Description
Domaine Viret, “Emergence”
It’s not every day you see a bottle of Philippe Viret. Even rarer is tracking down one of their stored-to-perfection library releases. The lucky few who’ve done so will tell you the best bottles deliver a truly indescribable “fourth-dimension” experience. Today, you have a chance to join that very short list. At 18 years old, Viret’s 2004 “Emergence” is an otherworldly Southern Rhône red exploding with ripsnorting energy, seductive perfume, and cosmic depth—all thanks to the singular practice of cosmoculture.
This patented philosophy is a chemical-free, natural-wine approach that closely follows celestial cycles, telluric lines, magnetism, geobiology, and soil acupuncture. Even if you’re not completely “bought in,” none can deny that few wines from 2004 taste more vigorous, fresh, and “alive” than today’s beauty. Sourced from one hand-farmed parcel, Viret’s Grenache-Syrah-Carignan blend macerated on skins for 45 days, aged in barrels for 60 months, then slumbered in the recesses of their cellar for 12 years. It was only just released. As you can imagine, this is an absurdly rare opportunity to experience the pure power and palpable energy of mature natural wine at its highest level. Only a few will ever taste it, so let one of them be you! Six bottles per person. Our parcel is scheduled to arrive in 10-14 days.
Conceived by father-son team Alain and Philippe Viret in the 1990s, cosmoculture subsumes organic and biodynamic culture and adds a mystical, metaphysical twist. A few examples: the belief that water is sacred and possesses memory retention; spearing rocks into the ground at specific locations and angles to relieve earth’s pressure points; and harnessing magnetic waves in order to ward off vine disease. In the cellar, which is more aptly described as a sacred Egyptian cathedral, these natural wines undergo years of unassisted evolution in neutral oak, clay, or concrete vessels under the watchful eye of well-placed crystals.
For all of their supernatural ideas regarding viticulture, it’s hard to believe Domaine Viret has only been around since the 1990s. Still, Philippe is connected to the earth in an honest and humble way: He considers himself a peasant, who, like in Medieval times, was a cultivator of land first and foremost. Therefore, the decision to farm his 35 hectares of vines organically and biodynamically from the start was an easy one—it was only after familiarizing himself with the terroir and taking a deep dive into metaphysics that he and his father Alain coined a new farming philosophy: cosmoculture. It is best described on their website as follows: “Agriculture which integrates and develops the various agrobiological, environmental and living aspects. Its specificity comes from the consideration of the energetic and vibratory vectors which influence the elements of nature and physical states.” Essentially, they believe currents of energy—be it telluric, sound, cosmic—can be harnessed and utilized to benefit surrounding organisms. It’s a lot to process but the end product is mind-blowing, to the point where even the harshest skeptics will find themselves doing extracurricular research.
“Emergence” hails from a single clay-limestone parcel in the Côtes du Rhône village of Saint-Maurice and is led by Grenache, followed by Syrah and Carignan. All of their grapes are hand-farmed without chemicals and hand-harvested at low yields under strict cosmoculture principles. In the cellar, all liquid flow occurs via gravity. The juice for this 2004 fermented naturally in large concrete tanks, without temperature control, and macerated on its skins for a whopping 45 days. Following, the wine was transferred into well-used oak casks for five years of maturation, all the while never seeing an ounce of sulfur. Their wines are always bottled without fining or filtration, and if they do decide to add SO2 to their reds, it’s never more than 10mg per liter (the European limit is 150mg). After bottling, this specific parcel of 2004 “Emergence” was stashed in their cellar for a dozen-year slumber. It left their property for the first time just months ago.
This is a wild, full-throttle Southern Rhône red that feels simultaneously powerful and airy. It comes in beyond 15% alcohol but nobody would dare call this hot or heavy-handed—it has the wonderful grace and concentrated, seductive layers of a cult classic Châteauneuf of the 1990s. Some have even compared it to Henri Bonneau’s oft-incomparable $500+ bottlings! The palate is full-bodied yet remarkably lithe as it delivers deep, highly energized flavors of kirsch, redcurrant, black raspberry liqueur, roasted red plum, leather, garrigue, saffron, white pepper, fired clay, and exotic spices. It finishes long and elegant with incredible verve. My bottles showed zero signs of slowing/tiring by the end of the night, leading me to believe this will keep cellaring for a decade-plus. NOTE: If you do plan on laying it down, please be sure to keep it consistently cool and out of sunlight—natural wines are sensitive!
