A journey into Hervé Philippe’s world!
A winegrower out of the ordinary
We had been meaning to stop by Domaine Hervé Philippe for a tasting for a long time, but had never had the chance. So an appointment was made for 7 p.m., and we did the tasting on the late afternoon of Tuesday 27 May 2020.
Well, I have to admit we had such a good time that we did not leave until 10 p.m.!!!!
To sum up, I would say the evening built and built, one happy surprise after another, with an owner who is funny and knowledgeable, unconventional and creative, unassuming and very generous. Naturally, all of that ends up in the bottle!
Genuinely personal choices :
Hervé has made his choices, stands by them and explains them clearly; he strays from the beaten track and is in full conversion to organic. He has us taste ‘his classics‘ and ‘his UFOs‘ — unidentified vinous objects!
And so the journey begins. The wines we taste are so different from one another, and so distinctly his own, that we are thrown off balance — but in the best sense of the term, because we love being shaken up, especially so agreeably!
The whites
Variety and originality are the first words that come to mind. Here again you find Hervé’s creativity, his bold personal choices that pay off.
The UFO: Les Perrières 2015, a white at over 14° — it really is a UFO! It offers something unique, unexpected for the area, truly unexpected, that we will take real pleasure in suggesting with foie gras or a Munster… We are somewhere near the Jura, but not quite there either. Hervé never stops throwing us off balance, and we love it! Personally, though, I have a very soft spot for the 2017.
My great favourite among the whites: Pugette 2018, even though Pugette 2017 is already more than good!
Terres de Champvent 2017: a breath of freshness for the aperitif! More tangy (again, I am using my own words), it is less my kind of wine, but I know our guests love this style with an aperitif.
The reds
Far too modest!
So Hervé talks about UFOs, has us taste his Pinot Noir Bois Rue 2016, and comments: ‘it’s a glugging wine, easy to drink with friends round a barbecue…’
I am outraged!!! Outraged but rather touched all the same, and I point out to him that the words he is using do not remotely match the quality of what I am drinking — and which, frankly, I love!
We had high hopes for Hervé Philippe’s red, because reds are not the easiest thing to find (at least to our taste) in our area. And our area is what, from the very beginning, we agreed to give absolute priority to.
We then move on to Bois Rue 2017, and this time it is love at first sight! It is exactly the kind of red we had been looking for. At last we have this gem to offer our guests. A Pinot, 100% destemmed and unfiltered.
Domaine Hervé Philippe added to our wine list!
We left won over by the wines and by their maker (and by his equally charming parents), by so much generosity, humour, liveliness and character. This tasting was a journey of discovery, almost an initiation. Won over by the modesty, too: it is in passing, in an offhand sentence, that you learn one of the very first customers for Terres de Champvent was the Negresco in Nice. But Hervé Philippe makes nothing of it — he does not like to ‘blow his own trumpet’, as he puts it.
