“Between opulence and grand finesse”

The one and only hill which is Hermitage

If one spends anytime with his or her nose in the wine publications (or in a glass of wine for that matter) or reading the talking cards below the bottles on your retail shelf, you’ll quickly encounter words like finesse and elegance or power and opulence. These words all seem well meaning and inviting enough. After all, who wouldn’t want that the wine they bring home to possess any or all of these qualities? Finesse and elegance conjure refinement and sophistication. Opulence and strength suggest a wine which packs a punch and thus represents good value, whatever its price.

If one is inclined toward power, strength and big alcohol, those wines exist in abundance. However, the winemakers you will find written about in these pages and those that compose the expanding Joli Vin portfolio are all exemplars of restraint and a more delicate hand in their winemaking practices. Mother Nature of course gives what it gives and the winemaker in response must make a wine that circumstances have delivered. Vintages will vary accordingly. And even though it has become fashionable to boast that great wines are made in the vineyard, through the meticulous and dedicated work tending each and every vine throughout the year, it should not obscure the fact that in truth, fantastic and pristine fruit, with the help of Mother Nature, is made in the vineyard. Great wine is still coaxed into becoming such while in the cellar, at the hands of a skilled and attentive winemaker, through the myriad of choices that are made at every step in the winemaking process.

Great wine, like any great expression of art, exists at the place of delicate tension, balancing counterposing colors, images, textures and flavors. The winemakers you will find on this website, create wines which inspire and excite the senses, not dull them, and are artists who inherently understand this intriguing and delicate balance and who ultimately, craft wines not of brute strength but rather of exquisite balance and grand finesse.