Stéphane Otheguy

Village:
Les Côtes D'Arey
Appellation:
1.5ha
Côte Rôtie
Condrieu
Saint Joseph
Grower:
Stéphane Otheguy

Since 1994, Stéphane Otheguy has leased 1.5 hectares of vineyards from Vincent Gasse that are divided between the three northern Rhône appellations of Côte Rôtie, Condrieu and Saint Joseph. Stéphane left a career in education to study eonology at Macon after which he began working for Vincent Gasse. He spent seven years with M. Gasse farming in the organic and bio-dynamic methods that M. Gasse espoused and in 1994 when M. Gasse decided to retire Stéphane Otheguy took over and began making wine from these same vineyards. M. Otheguy is a member of Nature et Progres, an organization that oversees and certifies organic farming. The vineyards that Stéphane cultivates are among the most difficult in France to farm organically. They are extremely steep and rocky, making the use of machinery impossible and requiring a great deal ofintensive manual labor. His winemaking techniques are traditional or natural. The reds are fermented in open top containers. He has one of wood and one of cement. He does not introduce cultured yeast and fermentations are not controlled. For the extraction of the red wines, the cap is punched down (pigeage). The wines are unfiltered and unfined.

Côte Rôtie "Massales"

Côte Rôtie “Massales” is produced from 50-60 year old vineyards on the lieu-dits Leyat and Bonivière. The vineyards are planted to the pre-clonal selection of Syrah known locally as Sérine. Only ten percent of the Côte Rôtie vineyards are still planted to this historic plant.

Condrieu

The Condrieu is produced from a vineyard near the medieval town of Malleval. The vines are pruned to 4 bunches per vine. Both the alcoholic and malo-lactic fermentations are carried out in barrels where the wine matures for at least a year before bottling. The Saint Joseph vineyard is also near the medieval town of Malleval. This is the very northern part of the appellation and the vineyard is particularly granitic. The firmness and structure of this wine show its potential for aging.

News


A note from
Bill Curtis at Tastings

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Join us tomorrow night,April 24th at 7pm,for a tasting of the Northern Rhones from Wine Traditions. Both whites and reds will be tasted. The whites are from Lucie Fourel of Domaine Quatre Vents in Crozes Hermitage(Les Pitchounettes made from Roussanne and La Rage from Marsanne grapes). To finish the flight Stephane Otheguy's Sui Generis Condrieu from Viognier grape. All from the 2015 vintage
For the reds two St Josephs both 2014 and both from Paul Esteve and Chrystelle Vareille,owners of Domaine Miquettes,one vinified traditionlly in cement Cuvee the other (named Madloba) fermented and stored in Clay Amphorae that are buried in the ground. We could call them Ultra Traditional since Paul and Chrystelline spent 5 summers in European Georgia,widely considered along with Romania as the birthplace of winemaking to learn this ancient technique . We'll finish the reds with an incredibly muscular Syrah from Stephane Otheguy-his Cote Rotie appropriately named Les Massales 2014.
Domaine Miquette will be the wine with the cheese,especially since they made an all natural white wine with the Amphora Method from Marsanne and Viognier called Madloba Ambre. Ed swears that it is stunningly good with the cheese so I can't wait.

Along the way ,there will be a plate of deliciously appropriate Paella with Scallops ,Shrimp and Halibut for the whites and Tenderloin Bourguignon for the reds.

And there will be an apperitif,since Ed wanted to showcase his Pinot Noir Blanc 2016 from Domaine Clavollon in the Languedoc. I merely said "Why not?' ..
When Bill Curtis started Tastings in 1990 it was the only establishment of its kind on the East Coast–a fully integrated Wine Shop/Wine Bar serving lunch and dinner prepared by a professional chef.

"My mantra from the beginning has been to put the customer in better touch with his or her palate. To this end, I taste every wine before buying. I do not rely on point scores from wine journalists (about the worst way to interface with your palate) to sell you wine. I typically ask lots of questions.
"In the restaurant, our aim is to present true flavors from local products that are either sustainably (all-natural) or organically-raised. We don't crowd the plate and clutter your palate with eight different ingredients, leaving you dazed as to what went better with which wine and questioning whether there was a fig in the fig vinaigrette." -Bill Curtis
Make a reservation by calling 434-293-3663
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Region: Rhône

The Rhône and Loire rivers, if taken together, bring to a geographic focus nearly the whole of France. The two rivers never meet but they pass relatively near each other while flowing in different directions; the Loire flowing north some seven miles west of St. Etienne and the Rhône flowing south about eighteen miles east of St. Etienne, near the town of Chavanay, one of the northern most villages in the Saint Joseph appellation...

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I like to imagine that long before cities were built and humans walked the earth, these two immense and powerful aqua-highways had a relationship, something akin to a gravitational pull (that’s another way of saying romance). Even though they could not see each other, I imagine they could feel each other’s presence and in the primordial silence, the movement of each river might have given rise to a song which would have echoed between the Massif Central and the Alps.

The Rhône river begins in the Swiss Alps and flows 810 kilometers until it finally washes into the Mediterranean Sea. The vineyard area referred to generally as the Côtes du Rhône extends from Lyon in the north to Avignon in the south. The northern Rhône, known as the “vignoble septentrional,” is linked to the historic importance of Lyon whose commercial and gastronomic vitality have encouraged the northern Rhône vineyards to flourish. The northern vineyards lie on a narrow band of steep granite hills that represent the eastern extreme of the Massif Central. They run along the western edge of the river for a forty mile stretch between Vienne and Valence. The exceptions are the recently replanted vineyards in Vienne and the Hermitage vineyards, all of which lie on the eastern side. The climates of the northern and southern regions are notably different, with the north being cooler and wetter (a gift from the Swiss Alps that comes with the river). This is a major contributing factor to the extraordinary qualities of the northern Rhône reds which are cool climate Syrahs. The southern Rhône is quite separate from the northern region. It fans out around Avignon some hundred kilometers to the south of Valence. The southern Rhone known as the “vignoble méridional,” benefits from a Mediterranean influence which brings warmer and dryer air. It is here that one encounters lavender, olive trees and Grenache. The geology and topology of the southern Rhône are extremely variable with rivers and glaciers leaving certain zones with an abundance of surface stones. It is the Grenache grape that above all offers a thread of continuity to the red wines of the region.

The A.O.C. scheme of the Rhône Valley resembles that of Beaujolais and by French A.O.C. standards, it is rather simply organized, but of course not without its exceptions and contradictions. The appellations between Lyon and Avignon (with the exception of the Diois vineyards along the Drôme river in the Pre-Alps) are collectively known as Cotes du Rhône and include 171 communes spread throughout six départemants. The most basic appellation in the hierarchy covers wines that are labeled as Côtes du Rhône but technically referred to as Côtes du Rhône Régionales. Virtually all of these vineyards are located in the southern four départemants: Drôme, Ardèche, Vaucluse and Gard. Also located in these same four départemants, is the next level in the hierarchy, which is called Côtes du Rhône Villages. It includes 95 communes with a select 18 that are authorized to add their specific village name on the label. At the top of the order are the 13 Crus of Côtes du Rhône which do use their village of origin names on the label but not the word “Cru”. Eight of the “crus” lie in the northern Rhone: Côte-Rôtie, Condrieu, Château Grillet, Saint Joseph, Cornas Saint Péray, Hermitage and Crozes-Hermitage. Five lie in the southern part: Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Tavel and Lirac. There are additionally two villages whose red wines figure in the Côtes du Rhône Villages appellation, that have been given a separate A.O.C. for sweet wines known as vin doux natural. These are the villages of Rasteau and Beaumes de Venise. To finish out the Rhône Valley viticole, there are four independent appellations in the southern Rhône: Côtes du Vivarais, Coteaux du Tricastin, Côtes du Ventoux and Côtes du Luberon. All of this is to show that simple is not necessarily synonymous with simplistic.

When I started in the wine business in 1979, the wines of the Rhone Valley, with the exception of Hermitage and Châteauneuf du Pape, were little known or appreciated in the United States. At the time, a tasting of Saint Joseph wines seemed very exotic. This is in stark contrast to the enormous popularity the Rhône Valley’s wines enjoyed today. I don’t imagine that the ancient Romans would be surprised.