WineNZ Summer 18-19 (1)

feature | the frey way
Caroline Frey was just 26 when she took over as
winemaker at Chateau La Lagune in the Médoc.
CAROLINE FREY ON…
On her relationship with her
father
We are close, but above all we make a
good team. I bring my knowledge of wine
and vines; he has commercial acumen and
looks after running the business. There
are times when we don’t agree, but on the
long-term vision and the big decisions we
are on the same page.
On what makes a wine ‘authentic’
It starts in the vines. The vines must
function properly, which means it must
be the vines that feed and ripen the grapes,
not only the sun and heat. That’s important.
Following that, surmaturité (overripeness)
is to be avoided – it is something for me
that has the same taste in every region. The
oak must be in perfect balance, because
oak can fatten and detract from a wine. It’s
the same with extraction. Finally, there is
no place for faults such as brettanomyces.
On great wine
I always say a great wine is one about
which there is nothing to say. There is
nothing to say because the wine is more
about sensation than words when we
start saying a wine smells of raspberries,
for me that’s not a great wine. We should
dive inside it, in doing so dive into its
universe, but for me there should be no
need for words.
On the parallels between riding
horses and making wine
It’s often said that a horse and rider
must form a couple, there must be an
understanding. Wine is similar. Every horse
is different. A rider must adapt to different
horses the way a vigneron must adapt to
each parcel of vines. People have also said
how difficult it must be to be a woman in
the world of wine. Riding helped me in that
regard because it’s the only sport that is
mixed men and women compete against
each other. It was a good apprenticeship.
On the books she likes to read
I always read a lot of books at once.
At the moment I’m reading Krishnamurti
(an Indian philosopher). There are links
to Steiner and biodynamics in there. I’m
always reading wine books one right now
is by Jacky Rigaux and is about the taste of
wine before phylloxera. Very interesting.
I only read non-fiction never novels.
20 WineNZ Magazine | Summer 2018-19