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| Le secret de Frére Nonenque - Cuvée of Carignan% Grenache% Cinsault and Morastel |
Everyone has his own little or bigger secrets. Not only people, but also wine. Lovers speak of a "sweet secret", fearful people of "skeletons in the cupboard", crime writers chase through their book "a dark secret" to be solved, wine lovers believe undauntedly in the "secret tip" (which has long ceased to be a secret), wineries quote Salvador Dali when presenting their wines, and Christianity sees in the symbol of "bread and wine" a central secret of faith.
Indeed, every wine region has its secrets, often deeply anchored in the past, marked by mysteries, by mysticism and legends shrouded in mystery. For a long time, it was mainly monks who cultivated vines and made wine, usually according to recipes that were their well-kept secret and not infrequently lost with the demise of the monasteries. Brother Nonenque was - according to tradition - a monastic cellar master in the 15th century who took his secret to the grave. Whether he really lived in the "Abbaye de Valmagne" in the Languedoc, as the marketing of today's winery in the former Cistercian monastery claims, remains controversial. But with a wine called "Le Secret de Frère Nonenque" ("The Secret of Brother Nonenque"), le "Vin Mystère" is supposed to return to the ruins of the old monastery.
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| Abbaye Valmagne Languedoc - Large wooden barrels in the church of the former abbey |
To underline the tradition, an old grape variety that has long since disappeared has been replanted on the estate: Morastel. And now they are trying to reconstruct the old "recipe" with a blend of Carignan, Grenache, Cinsault and Morastel. In fact, this is nothing other than a "vin de pays" from the hills of "la Moure", which is only distinguished by the "secret" of the monkish assemblage and the
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| Jacquez% forbidden grape variety in a training garden in Faugères |
Morastel" grape variety from other wines in the area. There is still speculation about the grape variety "Morastel" (often spelled "Morrastel"). The name appears in very different contexts, including a recent new variety. Is Morastel "only" a synonym used in France for the Spanish grape variety "Graciano" (also dying out for a long time) or - as oenologists also claim - an independent relative of "Graciano"? There is a debate about this in French blogs.
As is so often the case, it is less about new taste experiences and more about the preservation of nature's "cultural assets" - and about respectful treatment of traditions from "old times".
In a teaching vineyard in Faugères (Languedoc), I discovered another lost grape variety: "Jacquez" - the forbidden one. It has been banned in France since 1934 because allegedly "the methanol of this grape is particularly poisonous: it makes you crazy",' they say here in the south. In the Ardèche, there are said to be just under 80 hectares of vines with "Jacquez" - banned from trade by the EU, but protected and included in the list of those natural "foods" that are to be preserved, as a sunken secret of nature.
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| Jacquez% the forbidden grape |
So is the mystery of wine just a matter of the past, of lost knowledge? I think not! What is the so-called "garage wine" in the Bordelais but a modern mystery, created in the "garage" of some winemakers or - even better - launched by excellent wine marketers. The term "garage" implies concealment, mystery. The garage is a workshop, occupied by professional secrets. Jean-Luc Thunevin started with a small plot - smaller than one hectare - and in seventeen years created what is now called the "secret" of Valandraud, or in more prosaic terms, garage wine. Robert Parker has called the exceptionally clever winemaker a "bad boy". Now that Valandraud, with a good 15 hectares of vineyards, has long since ceased to be a "garage wine" - just a Grand Cru that has lost many of its secrets - Jean-Luc Thunevin has succeeded in creating a new secret, the "Bad Boy". Actually an ordinary "Bordeaux AOC", at home in the lower segment of Bordeaux wines. But its "garage secret", its mystery, (and of course the quality associated with it) already puts it above the other wines in the same price segment.
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| "Chastanie" from the winery Bernthaler+Bernthaler% Burgenland |
The mystery of wine a purely French affair? Of course not. Wherever there is wine, we also find what the French call "Vins Mystères", be it due to rediscovered traditions or even new "inventions". The whole organic wave, which has long since arrived in wine as well, is largely based on researched and unexplored, proven or only guessed secrets of nature. I recently came across a wine in the Austrian Burgenland called "Chastanie". The Bernthaler+Bernthaler winery has switched to organic production and now vinifies part of its Chardonnay in barriques made of chestnut wood. Nothing new really, because for a long time chestnut, along with oak, was a common wood for barrel making, until oak finally prevailed in the 19th century. Since then, the aromas associated with storing wine in oak have shaped the taste of wine from barriques. Chestnut wood has actually only survived to this day for the maturation of vinegar (for example, in balsamico).
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| With "Chastanie", the Bernthaler brothers have created a modern cult wine |
The unusual combination of the aromas of a Chardonnay with those of chestnut wood creates something that is difficult to express with the usual vocabulary of wine description; something unusual, mysterious, strange, a "mystery". I have nevertheless tried to put into words what I felt when tasting it: "creamy - hints of pears, hazelnut - concise but elegant acidity..." Does that unlock the "secret"? I don't think so. For once - and it's not the first time - I have to agree with Salvador Dali, often you don't just drink good wine, you "taste secrets".
Sincerely
Yours/Yours