Pierre Seillan
Perhaps it is fitting that at the time of reporting the death of Californian wine
mogul, Jess Jackson, we feature here one of his top winemakers, Pierre Seillan. Pierre’s
unique claim to fame is to achieve 100 Parker points in two successive years for
his Bordeaux blend Verité wines – the 2007 “La Joie” (Mostly Cabernet Sauvignon)
and the 2008 “Le Désir” (Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot). A remarkable
achievement, but no overnight success seeing that both wines have achieved 95 points
or more over the last five previous vintages.
So how come a French winemaker gets the highest accolade from American wine writers
and what is he doing in California anyway?
Pierre Seillan comes from Gascony and learned to make wine in Armagnac country –
his first vintage was in 1957. He comes from a vine growing family – his father had
vineyards in Armagnac and his mother in Bergerac. For 20 years he was the technical
director of Cheval Quancard in Bordeaux when he was invited by Jess Jackson to create
a vineyard in California and then went on to winemaking 14 years ago. Now he has
created a team to look after the Kendall Jackson wines but Verité was his particular
baby which he created as a super premium wine portfolio. This consists of three wines.
“La Muse”, which is predominately Merlot, “La Joie”, predominately Cabernet Sauvignon,
and “Le Désir”, predominately Cabernet Franc.
Over the years, Seillan experimented a lot with the assemblage from the various premium
mountain vineyards that Jackson acquired in Sonoma County. A key factor was to make
a dissertation of each soil type and appellation and adjusted and adjusted over a
long time to make sure that he got the right mix. This was a kind of odyssey looking
for style to increase complexity and balance by picking relatively early and quickly,
keeping yields down to 2/2.5 tons to the acre, paying attention to the tannins and
a good ratio of acid to ph.
Over the last five years or so, the fruits of his labour have been exemplified by
the accolades received from the wine writers – whilst La Joie and Le Désir have reached
the apogée of 100 points, it is to be noted that La Muse did manage to get a mere
99 points for the 2007!
I interviewed Pierre at Ch. Lassegue – a St. Emilion château purchased by Jess Jackson
a few years ago. He has been put in charge of operations there in the hope that it
may one day reach the greatness of a Ch. Ausone or Cheval Blanc. Pierre certainly
thinks that the potential is there but it will take several years. Lassegue has good
soil with an ideal south west exposure – a lot of money has been spent on it to give
it every chance to achieve greatness. The aim is to create a personal identity for
Lassegue based on the terroir and Pierre is currently fashioning a team to bring
it forward to emulate the high standards reached at Verité.
Whilst there, we did, of course, take the opportunity to sample the 2010 primeurs
of Ch. Lassegue and its sister château, Ch. Vignot. The Vignot wine (75% Merlot,
20% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon) was vibrant and spicy with good colour
and lots of character but not a lot of length. Les Cadrans de Lassegue (the second
wine of the château) is made up of 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet
Sauvignon) is a much leaner wine with plenty of grip, whilst the château’s first
wine (65% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon) was much smoother
altogether with good finesse, complexity and length. No prices as of yet, but I am
told that they might be pitching for 45 euros for the first wine, which might be
a bit trop cher in my book.
The final treat was to taste one of the 100 points wines. Pierre had the 2007 La
Joie available. This was made from Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon with a small
percentage of Merlot. 80%/90% of the wine is made from the same blocks each year
so there has been great consistency. The wine was smooth and elegant with great balance
but a nice streak of acidity running through to enhance its complexity. Would I give
it 100 points, i.e. perfection? Well, I am always of the opinion that nothing’s perfect
so perhaps I wouldn’t go quite that far. Nevertheless, it was certainly one of the
most enjoyable wines I have tasted – all the more remarkable for its current drinkability
– typical of California - and still with the capacity of ageing for 20 years or more,
one of California’s great plus points.
La Joie and Le Désir (and the 2007 La Muse, for that matter) command a retail price
from the winery of around $400 a bottle. Not a bad price for perfection when you
compare it to some of the prices asked for first growth clarets these days.
The sundial at Ch. Lassegue
Pierre Seillan
