WineNZ Summer 18-19 (1)

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 2018 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
1855 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
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