2009 Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Isabel Ferrando admitted that she is restless when it comes to finding the best way to make wines that express this property. The most significant wine-making move that she has made recently (with the 2009 vintage) was to ferment her wines entirely with whole clusters, she told me. "I began to realize that if I destemmed my fruit then the fruit was over-emphasized, in a confiture way, which is always a danger here, where the fruit gets so ripe that terroir is obscured. We need to work more structure into the wines, not more fruit, otherwise the wines can be all fruit and simple, without site expression." On top of that, she added, using stems has brought the alcohol levels down and has extended the fermentations. "Now they don't stop until the sugar is gone and there's no need to add yeast either."

. Isabel Ferrando told me that for her own taste and for her own wines, "2009 is a more interesting vintage than 2007. They're fresher and better balanced but they also have the necessary concentration to age. The 2007s require patience: not as much as with 2005 but they aren't wines to drink now." Ferrando's preference for 2009 over the richer, riper 2007s is in line with her ongoing search for finesse, which now includes the use of more cinsault, which she says "gives an exotic floral quality and spiciness and accentuates the perfume of the wine." She also re-emphasized that she is extremely happy with the used demi-muids she buys from Yann Chave in the northern Rhone, "because you can get a longer and slower uptake of air and can have smoother temperature changes than with small casks. The oak influence is also less strong, which is especially crucial to maintaining the freshness and vibrancy of grenache."