Early on a Saturday morning, the gracious and reflective Daniel Brunier received me at his family’s historic estate to taste through a cross section of the wines that Famille Brunier is now producing. In addition to the wines of Domaine du Vieux T\u00e9l\u00e9graphe (VT), the group includes wines from Le Pigeoulet, M\u00e9gaphone in Ventoux, Domaine Les Palli\u00e8res in Gigondas and Clos La Roqu\u00e8te in Ch\u00e2teauneuf-du-Pape. Brunier took the time during my brief visit to carefully explain why he doesn’t like to call the 2017 Chateauneuf du Pape T\u00e9l\u00e9gramme a \u00ab\u00a0second wine.\u00a0\u00bb This wine now includes much of the red plantings from Clos La Roqu\u00e8te, so maybe he has a point. But it also includes the young-vine material from VT plots, and it’s clearly not of the caliber of the main VT bottling, so draw your own conclusions. The family philosophy is to avoid selected yeasts and bacteria for malolactic fermentation, allowing the naturally occurring bugs to do their work. Proportions of stems\/whole clusters varies considerably, depending on the wine, as does the \u00e9levage, although most of the wines mature in foudres. While the greatness of 2016 goes unquestioned here, Brunier called 2017, \u00ab\u00a0At minimum, a very, very good vintage. We were surprised it’s so fresh and balanced.\u00a0\u00bb Yields were down by about 50% from the previous year. The emphasis here is on elegance and complexity. \u00ab\u00a0Grenache is fantastic when it’s not fruity. It’s easy to do extraction and big wines. It takes humbleness to do less, a confidence in the land,\u00a0\u00bb Brunier said. More controversially, he concluded, \u00ab\u00a0Extraction has been invented to replace terroir.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Clos La Roqu\u00e8te blanc 2017\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (92-94)<\/strong><\/p>\n Les Racines rouge 2017 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (93-95)<\/strong><\/p>\n Terrasse du Diable rouge 2017 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (91-94)<\/strong><\/p>\n Terrasse du Diable rouge 2016 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (92-94)<\/strong><\/p>\n Vieux T\u00e9l\u00e9graphe blanc 2017 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (93-95)<\/strong><\/p>\n Vieux T\u00e9l\u00e9graphe blanc 2016\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 94<\/strong><\/p>\n Vieux T\u00e9l\u00e9graphe rouge 2017 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (93-95)<\/strong><\/p>\n Vieux T\u00e9l\u00e9graphe rouge 2016 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 96<\/strong><\/p>\n Piedlong rouge 2017 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (93-95)<\/strong><\/p>\n Piedlong rouge 2016\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (94-96)<\/strong><\/p>\n T\u00e9l\u00e9gramme rouge 2017 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (90-92)<\/strong><\/p>\n T\u00e9l\u00e9gramme rouge 2016\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 91<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Early on a Saturday morning, the gracious and reflective Daniel Brunier received me at his family’s […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":85,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,189,177,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-les-medias-parlent-de-nous","category-logo_robert_parker_wine_advocate","category-medias","category-vieux-telegraphe"],"yoast_head":"\n