Wines

Produced from eight different small west- and southwest-facing parcels of Chasselas planted on 35-40%-gradient slopes between 400 and 500 meters of altitude, Pierre Latine’s Yvorne Grand Cru Blanc is raised in a combination of two-thirds stainless steel and one-third cement egg and bottled after a year on the fine lees. It offers an expressive aromatic profile of fennel, dried honey, raw almonds, and dried strawberries, with a clean, gripping presence on the palate and an increased sense of focus and drive on the finish.

The Clos du Crosex Grillé (“grillé” referring to the way the sun roasts this extreme slope) encompasses 2.5 hectares of terraces planted mostly to Chasselas, within the grand cru of Aigle at 450 to 500 meters altitude. Philippe raises the “Cuvée des Immortels” on its fine lees for a year in a combination of stainless steel and specially designed amphora, bottling it in the old Swiss standard-sized bottle of 700 milliliters (which allows for precisely 2,000 units to be bottled from a 35-hectoliter cask). It displays intense, penetrating focus on the palate, with a strong saline edge and a great concentration. Though ample in its acidity, its tension is driven as much by a through-line of appetizing bitterness as by an impression of brightness—a balancing act which Chasselas at its finest performs beautifully.

Only produced in certain years, Pierre Latine’s “Mythologie – Pinotissima” comes from a 35-year-old parcel of Pinot Noir planted in Yvorne’s alluvium-rich, gravelly limestone. Philippe retains 100% whole clusters and employs spontaneous fermentation during the wine’s three-week maceration in stainless steel, and it spends 12 months aging in low-toast Burgundy barrels, a third of which are new. The combination of warm daytime temperatures and Yvorne’s solar-panel-like vineyard expositions ensures fully ripe grapes, but the Vaud’s extremely cool nights allow the fruit to preserve scintillating acidity, and indeed “Pinotissima” is a wine of both succulence and tension, with a silken, burnished texture and a lovely overlay of high-toned spices.

Syrah has a particular affinity for the terroir of Yvorne (and, for that matter, for the eastern Vaud and western Valais in general), and Philippe works a 4,000-vine plantation (0.13 hectares) of 30-year-old vines on the Clos du Crosex Grillé’s lower terraces. The Syrah “Cuvée Excellentia” is vinified with 100% whole clusters, and Philippe ages it for a year in 50% new wood before bottling. Though thick and ripe, there is no sense of overextraction here, and the freshness that is a hallmark of this terroir keeps the wine’s spice-inflected, black-fruited personality feeling balanced.