L’Enfant Sauvage, the wild child of French culture, raises questions about humanism and dignity. A wine by that name in Bridgehampton raises related questions of nature and nurture.
L’Enfant Sauvage: Nature and nurture in winemaking
New wines are coming our way. In Bridgehampton, Channing Daughters continues to show great strength in limited editions of unusual white wine grapes—or more common grapes handled in an unusual way. They have several new releases—all atypical varietals and noteworthy for the quality. For the second year, they have produced a small quantity of tocai. The grape is native to the Fruili region in northeast Italy, and Channing is the only winery on Long Island to grow it. Christopher Tracy, the winemaker, spent some time in Fruili this year and seems to be mastering the techniques of producing a fragrant, balanced and delicious version of tocai.
The 2003 vintage has a wonderful bouquet with distinct citrus and pineapple aromas, a strong mineral component and a touch of spice. Try it with proscuitto, sheep’s milk cheeses or any light, summer dish. The limited quantity is just about sold out, but we can look forward to a 2004 vintage next summer.
Sylvanus 2003 is a blend of muscat, pinot grigio and pinot bianco. Unlike most blends, which consist of varied lots from different field locations, fermented separately and then blended, theirs is a field blend, meaning the three varieties of grapevines were located in the same field and then harvested and vinified together in the same tank. The rationale is to capture and express in the taste the location and season in which it was created—a vin de terroir. Does this purity of method produce a wine different from a similar non-field blend? I can’t say, but I like the concept, and it does produce an interesting wine. The result is smooth, light and youthful, a white wine with original characteristics. It’s dry but not bone dry, floral with a scent of orange blossoms, but not pungent, and spiked with good acid and mineral notes. It’s not intricate but has a fine, subtle balance, perhaps best for sipping but will pair with some foods. Sylvanus sells for $24 at the winery.
Channing produces several chardonnays, the most interesting called L’Enfant Sauvage, which translates as wild child. It is an interesting choice for a name. The French, more than other cultures, have always had a fascination with this subject. I recall a book some years ago titled Sylva, by Jean Vercors, about a fox-like wild child who gradually learned to walk upright and read, write and talk. And then there was the austere but brilliant 1970 film by Francois Truffaut, titled L’Enfant Sauvage. It is based on a true story documented in the late eighteenth century in which a Dr. Itard manages through love and patience to reach across the barriers separating his civilized world from that of a feral youth. But how civilized is a world where people display and mock the wild child after he is found? In portraying the education of a total wild boy and the courage of his teacher, Truffaut also dealt with the larger themes of humanism and dignity.
The name on the label, as used by Channing Daughters, similarly raises a number of questions, and since the Channing group is a cultivated and intelligent one, I suspect the questions are deliberate and meant to be provocative. It is meant obviously to suggest nature. I believe they also had in mind the dueling relationship between nature and nurture. Which is more important in child development? Scientists, as we see in scholarly journals and on our Op-ed pages, continue to argue.
Which is more important in winemaking? The Channing method in producing this wine suggests that nature has the controlling hand. Yet the nurturing part, the hand of the winemaker, more the midwife than the progenitor, cannot be dismissed. The process begins with hand harvesting and continues with fermentation using wild yeast. That means naturally occurring ambient yeast in the air of a vineyard primarily from leaves of the vines start the fermentation as opposed to a winemaker adding prepared yeast to the tank or barrel.
This process is risky and less predictable. Because it takes years for strains of yeast to reach usable ambient levels, and some yeasts can actually be harmful, almost all New World wines are created with cultured yeast. It is also a slower process, and in this case the primary fermentation took over a year. The wine is minimally handled, unfiltered or fined and bottled by gravity. The end product is a rich and complex wine with intense flavor and layers of aroma and taste. At $35 it is not inexpensive for a chardonnay, but it is rare—total production was 154 cases—and a refreshing treat.
Mr. Tracy is taking chances, testing the boundaries of winemaking on Long Island. It is certainly not unmethodical, but he is taking risks for the sake of producing memorable and uncommon wines, and I am glad to report that he is succeeding.
