REBEL GRAPE SOCIETY
JUNE 2021
DEFINING LIEU DIT
Lieu Dits are all over France. It means “said place,” or “named place” and is a way to name a single, unblended site that has distinct attributes without being an official cru or AOC. It stems from France’s land register and is much more agile and flexible than something like a climat in Burgundy, which is a historical vineyard name born out of 2,000 years of debate and scrutiny.
Here in the US, Lieu Dit Winery is something altogether different! Sommelier and wine retailer Eric Railsback (RN74, Michael Mina, Osteria Mozza, Les Marchands, Verve) joined forces with winemaker Justin Willet (Tyler Winery, Arcadian, Wenzlau) to launch the project in 2011. Together they aim to highlight Loire varieties grown in the cool microclimates and marine-based soils of Santa Barbara County. These grapes are native to a cooler part of France, and naturally achieve ripeness at lower sugars, resulting in a style of wine that is right in our wheelhouse:
- Lieu Dit’s Melon is a textbook example of their style. While many California white wines will have you rattling off tropical fruit flavors and leave you searching for more savory nuance, this Melon harkens to sur-lie-aged Muscadet showing upfront minerality, acid and texture.
- Gamay Noir from the sandy loam soils of Bien Nacido Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley. Lieu Dit fermented this wine in open top tanks via ambient yeast with partial whole-cluster stem inclusion and whole berries in the fermentation following Cru Beaujolais style. It avoids the classic carbonic or bubblegum character that Gamay can sometimes show.
- Lieu Dit’s Cab Franc comes from a block of massal-selection own-rooted vines planted in the Happy Canyon Vineyard on the eastside of Santa Ynez Valley. This vineyard’s clay loam soil and warmer microclimate develops intense flavor at lower sugars. The fruit is partially whole cluster fermented via native yeast and aged in neutral oak barrels, leading to a fresh, Loire-like style.
– Kevin Wardell, June 2021
DOWNLOAD PDF OF TASTING NOTES HERE
LIEU DIT
MELON DE BOURGOGNE
California 2019
MELON DE BOURGOGNE [MUH-lohn duh bugh-GOHN-nya]
Melon is the grape that makes the crisp and marine-mineral Muscadet in France’s Loire Valley. Muscadet may be the king of simple wines, but they are often the epitome of quenchable perfection: light, briney and acidic, yet with a rich viscosity similar to oysters. And as is the story with our other hero Gamay, Melon is native to Burgundy ( hence the de Bourgogne ) but was banned from its native land in the 1500s, and banished to the cold Atlantic climes of the Loire Valley. In California, Melon is barely even a blip, with only 37 tons crushed last year, equivalent to maybe 7 acres of fruit in the whole state. But we can dream of a fine summer day when we all sip upon a fine Melon de Californ.
This wine was definitely voted freshest kid in its class, stay cool BFF, see you all summer! It’s got electric acidity and mineral pumps on a waterslide, it hints at a metallic verve almost like sucking on a penny. There’s some whiffs of Anaheim green pepper and citrus rinds, and a slightly reductive charm that gives it a nice grounded depth. Melon (quite the misnomer, actually!) doesn’t offer up much in the way of fruit, but is instead a study in marine minerality and saline oily texture. It is certainly found here in an abundance of seashells and lemon oil, and as the label suggests, this wine truly wants to be oystered.
LIEU DIT
GAMAY NOIR
California 2016
GAMAY NOIR [Ga-Māy nwär]
Another burgundy baby tossed out with the bath water, Gamay Noir has been talked about (and bad mouthed) since the 14th century. It was kicked out of its homeland in Northern Burgundy in the 1700s but landed just to the South in the rolling granite hills of Beaujolais (and a bit here and there in the Loire, Savoie and other Alpine refuges.) It still suffers from the stigma of the mass-produced early-drinkin’ easy-swillin’ Beaujolais Nouveau, but the love of Gamay has persisted.
It still must be clarified that true Gamay in California is not “Napa Gamay,” a far more heavily planted Rhone grape which is actually Valdiguie. First planted in California’s El Dorado Hills in 2000 thanks to the gumption of Steve Edmunds, there are still only a few vineyards of true Gamay, amounting to less than 10 acres total planted in the entire Golden State.
This is Gamay parading in Pinot’s clothing, with all the pretty, lifted fruit aromatics like plush plummy cherry and violets. Complete with a cheeky hint of exotic, stemmy baking spices, this is definitely a Gamay to stump your Burgundy- obsessed friends, and from Santa Maria to boot! While it is overtly perky and plucky with maraschino cherry stems and strawberry puree, there’s deeper flavors of cardamom, alpine amaro, iron-rich molasses, and sweet fresh tobacco. And of course, Gamay’s signature soft and mouth watering tannins.
LIEU DIT
CABERNET FRANC
California 2019
CABERNET FRANC [kah-behr-neh Frah]
Cabernet Franc runs the gamut, from playing a pedigreed role in luxurious blends from Bordeaux’s right bank, to making crispety-crunchety pure energy wines in Anjou and Samur in the Loire Valley. Even within the Loire, Franc shows a wide range: big and burly Chinons to many brighter examples. Regardless, it truly has a distinctive flavor profile from this benchmark region – there is no disguising the savory and downright vegetal nature of the wines.
Many California winemakers are finally looking past the bigger Bordeaux blend-style and to the Loire for inspiration, seeking cool climate sites and picking Franc a little earlier for that edgy veggie brilliance. Franc is also equally enjoyable as an age-worthy and savory serious wine, spicy-crunchy and light bodied, just how we like it.
This is a blast of Cab Franc freshness strong enough to blow your hair back. The aromatics hold nothing back, from decadent blueberry rhubarb compote, to the juiciest sweet mulberry, on to that signature hint-o-jalapeño – thus is the veritable definition of fresh Franc. There’s a whiff of franc-incense, rich whole cocoa bean, black pepper, and a very intriguing tug-of-war between the polished velvety mouthfeel and the graphite pencil lead bitter edge, a tension of nice and spice that truly qualifies this as a Loire-style contender.