Marco Simonit has become something of a celebrity in the world of wine, but his specialisation – pruning – is not normally considered glamorous. Pruning is often low-paid work left to contract crews. But with his childhood friend Pierpaolo Sirch, he set up the Simonit&Sirch pruning consultancy that now has a team of 20 experts operating all over the wine world.  Partly this is because of the rise in grapevine trunk diseases, which are considered a major threat to viticulture. Simonit’s pruning methods are suddenly in high demand because they have the potential to vastly reduce the risk of trunk diseases. Now, in conjunction with FINE+RARE, he has made his first wines from old vines in Collio. The origins of Marco’s interest in the vine began with his background. "I lived with my grandparents because my father died and my mother worked," he says. "They had a small farm with cows, horses, sheep and goats, and also a small vineyard to make wine for the family’s consumption."  He says that it was a good environment to grow up in, surrounded by nature with a gentle pace of life. His real passion was animals, though – not vines – and he had set his heart on becoming a vet. But after studying agriculture at the local college in Cividale in Friuli, he had to take a job. He began working as the technical adviser for the Consorzio of the Collio DOC in 1988, a role he was to fulfill for a decade, offering guidance to growers on viticulture. "I loved the landscapes, and I loved to observe the trees, plants and hills," he recalls.  Then one day, he started drawing vines. "After work, I would go to the fields, and I drew the vines," says Simonit. "I drew the trunk and the arms and the canes and leaves, and I met the wounds. There were a lot of wounds. I started to think about what it must be like for the vine." Observing the pruning wounds and their effects on the old vines made a big impression on him. He asked a viticulturist if he could pull out an ailing old vine, and when he got permission, he approached one of his friends who was a carpenter. "I asked him if it would be possible to help me make a section through an old vine," Simonit recalls. "He said, this is a strange request. Why do you want to do this? I said I wanted to see inside."  So with the aid of the carpenter, Simonit cut the vine in half. "It wasn’t completely dead but it wasn’t in good health," he says. "It had an extraordinary impact on me: when I saw inside, a big part of the vine was destroyed. A small part of the wood was white (alive), but most of the inside of the trunk and the arm was brown and black, and with fungi. I was shocked." At that time no one in the schools and universities had sectioned vines to look at the consequences of pruning. "I called my professors and I spoke about this, and the professors said, Marco, since the beginning people have always approached pruning the vines in same way, so why are you going crazy taking the trunk and making sections to see what is happening inside? Just do a normal pruning like everyone has always done." None of the professors he spoke to were interested in his ideas. But he decided to carry on.  His growing obsession with old vines led him to start travelling, initially around Italy, and then further afield. He saw a similar pattern everywhere. "In these years the viticulture was changing," he says. "A lot of local training systems, such as pergola in Trentino, tendone in Abruzzo and albarello in Sicilia, were being transformed."  People were turning to more ‘modern’ ways of training vines, such as vertical shoot positioning (VSP), and then after 20 years these new vineyards were starting to lose vines to trunk disease. "The spacing for growing the vines wasn’t enough," he says. "In its natural state, the vine is a creeper, a liana. For sure, it is not easy for the vine to remain in the same position for a lot of time, with domesticated demands, without consequences for its health and longevity." He came back to Collio. "I asked some viticulturists if it would be possible for me to try to change the approach of the pruning in modern vineyards. I wanted to change the approach to pruning because the consequences were terrible. The response was they said they didn’t really understand what I wanted to do, but they let me try. In the beginning of 1990 I started to introduce a new technical approach to pruning and shoot thinning by myself in different places in Friuli." Simonit didn’t have a program, and at the time hadn’t heard of Guyot-Poussard pruning, which is an old system that’s somewhat similar to the technique he developed himself. Over a ten-year period he tried to find new solutions, observing old vines and applying different approaches. After this period of experimentation, he thought he had something worthwhile, and he began to approach professors and viticulturists, only to meet with disinterest. Attilio Scienza, professor of viticulture at Milan University, was the exception, though. "Scienza said to me, it is interesting what you do," he recalls.   "Scienza was impressed with my work and started to speak about it with important producers in Italy, such as Bellavista and Ferrari," says Simonit. "And in Schiopetto we built our campus, our laboratory. In Schiopetto today it is possible to see and touch the last 30 years of my work." This was the early 2000s, and although Simonit was starting to get his first consulting gigs, he wasn’t sure that pruning was going to be his professional future.  "But I thought: I believe in this. I had a passion for vines and wanted to help reduce the risks from bad pruning. And I thought, maybe the top wineries in Italy might be interested in my new approach for pruning and shoot thinning. I tried to call these guys and show them what I was doing in the campus of Schiopetto. One day I was in my car, and I looked up Angelo Gaja’s number. I thought this guy might be interested because the wines are expensive and high quality. Maybe he would be interested to keep his heritage vines." "I called and asked the secretary whether I could speak with Angelo." He was stunned to be put through to him. "I told him that I’d worked in a lot of vineyards over the last five years to find a new solution for pruning and shoot thinning, and I asked him if he was interested in coming to Friuli to see it in action.  He said yes, and two weeks later he came along with his entire team from Piemonte and Tuscany to Friuli. They were really impressed, and a few weeks later I had contracts with Angelo Gaja, Ferrari and Bellavista." This was in 2003, and Simonit finally began to see that this was going to be his future. He took his approach all over Italy, working with some of the top estates, including Frescobaldi, Planeta, Tasca d’Almerita, Feudo di San Gregorio and Ornellaia.  What is different about the Simonit approach?  There is no recipe because vineyards, regions and training systems are all different. But there are two main principles. The first is that the sap flow of the vine has to be respected, and pruning cuts are made with this in mind. The second is what Simonit describes as ‘ramification’. "One of the big principles for respecting vines is independent of the training system you use, or the variety," he says.  "It is ramification. You first build the trunk (the first structure), then the arms (the second structure). It is like a chronology. You need to build a chronology of wood." He points out that the vine is naturally a creeper, and that pruning should respect this as much as possible. "Our principle rule is ramification. Build a chronology of live wood: first floor, second floor, third floor and so on."  So, for example, with a double Guyot, the canes chosen on each side of the vine should be furthest from the head each time, with the replacement spur the outside cane, and the cuts should always be made on the upper branch. When a cut is made, it should be of young wood only – one or two years old. And the cut should not be made flush to the trunk, because there is always what is called a ‘cone of dessication’, roughly equal to one-and-a-half times the diameter of the cut, where the wood left dies back. This can interfere with the sap flow and make the vine susceptible to trunk disease.  But respecting the sap flow isn’t always key. "Not all the varieties suffer if you don’t respect the sap flow," says Simonit. "Some varieties are very sensitive, like Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Sangiovese. Others don’t suffer a lot. For example, Nebbiolo and Semillon. I work for Château d’Yquem. They called me because the Sauvignon Blanc is being destroyed by trunk disease after 20 years. The Semillon is not: it has super energy and lives a long time, because the genetics are different." "But always respect the ramification. If you think about the albarello in Primitivo in Puglia, they grow up vertically. The arms of the Primitivo grow up vertically. It isn’t possible to respect the sap flow. For other examples of alberello training with different varieties, such as Moscato d’Alexandria, to follow the sap flow is necessary. We need to find solutions for each variety in each terroir: it’s not always possible to take the same approach." Bordeaux came calling A big moment for Simonit was when he was contacted by the late Denis Dubourdieu in 2011. "Denis called me from Bordeaux, because with the Guyot Médocaine, after years and years, there wasn’t enough space for the canes. They wanted to know what to do." If canes are taken from the outside each time, after a while the vines grow out along the row, and when the planting is close, they run out of space.  In Bordeaux, their solution was to take a shoot from inside, close to the head, and then lay that down after cutting the old arm off. Often, this would result in fatal trunk disease. "They destroyed a lot of vines this way, trying to regain the space and reduce the risk of congestion of canes overlapping," says Simonit. "This was a disaster for the Médoc and all the double Guyots in the world, because the big wounds destroyed the vines." "We started with a new approach in the Médoc, introducing the spur in the sap flow, building the chronology, preparing new exits for two or three years in the way of the sap flow, and then cutting the big arm, far away from the position of the new spur. This is one of the smart solutions when you have lost a lot of spacing. But this problem is particularly present when the distance between the vines was not enough in the first place when they were planted." Simonit now has many prestigious clients in Bordeaux. The dangers of high-density planting High-density planting is very popular these days, but it is causing problems because the vines are planted too close to allow for sustainable pruning approaches. "The risk is that if you don’t have the idea of the vine architecture at the beginning for the next 50 or 60 years, it becomes a problem. I see this problem all over the world, not only in the double Guyot, but also in Bourgogne and Champagne and Provence: everywhere. The big problem is people and space: people are scared to leave space for vines. Then to create space they use pruning, and it is a disaster." "In the past in Bordeaux, particularly in the Médoc, the Cabernet Sauvignon was planted further apart. Now we find Cabernet Sauvignon vines planted 80cm apart. We need to think about this for the future sustainability of vines and vineyards. We need to speak about the space. If we build vineyards for the next generation we need to think about the spacing." One idea that Simonit has adopted from Dubourdieu was ‘curetage’. Dubourdieu gifted Simonit with a book: this was René Lafon’s 1921 title Modifications à apporter à la taille de la vigne des Charentes, taille Guyot-Poussart mixte et double: l'apoplexie, traitement préventif (méthode Poussard), traitement curative.  This book described the experiments on pruning carried out by Eugène Poussard, a viticulturist in the Charentes area. Poussard is responsible for the vine pruning system called ‘Guyot Poussard’, which is very similar to Simonit’s system. But he also treated affected vines using ‘curetage’, cutting away affected wood. "More than 150 years ago this man was trying to do some surgery on the vines with rudimentary tools," says Simonit. "Denis asked me to go to Sancerre, because he knew that a lot of older viticulturists had used small chainsaws to open the vines and clean the wood affected by fungi, and the vines survived." They headed to the Loire and visited different vineyards. Sancerre has been particularly badly hit because Sauvignon Blanc is very susceptible. "We shared experiences with François Dal [another pruning expert who works for Sicavac, the regional technical body], and he was also interested in working with chainsaws. We tried doing this surgery in the wineries of Denis Dubourdieu, like Château Reynon, Doisy-Daëne and Floridène. In 2014 we began teaching others how to do this." As soon as the first foliar symptoms are seen, then any soft wood that has been infected by the fungi is cut out of the trunk. The infected wood produces toxins, and once it is taken out, the vine usually recovers.   FINE+RARE x Simonit&Sirch Now, for the first time, Simonit has begun making wine from old vines, in conjunction with FINE+RARE. "On my trips and jobs around the world, I met a lot of old vines, and sometimes these vines are not vinified separately," he says. Making small parcels of wine appeals to him. "It is a ways of speaking to people about the importance of old vines for increasing the identity of wines, speaking about vineyard sustainability, and thinking about the relation between humans and vines." He adds, "I wanted to make wines that speak about this philosophy." "Patrick O’Connor [of FINE+RARE] and I share a mutual friend, and he knew about my idea," says Simonit. "One day Patrick called me to ask me if it’s possible to organise a meeting because he was interested in this old vines project. He was very excited about the idea, and he proposed starting this project in Friuli, where my heart is." "He asked me which varieties were most interesting for me. I chose Sauvignon because I love it, and it is very difficult to have old vine Sauvignon because of trunk disease. Many of the vineyards have vines of different ages, because after 25 years the original vines often begin dying, and people co-plant with new vines. Then they make wine with all the vines – young and old – together. Also, I chose Chardonnay: in Colli Orientali we have the oldest Chardonnay in Friuli, 80 years old. And after I chose Friulano, which is 50 years old." Winemaking is in the hands of Christian Patat, an old friend of Simonit’s. "Twenty years ago we started with a small project but it stopped because we were both so busy. So when FINE+RARE and I began working, I spoke to Christian seeing if he could make the wines. He married the owner of Ronco de Gnemiz, and he makes the wines there. This guy has an approach to wine that’s close to mine – we like the same sort of wines. Our goal was to make two or three barrels of each variety." This is Marco’s first wine project. "I have never thought about making wine before. Now I’d like to expand this project to other Italian regions, and also other countries, with a small production focusing only on old vines." "It is a unique approach because we try to vinify with just the oldest vines. In the Chardonnay project, for example, we don’t use all the vines. Part of the vineyard is 80 years old. We pick only the grapes from the original old vines to make this wine from. These wines speak about the relationship between humans and vines, sustainability, the importance of the age of the vine, the importance of terroir." Tasting notes The wines are called L’Età Più Bella (With Age Comes Beauty), and will be released as a mixed case of three separate cuvées – a Chardonnay, a Friuliano and a Sauvignon Blanc. L’Età Più Bella Sauvignon 2018 - Collio, Italy "13% alcohol. Lean, taut and chiselled, this is a bright lemony Sauvignon with good acidity and some fine herbal hints. It’s quite compact and mineral with precision and focus, finishing quite taut. Stylish stuff." L’Età Più Bella Friulano 2018 - Friuli Colli Orientali, Italy "14% alcohol. There’s good density here with taut pear, apple and lemon fruit, as well as a touch of richness on the mid-palate. This has a lovely focus, combining some richer notes with good acidity and a long, mineral, subtly nutty finish. Beguiling and elegant. " L’Età Più Bella Chardonnay 2018 - Friuli Colli Orientali, Italy "13% alcohol. Hazelnut, spice, honey and citrus on the nose. The palate has fresh fruit with an appealing cedary, woody, spicy undercurrent. Citrus, pear and white peach, with a warm spicy finish. Lovely intensity here, with good fruit purity." Explore more Editorial 

Self-confessed wine anorak Jamie Goode explores Marco Simonit’s rise to fame – from his formative years with his grandparents in Friuli, to the establishment of his successful pruning consultancy Simonit&Sirch – and the ideologies that have influenced his first wines made from old vines in Collio

Wine anorak Jamie Goode explores Marco Simonit’s rise to fame with his Friuli wine estate and tastes L’Età Più Bella Chardonnay, Sauvignon and Fruiliano  

'Wine Anorak' Jamie Goode speaks to Marco Simonit

'Wine Anorak' Jamie Goode meets Marco Simonit

Since the ban on chemical prevention came into practice across Europe in the early 2000s, vine disease has grown to epidemic proportions, including in some of the world's most prized vineyards. Marco Simonit's methodology of using non-invasive, gentle pruning techniques and shunning any chemical additives has brought him many endorsements from wineries around the world. He has advised at over 100 wineries and currently has a team of 25 international consultants working for him, including at top estates such as Domaine Leroy, Ch. d’Yquem and Champagne House Louis Roederer.  In an interview conducted just weeks before the Coronavirus lockdown began, Simonit outlines the philosophy behind the L’Età Più Bella (With Age Comes Beauty) range of wines. L’Età Più Bella (With Age Comes Beauty) is a collection of wines produced entirely from old vines from Marco Simonit’s home region of Friuli – arguably Italy’s top region for white wine. Simonit states “the idea of the project is to identify the distinct character one gets from wines made exclusively from old vines. It also provides a true terroir blueprint of that vine. More than that and what is the key impetus behind the project was to produce something that would come to be a physical embodiment of the Simonit&Sirch philosophy.”  This project has been a dream for Simonit for the past 20 years. “By having a bottle of wine on the table I hope it will create conversation about the world we live in, the environmental issues that surround food and wine production and the efforts made to make such production sustainable,” he says. The importance of protecting old vines is multifaceted. Simonit states, “First and foremost it promotes sustainable viticulture without an over-reliance on water and chemicals. Old vines with deeper roots are effectively dry-grown – with the deep roots feeding from water locked into the soils. Young vines (depending on the climate) rely on irrigation in their early years and continual replanting of young vines leads to a huge increase in water requirements.” “Fundamentally the project is to provide sustainable viticulture under the threats of global warming,” he says. Being organic/biodynamic, according to Simonit, is not enough in light of current threats to the environment. "Vines have to be stronger and self-sufficient if they are to survive the increasing climatic pressures. The current volume of fertilisers and water is not sustainable in the long-term future," he adds. Old vines are also more sustainable in terms of water requirements and self-sufficient when it comes to nutrients not needing to rely on chemical fertilisers to keep the plants operational. Simonit explains: “A healthy vine (free of pathogens) has much more live wood on the vine which means much healthier capillaries and is therefore much more resistant to the stress and strains of the growing season – whether that be pathogenic fungal disease, hydric stress or other diseases typically found in a vineyard.” Educating the vigneron and the wine lover For Simonit, this project is a plea for wine lovers to understand the fragility of future production in many fine wine regions of the world. “In the world, there are old vineyards at risk of being uprooted, or not valued," he says. "In this case, it is their uniqueness that makes the difference and I want the L’Età Più Bella range of wines to become a means of talking about the importance of vines reaching advanced age (an approach completely at odds with many producers in Italy currently). "I want to make people understand through a product how important these ancient vineyards are, and how through tasting the wines one can go deep into the territory, the vineyard, and the single plant and its conditions of health.”  Vine-by-vine assessment “There is no mass approach when dealing with vines like these,"Simonit explains. "All plants are different, just like men and animals. The extraordinary work is to understand plant-by-plant how many bunches, how many leaves to leave, whether to trim and in what way.  "Soils are analysed, which is fundamental for maintaining the radical system. It takes a lot of energy, willpower and time because the individual plants are treated within the vineyard, and then you have to be severe. The grapes entice you, but you have to respect the plants as individuals.” Vine pruners as a skilled workforce More than that, Simonit wants the project to be an opportunity to bring focus on the regions where the wines originate, as well as the growers who produce the grapes. “It is important for me to have consistent relations with growers who share the old-vine philosophy and values and have detailed knowledge and approaches to their vines.  "But the project also brings the philosophy to the growers. By producing the wine, the growers themselves become further involved, recognising the benefits of the preservation of the old vines and how these wines would further promote their region.” An additional benefit that has stemmed from the old-vine project and the adoption of Marco Simonit’s gentle pruning techniques is that it has reawakened the craft skills of traditional vine pruning that have been lost due to the introduction of chemical and machine farming during the latter half of the 20th century.  Marco Simonit’s pruning school and one-to-one consultancy with vignerons and their workers all over the world have introduced new skills to individuals that have been underappreciated as part of a low-paid, unskilled workforce, often working in poor conditions and with minimal social support as is the case with many seasonal workers. “Training up pruners has become part of a social responsibility," explains Simonit, “not only improving the health of the vines but also creating a skilled workforce that through vine protection and a reduction in chemical use has been a financial benefit to both wineries and their workforce”. Marco states “the social impact of training vineyard workers has been recognised by government initiatives in Europe who have worked with us to help increase the skillset and employability of immigrants in parts of Italy with the end result having a beneficial effect on their individual lives and the communities involved.” “Where better than to start” he states, "than in my home region of Friuli in Northern Italy". A region whose reputation continues to grow and is now widely recognised as the country’s finest for top white wine which competes with some of the finest in the world. They make pretty good red wines there too. Born and raised in Friuli, Simonit couldn’t think of a better place where he could bring the philosophy to life: “Friuli needs a project that speaks about Friuli.” 30 years is an old vine (for Sauvignon Blanc) A common issue in vineyards around the world today is vines dying at just 20 years of age, requiring them to be pulled out and replanted. The vine is not even operational in terms of production for at least three years of growth. The longer the life of the vine can be extended, means a huge reduction in both economic as well as environmental pressures. At 15-20 years old, the vine will have good adaptation to its soil, consistency in its production and will be much more self-sufficient. "The Sauvignon comes from a 30-year-old vineyard, but 30 years may seem young in an 'old vines' context but 30 years for Sauvignon is a lot. For example, Sancerre vines have a maximum lifespan of 25 years. And it is very rare to find it older than this, it is one of the most sensitive varieties to diseases.  Speaking of the pandemic, since we are on the subject, there were the pandemics of Sauvignon and Cabernet Sauvignon: they are the most sensitive varieties to diseases, there were international experts who have tried to investigate this theme. In France for example the producers that lost their plants to disease, planted younger plants, and they made wine from old and young plants together, but the wine was no longer the same. Because the difference is made by the wine that is obtained only from the original plants, without the 'interference' of the new plants. "Sauvignon gets sick from pruning wounds, fungi enter that destroy the plants and kills them. It is very difficult to find single original Sauvignon plants. That is why the Simonit&Sirch method performs pruning cuts that do not ruin the path of the lifeblood of the plant. "Ultimately we want to tell these things through wines. With a point of view that no one has ever taken into consideration, because we invest in people and because we respect the plants over time. "It is no longer enough to say that you are 'bio' to guarantee a good job, you need to do a lot more to be sustainable. And our job is to tell everybody this.” True terroir relies on old vines An additional and worthy benefit at the premium end of production lies in an old vine's ability to produce grapes with a true blueprint of its terroir. Simonit agrees with Lalou Bize-Leroy’s philosophy that a true terroir of a particular site requires a vine that is at least 15 years old, since a well-established vine produces a wine that is more about the soil than the individual characteristics of the sun. Old vines with deeper roots are also much less affected by vintage variation. These are wines made from their roots rather than wines made from the sun. For Simonit, the importance of the project lies in “the increase of education, sensibilities and sustainability. The importance of my pruning technique is understanding that, left alone, vines will survive very well. The problem lies in when the vine is domesticated and such domestication, if done badly, can weaken the vine, increase the pathological stress to the plant, leading to an early death.”  Browse more Editorial 

Marco Simonit has been at the forefront of modern viticulture techniques aimed at protecting old vines from disease and decay for the past decade. Gavin Smith speaks to him about his pioneering philosophy

Pioneering viticulturalist Marco Simonit on the philosophy behind his L’Età Più Bella wines. 

Marco Simonit on why old vines matter

The air is cool and crisp, with the radiant blue skies that only late winter can provide. On the crest of the hill in front of me, a troupe is studiously pruning Ch. Lafite Rothschild’s oldest Cabernet Sauvignon vines, their roots sinking deep into the precious gravel soils that define the First Growth’s wines. Looking over a junior member of the team’s shoulder is Luís Pinto, making sure that no mistakes are being made as they shape the vines for the future, laying the groundwork for not just 2024, but the vintages beyond that. Sporting navy-blue Domaines Barons de Rothschild overalls (vintage, sadly out of production and unavailable for purchase – I asked), Pinto has been working at the estate for over 30 years, and now leads one of the vineyard teams. As you might guess given his name, his family is Portuguese, although he was born and raised in Bordeaux. In fact, his mother even worked the harvest at Lafite, and Pinto has pictures of himself as a child at the on-site nursery the château then had for workers’ offspring – perhaps sewing the first seeds of his future profession. As Louis Caillard, Vineyard Manager at Ch. Lafite Rothschild and Ch. Duhart-Milon, explains, Pinto isn’t an anomaly. Caillard heads up the 80-strong team which works across both properties (and are managed identically when it comes to the vines). The vast majority of this team are extremely local, coming from within a 20-kilometre radius of the château, and once they join the team, few ever leave. Much has changed over Pinto’s many years working these vines – offering an on-the-ground view of viticultural trends. He remembers a time when they would rip out hedges and trees to make room for vines, focused more on yield, now coming full-circle to reinstate the biodiversity that existed before. Today there’s more appreciation of the craft and calling of a vigneron, or vine-grower – a return to traditional vineyard management.  Looking at pruning, for example, Pinto explains how there are no set rules: “Each person prunes a vine as they wish,” he tells me. They respond to each vine, its needs, looking at the sap flow and thinking about its long-term future, rather than just the next season. It’s very Simonit&Sirch in approach – although Pinto is bemused by such a suggestion; for him, it’s how he learnt to understand vines. “All it is, effectively, is that we think,” says Caillard. “It’s always existed; it’s just that we had forgotten it a little.” The challenge is teaching this sort of instinctive approach to managing a vineyard. “I don’t follow a recipe anymore,” says Pinto. It’s not just knowledge he is trying to pass on to his team, but “a way of thinking”, he says, one that inevitably comes from experience, from making mistakes and learning from them. There’s a drastic difference between studying the theory from a book, and standing in front of a vine, secateurs in hand. Of course, the idea of making mistakes when the wine commands the reputation (and price) that Lafite does might seem daunting – but it’s this that sets top addresses apart. Lafite’s scrupulous approach to quality, declassifying any fruit that doesn’t meet its very high standards, is a luxury that not all producers can afford. For Pinto, it’s this dedication to quality and long-term view that has kept him at Lafite all these years. There are plenty of properties that will rip vines out once they reach a certain age, all in the name for better crop loads, but at Lafite, the philosophy is to see “how far we can take the vine”, nurturing parcels into old age. His work might be cyclic, following the vine’s yearly progression, but there are changes every year – an effort to constantly evolve and improve. This, perhaps, is what – for me – is most interesting about Lafite. It’s not just the finesse and elegance of its pinpoint Grand Vin that sets this estate apart, but the way in which it has quietly been changing the way Bordeaux works, pushing forward in its pursuit of excellence. For over a decade, they’ve had Manuela Brando leading their Research & Development; talking to her is fascinating, with trials on everything from biodynamics, rootstocks and treatments to umbrella-like covers as an alternative way to combat mildew. If successful, these trials are transferred to the wider vineyard – with training that means the team never stops learning. Just the other day, Pinto tells me, they had a session on agroforestry – something that he’s clearly fascinated by. Pinto seems relaxed, joking lightly with us, but is also quietly serious when it comes to his work, knowing that every decision they make in the vineyard is critical to the quality of the wine that eventually emerges from the cellar. “Every decision has an impact,” echoes Caillard – “and, in fact, nothing is simple.” Difficult it might be, but Pinto is pleased with the progression he has seen over the years. “You can feel the terroir a bit more again,” he says. The shift to organic, re-introduction of hedgerows and trees to the vineyard, which in turn has brought an array of fauna – butterflies and ladybirds, for example, has transformed the property. As an apiarist, he’s acutely aware of the wildflowers that now blossom and abundant bees they attract. At the end of the day, however, there’s no wizardry, he suggests, to what they do – it’s simple: “We respect the vines a bit more.” With the gloss of an estate like Lafite, a First Growth whose reputation is so immense, it’s easy to forget the work that happens behind the scenes. But, as Caillard knows all too well, “You cannot achieve anything technical without the people; people are key to everything we do.” People like Pinto, so clearly at one with their calling, the place and vines, are what make truly great wine – separating the excellent and exceptional. As our conversation draws to a close, Pinto returns back to his team, his stocky frame receding down the row of vines and weathered face turned once more to the bright sunshine, as deeply rooted in this terroir as the Cabernet Sauvignon that surrounds him. Browse all current listings of Ch. Lafite Rothschild, or read more about Bordeaux

As we continue to take you behind the scenes at Bordeaux’s top addresses, our latest feature shines a light on Ch. Lafite Rothschild. We caught up with one of its vineyard team, a vigneron who has dedicated over 30 years of his life to the First Growth’s vines

Taking you behind the scenes at Ch. Lafite Rothschild to talk to one of the Bordeaux First Growth’s vineyard workers

The call of the vine – Ch. Lafite Rothschild

The call of the vine: Ch. Lafite Rothschild

It’s easy to sneer at Sauvignon Blanc. Its success has been its downfall. It’s one of the most popular varieties planted around the world – coming in just behind Airén (grown widely for distillation, rather than wine) and Chardonnay. In New Zealand alone – a nation that has fully tied its cart to Sauvignon Blanc – 26,559 of its 41,603 hectares of vines are dedicated to the grape (for context, the entirety of Burgundy represents a little over 28,000 hectares). It accounts for over 86% of the nation’s wine exports (the next most exported variety is Pinot Noir, at less than 4%). And yet, wine cognoscenti are inclined to dismiss it.  The variety’s historic heartland is the Loire, where it was first recorded in the 16th century, but has since spread rampantly around the globe, finding its way into almost every corner. Indeed, there’s even a remote stretch of Burgundy dedicated to the grape (Saint-Bris). It also gave us Cabernet Sauvignon, of which it is a parent, along with Cabernet Franc – which is some legacy.  In her benchmark Vines, Grapes & Wines, Jancis Robinson MW describes Sauvignon Blanc as “aggressively recognisable”. With descriptors such as cat’s pee, gooseberry, passionfruit, capsicum, grapefruit and cut-grass stereotypical, it’s hard to disagree – but there’s much more to the grape. Today, the distinctive variety is responsible for the flinty styles of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, more waxy, textured Bordeaux Blanc (where it is most often – but not always – blended with Semillon and aged in oak), the exuberantly pungent styles of Marlborough, richer, weightier northern Italian examples (not to mention many with extended skin contact) – and everything in between.  Ch. Margaux’s Pavillon Blanc is one of the most famous examples of Sauvignon Blanc – and rare in Bordeaux (at the top end of the category, at least) for not including any Semillon, which has never been planted on the site. Their archive has records back to the 18th century of a “vin de sauvignon” from the property. Tasting the wine, it’s always hard to believe it hasn’t been rounded out by its local partner – and this, Aurélien Valance, says is all to do with achieving the perfect level of ripeness.  “When [people] think Sauvignon Blanc, they think about unripe Sauvignon Blanc. When it is ripe, it can have very complex and floral perfume – but the problem is that it is very difficult to get it ripe and keep enough acidity,” the Deputy Managing Director explains. Working with old vines (around 50 years old), low yields and strict selection allows Ch. Margaux, however, to produce an exceptional, age-worthy white – one that “smells of Sauvignon Blanc – but not the Sauvignon Blanc that people are used to”. For Christian Patat – the winemaker behind L’Età Più Bella and Ronco del Gnemiz, who also worked at Miani – the perfect harvest date is key to giving Sauvignon “verticality”, especially in Friuli where the wines are naturally bigger and richer than those from the Loire. If you pick too late, it becomes all about the variety – rather than the site. For him, Sauvignon Blanc is an “amplifier of different soils”, which is why he has ended up making six different single-site expressions with his wife at Ronco del Gnemiz, all made the same way so that the terroir shines through in each. Omri Ram – of Société Civile du Ch. Lafleur – echoes this idea, feeling there’s a particularly narrow window for picking Sauvignon Blanc, before the variety becomes a caricature of itself. He argues there is a “valley between two aromatic peaks” in which Sauvignon Blanc must be harvested, a window that lasts maximum three days, but as little as 20 hours in a hot vintage – so it’s essential to watch your fruit carefully, and make sure it’s on the right soils (with clay to help retain freshness and avoid hydric stress).   Patat – like the team at Ch. Margaux – is fortunate to farm old Sauvignon vines, between 40 and 50 years in age. This is ancient for the variety, which is naturally vigorous and very susceptible to Eutypa and Esca (grapevine trunk diseases which slowly kill the vine), meaning finding vines above the age of 30 is increasingly rare. Marco Simonit – the man behind the Simonit & Sirch method and master pruner to the world’s leading producers – feels that vine age, however, is key to making a “vin de lieu” (a wine of place) – and therefore combatting the onset of disease is essential for crafting great Sauvignon Blanc. He notes how it’s not just that Sauvignon (referenced affectionately as “this guy” during our conversation) seems to be more inclined to develop Eutypa/Esca, but it suffers more when diseased – showing its symptoms much more than other vines, as is most clearly seen in Bordeaux where it is farmed side-by-side with Semillon.  “I think we need to reconsider the spacing and architecture of the vines,” Simonit says. He feels that these older vineyards have survived thanks to their wider spacing, allowing each vine more room to sprawl naturally. Robert Mondavi’s I Block is a prime example – the plot of Sauvignon Blanc in To Kalon planted in the mid-1940s. These untrellised, freestanding tree-like plants stand proud and sparse, producing wine that – in Mark de Vere MW’s words – offer “a different type of complexity, elegance”, yielding just half a ton an acre. Simonit is convinced that the increased vine density of the last 30 years has contributed to the higher incidence of grapevine trunk diseases, and this type of “dynamic” architecture, exemplified by the unfashionable California sprawl, may be the solution to Sauvignon Blanc’s short life-span, helping minimise pruning cuts and giving it the space it needs – but does need to be adapted to the individual site and climate.   Andy Erickson – winemaker at Favia and star consultant – now makes wine in To Kalon (under the To Kalon Vineyard Company label) – but has fond memories of I Block, as he would trespass to taste the Sauvignon Blanc at harvest time – loving the flavour of the grape just on the cusp of harvest. He was the one who suggested planting Sauvignon Blanc at Screaming Eagle – which produces a tiny amount (30-50 cases only) of incredibly sought-after Sauvignon. There was a tiny corner of the vineyard with more alluvial, clay soils – a site that wouldn’t produce a Screaming-Eagle-grade red, so he suggested it be used for Sauvignon Blanc and Musqué (an aromatic clone of the variety, also planted at Eisele Vineyard – where it represents 80% of the vineyard). “The challenge with Sauvignon Blanc is you really need to plant it on Cabernet Sauvignon ground to make the best wines, and so it takes someone who’s really passionate – or maybe a little crazy to do that,” Erickson says.  While the Loire’s top wines have always been accepted as fine wine, as with top white Bordeaux, Sauvignon Blanc under its own name didn’t make it big until the late 20th century. Robert Mondavi shifted perceptions in California – but only by rebranding the variety. In the late 1960s, at a time when most Sauvignon Blanc in America was low quality and sweet, he created Fumé Blanc – legally registering the term as a synonym for Sauvignon Blanc with the TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau). With its European feel (inspired of course by Pouilly-Fumé), he made dry, serious Sauvignon Blanc – and, at the top end, fermented the wine in oak. At the time, it was radical – and soon the wines earned international acclaim.  Meanwhile, something was going on Down Under. David Hohnen – who had just won a Jimmy Watson trophy for his Cabernet Sauvignon at Cape Mentelle, Margaret River – was visited by a handful of travelling Kiwi winemakers. They left him with a bottle of something new, a Sauvignon Blanc (which had only been planted for the first time in New Zealand in 1973). “He hadn’t tasted anything like it before,” Jim White, Cloudy Bay’s Technical Director, tells me. Hohnen happened to have a Kiwi cellar hand at the time, and asked him to bring back more Sauvignon when he went home for Christmas. In 1984, Hohnen went to New Zealand. He persuaded Kevin Judd – then winemaker at Selaks – to come make wine for him. They couldn’t find Sauvignon Blanc at first, so the first vintage in 1984 was a Marlborough Semillon. The following vintage, they bought a truckload of Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, and ferried it all the way up to Gisborne to make the wine.  With such a small population, machine harvesting was the only option in New Zealand – and this, combined with the additional skin contact from the fruit’s minimum 12-hour journey to Gisborne, extracted more tannin than they’d wanted, but also thiol precursors – the compounds responsible for Sauvignon’s pungent aromas. Hohnen didn’t put “New Zealand” on the front label, feeling people wouldn’t take it seriously. By 1986, they had built their own winery (having persuaded an angling-loving Scot to stump up a million dollars to fund the project, on the basis that he’d have access to the best trout fishing in the world). The vineyards needed work – and Hohnen’s experience was key, bringing knowledge of canopy management, reducing water and nitrogen and reducing yields. The wines took off, and Cloudy Bay was born.  For White, vineyard location is the foundation of top Sauvignon Blanc – needing stony, free-draining soils to contain the variety’s natural vigour, hence why they prefer the heart of the Wairau Valley. Combine this with enough leaf plucking to allow for sufficient airflow, but avoid over-exposing the fruit, and this allows them to harvest ripe fruit that still has beautiful acidity – echoing Valance’s views at Ch. Margaux. The important thing for them is to avoid the “big green monster” – ensuring they have no methoxypyrazines (green compounds), which happen to be some of the most stable compounds during maturation, and don’t disappear with time in bottle.  In New Zealand, the variety has been a victim of its own success – shoehorned as crisp, fresh and nothing more. And while that style brings undeniable joy, there are an increasing number of wines being made with wild yeast and oak to produce a less exuberant and primary style – such as Dog Point’s Section 94 and Greywacke’s Wild Sauvignon. In the Loire, it seems to be increasingly common to see oak, while in Bordeaux, there’s a shift away from, or toward reducing the use of, wood. As Pierre-Olivier Clouet of Cheval Blanc told me, in the past white Bordeaux was “too green, too excessive, too much, too oaky, too fat… too boring” – he feels that the answer isn’t necessarily to reduce the proportion of new oak, but to increase the size of barrels and age the wine longer, so that the oak adds a silkiness, density and bitterness to the finish – but not to the aromatics.   A common accusation of Sauvignon Blanc is that it doesn’t age – something many feel is a prerequisite for “fine” wine. But that simply isn’t true. If you’ve never tasted old Marlborough Sauvignon, you’re missing out. I had a bottle of 1999 Cloudy Bay a few years ago – and it was extraordinary. White, who has tasted many more mature vintages from the iconic estate than me, describes it as a little like old Semillon or Loire Chenin – developing toasty, honeyed notes, yet it retains the overt freshness and expressiveness of the distinctive style. Ch. Margaux was recently reconditioning their stocks of Pavillon Blanc, and Valance had the opportunity to taste vintages back to 1926 – almost all of which he says were fabulous. He feels it ages at least 20-30 years, and more in top years.  Today, things have come full circle – Sauvignon Blanc is a brand of its own, and Robert Mondavi is even dropping the “Fumé Blanc” phrasing from its more entry-level bottlings of the variety. But, despite this and the undeniable quality of the wines, Sauvignon Blanc never quite seems to steal the limelight. “There’s a glass ceiling for Sauvignon Blanc,” White says. “It’s about 93 points.” The Cloudy Bay team was delighted when their oaked, limited-edition Te Koko cuvée earned 95 points in Decanter last year – but it’s the exception, rather than the rule. And even though they’ve had wines score higher than Pavillon Blanc, they’ll rarely be considered in the same category as either those, or the likes of the Loire’s Dagueneau and Vatan. “It’s too easy for people to understand, it makes it too enjoyable – and therefore it’s no longer the coveted thing that you have to have years of education to appreciate,” White says.  In an age of unicorn-hunting, “popular” can be the ultimate insult. And yet there’s a reason that so many people have fallen for the charms of Sauvignon Blanc. Don’t let its commercial success put you off – there’s much more to this grape than first meets the eye.  Keep an eye out for our pick of the best Sauvignon Blanc from around the world – or, in the meantime, read more Editorial 

Maligned by many, adored by more, Sauvignon Blanc divides wine-drinkers – and no more so than the wine-drinking elite. But why? Sophie Thorpe talks to the people behind some of the world’s best examples to explore the grape’s status today

Sauvignon Blanc divides wine-drinkers – and no more so than the wine-drinking elite. But why? Cloudy Bay, Ch. Margaux, Andy Erickson and others tell us more

Sauvignon Blanc – fashion victim

Fashion victim: Sauvignon Blanc

Giordano Sirch

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