Archive for the ‘Tasting notes’ Category
MWG May 15th tasting (3/6): Dry whites from Clos du Gravillas
Founded in 1996, Clos du Gravillas is run by a husband and wife team (he’s from Kentucky, she’s from Narbonne). Their 8.5 hectares of vines, including a parcel of Carignan planted in 1911 and some old Grenache Blanc and Gris, are located on rocky soils within the Parc naturel régional du Haut-Languedoc and the Minervois AOC. The estate is certified organic.
VDP des Côtes du Brian 2012, Emmenez-moi au bout du Terret, Clos du Gravillas ($26.38, private import, 12 bottles/case)
100% organically farmed Terret Gris from 50-year-old vines. Manually harvested. Vinified and matured for nine to 11 months in 500-litre Austrian oak barrels. 2,500 bottles produced. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Plan Vin.
Pungent nose: candied pear and lemon, wax, pastry with a hint of butterscotch and straw. Clean, rainwatery attack then swelling fruit and savour. Minerally and saline, with brisk acidity. Dry despite the ripe fruit. Quartzy finish. Unfortunately, our bottle wasn’t as fresh or pure as the one tasted a couple of weeks earlier at RASPIPAV’s Le printemps dézippé event. The delightful label takes its inspiration from the pun in the wine’s name, a play on Emmenez-moi au bout de la terre (take me to the end of the earth). Suggested food pairings: shellfish, lean fish, lemon chicken. (Buy again? Yes.)
Minervois 2011, L’Inattendu, Clos du Gravillas ($34.18, private import, 6 bottles/case)
A blend of organically farmed old-vine Grenache Blanc and Gris (80%) and Macabeu (aka Macabeo, 20%). Manually harvested. After pressing, the juice is clarified by cold settling. Fermented and matured for nine to 11 months on the lees in 500-litre Austrian oak barrels. 3,000 bottles produced. 14% ABV. Quebec agent: Plan Vin.
Complex nose: initially ash, then quartz, lily flower, white fruit and hints of burnt rubber and roasted poultry juices. In the mouth, multidimensional. Rich yet fluid, soft-textured yet acid-bright and minerally. A touch of honey flavours the lemony, applely fruit. Balanced and surprisingly fresh from start through the long finish. Memorable. As food parings, the winemaker suggests veal paprikash, white fish and cheeses. (Buy again? Done!)
VDP des Côtes du Brian 2012, Mademoiselle Lily, Clos du Gravillas ($25.64, private import, 12 bottles/case)
Organically farmed Viognier, Roussanne and Terret Gris. Manually harvested. Vinified and matured for 11 months in 500-litre Austrian oak barrels. 2,500 bottles produced. 13% ABV. Quebec agent: Plan Vin.
Lemon meringue pie, Lemon Pledge, rose, Lifesavers. Aromatic, even floral, in the mouth with a rich texture. While it doesn’t come across as bone dry, it remains fluid and bright, due largely to the crisp acidity. A welcome bitter note marks the finish. A bit bonbon to my palate but popular with several around the table, who said they would serve it as an aperitif or summer sipper. (Buy again? Maybe.)
Updated on June 10, 2014, with information provided by the winemaker.
MWG May 15th tasting (2/6): A trio of Bandol rosés
The rosé situation at the SAQ has vastly improved in recent years. For the longest time, you couldn’t find a single Bandol rosé at the monopoly. Currently it stocks six. We tasted three of the most interesting.
Bandol rosé 2012, Château de Pibarnon ($31.50, 10275091)
Mourvèdre (85%) and Cinsault (35%). Manually harvested. Part of the Mourvèdre is bled from the red wine vats and part is directly pressed. All the Cinsault is directly pressed. The juices are blended before fermentation, which is long (25 to 30 days) and takes place in temperature-controlled (22°C) stainless steel tanks. Matured in stainless steel tanks for six months. 13.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Réserve & Sélection.
Complex and evolving nose: nectarine and garrigue, hints of fennel seed, background earth. Rich bordering on fleshy but also balanced and well delineated. Crunchy minerals and acidity structure the ripe if very dry fruit, while bitter and spicy notes add savour. A faint, almost tannic astringency marks the long finish. Impressive. Needs a year or two to come together but there’s absolutely no doubt it will. (Buy again? Definitely.)
Bandol rosé 2013, Domaine du Gros’Noré ($30.75, 11416837)
Mourvèdre (50%), Cinsault (35%) and Grenache (15%) from vines averaging 30 years old. The grapes are directly pressed, with 40% given a light maceration. 13.5% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Lovely if subdued nose of dusty strawberry, chalky minerals and raw sugar. Clean, refreshing and balanced, the fruit (red berries, cherry and finally apricot) and minerals lifted by acidity and coloured by herbes de Provence and faint spice. Long finish. This elegant wine is accessible now but may be even better in 12 months. (Buy again? Yes.)
Bandol rosé 2012, Domaine de Souviou ($24.50, 12200798)
Mourvèdre (40%), Cinsault (35%) and Grenache (25%). The grapes are manually harvested and sorted, then chilled to 14°C, lightly crushed and directly pressed. After cold settling, the juice is fermented in temperature-controlled (18°C) stainless steel tanks for 15 days. Malolactic fermentation is blocked and the wine is matured in staineless steel tanks. 13.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Robert Peides.
By far the palest of the three and not just in colour. Reticent nose, mainly minerals with a hint of peach. The fruit (stone fruit, grapefruit) is light, the minerals rainwatery and the finish clean, with a lingering savoury tingle that may be due to acidity as much as carbon dioxide. Actually, quite white wine-like – not that there’s anything wrong with that. (Buy again? Sure.)
MWG May 15th tasting (1/6): Pink of course
Corse Calvi rosé 2013, Fiumeseccu, Domaine Alzipratu ($22.80, private import, NLA)
A blend of saignée and directly pressed juice, mostly Sciacarello though a little Nielluccio may also have made its way into the mix. If memory serves, this is 13% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Effusive nose of pink grapefruit, nectarine, garrigue, cat pee and cotton candy. Clean, citrusy and peachy on the palate. The gush of ripe fruit is carried on a stream of acidity to a dry, savoury finish with a saline snap and a quartz aftertaste. While I thought it was true to form and therefore excellent, especially for the price, most around the table – including several longtime fans – were unconvinced. One taster in particular, who’d bought a case with a party in view, expressed disappointment and regret. Note, however, that she opened one of her bottles the following weekend and totally revised her opinion, declaring the wine classic and delicious (top sommeliers around town agree with that assessment). A QPR winner. (Buy again? Done!)
Patrimonio rosé 2012, Domaine d’E Croce, Yves Leccia ($24.80, 11900821)
100% Nielluccio. Manually harvested. Made from the same juice used for the estate’s red wines but bled off (saignée) after 12 hours’ maturation. Cold-settled for 12 hours, then fined. Fermented in stainless steel tanks at 18°C for 15 to 20 days. Malolactic fermentation is prevented. Matured six months in stainless steel tanks. 13.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Le Maître de Chai.
Compared with the Alzipratu, smoother, sweeter, rounder and grapier – redolent of peach, strawberry and watermelon with maquis overtones. Weightier too, though kept from heaviness by glowing acidity and a faint carbon dioxide tingle. The rainwater minerality turns saline on the long finish. Not light and refreshing enough to be a first choice for sipping on the deck or balcony. On the other hand, if you’re looking for something to serve with your aïoli monstre… (Buy again? Sure.)
Pimped up
IGT Isola dei Nuraghi 2011, Iselis, Argiolas ($25.95, 11896560)
Part of the winery’s Prestige line. Monica (90%), Bovale Sardo (5%) and Carinera (aka Carignan, 5%) from ten- to 30-year-old vines grown in the Iselis vineyard. Manually harvested. Macerated and fermented in stainless steel tanks at 28 to 30°C for ten to 12 days. Transferred to glass-lined concrete tanks for ten to 15 days’ malolactic fermentation. Matured in French oak casks for 12 months. 14.5% ABV.
There are wines you don’t much care for on opening but come to like as they breathe and unfurl. And then there are wines where just the opposite happens. For me, this falls into the second category. Attractive enough nose of plum and baked earth with an anise/mint high note and, like a red flag, oaky vanilla and spice. A sip delivers a full-bodied mouthful of ripe and fairly forward fruit, bedrock minerals, good acidity and fine tannins that surge and turn astringent on the long, inky finish. The oak swells unavoidably and, while it does add sweetness to what would otherwise be a very dry wine, its presence seems at odds with the earthy, unpretentious fruit. Why do winemakers insist on pimping up local varieties? Food – in this instance, pan-roasted lamb – damped down the oak and sweetened the fruit, so think of this as a food wine. It might be better in a couple of years, when the wine will have had time to digest the oak. (Buy again? Nah, I’ll look elsewhere, maybe the Tradition line.)
Camerlengo’s 2010 Antelio
IGP Basilicata Rosso 2010, Antelio, Azienda Agricola Camerlengo ($25.90, 11951961)
100% Aglianico from organically farmed 30-year-old vines. Manually harvested. Fermented with native yeasts and macerated for 25 days. Matured in 50-hl Slavonian oak botte. Unfiltered and unfined. Lightly sulphured at bottling to increase stability during transportation. 13% ABV.
The faintest whiff of nail polish remover quickly blows off leaving a fragrant, savoury nose of pomegranate, black cherry, obsidian dust, sweet spice, cedar and tomato paste. In the mouth, it’s a middleweight. The silky fruit veils fine, drying tannins, generating a kind of tension between the fruit’s tart sweetness and the tannins’ astringency that lasts well into the dusky flint, plum and balsam-scented finish. A pleasure to drink now but even better in six to nine months. A perfect match for an Apulian-style lamb stew, of course, but food-friendly enough to work with grilled, roasted or pan-roasted white meat and fowl (go light on the tomato though). (Buy again? Unhesitatingly.)
Octavin and Gahier tasting (4/4): Savagnins
Arbois 2011, Zest de Savagnin, Domaine de l’Octavin ($50.48, Les Importations du Moine, 6 bottles/case)
100% organically and biodyamically farmed Savagnin from 70-year-old vines grown in the Les Nouvelles vineyard. Macerated on the skins for three months, making this an orange wine, then matured in old barrels for around ten months. 12.9% ABV.
Complex nose of orange peel, floor wax, faint pine needles, sawed wood, peach and lemon, among other things. Smooth and round on the attack and surface though a strong acidic undercurrent quickly makes itself felt. Richly flavoured if a little monolithic for the now (of all the wines in the tasting, this is the one I most wished had been carafed), the fruit wrapped around a mineral core. Textured more like a red wine, with light tannins coming out on the long finish. Better balanced, more complete and fresher than many orange wines. Fascinating if a bit elemental; the future looks promising though. (Buy again? Gritting my teeth at the price but yes.)
Arbois 2005, Vin jaune, Domaine Michel Gahier ($71.00/620 ml, Primavin, NLA)
100% Savagnin. Matured sous voile (under a yeast veil) in old oak barrels for more than six years. 13.5% ABV.
Lightly oxidized nose of straw, apple and dried pear, developing nori and pastry notes as the wine breathes. A marvel in the mouth: so fresh and delicate yet also so present, focused and balanced. The fruit is pure, the acidity bracing. Threads of caramel, vanilla and nuts intertwine on the minutes-long finish. Obviously oxidized but not at all fino-like. Such a buoyant wine – each sip just carries you along. A synergistic match with 36-month-old Comté and walnut bread. In short, one of the best vin jaunes I’ve tasted and easily the most delicious. As remarkable as it is now, Gahier says it needs another ten to 20 years to develop fully. (Buy again? As nearly everyone at the tasting said: yes, price be damned.)
Octavin and Gahier tasting (3/4): Trousseaus
Vin de France 2012, Corvée de Trousseau, Domaine de l’Octavin ($32.83, Les Importations du Moine, 6 bottles/case)
100% organically and biodynamically farmed Trousseau from the Les Corvées vineyard (and maybe other parcels). The whole grapes are vinified using carbonic maceration. The wine is denied Arbois AOC status because the alcohol level, 9.7% ABV, does not reach the required minimum (10%). “Boire du trousseau, ce n’est jamais une corvée” (Drinking Trousseau is never a chore) is written on the label.
I’ve seen darker rosés, though few as murky. Kaleidoscopic nose of cedar, “pale red tomato,” banana peel, red grapefruit, rhubarb and more. Faint carbon dioxide prickle. Light-bodied is putting it too strongly: the fruit is diaphanous, almost rainwatery (“eau de gazpacho” was how one taster described it) and yet the wine has the wherewithal to stand up to dried sausage, which brings out its fruit and makes you appreciate its mineral and acid backbone, dryness and length. A watercolour of a wine, quite unlike anything else I’ve encountered. (Buy again? At $23, I’d jump on it. At $33, a single bottle will have to do.)
Arbois 2011, Zerlina, Domaine de l’Octavin ($35.52, Les Importations du Moine, 6 bottles/case)
Biodyanmically and organically farmed Trousseau (50%) and Pinot Noir (50%) from the En Curon vineyard. 12% ABV.
Red berries with a hint of rubber and spice. Light- to medium-bodied, dry and silky textured. Clean on the attack, lightly structured and brightly lit. The fruit is ripe and fleet, shaded with earthier flavours. A lingering astringency and fine minerality colour the finish. (Buy again? Yes, with only a little grumbling about the price.)
Arbois 2011, Trousseau, Les Grands Vergers, Domaine Michel Gahier ($31.50, Primavin, NLA)
Les Grands Vergers is the lieu-dit (named place) where the 60- to 70-year-old vines for this 100% Trousseau are grown. (The area around Gahier’s village, Montigny-les-Arsures, is considered the homeland of Trousseau.) 12.5% ABV.
Perfumy red fruit with a few black currants thrown in, faint cinnamon, old wood and smoke. Medium-bodied. There’s a freshness and a bell-like clarity to the fruit, a hallmark of all the Gahier wines. Structured with fine, firm tannins, tensed with acidity, grounded in minerals and earth that last well into the finish. A beauty. (Buy again? Yes, in multiples with no grumbling whatsoever.)
Octavin and Gahier tasting (2/4): Poulsards
Arbois 2011, Cul Rond à la cuisse rose, Domaine de l’Octavin ($27.54, Les Importations du Moine, 6 bottles/case)
100% organically and biodynamically farmed Poulsard from the En Curon vineyard. Immediately after the grapes are crushed, the skins are removed to avoid colouring the juice (which, like that from nearly all red grapes, is clear); in other words, this is a blanc de noirs (assuming you’d call the pale Poulsard a black grape, that is). 11% ABV.
Muted, yeasty, sweaty nose that required coaxing to reveal the rumoured stone fruit. A bit spritzy on opening, which may explain the nose. Medium-bodied, possessed of a relatively dense, heading toward waxy texture. There’s an appealing tartness and a cider-like quality to the fruit. The finish is long and mineral-packed. Should probably be carafed an hour before opening. (Buy again? Sure.)
Arbois 2012, Dorabella, Domaine de l’Octavin ($31.27, Les Importations du Moine, 6 bottles/case)
100% organically and biodyanmically farmed Poulsard from 50-year-old vines from the La Mailloche vineyard plus a little form the En Curon vineyard. Vinified using carbonic maceration, like many Beaujolais. 11% ABV.
Pale red, the colour locals term rubis. Fruity, yeasty, cedary, tomatoey nose with a whiff of stinky feet. Light-bodied with lowish acid. The discreet fruit is marked by meaty, bloody and spicy notes. There’s also a bit of fizz, which may be intentional. A little disappointing compared with the disarmingly charming 2011 tasted last November but quite possibly in need of a few months to find its footing. (Buy again? A bottle to see how it evolves.)
Arbois 2012, Ploussard, Domaine Michel Gahier ($25.00, Primavin, NLA)
100% Poulsard (aka Ploussard) from 50-year-old vines in various parcels around Montigny-les-Arsures. 12.5% ABV.
Medium red. Raspberry (a bit candied), sweet spice, quartz and blossoms (musk rose and violet?). Medium-bodied. Iron and light red fruit are the dominant flavours (“blood on white strawberries” quoth one taster), while acidity streams and tannins lightly rasp. Decent length and a lingering tang. A textbook example of the grape and an excellent pairing for charcuterie. (Buy again? Yes.)
Octavin and Gahier tasting (1/4): Chardonnays
Breaking from its usual focus on a single winemaker, the most recent Jura Oenorama tasting was a study in contrasts that featured two lesser known estates: the dynamic, even edgy Domaine de l’Octavin and the more traditional Domaine Michel Gahier.
Founded in 2005 by Alice Bouvot and Charles Dagand, Domaine de l’Octavin owns five hectares of vineyards around its home base of Arbois. Its wines are as natural as they come: made from organically and biodynamically farmed grapes using a non-interventionist approach with no added anything (including sugar, yeast or sulphur) and bottled unfiltered and unfined. What’s more, the winemakers are open to experimentation; one of their wines is a blanc de noirs made from Poulsard, for example. As the owners are amateur musicians and classical music nuts, several of the wines have been named after characters in Mozart operas.
Media-shy Michel Gahier is based in Montigny-les-Arsures, where one of his neighbours and friends is Jacques Puffeney. Farming at the 6.5-hectare estate is fundamentally organic, though not certified as such. The wine-making is very traditional. The red grapes are destemmed and cold-macerated, then fermented for about one month with some punching-down of the cap early on. The wines, both red and white, are matured in old foudres and barrels and bottled unfiltered. Though off many drinkers’ radar, Gahier’s wines are much prized by Jura connoisseurs (they feature prominently on the list of Arbois’s Jean-Paul Jeunet, the Jura’s only Michelin two-star restaurant) and remain reasonably priced.
We began with a flight of Chardonnays.
Arbois 2010, Pamina, Domaine de l’Octavin ($34.15, Les Importations du Moine, 6 bottles/case)
100% organically and biodynamically farmed Chardonnay from the La Mailloche vineyard. Fermented with indigenous yeasts. Underwent malolactic fermentation. Matured on the lees in second- to fifth-fill barrels for two years, occasionally stirred and regularly topped-up. Unfiltered, unfined. No added sulphur. 13% ABV.
Yeasty nose with nuances of lemon, browning apple, chalk and a whiff of burned rubber. Medium-bodied. Tart yet the wine remains more soft than angular. There’s straw upfront, fruit (yellow apple?) in the background and plenty of chalky minerals. A faint hazelnut note creeps in on the finish. Not what you’d call a tightly focused wine but fun to drink. (Buy again? Sure.)
Arbois 2011, Les Follasses, Domaine Michel Gahier ($25.50, Primavin, NLA)
100% Chardonnay from the high-elevation, slow-ripening Les Follasses vineyard. Matured in neutral barrels, which are kept topped-up. 12.5% ABV.
Appealing nose of limestone, spice, apple, lemon zest and a faint lactic note. Fruity but dry, round but also ethereal. Crunchy minerals add flavour and texture while the zingy acidity combines with a saline note to make the long finish a lip-smacker. Fresh and tasty – what’s not to like? (Buy again? Def.)
Arbois 2010, Les Crêts, Domaine Michel Gahier ($27.50, Primavin, NLA)
100% Chardonnay from the hilltop Les Crêts vineyard. Matured about 15 months in a large foudre and then another 12 months in smaller (600-litre) demi-muids. 12.5% ABV.
Strong burned match odours slowly gave way to hints of stone fruit, lemon and minerals. The richest and smoothest of the three. The fruit tends to apple and pear, the minerals to flint as much as chalk. Dry but a shade less than Les Follasses, the residual sugar rounding the wine and taking the edge off the sustained acidity. A faint nuttiness echoes through the very long and minerally finish. Balanced and complex – just lovely. (Buy again? With pleasure.)
Contrary to what some U.S. merchants claim, Gahier’s Les Follasses and Les Crêts bottlings are not made in an oxidative style: the barrels are kept topped up, so no yeast veil develops and the only oxidation that occurs is through the barrel staves. Gahier does make a sous voile Chardonnay, the La Fauquette bottling.
A night in Villeray
Fou du vin’s Chapitre de Villeray tasting group sometimes has a seat or two available for outsiders and I was lucky enough to snag one at their most recent event.
While there was reportedly some Pinon Vouvray sec floating around, for me the evening began with a glass of Givry 2010, Clos de la Servoisine, Domaine Joblot. The nose was textbook Côte Chalonnaise Chardonnay: lemon, apple, chalk, oats, a hint of butter and vanilla. Rich and mouth-filling but still fluid with a firm acidic backbone, tons of chalk, very pure fruit, well-integrated oak and a long clean finish. Tonic and delicious.
Glasses were shuffled as we moved on to the main event: a 12-bottle vertical of the Patrimoine line of Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil from Domaine Sébastien David (no website that I’ve found but the winemaker does have a blog). Turning 40 this year, David comes from a long line of Loire vignerons. His 15 hectares of Cabernet Franc vines were planted by his grandparents in the 1940s. The vines are farmed organically (the estate began converting to biodynamic farming in 2003) and the wine-making is fully natural. All the Patrimoine wines are made the same way: the whole clusters are crushed by foot, then macerated and fermented with indigenous yeasts in open wood vats for around 25 days. This is followed by a light pressing in a manually operated vertical press. After maturation in barrels for 24 months, the wines are bottled unfiltered, unfined and with minimal added sulphur. In the winery, the grapes and wine are transferred by gravity, not pumping.
One particularity of the Patrimoine line is that the label, bottle shape and name is different for each vintage: 1999 through 2004, 2005 through 2010.
All the wines were carafed several hours before the tasting. All are listed as 12.5% ABV except the 2007, which officially clocks in at 12%. You’ll find my notes after the jump.
Brett happens 