Julien Zernott and sons during construction

We found him at ViniSud in 2007. Then word spread like a Michelin 3-star wildfire from L’Astrance and Robouchon in Paris to arguably the greatest restaurant in the world — Michel Bras in LaGuiole.

Julien Zernott and his Pas de L’Escalette created quite a stir. Most of the noise surrounded a tiny production bottling he simply called “Le Grand Pas.” This blend of old-vine Grenache and Carignane with a splash of Syrah, grown on amazingly fragile, light, crumbling limestone in a forgotten parcel in Languedoc, has something we’ve never seen in the region — Chateauneuf-like concentration with a distinctly northern, almost Cote Rotie-like elegance and vibrancy.

While that first 2004 was superb, and the 2005 a terrifically structured follow-up, the recently released 2006 has it all — deep purple fruit lushness, muscle and a finish that goes on forever. It’s the most startling bottle to date from Zernott. Why? Because in this warm growing season, the old-vine Grenache and Carignane burrowed more than 30 feet (!) underground, searching out precious water reserves. While other vines in the south struggled with thirst, the old vines on these ancient terraces flourished, offering up a wine of tremendous richness and great length. The 2006 is Julien’s masterwork.

When we last saw Julien in the summer of 2008, he was moving forward, all guns blazing. Wine was selling on release and construction had already started on a brand new, state-of-the-art cellar, set against the terraces of Escalette. But, just when all was near perfect, production growing, more and more top restaurants flocking to the genius of Escalette, someone turned the faucet off. The economy stopped…but the construction was full throttle.

This is the nightmare of the global economy. Brilliant young winemakers, who have invested life savings in viticultural jewels, have been caught in the whipsaw. When it happens, there’s little to do other than to trade wine — often great wine — for cash. We told Julien we were buyers, and we told him he’d be paid on pickup. Then he came back with his price and we just asked, “how much can we have?”

Tasting Notes from the WineAccess Travel Log

“(50% 50-year old-vine Grenache, 30% 70-year old-vine Carignane, 20% Syrah) Deep purple color. Superb, explosive aromas of red fruits and violets, deep and brooding. Great density and ripeness, packed with somewhat closed purple fruit flavors, garrigue and herbes de Provence. Opens up after an hour in a large glass, displaying all the floral ripeness of Grenache, freshness of Carignane and the sweet charm of Syrah. Long and vibrant, with excellent lift, a perfect expression of this fine, old, limestone soil. Drink now - 2020.”