ANDERS FREDERIK STEEN & ANNE BRUUN BLAUERT
I Was Born In A Small Town 2019 [50cl]
Ardèche, France
A unique expression of Pinot Gris from the gorgeous vineyards of Famille Bannwarth in Obermorschwihr, Alsace. Here the grapes macerated for a couple of days, before being pressed straight to barrel for four years of ageing without topping up. Time and oxygen have rendered a remarkably savoury, complex wine that is all salt, earth and spice. A meditative wine that is best enjoyed slowly, alongside a good piece of cheese.
Pinot Gris
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Anders Frederik Steen and Anne Bruun Blauert make their thoughtful and highly original wines from “grapes and only grapes”.
Anders began making wine in 2013 when he first started purchasing fruit from winemakers he admired and making wine alongside his friend, legendary Jura winemaker, Jean-Marc Brignot. The couple and their young family have now settled in the beautiful village of Valvignères in the Ardèche. The many varieties grown here thrive on a perfect mix of clay and limestone and the vineyards are full of life, having been tended organically for decades.
As well as their own vineyards, the two also harvest grapes with their friends Gérald and Jocelyne Oustric of La Mazel in Valvignères and further afield with the Bannwarth family in Obermorschwihr, Alsace.
In his previous life Anders was both a chef and sommelier, working at the best restaurants in his native Denmark. This experience informs the couple’s winemaking, in that a little like a kitchen working with the seasons, they do not seek to follow rules or conventions and do not feel the need to make the same wines each year. Instead, as they harvest, they taste the grapes and begin to imagine the kind of wine they might be able to make. Layers of flavour and texture are brought about through slow presses, oxygen and canny blends.
It is a refreshingly free, creative approach that yields thought provoking, sometimes challenging wines that are truly one of a kind.