A narrow gravel road winds alongside the Meramec River, revealing at its end Claverach Farm, a vineyard and farm nestled in a lush green valley just outside Eureka, Missouri.
Here, Sam Hilmer, co-owner, farm manager and winemaker, experiments with the oldest-known method of producing sparkling wine. The French winemaking tradition, known as méthode ancestrale, produces pétillant naturel (pét-nat for short), a naturally sparkling wine. The natural bubbles are achieved by bottling before primary fermentation has finished, resulting in a wine similar to Champagne but without the added sugar.
Each bottle of Claverach’s pét-nat has noticeable sediment resting at the bottom, something Hilmer says is more common in European wines. Although popular in Europe, such “cloudy wines,” as they are nicknamed, are rarely made in the Midwest. “In France there’s this group of mostly young winemakers who are sort of irreverent to traditions,” Hilmer says of cloudy wine.
Claverach field manager Rachel Shulman says Hilmer is cut from the same cloth as those French winemakers: “Sam is nothing if not irreverent,” she says with a smile.
The winery’s pét-nat is just one example – albeit an extremely unique one – of how more local vintners are making wines with decidedly French character.
Although French-style wines are made all over the world, Kansas City-based Master of Wine and Master Sommelier Doug Frost says they’re particularly well-suited to Missouri, where popular French-American hybrid grapes like Chardonel and Chambourcin are often used to produce dry-style, food-friendly wines.
“People are trying to make more classically styled wines, which means they have fewer new oak barrels utilized, and they’re going to be higher in acid,” Frost says.
In contrast to the styles of wines typically made in California, Frost says modern French-style dry wines have more acidity and less tannin structure. “Everybody around the world is talking this game, but not everyone’s doing it,” Frost says. “But what’s cool about grapes here in the Midwest is that they sort of force you to make wine that way.”
Missouri’s grapes have a great deal of tartness, but low to no tannin, which is often the structuring element for red wines on the West Coast. Instead, Missouri winemakers use acidity as their structuring element, which resembles the French approach.
“You have to work with what nature gives you,” Frost says. “The silliest thing in the world is when somebody tries to impose a style upon grapes that is not natural to the flavors and the structural characteristics of those grapes. So, in many ways, it’s proverbial; we’re trying to make lemonade out of lemons.”
And he’s not speaking metaphorically. “In the past, Missouri winemakers made wine the same way you make lemonade – you dumped a bunch of sugar in there,” Frost says. “The question now has become, ‘Can we make dry-style wines that are respectful of the grapes and are fun to drink, even though we’re dealing with this tartness that we’re stuck with?’
“It’s a challenge for winemakers, and I think it’s one that they’re answering.”
FRENCH-STYLE VINIFICATION
Since opening in the late 1980s, Röbller Vineyard in New Haven, Missouri, has embraced the knowledge of accomplished domestic and European grape growers and winemakers to produce European-style wines.
“How do you create an outcome in a wine that takes advantage of both sides of the pond?” asks Jerry Mueller, winemaker at Röbller. “It’s really all about old-world and new-world [approaches].”
Mueller’s philosophy stems from his father, Robert Mueller, who planted his first grapevines almost three decades ago. Father and son have always approached their work with the belief that good wine starts in the vineyard.
“I learned early, on the French side of things, that complexity comes from varieties, complexity comes [from] the land and complexity comes from what you do in the winery,” Jerry says. “But it starts out there, [where] you’re growing.”
Soil heavily influences the grapes grown at any vineyard, as well as the wine made with that fruit. The French have a term for this, terroir, derived from the words for land and soil. It refers to the impact of the entire grape-growing environment, from soil to climate, on wine’s aroma, flavor and complexity.
Terroir has always been foundational for the grapes grown at Röbller. One of the reasons Robert purchased the land was due to its south-facing slopes, giving the vines an east-west exposure all day, and for its deep soil and location within a mile of a river. The roots of Röbller’s grapevines push 6- to 18-feet deep into the soil before reaching limestone. The slope of the sedimentary rock allows for quick moisture retention in dry weather, allowing the vineyards to be completely dry farmed.
Dry farming has been a tradition in Asian and European countries for centuries. Irrigation is forbidden in many parts of the world, as water supplementation changes the terroir. Water is only added when a vine is planted, after which it relies solely on natural precipitation. “It gives those little plants the help they need,” Jerry says. “But after that, the rest is Mother Nature.”
Since its first vintage, Röbller has used dry farming to capture more intense flavors from its grapes. “We’re seeing, more than anything, a well-structured fruit and really interesting fruit characteristics,” Jerry says. “We capture those aromas and flavors in the process of making wine, but we also capture the structure that leads to longer mouthfeel length on the palate and more complexity in the wine.”
The 2012 drought left its mark on the Norton wine in a big way, Jerry says, imparting tremendous tannin structure and making it one of the most interesting wines Röbller has ever produced. Jerry observed, for example, a greater expression of cinnamon in the Norton, and a change from apple to citrus notes in his Vidal Blanc.
“It’s the land,” Jerry says. “There’s something protective about this land.”
He acts as a shepherd to make sure his land will foster great wine for years to come. “We have to be good stewards of the land because this is such a generational business,” he says. “Those who will come after my father, after me, we want to make sure that the foundation in the land is maintained, preserved and protected for them.”
The grapes growing in Röbller’s vineyards are a mix of French-American hybrids including Chambourcin, St. Vincent and Vidal Blanc, as well as Norton and some Vitis vinifera, grapevines of European origin.
Jerry buys yeast directly from France and Spain, and contrary to what’s predominately done in the industry, he matches the yeast with different grape varietals to create wines with complexity and nuanced character. “I could use five different yeast selections and create five different outcomes in wine,” Jerry says.
He likens the approach to how a chef seasons food: “If you just use salt, it’s not the same outcome as using salt, pepper and garlic.”
And just as chefs build menus that incorporate many influences and flavors, Jerry describes his wines as embodying a similar diversity. “Rather than having a similar flavor or quality, I think everything here has a different profile,” he says. “And they should, because they are all very different grapes to work with and wines to create.”
But Jerry says his primary focus when making wine is to first bring out the natural flavors of the grape itself and balance them to create a pleasing finish.
“Having a balanced wine is the main thing,” he says. “The flavors are dictated by the fruit. Each year the vineyard is going to produce something different; each vintage has a different flavor. It’s about extracting from the fruit what that vintage has produced.”
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