His wines are labelled as Vin de France (table wine). He works now on 6 hectares compared to 4 in 2013. We also tasted a few wines by Sylvan Bock, also from Ardèche and a friend of Meryl and the other artisan vignerons of the area. Here is a video (in French) where Meryl explains his path and philosophy. Costs 6,4 € tax included for this wine, the sulfur-free Z Blanc and Z Rouge costs more, 10 €. 11,5 % alcohol (and we're in the Rhône !). He says he makes very light Syrahs, he doesn't look for extraction. Half carbonic, half traditional, all in vats. _ Tous Cousins, Syrah 2014, bottled the previous day. He says it is still recovering from the bottling shock.
#Clew cabernet sauvignon napa valley 2015 plus
Stayed on lees without stirring or moving for 10 months in the barrels, plus another 10 months in tank.
Direct press with beginning of the fermentation in vats and then immediately continues in 3-wine-old 350-liter barrels (got them in Burgundy). _ "Z" Blanc 2013, 100 % Viognier, bottled 10 days before this visit. He worked 10 years in mainstream wineries before starting his own domaine. Meryl is a trained enologist (graduated from Dijon and Montpellier) but he doesn't use the tricks and additives that are taught at the wine school. This is a try, he made 900 bottles this year. His idea here is to make a summer white, like he does his rosé : low alcohol (this wine makes 10,8 %) and freshness. So his wine is pretty unique in this regard. Ugni Blanc was common in the region to make high yields and then was uprooted, it's been replanted today but as a base wine for sparkling.
Lots of pectine in this varietal wine, and he says its difficult to avoid the turbidity if like him you refuse interventionist enological tools. Fermented in fiber-glass vat, no filtration. Still dense color albeit the direct press (see pic on side, bottle without label). _ 100 % Ugni Blanc 2014, direct press, already bottled (but no cuvée name yet). Meryl exports already 30 % of this wine, Quebec (Vin Libre), Japan ( Mr Ito of Oeno-connexion), the United States ( Weygandt Wines), Denmark ( Niche Vine), Holland ( Vinoblesse). The name of his domaine is La Vrilleīutterfly), I made a photo essay on tendrils yearsĪgo, they evocate lightness, innocence and life.
He now works on 5,5 hectares in Valvignières and makes between 7 and 9 cuvées. Meryl grandfather was a grower at Valvignières (where Andrea Calek works), he came at Le Mazel (Gérald Oustric) for the harvest and that's it, he loved it and got hooked to this life and philosophy. The area of Ardèche near Aubenas is indeed rich in talented artisan vignerons with Gilles Azzoni, Le Mazel, Andrea Calek, les Deux Terres, Sylvain Bock and others. I tasted a few wine from Meryl Croizier recently in Ardèche (Rhone), this young guy is beginning to make wine (1st vintage 2012) and I think you'll hear about him. Oh, and I have another guess for you : you'll find such contrasted vicinity typically across France and very often one of the parcels gets its AOC label right away while the other may face hurdles (to say the least) at the agreement commission, guess which ?!?. I have a few similar interesting pictures (see at mid-scroll) showing how the Beaujolais vineyards can look when the business-minded winegrowers take shortcuts in their parcels. Be it in Bordeaux, the Beaujolais, Chablis or the Loire, you could even check the parcels you like first and then try to find the winegrowers behind them, it'll spare you laborious research and other vain random tastings. I'll not be more specific on the issue but you'll see what many wineries would prefer to remain in the dark. I strongly recommend to visit the wine regions in april or may, before the foliage of the vines has come out in force. But for me this contrasted landscape in the far popped up as being richly informative, I saw this as an ideal photographic illustration of what is going on behind the scene in the wine world. He didn't point to this visual difference with this other parcel (which was obviously worked differently), he was entirely focused on explaining his work and challenges in the last vintage. I shot this picture a few weeks ago while walking with a vigneron along one of his parcels (I leave you guess which one was his own on the picture, given the type of domaines I visit). Some pictures speak by themselves indeed, I could almost post this one without further comment, but I'll indulge in a couple of ones. Could be anywhere in France (and elsewhere)
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