feature | the frey way FREY WAY THE Words by John Saker Lady of La Chapelle: Jaboulet winemaker Caroline Frey at the summit of the northern Rhône's famed Hermitage hill 16 <strong>WineNZ</strong> Magazine | <strong>Summer</strong> 20<strong>18</strong>-<strong>19</strong>
the frey way | feature They were putting on a brave face at Chateau La Lagune in Haut-Médoc. Yet the tomb-like quiet in the winery at harvest time all but bellowed the grim reality: the 20<strong>18</strong> vintage was a catastrophe. Two hail events were its undoing. The second, by far the worst, arrived on 15 July, a half hour before the kickoff of the football World Cup final. In that game, you will remember, France squared off against Croatia. “Of course we won, but the game was spoiled for me by the destruction at La Lagune,” one estate employee told me. An unusual, swirling wind steered the hailstorm to a position directly over La Lagune vineyard, upon which it dumped its payload. Ninety percent of the crop was lost in just a few minutes. This was the main reason I would not be meeting Caroline Frey in Bordeaux. The woman who oversees the winemaking at three separate estates across three of France’s great wine regions (Chateau La Lagune in Bordeaux, Jaboulet in the northern Rhône and Chateau Corton C. in Burgundy) reasoned her time would be better spent at her empire’s other two dominions. We would cross paths at Tain-Hermitage in a couple of days. In the meantime, I would acquaint myself with La Lagune and in doing so pick up clues about Frey and her world. Chateau La Lagune’s Left Bank address is smart. It’s the first estate of significance you come to when you head north along the Route du Médoc from the city of Bordeaux. Chateau Margaux is just another five minute drive up the line. La Lagune’s third growth <strong>18</strong>55 classification has always belied the quality of its wines. La Lagune was bought by the Frey family in 2000. Swiss-born pater familias Jean Jacques Frey had established himself in Reims, Champagne, where he made a fortune in commercial real estate. Two things were behind Frey’s move into fine wine. One was a genuine love of the product, the other a desire to create something that would remain in the family for generations. Daughter Caroline (the eldest of three girls), having finished her studies in oenology in Bordeaux, was perfectly placed to give this vision immediate traction. She was just 26 when she took the reins at La Lagune in 2004. She knew what she wanted. Her approach is rooted in respect for the natural order of things. Belief in terroir means doing everything possible not to distort it, which means growing grapes organically, which in turn means preserving corners of the world for whoever comes next. Her greening of the estate has not been confined to vineyards (many of which are now moving from organic to biodynamic). The Frey family has sought (and been granted) official protection for natural wilderness areas they own that abut vineyards (even the woodlands around the winery itself). These are now places where wild floral and fauna thrive (no hunting allowed), and provide a foil to the rigid monoculture of a vineyard. As with many other organic/biodynamic wine growers, Caroline Frey believes embracing these methods will result in truer, more authentic wines. If truth is indeed beauty, the wine should also offer a great tasting experience. In between vineyard visits, a foray up into the Médoc and an exploration of Bordeaux’s Cité du Vin (a remarkable global wine museum which I highly recommend), I sat down to a Chateau La Lagune vertical tasting. It ran from 2009 to 2016 minus the 2013, a tough vintage for which no classic blend or ‘grand vin’ was made. Two years before Caroline Frey became winemaker, British critic Andrew Jefford applied the descriptor ‘unchallenging claret’ to La Lagune. ‘Anything but’ I thought to myself as I worked through the line-up. The wines had depth and distinctiveness; a bold, savoury thread running through them all. La Lagune unusually includes a high (up to 10 per cent) petit verdot component, which gives the blend a dark, moody intensity. The standouts for me were the 2015 with its herbal whisper and harmonious tannins, and the 2010, aging beautifully, an amalgam of strength and beauty. The value these wines represent is worth mentioning too. The Freys have deliberately not jumped on board Bordeaux’s over-inflated price blimp. Chateau La Lagune sells for roughly 65 euros (NZ$100) a bottle. The estate puts out two other lower tier red blends: Moulin de La Lagune (merlot dominant) and the fruit-forward Mademoiselle L. The word ‘chateau’ is a bordelais synonym for wine estate, hence its omnipresence on the region’s labels. Chateau La Lagune is an exception in that a stately pile is part of the package. This is both a family residence and a property available for hire (see ‘Your Chateau Awaits’). It was in the library of the chateau that I spied photos of Caroline in her younger days, some showing her in equestrienne mode. She was mad on horses as a young girl, I learned, riding and rising through the equestrian ranks to eventually compete for the French national junior team. I flew from Bordeaux to the Rhône; Caroline Frey does the same back and www.winenzmagazine.co.nz 17
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