Côtes du Forez
Grower Profiles
Odile
Verdier et Jacky Logel
This husband
and wife team met in Jacky Logel’s native Alsace in 1991 and were
installed a year later at Odile’s family farm on the slopes below the Château
de Marcilly, where they produced their first 2,000 bottles of wine. At
this time, Odile’s parents delivered all of their grapes to the
co-operative electing instead to dedicate their time to raising Charolais.
But as Odile and Jacky took control they disposed of the cattle to
concentrate on viticulture, gradually withdrawing from the co-op and
becoming completely independent by the 1998 vintage. A decade later, their
domaine produces an average of 70,000 bottles of a wine a year and the
couple have become one of the most respected names in this otherwise small
region.
In
addition to 12.7 hectares of Gamay, Jacky has also established two
separate parcels of Pinot Gris, a legacy of his Alsatian roots, which is
sold as Vin de Pays d’Urfé. The original 4 ares were planted at the
foot of the famous priory at Montverdun on the Forez plain (and well
outside the Côtes du Forez appellation) in 1996, the first crop being
realised in 1999. Spurred on by his efforts, a second parcel was planted
in 2004 on the slopes at Champdieu, the same year as he planted 8 ares of
Viognier.
There are
four red wines and a rosé produced here under the Côtes du Forez
appellation. The Rosé
is clean, fresh and light despite the fact that Jacky says he is obliged
to make due to client demand, and he’d rather channel all his efforts
into making his red wines. Cuvée des Gourmets corresponds to older vines grown on granite
soils, whilst Amasis takes its name from the Queen of Forez in Honoré d’Urfé’s
L’Astrée - in the novel, the
Queen lived in the château that dominates the hillside above the
vineyards of Marcilly. The wine is light and friand
and designed for early drinking. La
Volcanique is planted on basalt soils and 90% destemmed and
receives a cold macerated before it undergoes a three week cuvaison. The
result is very elegant, with a profile closer to Pinot Noir than Gamay. Feux de Forez is a play on words, inferring ‘forest fire’,
since the wine (which corresponds to La
Volcanique) spends six months in oak. Again, this is a wine that Jacky
doesn’t like, but has a following for it from certain clients. The wine
sadly is too international, loosing any sense of place or variety as it is
completely dominated by wood.
In addition to the wines produced under the appellation, there are also
three wines produced as Vin de Pays d’Urfé. Pierrelune
Pinot Gris sur Granite is from the second parcel of Pinot Gris to
be planted, in Chamdieu, in 2004. The wine is complex, nutty and
distinctly oxidative and certainly not mainstream. It’s probably closer
to a Jura wine than anything Alsatian. (It is sold in 50cl bottles). La Sentimentale Pinot
Gris is from the vines planted on the slope below the priory of
Montverdun. The 2008 (also bottled in 50cl) has a ripe smoky Pinot Gris
nose with hazelnuts and the fat of a typically Teutonic example. The
palate is silky and linear, with great balance and structure with flavours
of quince and ripe peach. A Pinot-Grigio deluxe. Viognier
Petite Vertu is a 10hl cuvée that comes from the same vineyard as
the Pierrelune and has (for
Viognier at least) a low alcohol of just 11%. The wine echoes Jacky’s
origins, with more grapey muscat-like flavours, rather than the overblown
style of the Rhône.
Finally, there is Rimbambulles, a low (8%) alcohol Méthode Ancestral sparkling
wine, echoing the recent efforts of a hand full of growers in the
Roannaise, although at just 3g/l residual sugar it is much drier than the
examples found further north. The drier style lends the wine great
minerality and an attractive malic edge and is dangerously delicious.
From
initially appearing cautious and guarded, Jacky Logel opens up to become
and lively and humourous man, full of criticism for his wines - and the
taste of his clients. Despite being an outsider, he has been welcomed into
the region and has also served a term as the President of the local grower
syndicat. In terms of the wines,
the couple do produce some of the best examples of Côtes du Forez,
although the real star in the cellar (and perhaps the best wine tasted on
my tour through the region) are the Pinot Gris wines, which are highly
individual but full of character. These alone are worth seeking out.
Domaine Verdier Odile certainly deserves its reputation as being one of,
if not the, leading domaine in the region.
La Côte
Marcilly-le-Châtel
T: + 33 4 77 97 41 95
F: + 33 4 77 97 48 80
Cave.verdierlogel@wanadoo.fr
www.cave.verdierlogel.fr