ANDERS FREDERIK STEEN & ANNE BRUUN BLAUERT
Like Pearls On A String 2022 [1.5L]
Ardèche, France
A violent storm left them with only around a quarter of their grapes to harvest. The decision was made to make a field blend, and so the remaining bunches of Viognier, Grenache Blanc, Grenache Noir, Syrah and Petite Sirah were all picked together, destemmed by hand and left to infuse in the fermenting juice of the Sauvignon Blanc for around a month, before being pressed to old barrels for three years of élevage. The result is a heady blend that captures all the rugged beauty of this corner of the Ardèche.
Grenache Noir, Grenache Blanc, Petit Sirah, Syrah, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc
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.