Alfavin.ch, a Swiss-based Internet wine dealership that specializes in fine Italian and Spanish wines, held a wine-tasting at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland, on November 18, 2010. Special guest was the Spanish-born winemaker of French descent—René Barbier of Gratallops, in Priorat (Catalonia)—who presented his small but oh-so-fine range that includes the legendary red wines Clos Mogador and El Espectacle.
Barbier has a soft spot in his heart for Switzerland. ‘’The Swiss were my first customers,’’ he says, harking back to 1989 when he put his first bottles of wine on the market. ‘’And Swiss wine writer Michel Vidoudez was the first journalist anywhere to write an article about my wine.’’
René Barbier: Background
When Barbier—who is from a winemaking family, and is a qualified, French-trained enologist—got interested in the idea of making his own wine in the 1970s he says he was part of a group of like-minded friends who were ‘’very idealistic; we wanted to produce wine that was close to nature in a place that would be of no interest whatsoever to land speculators. Quite frankly, I never thought that our wines would win any recognition.’’
After buying land in 1979, Barbier began the arduous process over ten long years of building up quality vineyards while working in sales for a wine distributor to earn a living.
The early ‘90s marked a turning point. Not only was the Swiss market on to him—but American wine guru Robert Parker rated his 1991 Clos Mogador 94/100 (‘’I didn’t realize it had a Parker rating, I only found out when all these Americans started calling’’), and the French restaurant guide GaultMillau made glowing mention of his wine. ‘’By 1992, I was earning my living from winemaking.’’
Clos Mogador
The Clos Mogador estate is where the Barbier home is.
Clos Mogador wine is a blend of Grenache, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Carignan. The grapes are grown using sustainable farming methods in biodiverse vineyards filled with flowers and olive, almond, and fruit trees. The powerful, tannic wine with a lot of aging potential (20 years plus) is oak-aged for 18-20 months, and evokes the tastes and smells of cinnamon, vanilla, cocoa, violets and berries. It has an alcohol content of 14.5%.
Barbier presented both the 2007 (Parker rating: 96/100) and 2008 vintages at the alfavin.ch wine-tasting.
‘’Of the 30,000 bottles of Clos Mogador produced each year, 7,000 are designated for the Spanish market, 6,000 bottles go to Switzerland, the US takes up to 5,000, Brazil up to 3,000, Mexico 2,000,’’ Barbier indicates. He also sells in Asian countries and Australia. His New York importer is Europvin; the distributor is Michael Skurnik.
Manyetes and Nelin
Near the Clos Mogador estate are two other estates where Barbier grows the grapes that go into his red Manyetes and white Nelin blends. ‘’On each estate I grow the different varieties that go into the blends produced by that estate,’’ Barbier says.
For Manyetes, that’s Grenache and Carignan. A tantalizing mix of White Grenache, Viognier, Pedro Gimenez, Macabeau, Escanyavelles, and Pinot Noir are grown at the Nelin estate, and all go into the oak-aged, full-on virile yet incredibly delicate Nelin blend. Nelin has a 14% alcohol content, and keeps for 6-9 years. The Parker rating for the 2008 vintage is 92/100.
Manyetes (Parker 93/100 for the 2007 vintage) is yet another of those subtly complex, intense, palate-invading reds, with a 14.5% alcohol content; Barbier ages it for 20 months in new barrels, with 12-18 months of bottle aging as well before it goes on the market.
El Espectacle
‘’The Spectacle’’ is made from Grenache grapes growing on vines 120 to 150 years old—‘’the name refers to the location of the vineyard,’’ says Barbier. ‘’It’s a half-hour from the other three estates; you drive up to a forested area and the vineyard—3 ½ hectares—is in a clearing.’’
All told, Barbier farms some 50 ha of vines.
The first year he produced El Espectacle was 2004, and that same year it got a Parker rating of 99/100. The most recent vintage rated by Parker was the 2007, which got 98/100. Barbier was presenting El Espectacle 2008 at the Geneva tasting, an astonishing wine even without any cellaring, which is always highly recommended for his reds. Drunk at this stage, the wine, like Clos Mogador, needs to be decanted ‘’as early as the morning of the evening you plan to serve it on,’’ says Barbier. Oak-aged for 15 months, with a 15% alcohol content, El Spectacle has a structured, concentrated base that goes hand in hand with light freshness, and pairs spiciness with a beautiful taste (and nose) of roses.
Growing Fame for René Barbier
Although Barbier’s name and wines are all over the Internet he has yet to create his own website. He’s too busy, he says—he also acts as consultant to other winemakers, and has launched production of a brandy distilled from wine lees, and olive oil.
The 60-year-old Barbier and his wife Isabelle have three children: a winemaker son with three children of his own; another son who is ‘’a passionate grower, everything about the farming of grapes interests him but he couldn’t care less about winemaking.’’
Their third son, a 14-year-old adopted Haitian, is ‘’the intellectual of the family. He doesn’t know what line of work he wants to go into yet, one day he’s a lawyer, the next day something else; we mustn’t try and influence him,’’ says Barbier, who admits to secretly hoping the boy will opt to take over the business side of things. ‘’He’s sharp as a tack, has a commanding presence, and is fluent in English’’—a language Barbier himself does not speak.
More about René Barbier
Barbier in person is an endearing figure, for his simplicity and humility, twinkling eyes and sense of humor—a nurturing man with the personal touch whose love of what he does is contagious. He travels widely to present his wines, one big world trip per year (‘’in 2010 it was Mexico; I went to four cities and the tastings were packed’’) and regularly around Europe including Switzerland.
In Switzerland, he catches up with restaurateur Giorgio Loparco in Penthaz (outside Lausanne), who hosted his first presentation some 20 years ago, and his son Jean-Daniel, who as co-founder of alfavin.ch and is perpetuating the annual Barbier wine-tasting tradition that began with his father.
Of René Barbier, Jean-Daniel Loparco says: ’’He has an individualistic approach, a mix of high tech and artisanal that’s very environmentally conscious. And his wines have put the Priorat region right up there with Ribera del Duero as one of Spain’s top winegrowing regions.’’
Coming up: A Clos Mogador evening near Lausanne, Switzerland with René Barbier takes place on November 23, 2010
Gail Mangold-Vine - Based in Geneva, Switzerland, Gail Mangold-Vine is the author of two books. Her work as a journalist is published worldwide.
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