Posts Tagged ‘biodynamic’
Rosé de Romanin
Les Baux-de-Provence 2013, Château Romanin ($28.50, 11542041)
Biodynamically and organically farmed Grenache (47%), Syrah (29%), Counoise (18%) and Mourvèdre (6%) from vines between 18 and 57 years old. Manually harvested. The whole clusters are slowly pressed. The must is chilled to 10°C and allowed to clarify by settling before being racked into temperature-controlled (18-20°C) stainless steel tanks for alcoholic fermentation. Malolactic fermentation is blocked. Matured six months on the lees with regular stirring. Reducing sugar: 1.4 g/l. 13.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Divin Paradis.
Farty at first but after 10 minutes or so an appealing, nuanced mix of red berries and peach, stones and herbes de Provence. The first sip reveals an elegant and balanced wine. The fruit is light but clear and sustained, backed by minerals, shifting from sweet-seeming to savoury as it moves through the mouth, textured by fine acidity and just a hint of tannins and, as the wine approaches room temperature, a touch of alcoholic heat. A thread of bitterness winds through the finish, while the unmistakable fragrance of strawberry lingers long after. A beautiful bottle and an excellent pairing for cedar-planked salmon topped before grilling with a paste made from orange and lemon zest, fresh Provençal herbs, olive oil and a smidgen of garlic. (Buy again? Imperatively.)
One of the best of this year’s crop of rosés at the SAQ, a wine that perfectly demonstrates that rosés have a raison d’être, that they are indeed a category unto themselves, one deserving of equal status with whites and reds. Carafe a half hour before serving. The long cork may indicate that its makers think it’s ageable; I wouldn’t hesitate to cellar it a year or two.
There’s quite a bit of this around (at least on Montreal island), so rumours of the good rosé season’s demise are slightly exaggerated. Other recommended rosés still widely available – possibly because many shoppers can’t bring themselves to spend upwards of $25 on a bottle of pink wine – include: Bandol 2013, Domaine de Souviou ($25.10, 12200798), Sierra Foothills 2013, Vin gris d’Amador, Terre Rouge ($25.40, 11629710), Patrimonio 2013, Domaine d’E Croce, Yves Leccia ($26.20, 11900821) and Corse Figari 2014, Clos Canarelli ($34.00, 11917666).
Flight of the Rosenbergs
The first half of the tasting ended with a pair of wines from the Rosenberg vineyard, which the estate describes as a “gentle to moderate slope facing east-northeast … a terroir of fairly deep soil, with limestone rocks covered with small parcels of sandstone or flint. The limestone confers power, the clay gives fatness, the sandstone and flint, minerality, subtlety and breeding.”
In both cases, the manually harvested grapes were sorted at the vine and in the cellar, where the whole clusters were gently pressed. The must was allowed to settle for 12 hours, then racked into stainless steel vats for fermentation with indigenous yeasts. Nothing was added except a squirt of sulphur dioxide at the first racking and at bottling. Lightly filtered at bottling.
Alsace 2011, Pinot Gris, Rosenberg, Domaine Barmès Buecher ($31.50, 11655811)
Matured 16 months, 10 of them in demi-muids. Reducing sugar: 11 g/l. 15.1% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
A fairly funky nose off the bat, some candied pear and white peach and a dusting of ashy minerals but mainly hay and straw with flowers in it. Rich and not devoid of residual sugar though coming across as fundamentally dry. The unctuous texture is cut by a current of bitter acidity. Impressive breadth and length. The alcohol adds power but otherwise is transparent. Went very well with some of the cheeses served after the tasting. (Buy again? Yes.)
Alsace 2012, Gewürztraminer, Rosenberg, Domaine Barmès Buecher ($31.50, 11655774)
Reducing sugar: 28 g/l. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Perfumy but not to the point of caricature: rose, citrusy Muscat grape and a hint of honey. Rich and verging on off-dry, though fluent acidity, a mineral matrix and white spice overtones hold the sugar in check. A bitter thread wends its way through the long finish. A beguiling, classic expression of the grape. (Buy again? Yes.)
It says something about the balance of these wines that I was dumbfounded when, post tasting, I learned the alcohol content of the Pinot Gris and the sugar content of the Gewürz.
MWG April 14th tasting: flight 3 of 6.
Three of one
A trio of Rieslings followed, all made essentially the same way. Harvesting was manual. The grapes were sorted in the vineyard and the cellar. The whole clusters were gently pressed. The must was allowed to clarify by settling for 12 hours, then racked into stainless steel fermentation vats. Fermentation was with indigenous yeasts. No chaptalization or other additions, including fining agents, were used. Minimal amounts of sulphur dioxide were added at the first racking and at bottling. All the wines were lightly filtered at bottling.
Alsace 2012, Rosenberg, Riesling, Domaine Barmes Buecher ($31.50, 11896121)
Clayey limestone (mainly chalk) with sandstone and flinty substrates. Matured in stainless steel tanks. Reducing sugar: 6.3 g/l. 12.8% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Winey nose of apple, white flowers, quartz and hints of pineapple and petrol. Smooth, supple and pure. Fruity but ultimately dry with high but well-integrated acidity. Long. “Des beaux amères,” rightly remarked Giusto Occhipinti. Accessible now but with the potential to improve. (Buy again? Yes.)
Alsace Grand Cru 2011, Steingrübler, Riesling, Domaine Barmes Buecher ($48.00, 12214161)
Limestone with clay, marl and coarse sand of granitic origin. Matured 12 months on the lees in demi-muids. 15% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Deeper, more complex, classic nose: crystals galore, vaporous sweet yellow and white fruit and citrus zest and a whiff of kerosene. In the mouth, it’s tense, tightly coiled and multidimensional. Very dry. The fruit tends to grapefruit including some pith on the long, minerally finish. The steeliest and most powerful of the three, though the alcohol is far less apparent than the percentage might lead you to believe. Will surely benefit from another four or five years in the cellar. (Buy again? Definitely.)
Alsace Grand Cru 2010, Hengst, Riesling, Domaine Barmès Buecher ($48.00, 11010343)
Marl limestone. Matured 12 months on the lees in demi-muids. Reducing sugar: 3.8 g/l. 13% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
More open and upfront, fruitier than the Steingrübler: apple and lemon against a backdrop of minerals and distant petrol. Richer and sunnier in the mouth, the fruit more voluptuous. Approaching off-dry though the sugar is held in check by buoyant acidity and a fainly bitter, white-mineral underlay. Long. A bit monolithic for now but the potential is obvious. The pick of the trio for several of the tasters present. (Buy again? Yes.)
MWG April 14th tasting: flight 2 of 6.
Three in one
Maxime and Sophie Barmès of Domaine Barmès Buecher and Giusto Occhipinti from Azienda Agricola COS were in Montreal last April and our friends at oneopole generously hosted a dozen Mo’ Wine Group members at a tasting at their world headquarters. oenopole brought the wine and the three visitors and we brought the food.
After his father François died in a cycling accident in the fall of 2011, twenty-something Maxime returned from school to oversee, assisted by his mother Geneviève, the winemaking for the just-completed harvest. He has stayed on as winemaker while Sophie, who obtained a management degree in 2010, looks after the business side of things.
Farming and winemaking follow the practices established by Francois soon after he took over the estate: manually working the vines and soil; abjuring herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and synthetic fertilizers; using only plant-based treatments; strictly sorting the grapes on the vine and at the cellar; pressing gently; adding nothing and taking nothing away. The results are there for the tasting.
We began with an easy-drinking blend made exclusively for the Quebec market.
Alsace 2011, Trilogie, Domaine Barmès Buecher ($19.95, 12254420)
A blend of organically and biodynamically farmed Pinot Blanc (40%), Riesling (40%) and Pinot Gris (20%). Manually harvested. Whole-cluster pressed. Fermented with indigenous yeasts. Matured 12 months on the fine lees in stainless steel tanks. Unfiltered and unfined. Sulphur is added – and then minimally – only at bottling. Reducing sugar: 6.9 g/l. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Quiet nose of chalk, white peach and pineapple with coriander and fennel seed hints. In the mouth, the wine is bright and clean, as aromatic as it is flavourful. A touch of residual sugar rounds and adds sheen. The remarkably pure fruit is infused with white minerals, while an intriguing acid bite appears on the mid-palate and a faint bitterness marks the long finish. Uncomplicated (which is not to say shallow), fresh and appetizing, this has QPR winner written all over it. Perfect for sipping on its own or serving with seafood in Asian-style preparations. (Buy again? Imperatively. Here’s hoping there’s a second shipment.)
MWG April 14th tasting: flight 1 of 6.
The SAQ does natural wines – part 2
The Barbera d’Asti 2008, Terra del Noce, Trinchero ($24.50, 12517710) has considerable initial appeal, provided you’re not bothered by the whiff of volatile acidity. The vibrant attack, pure fruit, upfront cherry and slate flavours, bright acidity and light rustic tannins are typical of the grape and appellation. Too bad, then, that the wine falls short on the finish. Buy again? Twenty-five bucks for a dead-ender? Probably not.
Having enjoyed other wines from the winemaker in his Domaine la Fourmente guise, we had high hopes for the Côtes du Rhône Villages Visan 2012, Native, Rémi Pouizin ($19.90, 12517832). How disappointing then to report it has as many cons as pros. Burned rubber and barnyard cancel out the otherwise attractive nose of raspberry jam, black tea leaves and black pepper. And though I don’t quite agree with one taster’s dismissal (“blackberry yogurt with tannins”), the lean, way peppery fruit is dominated by a parching dryness and tannic astringency while a metallic edge and flaring alcohol do no favours to the finish. Improves – turns sweeter and fruitier – after a couple of hours but not enough to dispel the impression that this is a textbook example of why I sometimes find Grenache hard to love. Buy again? Probably not.
A cipher when opened, especially on the nose, the Corbières 2012, L’Enclos, Domaine des Deux Ânes ($24.70, 12518000) doesn’t really come around until an hour later, at which point it shows itself to be the richest and roundest wine of the six, an agreeably earthy mouthful of red and black fruit, dried herbs and spice with a mineral underlay. The plush tannins and soft acidity have just enough presence while the finish provides a warm-and-fuzzy send-off. Not a throat-grabber by any means but easy to drink. Buy again? Sure, though not without wishing the price was closer to $20.
SAQ natural wines tasting: post 2 of 3.
Sibling Teroldegos
IGT Vigneti delle Dolomiti 2011, Teroldego Rotaliano, Foradori ($30.75, 712695)
100% Teroldego from organically farmed vines averaging 40 years old and grown in various sites (10 ha in all) around the town of Mezzolombardo. Manually harvested. Fermented separately by lot in temperature-controlled cement tanks. Matured 12 months in used Austrian and Slovenian oak barrels and cement tanks. 13% ABV. Around 90,000 bottles made. Quebec agent: Balthazard.
Layers of sour cherry, slate, herbs and eventually smoky ash. An elegant, medium-bodied mouthful of pristine fruit, fine, velvety tannins and lively acidity. The long, clean finish is coloured by an appetizing bitter almond note and textured by a light astringency. The balance and energy are spellbinding. In its way, perfect. (Buy again? Absolutely.)
IGT Vigneti delle Dolomiti 2010, Granato, Foradori ($67.75, 12162120)
100% Teroldego from three organically and biodynamically farmed vineyards (4 ha in all) near the town of Mezzolombardo. Manually harvested in late September and early October. Fermented in large wooden vats. Transferred to French oak barrels for malolactic fermentation. Matured 15 months in used Austrian and Slovenian oak barrels. 13% ABV. Around 20,000 bottles made. Quebec agent: Balthazard.
Darker, richer, more primary nose with soy sauce-like umami notes. In the mouth, richer, weightier and more monolithic. Vanilla and spice overtone the dark fruit, indicating the oak needs more time to integrate. Plush tannins and extract-wrapped acidity make for a velours like texture. Impressively broad, deep and long but brooding, too, only hinting at its sure to be glorious future. Enjoyable now but won’t start strutting its stuff for another five to ten years. (Buy again? If feeling flush, yes. That said, I’m not sure I wouldn’t rather have two bottles of the regular Teroldego.)
MWG March 12th tasting: flight 6 of 7.
Textbook trio
Natural wine nuts Primavin hosted Piedmontese winemaker Alessandro Barosi of Cascina Corte at a series of events in Montreal this weekend. A friend and I caught up with him on Saturday evening at the always enjoyable if often noisy Le Comptoir charcuteries et vins.
The estate sits in the San Luigi hills near the village of Dogliani, a stone’s throw from the Barolo and Barbaresco appellations. The farming is rigorously organic and loosely biodynamic. Yields are kept low and all harvesting is manual. Alessandro is a firm believer that good wines are made in the vineyard, not in the cellar, so the winemaking is non-interventionist. Only indigenous yeasts and manual pump-overs are used. Extraneous flavours like new oak are avoided and the wines are bottled unfiltered and unfined. All three wines we tasted shared an authenticity, directness and purity that gave them no small appeal.
Dogliani 2013, Cascina Corte ($24.39, private import, 12 bottles/case)
100% Dolcetto from 60-year old vines. Spends 10 months in stainless steel. Quebec agent: Primavin.
Redolent of red berries and cherries, supple and juicy with smooth tannins and acidity, a dark mineral substrate and a lingering bitter almond finish. Not as rustic or in-your-face as some but undeniably a pleasure to drink. (Buy again? Sure.)
Langhe Barbera 2012, Cascina Corte ($29.34, private import, 12 bottles/case)
100% Barbera from 10-year-old vines. Matured six months in large neutral oak barrels. Quebec agent: Primavin.
Berries again but darker ones along with some slate and hints of licorice and spice. Medium-bodied and juicy, the wine is lit up by brilliant acidity. Tannins are sotto voce, not that the wine needs more of them: the excitement here is the fruit that rings clear as a bell. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. Our favourite of the three, a real coup de cœur for both of us. (Buy again? Oh, yes.)
Langhe Nebbiolo 2011, Cascina Corte ($35.32, private import, 6 bottles/case)
100% Nebbiolo from 10-year-old vines. Matured 24 months in large neutral oak barrels and two years in the bottle. Quebec agent: Primavin.
Closed and ungiving at first but soon opening up Classic Nebbiolo nose of cherry, turned earth, violet, dried rose petal, the faintest hint of tar. Medium-bodied and far more structured than the other two – taut with airframe tannins, tense with acidity. Once again the fruit is naturally sweet and remarkably bright and clear. Finishes clean and long. A delight. (Buy again? Yes.)
MWG February 18th tasting: Clos du Rouge Gorge rouge
A transplant from the Loire Valley, Cyril Fahl owns and farms a number of parcels around the village of Latour-de-France in the Côtes Catalanes region of the Roussillon, inland from the Mediterranean coast and just north of the Spanish border. The area forms the historic boundary between France and Catalonia and lies on the geologic frontier between Corbières and the foothills of the Pyrenees. Fahl’s hillside vineyards, which face north and east, are biodynamically farmed, worked by hand or horse and planted to local varieties (his reds don’t qualify for the AOC because they don’t contain Syrah or Mourvèdre, neither of which is native to the region). The winemaking is non-interventionist, even minimalist. As a result, the terroir is there for the tasting.
IGP Côtes Catalanes 2013, Cuvée du Patron, Clos du Rouge Gorge ($30.25, private import, NLA)
A blend of Grenache and Cinsault. Fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured in 500-litre wooden barrels. Bottled unfiltered and unfined. 14% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Reduced, sulphurous nose that eventually gives up some red fruit and earth notes (so carafe it a couple of hours before serving, all right?). No funk in the mouth, though, just pure, rich yet ethereal fruit on a frame of silky smooth acidity and supple tannins that turn a little raspy on the clean finish. Straightforward and eminently drinkable, this would be the perfect everyday red if only it were a few dollars cheaper. (Buy again? Sure.)
IGP Côtes Catalanes 2013, Jeunes vignes, Clos du Rouge Gorge ($38.00, private import, NLA)
100% Grenache from 30-year-old vines in a single parcel with gneiss subsoil. Manually harvested, trod by foot, vinified with indigenous yeasts in wooden vats for three months, matured eight months in stainless steel. 13% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Cherry cough drop, slate, hints of violet and dill. Medium- to full-bodied, smooth, supple, dry. A delicious mouthful of ripe-sweet spicy fruit, silky tannins and bright acidity. Longer and deeper than the Cuvée du Patron, cooler and more satiny that your typical Rhône Grenache. Lip-smackingly good. (Buy again? Yes.)
IGP Côtes Catalanes 2012, Vieilles vignes, Clos du Rouge Gorge ($55.75, private import, NLA)
A blend of Carignan (80%) and Grenache (20%) from 50- to 100-year-old vines rooted in gneiss. After light foot-treading, the whole bunches are transferred to wooden vats for low-temperature fermentation with no punch-downs or pump-overs. Matured 12 months in 500-litre barrels and old casks. Unfiltered and bottled by gravity. Total sulphur dioxide is less than 20 mg/l. 13% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Fragrant, terroir-redolent nose of raspberry, turned earth and wood with earthy and floral overtones and the promise of much more. Dense but not weighty. The fruit is profound – “soulless dark” to quote one taster, like the eidos of black currant juice – and perfectly balanced by the round/soft tannins and sleek acidity. Smoky minerals inhabit the long, savoury finish. The wonder is how it manages to be both immediate and remote, both upfront and enigmatic. The sweet spot of the flight. (Buy again? Imperatively.)
IGP Côtes Catalanes 2012, Ubac, Clos du Rouge Gorge ($93.75, private import, NLA)
100% Cinsault from a single parcel of 40-year-old vines. The gneiss slope is steep and faces due north. Extremely low yields (c. 15 hl/ha). The whole berries are macerated for 10 days, then foot-trod and transferred with the stems to wooden vats for fermentation. Matured 20 months in Austrian demi-muids. Bottled by gravity. Total sulphur dioxide around 20 mg/l. 14% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Brooding, profound, turning more fragrant as it breathed: raspberry cordial, turned earth, garrigue.
Fluid yet dry and velvety tannined. Young, so primary and closed, but hinting at great depth. The dark fruit is both savoury and sweet-tart, while the mineral substrate is most apparent on the minutes-long finish. Absolutely gorgeous: du grand vin as they say around here. Probably won’t peak for another 10 to 15 years. (Buy again? If the price isn’t prohibitive, go for it!)
Demand for the Jeunes vignes is high (so much so that oenopole requires that purchasers also buy a case of the Vieilles vignes). One of the reasons is that restaurateurs find it hard to convince customers to lay down a C-note and change – what the VV will run you in a resto – for a vin de pays, however amazing. And while the MWG has been buying the white, JV and VV since they first became available in Quebec, the JV – largely because of its price – has always elicited the most interest. Yet this flight, our first time tasting the reds side by side, showed the VV to be the real QPR winner, combining some of the JV’s fruity appeal with much of the Ubac’s complexity and depth.
(Flight: 4/5)
We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming…
…to bring you the following public service announcement.
Normally I’d wait until all the notes from the MWG’s February tasting were up before posting this one. Why the rush? Because Domaine des Huard’s owner-winemaker, Michel Gendrier, is in town and will be pouring this and other wines at the excellent Le Comptoir charcuteries et vins tomorrow evening (Monday, March 9). And if that weren’t inducement enough, he’ll be joined by fellow Loire winemakers Étienne Courtois and Nicolas Grosbois. For details about this Romo love-in, see here.
Cour-Cheverny 2008, François 1er, Vieilles Vignes, Domaine des Huards ($24.45, 12476452)
Huard’s top-of-the-line dry Cour-Cheverny. 100% Romorantin from organically and biodynamically farmed vines averaging 75 years old. Manually harvested. Two-thirds of the grapes are immediately pressed, one-third are macerated on the skins for 15 hours before pressing. Fermented with indigenous yeasts at between 18 and 20°C. Matured on the lees for five months. Cold-stabilized before bottling in the September following the harvest. 13% ABV. Quebec agent: La QV.
Honey, straw, chalk, dried lemon, browning apple, faint white spices and an even fainter whiff of kerosene. Medium-bodied but with a dense, bordering-on-unctuous texture. Ripe-sweet on entry, the fruit is nicely soured by a surging undercurrent of acidity before slow-fading into the long finish, revealing the mineral substrate and leaving behind a very dry, light astringency and a hint of nuttiness and coriander seed. A lovely, layered, elegant wine deserving of a dry goat cheese or a fine piece of fish (you’ll find a couple of recipe ideas after the jump). Available as a private import, the 2007 was a Loire lover’s must-buy at $32. At under $25, this 2008 is a certifiable bargain. (Buy again? Absolutely.)
MWG February 19th tasting: Mostly Macabeu
IGP Côtes Catalanes 2013, Blanc, Clos du Rouge Gorge ($45.00, private import, NLA)
All or mostly Macabeu (some claim it also contains a dollop of Carignan Blanc) from vines around 80 years old that had been abandoned and were about to be torn out when winemaker Cyril Fahl acquired the vineyard and revivied it using biodynamic methods. Manually harvested. Non-interventionist winemaking with spontaneous fermentation. Matured nine months in neutral 500-litre barrels. Minimally sulphured at bottling, with some carbon dioxide added by way of compensation. 13% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
When young, the wine needs to be carafed hours before serving (one MWG member reports carafing it 24 hours before paring it “memorably” with oysters). After nearly two hours in the carafe, ours had an initially odd nose of “canned tuna” (quoting one of the tasters) that soon evolved into acacia blossom, pear and pineapple water, “pine nuts,” crushed stone and so much more. Complex and layered in the mouth. The ethereal fruit tends to pear, apple, faint citrus. Minerals abound. Acidity shimmers. Saline and bitter notes colour the long finish. A unique, spellbindingly protean wine, more elegant and profound than the Cours Toujours and slower to give up its many secrets. While the paradigm is different from, say, a Meursault’s, this is one of France’s great whites and, as such, it’s a QPR winner at under $50. (Buy again? In future vintages, as many as I can afford and lay my hands on.)
Côtes du Roussillon 2012, Cours Toujours, Domaine du Possible ($32.00, private import, NLA)
The estate farms organically. This is mostly Macabeu with a little Grenache Gris. Manually harvested. Non-interventionist wine-making with spontaneous fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. Matured 12 months in used barrels. Bottled unfiltered, unfined and with very little or no added sulphur. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Initially reticent but evolving nose: dried pineapple, yellow apple, quartz dust, background straw and honeycomb. More fruit-forward than the Clos du Rouge Gorge. A little wilder and more rustic too. Ripe-sweet on the attack; full of crunchy minerals on the mid-palate; turning drier, sourish and saline on the long finish. A here-now joy to drink. (Buy again? For sure.)
(Flight: 2/5)
Brett happens 