Do Great Burgundies need 14% alcohol?
A natural approach to alcohol content
For the recent years, I decided to limit or eliminate altogether the "chaptalization" for my wines, red or white.
- First, it sounds silly to use cane or beet sugar to produce wine: wine is supposed to be the result of the fermentation of grape exclusively. This is indeed the international definition !
- Additionally, today, most pay attention to how much they drink, to be able to drive. Some countries have a zero tolerance policy in that matter.
- Finally a wine with less alcohol is much more easy to digest...
The conclusion is straightforward
A difficult choice
I have noticed a significant difference between the positive comments I receive from my customers, private or professionals, very much in favor of this trend, and the appreciation of other winemakers in the area, evaluated through the official tasting panels (for my certification), or the mainstream wine awards (as the juries are mainly professionals, even if they begin to open their ranks to resellers and demanding private wine drinkers).
The less alcoholic wines do not show up at the top of the tastings, as shown by the results of the first 2009 contests. My 2007 have an alcohol content around 12%, with not much to brag about regarding awards, while professionals who have tasted them with me at the domain in February rave about them.
Last year, while traveling to Seattle to open the US West Coast market, I met members of the "12.5 club", pinot noir aficionados who believe a great pinot can express its best at that level. I must confess that I did not expect to meet them in the USA, so close to the Californian wineries, known for their higher alcoholic content. They have strengthened me in my intuition to pursue on this path.
A Great Ageing Potential
Some tell me that those "low degree wines" will not age properly. How can they pretend that? I went back to my father's old analyzes and found comfort: a pinot noir presenting naturally 12% of alcohol, issued from a good area, can without doubt present an excellence balance. And the wines from my ancestors are perfect examples: I had the rare opportunity to taste forties vintages. It is definitively not on their alcohol content that they aged so well. They were remarkable!
The Pinot Noir offers the opportunity for a very complex wine and a broad pallet of aromas with a moderate alcohol content. It is one of its specifications. If it is ripening under the specific climate of Burgundy, alternating temperatures between 8-10°C (45-50°F) and 20-22°C (68-72°F). It looks ridiculous to me to give up to the recent fashion to concentrate at all costs, for instance by removing leafs, by hand or mechanically, to increase exposure to the sun to increase color and sugar, and have a healthier environment. Those are neither a guarantee of depth, complexity, or ageing potential. They give priority to the look over the substance. This is not my way.
Here at the Domain Naudin Ferrand, you will find less powerful wines, less colored wines, less alcoholic wines, but I certify that my wines will age well and that you will be able to drink them with a renewed pleasure, and moderation if you can! The level of alcohol is on the labels, with a half percent accuracy; more precise measures are available on the technical data sheets.
Claire Naudin
April 23, 2009
Find all my confidences in English here
- April 2009: Do Great Burgundies need 14% alcohol?
- February 2008: Are Sulphites a Necessary Evil?
Or if you prefer them in French:
