{"id":9536,"date":"2023-11-20T15:15:05","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T07:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/?p=9536"},"modified":"2025-02-19T18:20:18","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T10:20:18","slug":"wines-of-the-week-christophe-baron-vini-franchetti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/p\/9536.html","title":{"rendered":"Wines of the Week: Christophe Baron & Passopisciaro"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christophe Baron<\/strong> 2017 <\/strong>Champagne Le Dessus du Bois Marie\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>95<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Robert Millman<\/p>\n

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Almost everyone who has met the irrepressible Christophe Baron knows him as the creator of Walla Walla\u2019s iconic winery he named Cayuse way back in 1979 when he began planting Rh\u00f4ne varietals in a very rocky region in the Walla Walla district of Washington State. In fact, the area was called \u2018The Stones\u2019, named for forbidding surface area. But to Frenchman Christophe Baron, it reminded him of the southern Rh\u00f4ne. He had little fear about utilizing this difficult terrain to make potentially first-class wine from Syrah and Grenache. He succeeded to a degree that even he might not have expected. Not only are his Rh\u00f4ne variety reds in high demand, but they are the best wines of their type made outside the Rh\u00f4ne Valley.<\/p>\n

Baron\u2019s background actually belongs to Champagne where his family has been grape growers since 1677. The estate is located in the extreme western part of Champagne in an area called Charly-sur Marne. Pinot Meunier is the grape of choice and necessity in Western Champagne as there is no chalk in the soil making it unsuitable to both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Pinot Meunier is thought of as a blending grape in the classic Champagne villages imparting a warmth and roundness which compliments the austerity of Chardonnay and the density of Pinot Noir. But in western Champagne, Pinot Meunier achieves a surprising nobility and complexity not found elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Christophe returned to his roots in 2014 when he began a process that would lead to his bottling three to four different Champagnes\u2014in Magnum only\u2014under his name. The 2015s were the first to come to America. It was his 2017 Champagnes which I tasted and discussed with him recently. When Baron started this new project, he engaged world-renowned soil experts, Claude and Lydia Bourguignon, to study his hillside parcels and they found a great variability of different soils. He brought along with him photographs of the terroir structure of each of the three Champagnes he served. I liked them all but preferred the middle Champagne he labels as \u201cLe Dessus Le Bois Marie\u201d (or \u201cAbove Marie\u2019s woods\u201d, in English) which has the highest elevation of his four sites.<\/p>\n

Like Krug, Baron ages his wine in used oak barrels, in both regular size and demi-muids<\/em>. All his Champagnes are non-dosage. Why does Baron bottle only in Magnum? As he explained, one bottle at a table is never enough. A magnum is perfect for four or six people. Furthermore, Champagne ages much better in magnum retaining a freshness all but impossible in 750 mL bottles. All through Baron\u2019s career he has liked making statements with his wines using names like Bionic Frog and Horsepower. There is a lot of humor in his approach along with a deep seriousness belied by his jocular manner. I enjoyed the richness and density of all the cuv\u00e9es he showed. The Bois Marie seemed lighter on its feet, more precise with a wonderful combination of orchard fruits, lemon zest, minerals and mintiness that I found most appealing. If I had a restaurant I would serve the Baron Magnums by the glass\u2014making every taster happy. Drinking Window: 2023-2032.<\/p>\n

Passopisciaro 2019 Contrada G Terre Siciliane\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 95+<\/b> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Contrada G has always been my favourite wine made by the late Andrea Franchetti and his super-talented team at Passopisciaro, the Etna estate of Vini Franchetti (the latter is the name of the holding company that also houses Tuscany\u2019s world-famous Tenuta di Trinoro winery and the unique Sancaba project, another Tuscan reality but devoted to Pinot Noir). Contrada G is essentially an Etna Rosso wine made at Passopisciaro from gorgeous vineyards planted on the northern slope of Etna, though the wine is labeled as a \u2018Terre Siciliane\u2019 for mostly bureaucratic reasons.. Fact is, this gorgeous red wine is a magical rendition of Etna wine and tells the story of Europe\u2019s highest volcanoes and the fantastic wines that are possible here like very few others.<\/p>\n

Broght pale red-ruby. Captivating aromas of sour red cherries, wild raspberries, minerals, violet, sweet spices and a whiff of licorice. Then extremely focused and energetic, with classically austere red fruit aromas enlivened by a whiplash of powdered rocks and balsamic herbs. A very vertical wine, racy and taut, boasting a saline undertone that adds even more freshness to a compellingly well-balanced wine the gracefulness of which reminded me of one of the ballerinas in a painting by Degas. But at the same time, there is a Picasso-esque Guernica-like power that speaks of the steely minerality that are Etna Reds. Currently a little folded on itself and very taut, but time spent in a good cellar will take care of that: so make no mistake, this is absolutely magical stuff that is still very young and that will age and improve for another decade splendidly (hence the \u2018+\u2019 sign on my score).<\/p>\n

Guardiola is one of the highest of all Etna\u2019s Contrade at 800-1000 meters above sea level, hence it is one of the coolest and Nerello Mascalese doesn\u2019t always ripen fully there. But when it does, look out, it gives the most elegant and unique of all Etna wine expressions. For my money, it is the grandest of all of Etna\u2019s grand crus<\/em>. Drinking window: 2025-2035.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
Christophe Baron 2017 Champagne Le Dessus du Bois Marie<\/td>\n95<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Passopisciaro 2019 Contrada G Terre Siciliane<\/td>\n95+<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
by Robert Millman & Ian D\u2019Agata<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":9540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wines-of-the-week","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9536"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11102,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9536\/revisions\/11102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}