A brilliant pioneer and a rising superstar.
We've just started our visit to Chateau Doyac when my phone rings. Unpleasant thing, but I'll take it. Some guy asks, where are we? He says we have an appointment to visit him and a tasting. I'm not aware of any such thing. I'm very careful to mark my appointments. I promise I'll text him tonight.
When I get to the e-mails, I find that I did write to him, but there's no reply. I think it must have wandered off somewhere... For a while, I considered not visiting him. We've got a busy schedule all week. I finally decide to skip lunch and go there.
I'm lucky enlightened me! This chateau is worth a week of fasting!
We park and a smiling young man comes to greet us. It's Hugo Aroldi, son of the owner of Chateau Dompierre. It's just after noon, almost forty in the shade, so Hugo immediately pushes us to hide in an adjacent building to look at the technology. Inside, however, there are only large wooden barrels and three motorbikes. Is that a garage...?
Well, there are more barrels and they're bigger, so it's definitely a winery. Moreover, there is no other building on the property (apart from the family dwelling). But where are the barrels for aging the wine? Do they only have the big ones?
The answer is: YES.
Michel Aroldi, Hugo's father, invented and put into practice a completely unique procedure in vinification. Simply put - the wine is only in those big oak barrels from start to finish. No pumping anywhere else. Everything happens in one place. The finished wine goes into the bottles straight from these big barrels.
Of course, it's not just like that. Each of the barrels has a stainless steel "chimney" about a metre high at the top. This has several functions, but I won't go into those here (interested parties can find more information on the winery's website).
Hugo says it is also a very economically viable way of making wine. He doesn't have to pay any employees and he also saves money on 225 litre oak barrels where the wine would normally have to age.
We have never seen or heard of this before, so with faces stretched, we leave the "garage" (Hugo and his parents have another passion besides wine - Ducati motorcycles and trips on them) and go over to their house. We are curious to see how their wine tastes.
It should be said that Dompierre makes wine from two appellations, Médoc and Pauillac. From the Médoc, it's Les Charmes Dompierre and La Croix Dompierre. From the Pauillac appellation, it's their flagship Dompierre Pauillac.
We started with their white wine Blanc de Dompierre, and then we're on to the reds. We're tasting the ones from the Medoc first. They're good. Well-balanced, harmonious, lovely to drink. There's something about Michel's invention...
When we drink their Pauillac wine, our chins drop. It's incredible. It's Cabernet Sauvignon in all its glory. None of us have ever had a wine with such pure character. If you haven't tried it, you won't believe it.
I don't know if it was because we were so noisy ... Michel Aroldi and his wife Jocelyne appeared at the door. It was nice of them to come and talk to us. Another bottle was opened, the 2018 vintage was followed by the 2016 vintage, which was another spark to communicate impressions and comments. Michel was pleased, rightly so it must be said, and we were delighted. And rightfully so. So we weren't surprised when Michel boasted the wine list of one of the prestigious Michelin restaurants in Paris. At first glance, it looked rather modest, with only four items on it. On closer inspection, it had nothing to do with modesty:
Château La Tour
Château Margaux
Château Mouton Rothschild
and
Dompierre Pauillac
There is nothing more to say.
