Personalities

Stephan von Neipperg: The German who has re-created Bordeaux
"Magnum" №2(2) October 2005

Stephan von Neipperg comes from a German winemaking dynasty.

He is one of those innovators who have started the revolutionary upturn of Bordeaux in the past 20 years. Our reviewer Eleonora Scholes visited Saint Emilion, the birthplace of revolution, where Stephan von Neipperg lives and builds his plans for future.

Early September. It is unbearably hot in Bordeaux. "If the weather stays fine, we will get a great vintage like 1982 or 1989", says Stephan von Neipperg. We are standing amidst the vines of Canon-La-Gaffeliere in Saint Emilion which Stephan considers a jewel among his properties.

Our meeting starts with a crush course on vine growing — how to graft young vines; what happens if vineyards are stressed by high temperatures; how to identify best maturity for grapes. The latter is of particular interest — sweet Cabernet Franc berries can be served for dessert. "Yes, the sugar is good", notes Stephan, "but the stones are not dark yet. When you try them, they taste astringent. The fruit stem hasn’t dried, the pulp is still sticking to stones, not skin". If I already heard about brown stems and stones from other winemakers, the pulp was a novelty. But I instantly thought of peaches. Stones comes off so easily when peaches are ripe!

We move under cool vaults of the winery from the scorching sun. It is quiet and empty at the moment, but soon the building will be the vital centre of the whole estate for a month. What new could be said about technological process of vinification? Neipperg talks with simple wisdom, and there is a feeling of creation behind dead machines.

Every harvest is treated like a future baby. Grapes are gently transported on the conveyor belt and sorted twice. First small and dry berries are removed, then bunches are destalked, after that remaining stalks, bad berries and other rubbish are sorted away manually. Whole berries go up the belt to wooden fermentation tanks. They are cooled, when needed, and then there is no rush for fermentation. It starts by local yeasts. Everything is done gently and carefully — no violence upon nature.

During fermentation Neipperg uses traditional Burgundian pigeage technique. Skins on top of the vat are softly pushed down. Not an easy job, as they may be up to 1.4 metres thick in 100-hectolitre vats. "It’s a little bit of a philosophy between Burgundy and Bordeaux fermentation cellar. We saw it in Burgundy, started to use it here and were happy with the results. But in old times they also did pigeage in Bordeaux. The problem is that some people overdo it", explains Neipperg. He was the first to have used the technique in modern Bordeaux — back in 1997.

In a year or two Stephan plans to switch to new smaller vats, with capacity of 60 hectolitres. Canon-La-Gaffeliere 45-year-old vines are strong enough to cope with them. Larger vats will be taken to Chateau d’Aiguilhe Cotes de Castillon where the vineyards are younger.

Neipperg is convinced that wooden vats fit better for fermentation of red wine. "In wooden fermentation tanks the temperatures do not go up quickly as the wood takes part of the heat. In steel tanks the process is regulated by hot and cold water, but temperatures go up and down much quicker. Although wooden tanks can also be heated and cooled, they have much more harmony. In a balanced vinification antocyans and tannins are fixed better".

In Canon-La-Gaffeliere and other Neipperg’s properties they try to have long fermentation. If it runs for more than ten days, it is considered outstanding. Usually great vintages are kept for longer. With that they limit access of oxygen. It is a dangerous thing, says Stephan, but no risk, no fun. With this technique wines always turn out better. "We are very careful at the beginning", he admits. "We make a hard selection so nothing bad comes in the tank. Yet, long alcoholic and malolactic fermentations are always more difficult". In this case they can refer to micro-oxygenation. Small controlled dozes of oxygen allow to fix wines better. This is another technique that Bordeaux owes to Neipperg.

Then wine is transferred into barrels. Naturally induced malolactic fermentation runs there. Press wines are treated differently. "They are dirty and should be racked quickly and often, otherwise you get bad smell from them".

We move to another room. There are large paintings on the walls. "Here we bottle wine and put it n cases. We work only 2 months a year in this room, so sometimes it is used for concerts and other events", answers Stephan to my curious expression on the face.

The warehouse is a level lower. It is spacious there. Neipperg wines don’t have problems with sales, 90 percent of them are exported. Several standard metal containers with bottles house the entire vintage of La Mondotte 2003. In a couple of months bottles will be labeled, put in cases and sent all over the world.

We stop in the next room used for storing the collection of old wines. "We’ve got all Canon-La-Gaffeliere vintages starting from 1950s. The earlier ones — 1928, 1929 — we bought in England and Belgium. Here’s La Mondotte 1937. It’s the only bottle. Not a bad wine, but the best for me are 1928, 1945 and 1953 vintages. Old wines have real character".

Once Neipperg noted that Bordeaux made good wines before 1964, then they were stopped. "After the infamous frost in 1956 the wines were coming more and more in industrial way. The quality was falling, but there were no problems with sales. When you produce wine badly, but a lot of it, you make more money than when you have good wine with limited quantity. Return to quality started in Medoc in 1982, in Saint-Emilion — in 1985. Now in 2000s we make much better wines. I don’t know whether they will keep better than great vintages of 1940s and 50s, but they are much better than those of late 1960s and 1970s".

To analyse changes in style, one sees that wines’ aromas have become a lot cleaner. "In that time there was no selection. We are perhaps a little bit more perfect in what we are doing. But in great years they made great wines — that means that there is terroir. At one time people lost quality. Winemaking was for engineers. They wanted money, quantity, pesticides, herbicides… But really you need to find the structure in the fruit. If you have no structure, you push, you make big fruits like the tomatoes of Holland but they have no taste".

Next to old vintages of Canon-La-Gaffeliere lie the younger ones — of 1990s and 2000s. A separate wall is for La Mondotte. Neipperg’s original intention was to include harvest from La Mondotte into Canon-La-Gaffeliere wines. "In 1996 at the latest classification on St Emilion vineyards I wanted Canon-La-Gaffeliere to receive Premier Grand Cru Classe. They said, ’No, Mr. Neipperg, you are too young, you cannot have the first growth". I couldn’t understand what my age had to do with the classification of the chateau. They have a lot of different things to classify, so it was more of a political thing. Today for me this is not important. My wines sell on the market for prices better than Cannon, La Gaffeliere, Trottevieille, Belair, Beau-Sejour Becot, Magdelaine. Only Angelus and Pavie are more expensive. Today the market does what I wanted from classification".

Going back to the story with La Mondotte, Neipperg asked to use grapes from this 4.5 hectare plot for Canon-La-Gaffeliere. There had been similar incidents earlier in Saint Emilion. But he was refused. ’No, La Mondotte is three kilometers away, soils are different. That is the plateau, here are coteaux and pieds de cotes, wines are different’. They made him build a separate winery, and Stephan said to himself, "If you obliged me to make a winery, I will make a special wine". Thus La Mondotte 1996 was born, and it shook the world. Neipperg got his ’revenge’ — only name, vintage and the proprietor are stated on a laconic label. All other obligatory information is on the back lable in small print.

We go to the cellar where barrels with wine are kept. Now they contain wines of 2004 vintage after malolactic fermentation. "A lot of people criticize what we are doing. They say malolactic in barriques is not a classic thing, taking out the lees is not good. But this is an old method, only in old times they didn’t call it by a scientific term. Wooden fermentation tanks also have a long history. So we do not make new things. We only take the good things of the old times and try to make them adapted for our situation. A lot of people nowadays make similar things in the US, in Australia, in Italy. So it’s not completely nonsense", tells Neipperg.

They also work a lot with fine lees, make battonage. But the actions are undertaken only if wine needs it. "When reductive earthy aromas appear, we give wine a little bit of oxygen. First rackings are made only in May-June, sometimes earlier — depending on the capacity of the vintage. If the vintages are strong, they need more time. For me 2003 is a more fragile wine. It has very high pH levels. 2004 in comparison is much more stable, like 98. First racking and blending happens after about 8-9 months". Thus, after a natural cycle, Canon-La-Gaffeliere are born.

In the cellar the conversation softly moves to the topic of en primeur. What exactly is tasted there? Neipperg doesn’t conceal. "We make our assemblage. But en primeur tasting is never a hundred percent of what you have after. We try to be as close as possible to what we think will be in future. Some wines get good ratings at en primeur, but then they go down. For Canon-La-Gaffeliere they may not be so high, but go higher after. I prefer it this way. That’s more correct, I think."

Stephan doesn’t deny the importance of en primeur, but notes that by April 80 percent of wine doesn’t finish malolactic fermentation. "After this fermentation the wines taste much better. But I don’t want to adapt my vinification and elaboration of my wines to the primeur dates. The consumer should learn to trust a wine producer. If producers make wine according to the year, you can trust them. The problem is that many journalists only come to Bordeaux for spring tastings and never write about how wines develop after."

This year winter in Saint Emilion was very long. Usually in finished by mid-February, but this time it stayed until the middle of March. Wines were cold and didn’t have time to open up for en primeur. Many tasters found the vintage unexciting. According to Neipperg, his wines of 2004 exceed the 2003. "If we have a tasting now, it will be easier to understand how the wines will develop". Some time later we indeed taste the 2004. It leaves an impression of a classic, serious, balanced year with good aging potential.

"Perhaps, we need more ’adult’ consumers", says Stephan. "A lot of people never come to Bordeaux, so they take Wine Spectator ("Wine Speculator", he bites), Wine Advocate and trust them altogether. The problem now that people need a guru. Gurus say what you have to eat, what creams you have to take to be younger. No one wants to get older these days. Young is good, old is bad. But we have no reflection to be good under the skin. I don’t understand it".

Perhaps, wine producers should communicate more with end consumers? "We try to do it", agrees Neipperg who visits over 40 international markets a year. "But if I say, well, this year is good, people think I say so because I want to sell my wines. Even when you take 60-70 important journalists in the world, they do not agree on all the wines. You can’t agree, you have your own taste".

Before getting engaged with family vineyards, Stephan studied politics and economy in Paris, then got a diploma of wine engineer in Montpelier. With such background he won’t have problems to be head of the ministry of agriculture which includes the winemaking industry. "No problem", laughs Neipperg. "Our family is always close to politics. But perhaps I’m happier with what I have".

In twenty years Neipperg made Canon-La-Gaffeliere and La Mondotte one of the most recognized vineyards in Saint-Emilion. His other two — Clos l’Oratoire and Peyreau — are also well known in the wine circles. In the neighbouring Cotes de Castillon he produces best wines of the appellation in Chateau d’Aiguilhe. To that, they offer brilliant value for money.

Recently Stephan added two new properties to his list in- Clos Marsalette in Pessac-Leognan and Chateau Soleil in Puisseguin Saint-Emilion, a satellite of Saint-Emilion.

And most unconventional is Neipperg’s project in Bulgaria. New winery is located in Pazardjik region near Plovdiv. "This is a great historic vineyard which counts over 2,000 years. It was neglected during the country’s economic crisis of 1982-1985. We found it through library research", tells Stephan. In 2001 he bought over 260 hectares of land from 800 farmers and called it Bessa Valley Winery after the name of the tribe that grew vines here in 5-4 century BC.

"It’s an outstanding area.", says Neipperg. "There is more chalk there than on the plateau of Saint-Emilion". Half of the estate was planted to Bordeaux varieties. First grapes were gathered last year, production counted 300,000 bottles. Enira and Enira Reserva will be released on the market this autumn. "The project is very interesting. I would like to find smilar vineyards in other parts of the world and seriously work there". Perhaps, next time I will meet Neipperg on one of them.