Posts Tagged ‘La QV’
MWG June 12th tasting: Red banner
Crozes-Hermitage 2012, Et la bannière…, Matthieu Barret SARL ($37.35, private import, 6 bottles/case)
Matthieu Barret is the owner-winemaker at Domaine du Coulet, three of whose Cornases the MWG enjoyed in December 2012. The eponymous SARL is his crittertastic négociant label. This is 100% biodynamically and organically farmed Syrah, the only red grape variety allowed in the appellation. The grapes are destemmed and fermented in concrete vats with indigenous yeasts and pump-overs. The resulting wine is racked, matured for 12 months, then bottled unfiltered and unfined with a small amount of sulphur (2 g/hl), the only additive used in making the wine. 13.5% ABV. Quebec agent: La QV/Insolite.
Complex, umami-rich nose: plum, oyster sauce/tamari, forest floor, hints of chocolate, smoke, Thai basil and violet. Smooth and velvety though loaded with acidity (so pure and intense is the fruit, you hardly notice). Round tannins, rumbling minerals and a long, juicy finish complete the picture. Vibrant and delicious. Not cheap but if you can find a more appealing Syrah at the price in Quebec, I’d love to hear about it. (Buy again? Yes!)
MWG June 12th tasting: A natural CDR
Côtes-du-Rhône 2011, Le Claux, Domaine La Roche Buissière ($36.65, private import, 6 bottles/case)
The 18-hectare estate is located northeast of Vaison-La-Romaine and has been farmed organically since 1980. This is a blend of Grenache (90%) and Syrah (10%) from 50-year-old vines. Manually harvested. Fermented with indigenous yeasts. Unfiltered and unfined. No additives were used in making the wine, including sulphur. 13.5% ABV. Quebec agent: La QV/Insolite.
Black raspberry and spice – black pepper above all – with hints of olive, garrigue and licorice. A medium-bodied, juicy mouthful. Fine tannins texture the silky ripe fruit while bright acidity lifts the mid-palate and enlivens the clean, mineral-shaded finish. A bit overshadowed by its more outgoing companions but, on its own terms, really quite enjoyable. (Buy again? Sure, though I wish it were under $30.)
MWG June 12th tasting: Balearic warbler
Sistema Vinari was created on a lark in 2010 to make wines not to sell but to share with friends and trade with other local winemakers. 2012 is its first commercial vintage. The estate specializes in local grape varieties, though it does allow a little Monastrell and Syrah into the mix, and favours a non-interventionist approach. The wines’ names and minimalist labels are provisional. The only listed distributors are on Majorca, in Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia, in Australia and here in Quebec.
Vi de la terra de Mallorca 2012, Château Paquita, Sistema Vinari ($33.00, private import, 6 bottles/case)
This blend is made from organically farmed (but uncertified as such) Callet (40%), Manto Negro (40%), Monastrell (aka Mourvèdre, 15%), Syrah (5%). The grapes are manually harvested and fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks. Alcoholic fermentation of the Callet and Manto Negro lasts 20 to 25 days and is temperature-controlled (26°C or less). The Monastrell and Syrah undergo carbonic maceration. The wine is matured for six months in fifth-fill 500-litre oak barrels and refined three months in stainless steel tanks. Bottled unfiltered, unfined and with no added sulphur and aged in the bottle for five months before release. Total production: 4,500 regular bottles and 90 magnums. 13% ABV. Quebec agent: La QV/Insolite.
Deep and engaging nose of peppery plum and raspberry with accents of cinnamon, leaf, graphite, smoke and leather. Medium-bodied and velours-textured. The spicy fruit – dominant but not heavy, structured by round tannins, brightened by sustained acidity, deepened by coal and old wood notes – lasts through the long, clean finish. This elegant, savoury, food-friendly wine is a real find. (Buy again? With pleasure.)
MWG June 12th tasting: Terrano fortunato
A member of the Refosco family, Terrano is an ancient grape variety grown mainly around the northeastern Adriatic in Croatia, Slovenia and a sliver of Italy that includes Trieste, whose basic red wine it makes.
IGT Venezia Giulia 2010, Terrano, Benjamin Zidarich ($34.85, private import, 6 bottles/case)
100% Terrano. While the estate isn’t certified organic, it uses no synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides in its vineyards. The grapes for this wine where manually harvested, crushed and macerated on their skins in open vats for four weeks, with four punch-downs a day and no temperature control. Alcoholic fermentation was spontaneous, with ambient yeasts. The wine was transferred to large oak barrels for malolactic fermentation, then to a mix of medium and large Slavonian oak barrels for approximately 20 months’ maturation. Bottled unfiltered, unfined and with a small dose of sulphur. Total production: 4,000 bottles. 12% ABV. Quebec agent: La QV/Insolite.
Earthy, spicy, red fruit and peonies. Exuberantly fruity, even juicy, but dry: a middleweight with incisive acidity, velvety tannins, a slatey substrate and great purity. Vibrant right to the end of the faintly saline finish. Though delightful, our bottle should have been cooler (say, 16-17°C), like the one at Le printemps dézippé, where it was one of the standout reds. (Buy again? Done!)
In La Terra Fortunata, Fred Plotkin writes that Terrano “is a versatile wine that pairs with many foods from the Tirestine and Carso kitchens, including cevapcici (ground meat patties), pork products, cheeses, potatoes, cabbage, and fruit. The most famous pairing is one of the simplest: the Terrano and ovi duri (hard-boiled eggs) that one can consume in any buffet in Trieste.”
MWG June 12th tasting: Freewheeler
Vin de France 2012, Roue libre, Domaine Le Grain de Sénevé ($26.50, private import, 12 bottles/case)
Located in the Beaujolais-Villages appellation, two-hectare Domaine Le Grain de Sénevé – whose name translates as the wild mustard seed estate – began converting to organic production in 2007 and was certified organic in 2010. Like several other natural winemakers, Hervé Ravera has decided to shun the AOC straitjacket; all his wines are now vins de France. This is the estate’s unsulphured cuvée. 100% biodynamically farmed Gamay. The manually harvested whole clusters are fermented in concrete tanks with indigenous yeasts, then pressed. The wine is bottled unfiltered and unfined. 10.5% ABV. Quebec agent: La QV/Insolite.
Typical natural Gamay nose: raspberry, candied violet, minerals, distant smoke and barnyard, a whiff of reduction. A lightweight mouthful of tart, juicy fruit and slate with whispering tannins and a lip-smacking finish. Authentic, even old-fashioned in its bucking of the trend to dense, powerful Beaujolais. Eminently quaffable and refreshing, especially when served lightly chilled. (Buy again? Yep.)
MWG June 12th tasting: Crystal therapy
IGP Vin des Allobroges 2012, Schiste, Domaine des Ardoisières ($64.00, private import, 6 bottles/case)
The steep, terraced, mountain-side vineyards, formerly forest land above the village of Villard, were created in the late 1990s. From the start, all farming has been organic and biodynamic. This is a blend of four of the estate’s five white varieties: Jacquère (40%), Roussane (30%), Malvoisie (aka Pinot Gris, 20%) and Mondeuse Blanche (10%). The varieties are vinified separately. After manual harvesting, the grapes are lightly pressed. The musts are chilled, clarified by settling and transferred to third- to fifth-fill barrels for alcoholic fermentation using indigenous yeasts. Malolactic fermentation is not systematic. The wine is matured for 12 months in barrels, then racked, blended, lightly filtered and bottled. Production: around 7,000 bottles. 12% ABV. Quebec agent: La QV/Insolite.
One of the most crystalline wines I’ve encountered. Fresh, dry, ethereal and above all pure. Intertwining scents and flavours of wax, white fruit, minerals and flowers. Exquisite tension between acidity and extract. Long saline, white spice-haunted finish. An elegantly balanced wine with every quality. Breathtaking now though the estate claims it can age for up to a decade. A knockout with Reblochon cheese. (Buy again? Oh, yes.)
MWG June 12th tasting: Craziness? Not.
VDP de L’Hérault 2012, L’In, Mas Conscience ($29.50, private import, 6 bottles/case)
The cuvée’s name, L’In, is a play on the estate’s name; it stands for l’inconscience (craziness, madness), a reference to the folly of making dry white wines in the hot Languedoc. This, the estate’s only white, is a blend of organically and biodynamically farmed Grenache Blanc (50%), Rolle (24%), Roussanne (24%) and Viognier (2%). The grapes are harvested by hand, typically in late August to ensure a degree of freshness. Fermented with indigenous yeasts. Allowed to undergo malolatic fermentation. Filtered before bottling. Use of sulphur is minimized. Around 500 cases are produced. 13% ABV. Quebec agent: La QV/Insolite.
Honeyed white fruit and white flowers, chalk and fresh hay. Weighty and dry, even a bit alkaline, but still quite fresh. As much about minerals as fruit. Long finish. Less complete and transporting than some top Languedoc-Roussillon whites (Clos du Rouge Gorge and Mas de Daumas Gassac, for example) though, in its defence, they cost considerably more. Probably best thought of as a food wine. Would go well with dishes like scallops with asparagus, orange and thyme, sea bass baked in a salt crust, and rabbit and preserved lemon tagine. (Buy again? Sure.)
MWG June 12th tasting: A natural Riesling from far northern California
Willow Creek 2010, Riesling, Hardesty Cellars ($36.50, private import, 6 bottles/case)
The coastal Willow Creek AVA is located in California’s Trinity River valley. This 100% Riesling is made from organically farmed grapes that were manually harvested and pressed directly into a 55-gallon stainless steel barrel. The must is fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured for nine months. The wine contains no added anything, including sulphites and is bottled unfiltered and unfined. Total production: 23 cases. 13.8% ABV. Quebec agent: La QV/Insolite.
Reductive nose with some yeast and browning apple eventually coming forward. A bit sprtizy. There’s the rich texture and hints of tropical fruit you expect in a California white but with Riesling’s racy acidity and minerality at its core. Residual sugar? A touch of sweetness on the attack but quite dry on the long finish. Seemed a little unsettled. A couple of post-tasting comments from MWG members: “I must try it with Indian food!” and, perhaps more tellingly, “I dug the Californian but keep forgetting it was a Riesling.” Quite good with cheese, especially an ash-covered goat cheese, which may explain why it’s on the wine lists of several of Montreal’s best restaurants and wine bars. (Buy again? Yes, for um research purposes.)
MWG June 12th tasting: Hi yo, Silvaner!
Rheinhessen 2012, Grüner Sylvaner, Trocken, Battenfeld-Spanier ($26.60, private import, 6 bottles/case)
The 28-hectare estate is located in Hohen-Sülzen near Worms and has been organic since 1993, began working biodynamically in 2005 and is now a member of La Renaissance des appellations. This 100% Grüner Sylvaner (aka Silvaner and Sylvaner) is fermented with indigenous yeasts and sees only stainless steel until bottling. Screwcapped. 12% ABV. Quebec agent: La QV/Insolite.
Flinty minerals, lime zest, apple, grass, hints of smoke and ash. Clean and dry (especially on the finish), tense with acidity. The fruit is shot through with minerals and gains an appealing sour note and hazelnut-skin bitterness. Long. In contrast to some Sylvaners, there’s nothing rustic about this wonderfully tonic wine. (Buy again? Yes.)
MWG June 12th tasting: Return of an old friend
Cour-Cheverny 2010, Domaine des Huards ($21.65, private import, 12 bottles/case)
100% Romorantin from 35-year-old organically and biodynamically farmed vines. Manually harvested, lightly pressed, fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured on the lees for six months. 12% ABV. Quebec agent: La QV/Insolite.
Sour wax, yellow apple, straw, chalk and a touch of honey. Medium-bodied. Smooth, even a little waxy on the surface but with a acidic lemony core. Pear and minerals last well into the long, clean, bone-dry finish. Pure and intense, fresh and savoury: a delight. Can be aged up to a decade. (I successfully cellared several bottles of the 2001, for example. It probably peaked around 2007 though the last of my bottles, uncorked in 2012, was glorious for 15 or 20 minutes after opening and then quickly expired.) This used to be a staple at the SAQ and will be returning to the monopoly next year, likely in the form of the 2011. (Buy again? Absolutely.)
Brett happens 