Posts Tagged ‘Glou’
MWG September 11th tasting: The perfect excuse to guzzle
Nicolas Vauthier entered the wine scene as the owner of Aux crieurs de vins, one of the first bars to specialize in natural wines. In 2008, he founded a négociant firm, Vini Viti Vinci, based in Avallon, near Auxerre, in northern Burgundy and dedicated to making unmanipulated, terroir-driven wines with no added sulphur. He learned the basics by working with Philippe Pacalet in Beaune, who continues to advise him. While Vauthier doesn’t see himself as a winegrower – he says he’ll never own any vineyards – he does have a talent for sniffing out parcels with great potential. And while he’s happy when the winegrowers he contracts with farm organically, he doesn’t insist they do: the quality of the grapes and their expression of terroir are what matter most.
He buys the grapes à pied, on the vine, harvests them with his own pickers and transports them to his winemaking facilities. Fermentation, with native yeasts, is in old wooden foudres. Some of the reds undergo semi-carbonic maceration to bring out their fruitiness.
Though his first two vintages included AOC wines, Vauthier has decided to buck the appellation system and now labels his wines as vins de France. And speaking of the labels, their whimsical line drawings of men and women in various states of undress so alarmed the SAQ that it refused to accept responsibility for the bottles in case scandalized buyers returned them. [Insert eye-roll emoticon here.]
Vin de France 2012, L’Adroit, Vini Viti Vinci ($30.95, private import, 12 bottles/case)
100% Pinot Noir from northern Burgundy. And look at that: 11.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Glou.
Exuberantly Pinot nose (ça pinote, as the French say): wild strawberry, cedar and dried leaves, some of which a distant neighbour is burning. Medium-bodied and fluid yet richly flavoured. The silky ripe fruit is carried on a stream of lively acidity, light but raspy tannins and coloured with spice overtones and shaded with a slatey ground base. Pure, clean, fresh, long and so very drinkable. Generated a real buzz around the table. A downside: Glou says the wine flatlines about four hours after opening. The upside? You now have the perfect excuse to guzzle. (Buy again? In multiples.)
(Flight: 4/9)
MWG September 11th tasting: Brave Roussanne
After working for several years with the Cave coopérative d’Estézargues, Édouard Laffitte, who had no background in farming, decided to set out on his own. Invited by Loïc Roure, newly settled in the Roussillon, to share the winemaking facilities he had just acquired for his Domaine du Possible, Laffitte began searching for vines, specifically ones growing in north-facing, high-altitude vineyards, the better to make wines that were fresh and not excessively alcoholic. He eventually pieced together 6.7 hectares of parcels in three communes near Lansac to make the Domaine Le Bout du Monde, so named because visitors told him that getting there was like travelling to the end of the earth.
The vineyards are farmed organically and worked manually. The wines are vinified by soil type (shale, gneiss and granite). The estate currently makes five reds (Grenache, Carignan and Syrah alone and in blends) and one white. We tasted the latter.
Vin de France 2012, Brave Margot, Domaine Le Bout du Monde ($32.00, private import, 12 bottles/case)
100% Roussanne from organically farmed old vines grown in granitic soils. Manually harvested. Macerated one week (1/3 destemmed, 2/3 whole clusters) then pressed. Fermented with indigenous yeasts. Matured in old barrels. Unfiltered and unfined. 13% ABV. Quebec agent: Glou.
Another cloudy white: pale bronze-gold. Lovely nose of honey, spice, “floral pear” and a hint of ash. The grape’s verging-on-oily texture is cut by laser-like acidity while complex fruit and dazzling minerals dance across the palate. The long sweet-sour-bitter finish brings Meyer lemon peel to mind. Far and away the liveliest and mineralliest Roussanne it’s been my pleasure to encounter. (Buy again? For sure.)
(Flight: 3/9)
MWG September 11th tasting: Unmuscadets
Located in Saint-Julien-de-Concelles, a few kilometres east of the Loire estuary, Marc Pesnot’s 13-hectare Domaine de Sénéchalière has schistous soils and is planted mainly to Melon de Bourgogne (aka Muscadet) along with Folle Blanche and Abouriou. He farms organically, works the soil manually and favours a non-interventionalist approach to winemaking. Despite being in the heart of the Muscadet AOC, Pesnot is insistent that he doesn’t make Muscadet.
Vin de France 2013, Miss Terre, Domaine de la Sénéchalière ($29.00, private import, 12 bottles/case)
100% Melon de Bourgogne from vines between 50 and 80 years old. Manually harvested and destemmed. Alcoholic fermentation with indigenous yeasts lasts around four months. Unlike Muscadets, this also undergoes malolactic fermentation. Unfiltered and unfined. A tiny amount of sulphur (20 mg/l) is added at bottling. 12% ABV. The cuvée’s name refers to the soil (terre) the grapes are grown in and to the mystery of malolactic fermentation. Quebec agent: Glou.
Lovely nose of elderflower, lemon and minerals. Light- to medium-bodied and quite dry, with a silky texture and a soft tartness. Squeaky clean fruit, a touch of bitter lemon, lots of minerals and a long, saline finish add up to a satisfying, food-friendly sipper. (Buy again? Yes.)
Vin de France 2013, Chapeau Melon, Domaine de la Sénéchalière ($31.50, private import, 12 bottles/case)
The cuvée’s name is a triple pun since it is French for bowler (there’s one on the label), French for “hats off to the Melon grape” and the name of a restaurant where the wine has been served since it opened. 100% Melon de Bourgogne. Fermentation with indigenous yeasts lasts about a year, maturation on the lees about six months. Sees only stainless steel until bottling. No added sulphur. 12% ABV. Quebec agent: Glou.
Compared with the Miss Terre, far more along the lines of how one imagines a natural wine. Cloudy in the glass. Unusual nose: yeasty with oxidized and pickle notes, white fruit, some mastic, sea spray, spice. Despite the spritzy tingle, the wine’s texture borders on creamy. While it’s fruity (sour apples verging on cider), it’s also quite dry. The layers of complexity include veins of minerals. The finish is long. Evolved and improved over the course of the evening. I didn’t know quite what to make of this at first but ended up convinced. (Buy again? Yes.)
(Flight: 2/9)
MWG September 11th tasting: Natural gas
Glou partner Jack Jacob joined the Mo’ Wine Group on September 11 to lead a tasting of several of the agency’s private imports. This being Glou, all the wines were natural (see this earlier post for a working definition) and many of the winemakers involved have shunned the restrictive controlled appellation designation. We began with an impressive sparkler.
Vin de France 2013, Pet’Sec Blanc, Domaine des Capriades ($31.50, private import, 12 bottles/case)
Based in the Loire Valley’s Touraine region, Capriades founder and co-owner, Pascal Potaire, is considered the king of pet nats (short for pétillants naturels, natural sparkling wines produced using the méthode ancestrale). This example is made from organically farmed Chenin Blanc with a dollop of Cabernet Franc (70-30, according to some reports). Spontaneous fermentation without additives. Maturation in old barrels. Bottled unfiltered and unsulphured and closed with a crown cap. 12% ABV. Quebec agent: Glou.
Complex bouquet: apples, lemon, chalk, hint of perfume, eventually pipe tobacco. Fine bubbles, trenchant acidity, clean fruit, veritable strata of minerals and a very long tart and saline finish. Pet nats have a reputation for being summer sippers – off-dry fizzies for uncritical drinking – but this bone-dry and bracing wine is far more serious and accomplished than that: a refreshing and engaging aperitif that’s also substantial enough to accompany oysters on the half shell. (Buy again? Naturally.)
(Flight: 1/9)
Le génie de la Loire
In honour of Bastille Day (because these beauties could only have come from France), notes from a recent tasting of Loire wines chosen by Sam with a connoisseur’s eye. Most were private imports, a few were importations valise and, as far as I know, none are currently available in Quebec.
PRELUDE
Vouvray 2008, Brut, Méthode traditionnel, Philippe Foreau (Clos Naudin)
100% Chenin Blanc. 13% ABV. The 2011 can be found at the SAQ for $30.
Limpid gold. Tiny bubbles and not tons of them. Yellow fruit, lemon blossom and toast against a chalky background. Dry and minerally with a nipping acidity and effervescence. Long, toasted brioche finish. Impeccable.
FLIGHT 1
Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine 2010, Clisson, Domaine de la Pépière
100% Melon de Bourgogne. The estate is represented in Quebec by Vinealis.
Closed nose: faint lemon, pear and chalk. Dry, extracted and dimensional. Trenchant acidity. As much about minerals as fruit. Long, saline finish. Great presence. Austere bordering on severe but oh, so pure and beautiful. My wine of the flight.
Sancerre 2001, Clos de Beaujeu, Gérard Boulay
100% Sauvignon Blanc. 12.5% ABV. Represented in Quebec by Rézin.
Intriguing bouquet: overripe white peach, crystalline minerals and, as one taster noted, a suggestion of mushroom. Dry. Minerally more than fruity – faint citrus and gun smoke. A not off-putting acrid note surfaces on the long finish. Tasting double-blind, I didn’t peg this as either a Sauvignon Blanc or – due to its vibrancy and tension – a 12-year-old wine.
Saumur 2009, La Charpentrie, Domaine du Collier
100% old-vine Chenin Blanc. 13% ABV. Represented in Quebec by oenopole.
Rich nose: peach and some tropical fruit, honey, sour white flowers. Silky and rich with a touch of residual sugar. Brisk acidity provides welcome cut, faint herbs and chalky minerals welcome complexity. Immaculate, authentic and delicious though not particularly deep, at least at this point in its probably long life.
FLIGHT 2
Bourgueil 1993, Busardières, Domaine de la Chevalerie
100% biodynamically farmed Cabernet Franc. 12.5% ABV. Represented in Quebec by La QV.
Delicate but complex: ash, spice, ripe but not jammy boysenberry, humus and hummus, slate and stems. Smooth and supple with fully resolved, velvety tannins and bright acidity. Seemed a bit thin next to the Chinon. On its own, however, complete and surprisingly vibrant at 20 years of age.
Chinon 2005, Domaine Les Roches (Alain and Jérome Lenoir)
100% Cabernet Franc. 12.5% ABV. Represented in Quebec by Glou. This bottle cost around $25.
Initially closed, the nose became more complex and perfumed over the course of the evening. Elderberry liqueur, floral overtones, a hint of meat, some old wood and the faintest note of bacon and new leather. Concentrated, even chewy, yet silky and not heavy. Layers of rich fruit and dark minerals structured by fine, firm tannins and energizing acidity. Long, lightly astringent finish. Superb. My wine of the flight and Cab Franc of the night.
Saumur-Champigny 2008, Clos Rougeard
100% Cabernet Franc. 12.5% ABV. Last I heard, the estate was represented in Quebec by Réserve & Sélection.
Darker, meatier with a hint of fresh tomato, background slate, sawed wood. Tighter than a drum: structured more than fruity and the élevage is showing. You can see that the wine is perfectly proportioned, that the fruit is pure, ripe and deep, that the use of the barrel is masterful. You can also see that the wine needs – at a minimum – another decade to open up. Tasted 24 hours later, the tail end of the bottle had hardly budged.
FLIGHT 3
Chinon 2009, Coteau de Noiré, Philippe Alliet
100% Cabernet Franc. 13% ABV. Represented in Quebec by Le Maître de Chai. The 2010 is sold at the SAQ Signature for $46.
Young, unresolved nose: choco-cherry, sawed wood, dill, ash. Smooth, dapper, restrained. Fine albeit tight tannins. The clean, ripe fruit – showing some tobacco but not a hint of greenness – is deepened by dark minerals and subtle wood. A delicate astringency velvets the long finish. Good potential. Revisit in five years.
Saumur 2009, La Charpentrie, Domaine du Collier
100% Cabernet Franc. 13% ABV. Represented in Quebec by oenopole.
Plummy (a sign of the hot vintage?) and slatey. Round, rich and balanced. The tannins and acidity are fruit-cloaked but there’s plenty of underlying structure. Lightly yet pervasively astringent. The élevage shows on the long finish. While its potential is obvious, this is another case of a bottle too young.
Chinon 2009, La Croix Boisée, Domaine Bernard Baudry
100% Cabernet Franc, aged in barrel, not filtered or fined. 13.5% ABV. Represented in Quebec by Balthazard.
So closed on the nose: wood, wet slate and not much else. Closed on the palate, too. Ripe, even liqueurish fruit, old wood, minerals. Sleek tannins. Rich, complete and in need of time, much time.
POSTLUDE
Vouvray moelleux 1986, Clos du Bourg, Domaine Huet
100% biodynamically farmed Chenin Blanc. 12% ABV. The 2007 runs $50.50 at the SAQ.
Amazing nose: dried pear, wax, straw, honey, turbinado sugar… Intense on the palate yet also elegant, reserved and nuanced. Neither dry nor sweet. Brilliant acidity. Chewing reveals all kinds of complexity. Spice, chalk, quartz, caramel, candied pineapple are only some of the flavours. A crème brûlée note lingers through the long finish. Astonishingly young and fresh. Wine of the tasting for most people around the table.
Côteaux du Loir 2009, Les Giroflées, Domaine Bellivière
A 100% biodynamically farmed Pineau d’Aunis rosé. 13.5% ABV. Represented in Quebec by Le Maître de Chai but I’m not sure they bring this wine in (our bottle was purchased at Flatiron Wines and Spirits in New York City).
Strawberry, wax, quartz on the nose. Smooth and quaffable. Off-dry. A basket of fresh berry fruit with just enough acidity and a touch of peppery spice. Simple but charming. Flavourwise, it made a fine pairing for pâte sucrée bars filled with a thin layer of pastry cream and topped with fresh raspberries and a rhubarb marshmallow, though in the best of all possible worlds the pastries would have been a little less sweet.
Glou trade tasting with Guy Breton
In 1987, working as a mechanic and encouraged by his friend Marcel Lapierre, Guy Breton took over the family estate, founded in 1935, from his grandfather. At the time, the estate sold all its grapes to local cooperatives that churned out soulless industrial wines, in particular faddish Beaujolais nouveau. Joining with Lapierre, Jean Foillard and Jean-Paul Thévenet, the so-called Gang of Four, he decided not only to start making his own wines but to do so as naturally as possible.
The principles are simple. The grapes come from old vines and are harvested late. Synthetic pesticides and herbicides are avoided (the only chemicals used in the vineyard – and then lightly and on an as-needed basis – are sulphur against oidium and copper against mildew). Sorting is rigorous. Fermentation is spontaneous, using indigenous yeasts. Chaptalization is banned. Sulphur dioxide is used minimally if at all. The wines are bottled unfiltered and unfined.
Breton markets five wines: Marylou, a Beaujolais-Villages named after his daughter; a generic Morgon; a Morgon Vieilles Vignes; P’tit Max, a Morgon from very old vines; and the most recent addition to the lineup, a Régnié. All are made using carbonic maceration, the length of which depends on the wine and the year, pressed in an old wooden vertical press and matured either in epoxy tanks or, for the old-vine cuvées, in used Burgundy barrels. A minute amount of sulphur dioxide is added at bottling.
Once again, I was struck by the resemblence of the wines to the winemaker. Honest, approachable, down-to-earth, easy to get along with. I’d gone to the tasting thinking I’d stay for an hour and ended up spending more than three. The wines – especially the Vieilles vignes, which got better with every sip – were part of the reason, of course, but so was the company.
Morgon 2010, Guy Breton ($26.45, Glou, 12 bottles/case)
100% Gamay from 35-year-old vines. 12.5% ABV.
Lean and supple. The fruit is ripe but this is as savoury as fruity, with underlying minerals and black pepper overtones. Smooth acidity and good length. (Buy? Sure.)
Régnié 2011, Guy Breton ($30.15, Glou, 12 bottles/case)
100% Gamay, half from 100-year-old vines, half from 35-year-old vines. Spent five months in barrels. 12% ABV.
Fresh and pure with a hint of spice. Burgundy-like texture. Silky fruit, perfectly dosed acidity and a light but tight grip. The finish is long and slatey. Straightforward and elegant; if Beaujolais crus were clothes, this would be a simple black dress and a string of pearls. (Buy? Yes.)
Morgon 2011, Vieilles vignes, Guy Breton ($78.50/1500 ml, Glou, 6 bottles/case)
100% Gamay from vines averaging 80 years old. Spent seven months in barrels. 12.7% ABV.
Grapey, rich, floral note. Richer, fleshier, more masculine. The fruit is ripe but not sweet, deep-rooted in earth and slate and balanced by glowing acidity. Long. So drinkable. Breton says this is more ageable than the 2010. Absolutely classic Morgon if less tannic than some. (Buy? A must for Beaujolais lovers.)
Morgon 2011, P’tit Max, Guy Breton ($36.05, Glou, 12 bottles/case)
Don’t let the petit fool you: this is Breton’s most serious cuvée, the one that bears his nickname (his dad was Max, so everyone calls him petit Max). The early vintages were denied AOC status. 100% Gamay from century-old vines. Spent 12 months in barrels. 12.5% ABV.
Rich and deep but not very expressive nose with a bit of élèvage showing. The densest and, for now, least giving of the quartet. Liqueurish core of fruit against a backdrop of herbs and slate. Bright acidity. Long, minerally finish. (Buy? To lay down for a decade.)
Glou trade tasting with Nicolas Vauthier
As affable as he is scruffy, Nicolas Vauthier entered the wine scene as the owner of a bar, Aux crieurs de vins, that was one of the first to specialize in natural wines. In 2008, he decided to start a négociant firm, Vini Viti Vinci, based in Avallon, near Auxerre, in northern Burgundy dedicated to making unmanipulated, terroir-driven wines with no added sulphur. He learned the basics by working with Philippe Pacalet in Beaune, who continues to advise him. Nicolas sees himself as a winemaker, not a winegrower. When I asked him if he thought he might at some point acquire his own vineyards, his reply was clear: no, never. He does, however, have a talent for sniffing out parcels with great potential. And while he’s happy when the winegrower farms organically, he doesn’t insist they do: the quality of the grapes and their expression of terroir are what matter most.
He buys the grapes à pied, on the vine, harvests them with his own pickers and transports them to his winemaking facilities. Fermentation, with native yeasts, is in old wooden foudres. Some of the reds undergo semi-carbonic maceration to bring out their fruitiness.
Though his first two vintages included AOC wines, Vauthier has decided to buck the appellation system and now labels his wines as vins de France. And speaking of the labels, their whimsical line drawings of men and women in various states of undress (to view three, click on the cuvée names below) so alarmed the SAQ that it refused to accept responsibility for the bottles in case scandalized buyers returned them. In other words, the monopoly suspects that private import customers are prudes. Go figure.
Back to the wines. The common thread is purity, freshness and not just drinkability but guzzleability (look at the alcohol levels!). Unpretentious, unadulterated, expressive of their origin, a pleasure to down: what’s not to like?
Vin de France 2011, O L’Agité, Vini Viti Vinci ($25.90. Glou, NLA)
100% Aligoté, which cannot be mentioned on the label, hence the anagram. 11% ABV.
Bright and citrusy with some chalk and quartz. Light-bodied yet intensely present. Restrained fruit, tart acidity, chalk. Long finish with an appetizing sourness. Lovely. The aperitif par excellence. (Buy? Definitely.)
Vin de France 2011, Sauvignon, Vini Viti Vinci ($27.20, Glou, 12 bottles/case)
100% Sauvignon Blanc from young vines grown in the Saint-Bris area. Manually harvested and sorted. Pressed in a vertical press, transferred by gravity into vats and Burgundy barrels for fermentation and maturation. Racked and blended the summer following the harvest. Natural clarification. Bottled using a gravity feed. No added sulphur. 12.5% ABV.
Definitely Sauvignon Blanc but not of the in-your-face variety: minerals, citrus and gooseberry, a hint of grass. Light, clean, pure: ephemerally intense with laser-like acidity and a leesy/yeasty aftertaste that Vauthier says is an artifact of the winemaking and will soon disappear. (Buy? Yes.)
Vin de France 2011, L’Adroit, Vini Viti Vinci ($27.75, Glou, 12 bottles/case)
100% Pinot Noir. 11.5% ABV.
Red berries, some of them candied, slate and dried wood. The fruit is sweet and tart, shot through with minerals and wrapped in lacy tannins that come to the fore on the finish. Lingering dried herb note. Simple in a good way: direct and to the point, a wine with no complexes. (Buy? Gladly.)
Vin de France 2011, Les Rouquins, Vini Viti Vinci ($28.30, Glou, 12 bottles/case)
100% Pinot Noir from 20-year-old vines. Manually harvested and sorted. The whole grapes are macerated for about two weeks with occasional push-downs. Pressed using a vertical press. The free run and press wines are gravity-fed into Burgundy barrels for eight months’ maturation. Naturally clarified. Bottled using a gravity feed. No added sulphur. 11.5% ABV.
Like the L’Adroit but with more spice and a fresh, herbal note. Light-bodied, more structured, less of a vin plaisir but very tasty. Vauthier says it will benefit from some time in the bottle. (Buy again? Yes.)
Vin de France 2011, Le Molomon, Vini Viti Vinci (price TBA, Glou, arriving fall 2013)
100% Pinot Noir. 11.5% ABV.
Even more closed: less fruit, more wood, more structure. Tight though fine tannins. The potential’s apparent. Du sérieux as they say around here. (Buy? Probably.)
Vin de France 2011, Et pis, neuneuil !, Vini Viti Vinci (price TBA, Glou, arriving fall 2013)
100% Pinot Noir. 11% ABV.
Charming nose, a bit candied, with a crushed-leaf-like freshness. Rich and spicy, almost meaty, the fruit somehow deeper and more savoury than the other Pinots’. Beautifully structured. Fine, firm tannins give a lightly astringent edge to the long finish. (Buy again? Definitely.)
New arrivals from Glou (5/5)
Located near Templeton in the Paso Robles AVA, AmByth Estate acquired its land in 2001 and planted its first vines in 2004. With daytime temperatures reaching 100ºF (38ºC) or higher in the summer, the owners wisely decided to focus on southern European grape varieties. As hot as it gets at midday, cool Pacific winds bring the night temperatures down to around 50ºF (10ºC), helping to preserve the grapes’ acid balance and prevent overripeness. The estate is certified organic and biodynamic and its 20 acres (8 ha) of vineyards and olive groves are dry-farmed. Winemaking uses natural yeasts and no added anything, except sulphur (no sulphur in the 2012s). The wines are bottled unfiltered and unfined. The estate has begun experimenting with amphoras. Total annual wine production is around 1,000 cases.
Red Table Wine 2011, Paso Robles, AmByth Estate ($34.55, Glou, 6 bottles/case)
Having only small quantities of fruit in frosty springed 2011, the estate decided to concoct a one-off table wine from lots that didn’t make it into the regular cuvées. A crazy blend of Grenache (20%), Mourvèdre (19%), Sangiovese (19%), Tempranillo (18%), Grenache Blanc (10%), Counoise (7%), Syrah (5%) and Marsanne (2%), all from estate vineyards. 14 ppm sulphur was added. 138 cases were made; as of this posting, Glou has only one left. 13.3% ABV.
Savoury nose of red and black fruit (a bit Chambord-like), hay stubble, ink. Medium-bodied with good acidity, slender yet pleasantly raspy tannins and clean fruit, neither candied nor heavy. Tastes of the earth. Very drinkable. (Buy again? Yes but…)
Adamo 2009, Paso Robles, AmByth Estate ($47.00, Glou, 6 bottles/case)
Grenache (59%) Mourvèdre (17%), Syrah (13%) and Counoise (11%). Lightly stomped with the stems. Part of the GSM was fermented in a new French oak barrel, part in a neutral barrel; all was given two weeks’ maceration. The remaining GSM and the Cournoise were open-top fermented with regular punch-downs. 90 cases made. 13% ABV.
Red and black berries, lightly candied, along with some dusty garrigue notes. Soft-textured, pure and, for a Southern Californian, restrained, an impression only heightened by the bright acidity and sinewy tannins. Long, lightly astringent finish. Not a lot of depth but a really enjoyable surface. Ready to go. (Buy again? Yes but…)
With their lean fruit, strong acidity, reasonable alcohol levels, overall poise and great savour, these are some of the freshest, food-friendliest, most non-palate-clobbering (digeste, as the French succinctly say) Rhône-style wines from the New World I’ve tasted. Why the “yes buts” then? In a word, QPR, which is low relative to the wines’ Old World counterparts. But that’s true for many Californians these days, let alone micro-production natural wines from artisanal producers. Relative to other Golden State wines, they’re not overpriced (e.g. $47 Adamo vs. $49 Cigare Volant).
New arrivals from Glou (4/5)
Founded in 2008, Domaine des Trois Petiotes farms organically and, since the fall of 2012, biodynamically. The name refers to the owners’ three daughters but also to the three one-hectare parcels – respectively planted with Malbec, Merlot and Cabernet Franc – that comprise the estate’s holdings. Production is entirely red, though plans are afoot to make whites from a plot of soon-to-be-planted Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris, Sémillon, Muscadelle and Colombard vines.
Côtes de Bourg 2010, Domaine des Trois Petiotes ($32.20, Glou, 6 bottles/case)
Malbec (45%), Merlot (30%) and Cabernet Franc (25%) from vines averaging 35 to 40 years old. The grapes are manually harvested, mechanically destemmed and lightly crushed. Alcoholic fermentation in fiber vats lasts two to four weeks and uses indigenous yeasts and no temperature control with one pump-over or punch-down a day. The grapes are subsequently pressed with a manual vertical press. Matured 12 months (on average) in a mix of one- to three-year-old barrels with one or two rackings and occasional stirring. The wine is unfiltered and unfined. Sulphur dioxide is used but sparingly. 13.6% ABV.
Like sticking your nose in a berry farmer’s dirty laundry bin: earth, compost/barnyard, sweat, cassis. Medium-bodied with a velevty texture, ripe fruit, raspy tannins and enough acidity. The strong finish and a lingering astringency of the tooth-coating kind. Seemed a little rustic or maybe reductive. Worth revisiting in six months or a year. (Buy again? Maybe.)
Côtes de Bourg 2009, En attendant Suzie, Domaine des Trois Petiotes ($40.75, Glou, 6 bottles/case)
A blend of Malbec (70%) and Merlot (30%). Vinification is as for the basic wine, except the destemming is manual and the wine is fermented and matured in barrels for 24 months. 13.3% ABV.
Clean nose of slightly jammy red fruit and spice. A silky-textured mouthful of ripe cassis and kirsch that’s finely structured and showing some depth. The wine’s tannins come to the fore on the finish, giving it a velvet astringency. Definitely a Bordeaux, not a Cahors. Enjoyable now but with the balance and structure to age and improve. If I owned a restaurant, this would be on the wine list. (Buy again? Yes.)
New arrivals from Glou (3/5)
These two wines actually came fourth in the tasting but the notes on the third-flight wines have yet to be written up. Guttarolo is based in Gioia del Colle in Bari province in Puglia, the heel of the Italian boot.
IGT Puglia 2009, Lamie delle vigne, Cristiano Guttarolo ($28.10, Glou, 6 bottles/case)
100% Primitivo from 30-year-old vines. Fermented 18 days on the skins. Matured 24 months. Sees only stainless steel until bottling. Native yeasts, no added sulphur, unfiltered, unfined. 14% ABV.
Simple but attractive and unexpectedly fresh nose: ripe fruit, candied cassis, slate. Medium-bodied (for a Primitivo?!), clean and bright with vibrant acidity and tight, airframe tannins. The sourish/puckery fruit has darker notes including a slatey undercurrent. Long. Unlike – and far more appealng than – other Primitivos I’ve encountered. Very much along the lines of the wines from new generation Sicilian producers like Occhipinti, Calabretta and Cornelissen. (Buy again? Definitely.)
IGT Puglia 2010, Amphora, Cristiano Guttarolo ($36.96, Glou, 6 bottles/case)
100% Primitivo from 30-year-old vines. Fermented with native yeasts. Fermentation and maceration on the skins last six months and take place in terracotta amphorae. The wine is then transferred to stainless steel tanks for an addition eight months’ maturation. No added sulphur. Bottled unfiltered and unfined. 13.5% ABV.
More complex and savoury than the Lamie. Slightly jammy fruit, slate and, yes, a hint of terracotta. Medium-bodied. Fresh – again the zingy acidity. The texture is softer and a little weightier, the tannins rounder and more velvety. Possessed of a hard-to-describe directness. Very appealing though the Lamie is the QPR winner. (Buy again? Yes.)
Brett happens 