Pierre Perrin (Chateau de Beaucastel)

To many French Rhone lovers, Château de Beaucastel enjoys an almost legendary reputation as one of the great estates in Châteauneuf du Pape. It is owned by the Perrin family.Our overall impression was Beaucastel wines are made definitely with good quality, they have personality and a sense of place, something we can always do with more of for both medium or long term drinking and cellaring. As for prices, there has been movement, but none too daunting for our traditional and faithful Rhone wine lovers and readers.

There had been written reports on Beaucastel way of making wine with the use of controversial flash heating that Beaucastel employs. The grapes are heated to very high temperature before crushing. From what we understood, the purpose is twofold. First, it kills the polyphenol oxidases which are partly responsible for oxidation of the must, which allows them to use less sulphur dioxide.

Second, heating the grape skins kills the cells which then allows better extraction. This is a 40 year old practice since 1964, when the they built the Perrin & Fils winery they decided to use it there also.Pierre is no stranger to the regional wine scene, particularly the mature market of savvy Singapore.

He spent time with this Editor during his short stay as part of a 2007 Beaucastel blend and taste, and a celebratory evening party of one Singapore most influential wine merchant. As below is an interview as Pierre gives us and our readers a further understanding of Beaucastel, the man with a mission and purpose; behind the label and, how the wine may haven an impact on our vino lifestyle..

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酒: Please share with our readers a bit of your background and how long have you been in the wine making business?

I am an oenologist from the Dijon University in 1996. Trained in places like Petrus in 1998, Burgundy in 1997, California in 1996. I always wanted to work for the family business that I have joined in 1999. Since then, I am the Technical director of Beaucastel but also Perrin et Fils.

酒: What challenges have you faced being both winery owner and winemaker?

To be a winemaker is a fantastic experience where you really have to do the best you can for your grapes. Harvesting late, macerate long, all decisions which are always difficult to take for the owner. To control the risk is the main important thing for a owner, to take some risk is the more important thing for a winemaker.

酒: What is your favorite wine / cuisine combo?

The other day, Laurent, our chef de Cuisine served us Château de Beaucastel rouge 1990,Châteauneuf du Pape with a Poitrine de Canette « juste » saisie au Beurre “giroflé”. It was so fantastic.

酒: Can you tell us more about Chateauneuf du pape? Why are the wines gaining popularity?

Chateauneuf du Pape is a small appelation, only 3500 hectares for 350 estates. Become the first appellation of France in 1935 with a law to use a lot of different varieties, up to 13. Grenache is the main one, but you can find grappes like Mourvèdre, Syrah and counoise.

The tradition in Chateauneuf du Pape was to use thos 13 different grapes to make Chateauneuf du Pape rouge. Today the tradition is almost lost as everybody in Chateauneuf is using mainly Grenache. Beaucastel is the only estate which is still using the “original” blend of Chateauneuf du Pape with a complex assemblage of 13 different grapes.

The normal bled is 30% Grenache, 30% Mourvèdre, 10% Syrah, 10% Counoise, 5% Cinsault, 10% of the small and local grappes varietals such as Terret, Vaccarère, Muscardin and 5% of whites grappes such as Clairette, Picardan.

This assemblage is one of the signature of Beaucastel.

I think the Chateauneuf du Pape is gaining popularity because of the value. There is no places in the world wher wine is such a good value. If you compare it with Bordeaux or even Spain or Italy, Then Chateuneuf du Pape become the place…. With some of top estates producing some excellent cuvees with a very high quality

酒: How would the wines relate to the Asian palate particularly the Chinese?

Chatreauneuf du Pape is becoming also popular in Asia. Asian wine lovers liken the wine to its spicy, fruity driven characteristics of the wine. Also the aging possibilities which are high helps us to gain popularity.

酒: What types of grapes do you use for making Beaucastel?How long does it take to create the perfect blend?

See above for the blend. To blend is very difficult. I used to say that we are like a painter, we have 13 different colors and every day xe have to do the best painting we can. One year is more blue, one year is more green… Very complex to manage the quantity of each grappes every year, a difficult excercice wher we try almost all combinations to make a wine which have all the characteristics of the vintage and all the “savoir faire” of the vigneron.

This exercise is done mainly by the family which train to obtain the best composition. Can be easy and short or completely awfull and long.

酒: Last but not least, what do you think of the Asian market?

I am fascinating by the Asian market. So many different countries, so many different rules. But all with more and more people being interested in wines. They really want to be educate in wine. So we spend most of our time trying to give our view of winemaking.

Click here to view: Chateau de Beaucastel.

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Photographs and text by Daniel. Hit us with your best shots; we’ll try our best to listen. Send your inquiries or comments here or via email to jiuwine@gmail.com.