REBEL GRAPE SOCIETY
JULY 2021
TROUSSEAU: TÊTE À TÊTE
Who would have thought that little old Trousseau would be the unassuming grape to make big waves in 21st century California? Our hero hails from the Jura, a rural region in the foothills of the Alps, east of Burgundy on the Swiss border, and takes its name from the French for “dowry” – maybe because it was traded as such, maybe because it produces a bountiful crop in its homeland in the hills, maybe because it’s a wine for celebrating.
Trousseau has also been grown in Spain and Portugal for at least 200 years under a few names: Bastardo (where’s the love?), Merenzao, and Verdejo Negro. It is vigorous and needs sunny, well-exposed sites to mature and to avoid botrytis in its tight clusters, and it prefers gravel and clay soils. So, in short, a hearty provider who loves plenty of California sun and is not too picky about its soil. Get this Rebel in the ground!
Trousseau walks a tightrope between the pale and fruity, and the herbal and bitter-edged. And while it may stump the Big-Cab crowd, it has found endless adoration in the last decade from the new-wave drinkers who are seeking wines that are food-friendly, perfumed, low-alcohol, chillable, and yes, exotic.
These days Trousseau is actually enjoying a moment of fame in California, despite the fact that it remains an obscure blip in the vastness of vines, with only a dozen or so acres in the whole wide state. Some of the first plantings here go all the way back to the 1890s in the Sierra foothills, and yet over the past century “Bastardo” was mostly anonymous in field blends with other Portuguese varieties. It should be noted that it is distinct from its genetic mutation, Trousseau Gris, a nearly extinct pink grape (inaccurately also called Grey Riesling) of which there are only a few last vines in California.
Somms across the country are now fervently seeking out this pale beauty and casting a spotlight on Trousseau’s abilities in the New World. What better way to get to know this rebel than to go head to head with three of its Cali champions.
Kevin Wardell, July, 2021
ROOTDOWN
St. Amant Vineyard
Amador, California 2019
Mike Lucia is the root in Rootdown, a truly homegrown Healdsburgundian who dedicates his life to getting down with wine. His label began in 2016 from a culmination of years of dedication, beginning at the Fresno State Enology program, then making wine for Copain, Goldeneye, and consulting for small, premium brands.
Rootdown began as a few bottlings dedicated mostly to rosé, and expanded to a repertoire of 9 wines along with two new labels, “Cole” and “Esokay.” They focus on single-vineyard, varietal wines that get down to the root of the matter: soil, terroir, and expanding California’s diverse grape potential.
With his wife and partner Jill, Mike acquired the Cole Ranch Vineyard in Mendocino last year (itself its very own wee AVA), and is planting it mostly to Savoie varieties- Jacquere, Altesse and Mondeuse- hoisting that REBEL GRAPE SOCIETY flag high up on his mountaintop. The St Amant vineyard is at the base of another set of mountains, the Sierra Nevada in Amador County. The Trousseau is planted in granitic sand, making for a lively and colorful expression of the Bastardo.
This is a fun one to try to root out and pin down. From the initial whiffs of celery leaves mingling with dried cherries, to the dusty dill and just a touch of Peach Noosa yogurt, this tells a playful tale of Trousseau: light and flirtatious red fruits with that signature herbal bitter flair. Definitely there is copious cranberry fruit leather, a smidge of dried coconut and cocoa powder, and a bite of ”Big Red” cinnamon gum that brings plenty of angular and direct spice. Best appreciated poolside, ice bucket challenge if you dare.
ARNOT-ROBERTS
North Coast, California 2019
Arnot-Roberts is the amalgamation of two friends, Duncan Arnot Meyers and Nathan Lee Roberts who met way back in the 3rd grade growing up in Napa Valley. Nathan joined his father’s trade as a cooper building wine barrels while Duncan made wine in a few renowned wineries in Napa and Sonoma. When the two made their first barrel of wine in 2001 in their basement, Nathan even rigged a plexiglass head for the barrel so the wine wouldn’t be in 100% new oak, a portent of the attention to detail that would make AR famous.
Fast forward to 2009, when the Jura-obsessed duo sniffed out a small planting of Trousseau in Lake County, just a little Bastardo sandwiched between Tempranillo and Touriga. That pale and blood orange brew they made was unmistakably Trousseau, and it took off like a bastardo out of hell, becoming a somm darling and definitely the palest Cali red anybody was talking about.
Wanting to see Trousseau unfurl in all manner of terroirs, Duncan and Nathan took cuttings from the Luchsingers and convinced a few friends to graft Trousseau in disparate sites in Sonoma County, including Fort Ross-Seaview and the Green Valley sub-app of the Russian River Valley- making their final blend sort of a North Côast du Jura.
There is more suede leather than fruit leather upon first blush of this pale garnet dusty beauty. With some glass swirling the wine heaps on the quaffable lush fruitiness with a few dashes of exotic amaro and Campari for a resinous herbal tincture that takes it to the next level. Shave some cranberry and grapefruit rind on a plate of coastal strawberries, finish it all with a rhubarb edge, and keep sniffing and sipping while this bottle expounds upon the treasures of Golden State Trousseau and the merits of Cali merenzao.
FORLORN HOPE
‘ODB’
Rorick Heritage Vineyard
Calaveras, California 2019
Matthew Rorick is creator of many ‘rare creatures’ as he calls the wines he has made since 2005. He also tends 75 acres of organic grapevines at his Rorick Heritage Vineyard. In his previous lives he repaired Navy submarine telescopes, actually skateboarded for a living, and built electric guitars. But Rorick was inspired most of all by his grandfather David Rorick Jr., who instilled in him a love of dinner conversation, history, and wine-sharing. He named his wines Forlorn Hope, the name given to soldiers who volunteer to lead the charge directly into enemy defenses – to parallel the noble fight to preserve and uphold unknown appellations and rare varieties.
Trousseau actually traces a long history in the Sierra Foothills. Before Prohibition, UC Davis ran an Ag station in the town of Jackson, propagating fruit material, including our hero Trousseau, until it was abandoned during the dark ages of the 1920s. Nearly a century later, Trousseau is again rooted in this area, at Matthew Rorick’s estate, from a century-old clonal selection, on schist over dolomite and limestone at 2000 ft elevation. The wine was made 100% whole cluster and aged in neutral oak for 10 months elevage and bottled with minimal SO2.
Well now howdy there partner, look what the natch dragged in! Certainly this wine ain’t from round here, this is the Old World going West. Wild exotic stemmy aromatics play that Trousseau tightrope between the vegetal: sweet tomato leaf and grapefruit rind pithiness countered with the dense, strawberry fruit yumminess that is just so varietally, well, weird! Underripe raspberry shortcake and some valencia orange are topped with a raw cinnamon spice that just baffles the senses, a space-invader alien breaking through the red/white wine continuum- a rare creature to behold and an ol’ dirty bastardo to be sure.