Domaine Senti Kreyden
A chance encounter over
dinner led to new discovery just down the road in the next village. Erna Senti Kreyden has a tiny cellar in the
back streets of Gabian. She comes from
Switzerland; her parents made wine, Pinot Noir and Riesling, in the Graubünden
or Grisons region of Switzerland, but she worked in the financial industry,
before rediscovering her viticultural roots.
She explained how she and her husband would come on holiday to
Marseillan Plage with her sister’s family, but they didn’t want to spend all
day on the beach, so they explored the countryside and one thing led to another, in the form of
some olive trees and a tiny vineyard of old Counoise, which they bought in 2005. That is one of the thirteen grape varieties of
Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but is found less often in in the Languedoc. And
things have taken off from that. Erna
made her first two vintages in Verena Wyss’ cellar and studied, and in 2008
gave up the day job to concentrate on wine.
She now has six
hectares, in eight tiny plots. She wants
to remain small. You sense that she pays
great attention to detail; everything is finely handcrafted; she believes that
if you work hard in the vineyards, the work in the cellar will be much
easier. However, for the moment, space is
a problem; her courtyard was full of new barrels the day I visited, but she is
hoping for planning permission for a new cellar on a hill outside the
village. The mayor in Gabian has said
yes; and then the proposal has to go to Béziers, and then to Montpellier, so
with a bit of luck, she might be in her new cellar for the 2014 vintage.
We sat in the
courtyard and tasted under the shade of a large umbrella. First was:
2012 Clair Courage rosé,
Pays de Cassan – 9.00€
A pure Cinsaut, but
this is the last vintage from this vineyard, as the vines are elderly and no
longer very healthy, so sadly she is pulling them up. The grapes are pressed and the colour is a pale
orange pink. And the nose is dry and
stony, with a hint of raspberry; it is quite vinous with good body, with a
fresh savoury finish. It does a
malo-lactic fermentation, which is unusual for rosé In the Languedoc. Erna explained that she wants to use as
little sulphur as possible.
2011 Aramon, Vin de France
– 12.00€
This wine was a
surprise. Aramon is one of the despised
varieties of the Languedoc. Erna's vineyard
was planted in 1960. In the bad old days
it produced enormous bunches of large grapes in enormous quantities. Erna keeps
her Aramon under control, with only a couple of bunches per vines. It has quite a deep colour, with rich spicy
fruit, savoury, with black cherries and supple tannins and a dry finish. The tannins on the palate were quite silky,
almost like a Pinot Noir only richer.
Very intriguing, and unexpected.
She has a photograph of the previous owner of her cellar, as a little
girl holding a very large and obviously heavy bunch of Aramon. This is part of the history of the Languedoc.
2009 Counoise, Octopus, Pays de Cassan –
15.00€
12 months in new wood. For the rest of her wines Erna favours ageing
in oak, in 500 litre barrels. She feels
that the process is more natural than keeping her wine in stainless steel
vats. She just uses her small vats for
fermentation. And she favours pigeage,
by hand, with what she called a Stampel – I am not sure how that would
translate in either French or English. See
photo! Good colour. Some smoky oaky fruit on the nose. On the palate medium weight, a streak of
tannin and some perfumed fruit with an elegant finish. The oak is present, but nicely integrated.
2008 Clos d’Eve, Pays de Cassan – 15.00€
The vineyard is
surrounded by terraces and walls and there is a fig tree, hence the name of the
wine. A pure Grenache, 35 years old,
and again 12 months in barrel. Medium
colour. Richer and riper than the
Counoise, with some cedary notes on the nose and even more so on the
palate. Both elegant and rich, and
beginning to mature.
2009 Carignano, a pure
Carignan. -18.00€
She has just 60 ares
of Carignan, with a yield of 25 hl/ha. And
Carignano was the name of the now defunct coop in Gabian, and the Occitan name
for Carignan. Again twelve months in oak. Quite a punchy oaky nose, and a sturdy gutsy
palate, with tannins and fruit. A tannic
oaky streak but with good fruit underneath.
Youthful with plenty of potential.
The label is a face made of layers of schist.
2009 Syrah, Amada, Pays de Cassan – 18.00€
The youngest vines, 18
years old. Quite a deep young colour,
with dense smoky fruit on nose and palate, and a solid oaky streak. I did not find it very expressive at the
moment, and suspect that it is going through an adolescent phase, but will turn
into a stylish adult. The label portrays
a marble sculpture of a lady’s head, with grapes in her hair.
And then Erna took us
to see some of her vineyards in the hills behind Gabian. She is experimenting with her Carignan. Carignan has lots of leaves, which are
usually left to flop around like an unruly hairstyle, but she has trained hers
high on wires.
The Aramon already has large bunches of grapes, at the end of July; and we stopped at the site of her potential cellar, and the very first vineyard of Counoise, and saw the Syrah grown on bauxite with a view of the chateau de Cassan in the distance.
The Aramon already has large bunches of grapes, at the end of July; and we stopped at the site of her potential cellar, and the very first vineyard of Counoise, and saw the Syrah grown on bauxite with a view of the chateau de Cassan in the distance.
Comments
I agree that Erna's wines are not cheap, but they are hand-crafted. I think she has a good market in Switzerland, a country more tolerant of higher prices.