Oratoire St-Martin Domaine de l`Oratoire St-Martin

Oratoire St-Martin
Domaine de l'Oratoire St-Martin, Cairanne.
St-Martin's Oratory! Photo by Maya Pedersen.
Profile
Brothers Frédéric and François Alary are the tenth generation of winemakers to tend this estate in
the Côtes-du-Rhône over the last 300 years (the family history goes back to 1692). They succeeded
their father in 1984, and cultivate 27HA of some of the best plots in Cairanne.
Cairanne is a village north of Gigondas blessed with good terroir and a group of tremendously
talented and hard-working winemakers. The Alarys' vineyards are located on steep hills of two main
lieux-dits, les Douyes and St-Martin.
The estate takes its name from the small chapel (oratoire) that stands in this last plot. The soil is
very rocky, with a high proportion of limestone and two types of clay, yellow on the surface and blue
deeper down. Les Douyes' exposure is east, north-east and well-suited to growing white grapes and
Syrah, all early maturing varietals. St-Martin is warmer, facing south, south-west and that's where
Grenache and Mourvèdre grow. Most of the vines are over 40 years old and some are reaching their
100s.
The estate produces mainly red wines, from the varietals 60% Grenache, 30% Mourvèdre, and 10%
Syrah. The proportion of Mourvèdre is unusually high for the region, but this very late ripening
grape is key to balancing the high alcohol often reached by Grenache, and brings aromatics and
structure to the wines. 18% of the wines made are white, and the varietals are 50% Marsanne, 30%
Roussanne, 15% Clairette and 5% Viognier. A little bit of Rosé is made every year from saignées of
the red grapes.
Vineyard work is organic, although the Alary brothers may prefer the term traditional, since they
just continue to plow as their father did, and use no pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers.
They plow every other row to deepen the root system, and the second row is sown with grass that
competes with the vines and reduces their vegetation.
They prune short and, with old vines and green harvests if necessary, get low yields: 30HL/HA in
1998, 25HL/HA in 1999, 32HL/HA in 2000. The harvest is picked by hand with strict sorting in the
vines and on a sorting table at the winery. The grapes are destemmed, crushed and macerated with
pigeages for the Cairannes and pumping over for the Côtes-du-Rhône.
Interview
This interview with Frédéric Alary took place at his home in Carainne in July, 2012.
Tell us about Oratoire St-Martin's history.
The Alary family has been in Cairanne for 300 years. 10 generations can be traced back to 1692,
each one contributing to who we are today. Over the years the estate has grown, and we are the
third generation to live only off of viticulture and wine. I work with my brother François, who spends
the majority of his time in the vines. I'm more present in the cellar, but we are both very polyvalent
and share all of the work. We both came back to work with my father in 1984. François had studied
mechanics (which ended up being great for tractor maintenance), and I had studied
viticulture/oenology.
We work 27 hectares of vines, all in the commune of Cairanne. 6 h are in white, the rest is in red.
The whites (Marsanne, Roussane, Clairette and Grenache Blanc), are mostly on siliceous clay and
exposed to the East and North. All precocious red grapes are exposed to the East, the rest full South
or South-West. We have a majority of Grenache, but also a lot of Mourvèdre. We're also replanting a
lot of old varieties like Vaccarèse, Counoise, Muscardin and Terret Noir. These are some of 13
Chateauneuf grapes, and we feel they bring complexity to the wines.
How did the estate shift from polyculture to viticulture?
Before my grandfather, the family did all types of stuff. For example, at one point they cultivated the
garance plant, which was used as a natural red dye. My great-great grandfather also cultivated silk
worms before synthetic silk existed. But my grandfather found his passion in the vineyards, and
things haven't changed since.
Did anything significantly change when you got involved?
We've always been attracted to a more natural style of agriculture. At the time, the term organic did
not exist. My father and grandfather had worked this way, and after some trial and error on our part,
we realized this was the best way to do things. We use copper and sulfur in the vineyards to combat
mildew and odium, but use absolutely no herbicides or pesticides, and only use organic fertilizers. In
the cellar, no sulfur is added during vinification, we never add commercial yeasts, tartaric acid or
tannins. We don't filter because we don't want to damage the wines, and we only add a tiny dose of
sulfur at bottling so the wine can preserve itself while shipped.
And you've worked this way since your beginnings?
When I got out of oenology school, I thought I was really good at making wine! I applied this
knowledge in the cellar, only to realize that my wines were way worst than my father's! My dad, who
had studied philosophy and literature, was making a better wine than me! It took me a year to
understand that I needed to unlearn everything I'd been taught in school; I asked my grandfather
and father how they worked, and followed in their footsteps.
In the end, wine makes itself in the vineyard, not the cellar. I'm here to recuperate the grapes, and if
the work in the vineyards was good and the climate was favorable, you will always produce
something authentic.
You've been working biodynamically for the last 6 years. What made you take that decision?
The first time I read a Rudolph Steiner book was about 15 years ago. At first I really disliked it,
because of how esoteric it seemed. It felt like if you worked in biodynamics, you were in a sect. But
many incredible vignerons -whose wines I love- work this way, so it made me more open to the idea.
I consider us to be pragmatic biodynamists: we see what works and what doesn't, but we aren't too
caught up in the philosophy. We believe in what we see, and we see the wines becoming more
mineral and acidic, so we're happy. We're not trying to push things much further though; organic
and biodynamic agriculture is not our goal, it's our tool. If this is the way to make the best wine
possible, then we will continue to do so.
You have a pretty elaborate way of sorting out grapes...
We think it's very important to select the best grapes, so we sort them three times. The harvester
makes his initial selection, then puts their grapes on a table where two or three people go over them
again. Whatever they've selected, we put on a vibrating table and really make sure we've only got
the best of the best going into the tanks. We're perfectionists!
How do you feel about your A.O.C? Do your wines fit? Does it matter to you?
Our grandparents created this A.O.C, so we don't want to abandon it. At the same time, you need to
avoid getting bogged down by useless rules and regulations. So it then becomes important to try and
change these rules: we're trying to eliminate machine harvesting, lower allowed sulfur levels,
diminish pesticide use...
How do you feel about "natural wine"?
Ahhhh, good question! "Natural Wine" means everything and nothing all at once! My definition is:
wine that comes from grapes. But I'm not part of the whole sulfur debate; we actually make a sans
souffre cuvée, but adding minimal sulfur at bottling to protect the wine a little is not something I'm
against. The more grapes you have in the bottle, the better! But the most important is terroir: I don't
think ours are better than anyone else's, but they are certainly unique and we want the wine to
reflect them as authentically as possible.
What do you like to drink?
I like everything that's good! But I must admit I like easy drinking wines. I like it when you drink a
glass and it makes you want to drink another. I know that makes me sound like an alcoholic, but the
point is to take great pleasure in each sip! I love smaller appellations like the Jura and the Beaujolais.
We never drink our wines during meals. They stay in the cellar, where we taste them and observe
their evolution. It's fun for us to drink wines from other appellations or countries; it keeps your mind
open, and your palate fresh. It's great to see what others are doing.
Visits
This visit at L'Oratoire de Saint Martin took
place in July, 2012.
Words by Jules Dressner, photos by Maya Pedersen.
Frédéric & François Alary are the 10th generation of their family to live in Cairanne. Over the last
three centuries, things have slowly evolved and today the brothers are the third generation living off
of viticulture and wine. Their father gave the estate its name, based on this oratory in the lieu-dit
St-Martin.
Look, it's even on the label!
20 of the Alary's 27 hectares can be found in St-Martin, which borders Rasteau.
They mostly grow Grenache here, as well as an unusually large amount of Mourvèdre. The soils are
yellow clay and limestone with a blue clay subsoil. Between all the varieties and different ripening
periods (Syrah, Marsanne, Roussane, Clairette and Grenache Blanc are also grown), the harvest is
usually spread over an entire month, with average yields of 25hl. The Alary's have always worked
organically and feel that the region is particularly suited to this agriculture, since the mistral wind is
great at avoiding rot. Organics are also of utmost importance in preserving the vineyard's native
yeasts.
"When you don't use herbicide, you find at least 25 types of wild yeasts on your grapes. When you do
use herbicide, it goes down to 4."
Furthermore, the estate has been worked biodynamically for the last 6 years.
"The first time I read a Rudolph Steiner book was about 15 years ago. At first, I really disliked it
because of how esoteric it seemed. It felt like if you worked in biodynamics, you were in a sect. But
many incredible vignerons whose wines I love work this way, so it made me more open to the idea. I
consider us to be pragmatic biodynamists: we see what works and what doesn't, but aren't too
caught up in the philosophy. We believe in what we see, and we see the wines becoming more
mineral and acidic, so we're happy. We're not trying to push things much further though; organic
and biodynamic agriculture is not our goal, it's our tool. If this is the way to make the best wine
possible, then we will continue to do so."
All biodynamic preparations are made in this:
The Alary's have always been dedicated to the "natural agriculture", a work philosophy they've been
practicing well before the term "organic" came to prominence. After studying oenology in the early
80's, Frédéric began making wine conventionally, but was quickly turned off by a simple observation:
the wine he was producing was inferior than his father's!
"It took me a year to understand that I needed to unlearn everything I'd been taught in school; I
asked my grandfather and father how they worked and followed in their footsteps."
The brothers both started in 1984; that same year, they decided to build a vinification cellar just
under the vines.
"The idea was simply to have the cellar be as close to the vineyards as possible."
Frédéric is not a fan of wines marked by oak, so everything is fermented in stainless steel for
younger vine stuff and in concrete tanks for the rest.
The Cairanne Côtes du Rhône has an 8 day maceration, 15-30 days for all the others. Nothing is
added during vinification, and they don't filter. Once the wine is vinified, they bring it back 20hl at a
time to another cellar in this container:
Before any grapes even make it to the cellar, they are sorted three times. First, the harvester makes
his decisions in the vines. They then bring what they've picked on this tray table/trolley the Alary's
created themselves.
A second inspection occurs with 2-4 people occurs, and then the grapes are dropped into the cart.
Finally, a third inspection is performed on a vibrating tray table.
All this information was boring Zaggy to tears.
After visiting the vinification cellar, we set off to an incredibly beautiful vineyard planted in 1905:
We then headed to the aging cellar to taste. Besides some demi-muits and a few oak barrels, the
majority of the tanks are concrete. He still uses the ones his grandfather set up in 1930!
This year, Frédéric bought some eggs:
As well as these concrete "barrels":
For the whites, Frédéric used to use concrete tanks, barrels and demi-muits. But with biodynamics,
he's found new qualities in the wine and felt the demi-muit was making the wines too big. To remedy
this, he's purchased the eggs and concrete barrels. The brothers will do a blind tasting from each,
and whichever they prefer, they will buy more of for future vintages.
Speaking of the white, the Réserve des Seigneurs 2010 was incredible. Everything was tasting good
with the 2011's, continuing the summer's trend of easy drinking, pleasant and accessible wines. One
fun thing to try was their sans souffre bottling of P'Ttit Martin. Frédéric only does this for a few wine
bars in France, and wanted us to partake in an experiment: blind test both and guess which was
which.
"Wine remembers sulfur."
Both Maya and I picked the first one without hesitation as the sans souffre. It was more alive and
expressive. It also tasted less stable, so I almost laughed when Denyse picked the second bottle. But
she was right! Both of were shocked; the second bottle was by no means inferior, but showing way
tighter and "serious" than the first. Frédéric had proved his point!
"I'm not part of the whole sulfur debate; we actually make a sans souffre cuvée, but adding minimal
sulfur at bottling to protect it a little is not something I'm against. The more grapes you have in the
bottle, the better! But the most important is terroir: I don't think ours are better than anyone else's,
but they are certainly unique and we want the wine to reflect them as authentically as possible."
Zaggy didn't really seem to care.
Wines
Côtes-du-Rhône Blanc "Haut-Coustias":
50% Roussanne, 40% Marsanne, 10% Viognier, 45 year old vines, 45HL/HA, direct pressing, vinified
and aged in vats.
Côtes-du-Rhône P'tit Martin rouge:
60% Grenache, 30% Cinsault, 10% Syrah, 20 yrs old vines, 45HL/HA, aged in vats for 8 months,
meant for early drinking.
Côtes-du-Rhône "Oratoire" rouge:
80% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 30 yrs old vines, 45HL/HA, maceration 6 days, aged in vats for 6 months,
no filtration.
Cairanne Réserve des Seigneurs Rouge:
60% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 30%
Mourvèdre, 50 yrs old vines, 38HL/HA, maceration 12 days, aged for 9 months in vats, no fining, no
filtration.
Cairanne Haut-Coustias rouge:
60% Mourvèdre, 20% Syrah, 20% Grenache, 65 yrs old vines, maceration 18 days, aged for 24
months in Burgundy oak barrels, no fining, no filtration.