MWG February 21st tasting (3/8): Two Mediterranean whites
Bandol 2011, Domaine La Suffrene ($22.85, 11903491)
The estate was created in 1996. This is the first of its wines to be offered at the SAQ. A 50–50 blend of Clairette and Ugni Blanc from vines averaging 35 to 40 years old. Manually harvested. To increase flavour extraction, the crushed grapes are kept on their skins for 12 hours at 8ºC before pressing (aka maceration pelliculaire). After clarification by settling, the juice is fermented in stainless steel vats for around 15 days at around 19ºC, then racked into other vats for fining and maturation. Filtered before bottling. 13% ABV.
Smells like Provence: preserved lemon, acacia blossom, herbs, pear and mineral. Dry in the mouth with a winey verging on unctuous texture, though the acidity and restraint prevent any heaviness. Flavours tend to garrigue and a faint, pithy bitterness. What fruit there is fades on finish leaving ashy minerals. Not a throat-grabber by any means but classic and elegant. Am anxious to try the estate’s red and pink wines. (Buy again? Sure.)
Corse Figari 2011, Clos Canarelli ($39.25, 11794660)
100% biodynamically farmed Vermintinu (aka Vermintino) from vines planted in 1997. Fermented with indigenous yeasts. Allowed to undergo partial malolactic fermentation. Aged mostly in large foudres as well as some old neutral barrels. Lightly filtered before bottling. 13.5% ABV. As far as I can tell, the estate doesn’t have a website; for background, see The Vine Route profile.
Outgoing nose of dried herbs, white fruit, a sprinkling of anise seed, a hint of dried banana and some charry ash. Not fruity but weighty on the palate. Not bone dry either, though the residual sugar is counterbalanced by acidity and a fine bitterness. Long, vaporous finish with lemon and mineral notes. Impressive, imposing, a white to contend with, the very definition of a food wine: Grill a sea bass and, just before it’s finished cooking, toss some dried thyme sprigs soaked in Pernod onto the coals under the fish. Serve with a squirt of lemon and a drizzle of fragrant olive oil. You’re welcome. (Buy again? Yes, with sea bass in hand.)
MWG February 21st tasting (2/8): Two Corteses
Gavi 2011, Granée, Beni di Batasiolo ($16.65, 10388109)
100% Cortese grown in the southern Piedmont commune of Gavi, making it a Gavi di Gavi. Pressed, clarified by settling, then fermented at low temperature. 12.5% ABV.
Shy but attractive nose of minerals and lemon with a floral note. Light but with a round, even winey texture. Quite dry. The green pear and lemon fruit is subdued and dusted with chalk. Brisk acidity and a clean, faintly bitter finish round out the picture. Fresh and graceful if a little anonymous. Still, you won’t find a more elegant white at the price. (Buy again? Sure.)
Vino da tavola 2011, Bellotti Bianco, Cascina degli Ulivi ($20.00, Vini-Vins, NLA)
100% biodynamically farmed Cortese grown in the Tassarolo commune neighbouring Gavi. Manually harvested. Fermented and matured in vats and barrels made from either acacia or oak (the estate’s website contradicts itself). No added sulphur. Lightly filtered prior to bottling in September of the year following harvest. 12.5% ABV.
No one would accuse this Cortese of being anonymous. Complex nose: pears poached in white wine with cinnamon and served on a bed of fresh-cut hay. Richer and more rustic than the Gavi yet still fleet. Dry yet fundamentally fruity with only a hint of oxidation. There’s tingly acidity and a whack of minerals, including a salt crystal or two, especially on the long finish. The label proclaims simplicemente vino and there is indeed an appealing straightforwardness and directness about this wine. (Buy again? Yes.)
MWG February 21st tasting (1/8): Tissot’s Indigène
A wide-ranging tasting that featured a mix of SAQ wines and private imports, all of them recent arrivals. We started and ended in the Jura.
Crémant du Jura, Indigène, Domaine André et Mireille Tissot ($27.04, Les vins Alain Bélanger, 12 b/c)
A traditional method sparkler. Biodynamically farmed Chardonnay (55%), Pinot Noir (35%), Poulsard (5%) and Trousseau (5%) from vines averaging 25 years old. Manually harvested, pneumatically pressed. Slow fermentation in stainless steel vats at 16 to 18ºC with indigenous yeasts. The prise de mousse (second fermentation) is achieved using yeasts taken from the estate’s fermenting vin de paille. Matured on the lees in bottles for 13 months before disgorging. No dosage or added sulphur dioxide. If memory serves, the alcohol level was 12.5%.
Apple turnover with cream, lemon zest and chalk. Fine, persistent effervescence. Rich and dry, the flavours tending to pear and yellow apple, crunchy minerals and a honey note. Fresh, pure and bracing, with huge acidity and a yeasty finish. A great sparkler that wakes up your mouth. (Buy again? Definitely.)
Claper
Languedoc La Clape 2010, Château des Karantes ($25.65, 11476629)
Syrah (60%), Mourvèdre (30%) and Grenache (10%). Manually harvested, sorted, transferred by gravity to wood fermentation vats. Matured 18 months in 300- and 600-litre oak barrels. 14.5% ABV.
Plum, blackberry, turned earth, spice, hint of oak. A fleshy, big-boned wine. Ripe bordering on jammy fruit, chewy tannins and lots of acidity. A whiff of alcohol and tooth-coating astringency mark the chocolate- and licorice-scented finish. A bit stolid for now. Cellar time will bring some complexity and integration (dunno about elegance or finesse). That said, lovers of big wines will probably love this.
¿Oso de peluche?
Vino de la tierra de Castilla 2009, Venta La Ossa, Bodegas Mano a Mano ($22.80, 11465161)
Tempranillo (95%) and Syrah (5%). Spent 12 months in French oak barrels. 14.5% ABV.
Intriguing nose: candied cherry, plum, spice, slate, a green (not unripe) streak, oak. Full-bodied and plush. The fruit could be deeper, especially on the mid-palate, where it leaves a hollow that’s filled by a mildly astringent ashiness. The sneaky tannins reveal themselves only on the pepper and bitter chocolate finish. I was ignorant of what grapes this was made from and would never have guessed Tempranillo. Drinkable is about the best that can be said of it. The ursine label is pretty cool though.
Seaside Sangiovese
IGT Maremma Toscana 2011, Carandelle, Podere San Cristoforo ($25.85, 11546922)
100% biodynamically farmed Sangiovese from the eight-year-old Carandelle vineyard. Spontaneous fermentation and maceration for seven days in stainless steel tanks followed by ten months’ maturation in old French oak barrels. Bottled unfiltered. 13% ABV.
Pleasing nose of cherry, terracotta, dried herbs and oak with hints of spice and pepper. Medium bodied, fluid, smooth. The juicy fruit is held in check by bright acidity and shaped by silky tannins that dry a little on the finish, where they’re joined by a typically Italian bitter note. A dapper wine that’s ready to go. Those in the market for a Sangiovese with a sunny disposition need look no further; others may find the aloof austerity of some similarly priced Chiantis has even more appeal.
Terracotta Côt
Cahors 2010, Un Jour sur Terre, Le Clos d’un Jour ($23.70, 10783475)
100% organically farmed Côt (aka Malbec) from an abandoned vineyard resuscitated by the owners in 2000. Manually harvested, destemmed and eventually crushed. An initial two- to three-day extraction phase with daily punch-downs is followed by fermentation and a hot maceration phase, for a total of one month in stainless steel vats. The wine is then pressed and transferred into 140-litre unlined terracotta jars where it spends 18 months, the idea being to mature and micro-oxygenate the wine as in a cask but without introducing wood aromas or flavours. Bottled unfiltered and unfined. 13.5% ABV.
Inky and opaque in the glass. The rich nose is more raisiny than fruity and shows notes of terracotta and spice. In the mouth, it’s a foursquare, fulsome wine that’s dense with dark fruit: smooth and velvety on the surface with a strong undercurrent of acidity, tight round tannins and a long, chewy finish. Formidable, even a little impenetrable at present, it will likely uncoil and gain complexity with a few years in the cellar.
A not-so-basic basic white Burgundy
Bourgogne 2009, Les Champlains, Domaine Simon Bize & Fils ($28.15, 11815643)
100% Chardonnay from vines planted between 1993 and 1996. The grapes are pressed on arrival in the vatting cellar. The resulting juice is pumped into vats, chilled, allowed to settle and then racked, with the fine lees, into fermenting vats, where alcoholic fermentation starts spontaneously and lasts four to six weeks at a temperature between 20 and 24ºC. Spontaneous malolactic fermentation and initial maturation take place in a mix of vats and barrels (around 15% new) for a few months. The wine is then transferred to stainless steel vats for additional maturation, if necessary. Blended, fined (with egg whites) and lightly filtered before bottling. 13% ABV.
Lemon, green apple, oatmeal, chalk and light charry oak. Strikingly acidic, like a good Chablis but with a richer texture. Ripe if discreet fruit, a minerally underlay and a faint ashy note give way to a citrusy, faintly bitter finish. Clean and bracing, impeccably made and enjoyable now, though the oak will be less obvious after a year in the cellar.
Châteauneuf du Pégau
Another upmarket candidate for this weekend’s 10% discount on purchases over $100.
Châteauneuf du Pape 2009, Cuvée réservée, Domaine du Pégau ($75.00, 11521354)
Grenache (85%) along with Syrah and Mourvèdre and small amounts of other permitted varieties. Manually harvested. The various grapes with their stems are combined and placed in concrete vats, crushed, macerated and fermented with native yeasts and light additions of tartaric acid and sulphur but without temperature control. Ten days later, the grapes are pressed and transferred to old oak foudres for two years’ maturation. Oddly, the SAQ website specifies 14% ABV for the 750 ml bottle, 14.8% for the magnum.
Leather, spice, char and animale dominate the nose, relegating the dark fruit to the background. In the mouth, the wine is smoother and more integrated than expected. Full bodied with ripe but not heavy fruit, mainly spicy plum, wrapped in dark dusty minerals and structured by a finely etched matrix of stiff tannins and pulsing acidity. Alcohol and astringency linger though the peppery, smoky finish. Big though not overwrought, a wine that grabs you by the nose and throat and doesn’t let go, this 98 Parker pointer was wine of the night for many of the people at the event. I was less enamoured, finding it blunt, exaggerated (the coal ash aspect verged on caricatural), largely devoid of charm and refreshment. Of course, as the years pass, I’m less and less receptive to unsubtle, high-octane reds. And, in its defence, the wine is really young. Were I to buy a bottle, I wouldn’t open it for another ten years, at which point it will probably have a lot more appeal.
Côte-de-Beaune duo
While neither wine knocked my socks off, they’re both solid examples of Côte-de-Beaune reds. The Rollin doesn’t strike me as a long ager but the Rapet should hold up for ten or 15 years. Buy ’em both this weekend and you’ll just make it over the $100 threshold that earns you a 10% discount.
Beaune 2010, Grèves premier cru, Domaine Rapet Père et fils ($60.50, 11801882)
100% sustainably farmed Pinot Noir from 50-year-old vines. The bunches are manually harvested and sorted, then transferred by conveyor belt to the vat. Fermentation lasts 15 days, with regular punch-downs. Maturation takes place in oak barrels, 20% new. Pumping is avoided. 13% ABV.
Classic upmarket Burgundy nose: red berries, forest floor, spice, smoldering leaves, whafting sweet oak. In the mouth, the wine is medium bodied, well dimensioned and quite structured with ripe if young tannins. The astringency and dryness give it a velvety texture. The fruit is clean and pure albeit unsmiling, the finish long. There’s a a faintly ashy aftertaste. Needs time to knit together, sweeten, turn silkier, deep-six the oak, develop secondary and tertiary flavours and reveal its depth. But to all appearances, the potential is there.
Pernand Vergelesses 2009, Île des Vergelesses premier cru, Domaine Rollin Père & fils ($40.75, 11845341)
100% Pinot Noir. Manually sorted. Vatted without pumping. Temperature controlled fermentation. In most vintages, unfiltered and unfined. 13% ABV.
Textbook nose of red berries, humus, quartz and asky oak. Open, medium bodied, fluid. Good balance between ripe fruit, minerals, oak and structure. Elegant tannins and acidity and a long, dry finish. If you’re not allergic to a whiff of oak, pop the cork now. Otherwise, give it a year or two in the cellar.
Brett happens 