedy, and there are a lot of people out there working the vines.

You’ll be thanked, come spring, when the first new wines are uncorked, and Switzerland’s drive to make top quality wines will be on display with yet another fine vintage. Wait a few months longer and you’ll be able to sip the 2015 reds – personally, I’m saving up now to stock the cellar.

When are grapes ripe?

01/10/2014 by Ellen Wallace Leave a Comment

Adapted from Ellen’s Garden World, published 1 October 2014

The grape harvest has begun in Switzerland, but many of the best growers are holding off for a few more days.

As the author of the first book in English on Swiss wines in 20 years (Vineglorious! Switzerland’s Wondrous World of Wines), I’m out in the vineyards talking to growers and taking photos.

Chasselas grapes, nearly ripe, Tartegnin in canton Vaud 30 September 2014 – brown areas are the equivalent of freckles, bronzed by the sun, and little brown specks are due to copper, used sparingly, even by organic growers

This week’s lesson comes from Philippe Bovet, one of the country’s top wine producers, who insists that people pick fruit in general, and grapes in particular, too soon.

The only way to tell if grapes are at peak ripeness is to taste them daily.

Some growers in canton Vaud are picking their Chasselas grapes this week, but for Bovet, that’s probably 10 days too early.

Wine producer Philippe Bovet, Givrins, canton Vaud

“I don’t measure the sugar anymore – I just keep tasting them,” he says, vine parcel by parcel, to ensure they are picked at the optimum moment.

Chasselas skin should melt in your mouth and not leave a slightly bitter aftertaste. As they ripen, these grapes become more translucent when the sun shines through them.

Bovet’s team began picking Chardonnay and some Chenin last week for his sparkling wines, but the rest of the grapes are being given more time.