Garagiste

• By Jon Rimmerman
  3/12/2010 (link)

  (FUMIN Vigne la Tour LES CRETES) Fumin Dear Friends, Rarely do I come across a wine that so reeks of its place (in a good way), it could only be from a specific grower and site place. Frank Cornelissen, Bressan and a few others come to mind and this belongs in that group. If you are interested in terroir and are a fan of the Northern Rhone, Les Crete's Fumin should be inserted as a blind wine in your next tasting. In a lineup of artisinal St. Joseph or Cote Rotie, something tells me this unrelated-but-still-related grape from Italy's pristine Valle d'Aosta will fare very well indeed. The Fumin grape is as unheralded as it gets in the US - few know of it and even fewer care. That's a good thing if you are a wine geek. It insures the tiny amount produced in the Valle d'Aosta will not be cloned, genetically modified and show up as a Costco case-stack deal next month. While I'm just as happy as the next person to find a well-priced deal on dried pasta or paper towels, there are some things in life I'd like to keep sacred and Fumin is one of them. Specific to this area of Italy, tucked between Switzerland, France and Piedmont, the aromatic Fumin grape certainly resembles Syrah in its carnal leaning but it retains a gritty set of wheels that more closely align with Clos Saint-Jacques in a vintage like 2005. We've profiled several wines in the past from Les Cretes and all are worthy of your attention. The only irritation with this small winery perched in arguably Europe's most beautiful setting (see here: http://www.lescretes.it/index.asp ) is their pricing - among the highest in Italy. I realize the difficulty in producing their wine, as in Cote Rotie or Priorat, with very steep, even treacherous terraces that must be farmed manually but it's still difficult for me to justify $50-80 for their wares when that is treading on single-vineyard Cote Rotie territory. I recognize this is a distinct place and winery (this is not Cote Rotie) and their wine should stand on its own (it does) but this price gets me a lot more excited than $53.80, what the 2005 was supposed to cost before I threw a well-intentioned tantrum. At $29+, this is now a wine I can recommend to everyone as a study in varietal heritage, fastidious natural farming and (of equal importance) not stripping a wine of its soul by softening its indigenous country aspect. Antonio Galloni makes reference to this below but I find this wild/rangy essence to be at the very core of what makes this wine special. With half its character in St. Joseph and the other half split between Burgundy and the Italian Alps, Les Crete's Fumin is not your everyday example: As I've said in the past, a holiday in the Valle d'Aosta will not be forgotten - if you are looking for an interesting destination for your next episode of wanderlust, I urge you to seek this small corner of Italy that still feels like part of the Kingdom of Upper Burgundy. In this tiny region, you are just as likely to hear the local Valdotain language as you are Italian and the food reflects the clean air and freshness of the mountainous landscape. Please note, this wine is not the Torrette, Petit Rouge, Pinot Noir or Coteau la Tour (although it can be referenced as "Valle d'Aosta Vigne la Tour" with no mention of Fumin). In addition, this wine is not made from Petit Rouge. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED as something unique, complex and specific to a single region that should find a resting place in your cellar. This parcel has impeccable provenance - only a few hundred cases are exported for the world: 2005 Les Cretes "Fumin" (Vigne la Tour) Valle d'Aosta DOC Thank you, Jon Rimmerman Garagiste Seattle, WA Italy7928