2021 Chandra Kurt Collection “Glou Glou” Chasselas, Valais, Switzerland.
This bright and fresh Glou Glou (highly quaffable) Chasselas from vineyards near Geneva, Switzerland, is all from sustainable grown grapes that are hand harvested, that see a slow, cold fermentation in stainless steel tanks, with a short aging period lasting two months in tank under cold temperatures and bottled quickly with a small amount of trapped CO2 from the primary fermentation, giving a heightened almost Txakolina like feel. At its age now the spritz is very subtle and there’s a sense of roundness, which is not a bad thing and the palate retains plenty of acidity and mineral driven flavors with tangerine, peach and green apple fruits along with wet stone, verbena, almond and a light herbal note. Drink now and be sure to keep an eye out for a new vintage of this fun lighter framed white. Chasselas, which is also found in Alpine French regions, can over chop, making very generic wine, but done with some yields and handled well can be very lovely wines, and Valais is very capable of producing outstanding examples, with the best versions, like those of Cave Caloz and Caroline Frey, being highly prized and sought after.
It is said that Chandra Kurt is the queen of Chasselas, having written the book on this fascinating and quintessential Swiss variety “Chasselas – from Féchy to Dézaley” A journey to discover the treasures of the Vaud vineyards, and she has created with various winemakers a great way to start exploring this grape. One of the most refreshing styles of Chasselas, according to her importer Eric Solomon of European Cellars, are the first wines of spring bottled with just a touch of trapped CO2 and made in a manner that capture this variety’s racy minerality, citrus, and floral notes which Chandra has captured perfectly with her Glou Glou Chasselas. The Valais region produces some fabulously serious wines, both white and red, and this area deserves much more attention, it sits up between 300 to 800 meters above see level and sees lots of Alpine sunshine on an interesting set of soils, including Alluvial clay and gravel, as seen here, allowing for perfect ripening of the grapes. This Chandra Kurt offering is a basic and fun version to start a journey into Swiss wines, which I recommend, but for more serious stuff, also look for Sandrine Caloz’s organic wines at Cave Caloz, especially her version of Chasselas (also known as Fendant) and her unique Cornalin, a native red grape.
($28 Est.) 90 Points, grapelive