Posts Tagged ‘Natural wine’
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: 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 May 15th tasting (6/6): Cretan legend
Crete 2006, Sitia, Domaine Economou ($42.00, private import, NLA)
100% organically farmed Liatiko from 65- to 75-year-old dry-farned, low-yielding, ungrafted vines grown on the Ziros plateau in eastern Crete. Fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks. Matured in French oak barrels. Natural except for a minimal shot of sulphur dioxide at bottling. 13.5% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
A transporting, umami-rich nose of dried cherry, blackberry, sun-baked earth and leather with hints of cocoa and dried orange peel. Against all expectations for such a southern wine, medium-bodied (if the frequent comparisons to Barolos have merit, it’s mainly with respect to the wine’s body and weight). Dry. Lightly structured, with supple tannins and lively acidity. The layers of flavour range from fresh and dried fruit (including fig) to spice, dark minerals, Mediterranean scrub and old wood. The wine’s affirmed presence lasts through the long, savoury finish. At this stage, less structured and ethereal than the 2000 opened a few months ago but still special, even unique. One of the great Mediterranean reds. (Buy again? Imperatively.)
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.
MWG April 17th tasting (4/6): The Greek, the Beauj’ and the Funky
Naoussa 2012, Jeunes vignes de Xinomavro, Domaine Thymiopoulos ($18.70, 12212220)
100% biodynamically farmed Xinomavro from ten-year-old vines. Manually harvested. 80% destemmed, 20% whole cluster pressed. Very gentle pressing. Fermented with indigenous yeasts and no pump-overs. Macerated about one week, then matured nine months in stainless steel tanks. Bottled unfiltered. 13.5% ABV.
A bit stinky on opening, as sometimes happens with this wine. That quickly blew off, leaving a charming nose of slate, candied red berries and spice. Denser than some earlier vintages but still fresh and supple, the fruit pure, the acidity bright and the tannins light and just a little raspy. Dried herbs, spice and minerals add savour. Finishes clean and tangy. Yet another winner from Thymiopoulos. (Buy again? In multiples.)
Morgon 2012, Marcel Lapierre ($30.50, Rézin, NLA)
This was the “nature” bottling available through the private import channel, not the filtered and more heavily sulphured SAQ bottling. 100% organically farmed Gamay from 60-year-old vines. Manually harvested late in the season. Whole-cluster fermentation with indigenous yeasts at low temperatures lasts ten to 20 days. Matured nine months on the fine lees in old Burgundy oak barrels. Bottled unfiltered, unfined and with minimal sulphur. 12.5% ABV.
Cherry, stones, vine sap and faint spice. Silky fruit, bright acidity, supple tannins and that Lapierre trick of being both etherial and intense. Slow-fade finish with lingering scents of minerals, berries and flowers. Classic and delicious. I’m guessing this will peak in two to three years. (Buy again? Yes.)
Vino da tavola 2011, Rosso frizzante, Sottobosco, Ca’ de Noci ($24.00, Ward & associés, NLA)
A blend of organically farmed Lambrusco Grasparossa (30%), Lambrusco di Montericco (30%), Malbo Gentile (20%) and Sgavetta (20%) from ten-year-old vines. Manually harvested. The grapes are macerated for around ten days on their skins and fermented with indigenous yeasts. Refermentation in the bottle (to produce the sparkle) is also natural. Unfiltered and unfined. 11% ABV.
Popped and poured. The wildly funky nose elicited all kinds of reactions, including the descriptor fetid. The miasma lifted some as the wine breathed, allowing hints of slate and red and black fruit to emerge. (A taster who had previously encountered the wine said ours was an unusually stinky bottle.) In the mouth, it’s bone dry, tart and astringent. The light fizz adds a mild creaminess that polishes, if only a little, the coarse texture. Surprisingly mouth-filling fruit and earthy flavours last well into the finish. Despite everything, good enough to make you think a cleaner bottle might have a genuine rustic appeal. (Buy again? With my fingers crossed.)
The common thread in this flight was wines that would work with charcuterie. Our cured meats came in the form of duck prosciutto and pork and duck rillettes from Pork Futures and a gifted dry sausage whose provenance I don’t recall. While all three wines proved up to the task, I found the Naoussa best with the prosciutto, the Morgon best with the fatty, mild rillettes and the Sottobosco best with the prosciutto and the dark flavoured sausage.
MWG February 13th tasting (5/5): Vins de beauté
Patrimonio 2009, Clos Signadore ($46.00, 11908129)
100% Nielluccio from 50-year-old vines in a four-hectare plot called Morta Plana (the estate officially began converting to organic farming in 2010 and was certified in 2013). Manually harvested. Macerated and fermetened with inidigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks for 45 to 60 days. Matured in neutral demi-muids for 24 months. Sulphur is added only at bottling. 13.5% ABV.
Effusive bouquet of sweet spice, wood and graphite against a backdrop of red fruit. In the mouth, it’s medium-bodied, fluid and impeccably balanced. Limber tannins provide a supple structure. Spice colours the rich fruit, which persists well into the long finish. Sleek, even a little glossy and definitely the least unconventional of the trio but undeniably a pleasure to drink. (Buy again? Sure.)
Patrimonio 2010, Carco, Antoine Arena ($40.50, 12039560)
Arena doesn’t appear to have a website; see here for a short profile. 100% biodynamically farmed Nielluccio from the Carco vineyard. Macerated and fermented with indigenous yeasts in temperature-controlled (27-30C) tanks for six to nine weeks with regular punch-downs. Long maturation (up to two years for some cuvées). Minimally sulphured. Unfiltered and unfined. 14% ABV.
Closed but evolving nose: plum, earth, spice, eventually cocoa husks and a faint musky/animale note. Closed but promissing on the palate. A dry, savoury, smooth-textured middleweight. The fruit is ripe, dense and a bit cooked, though more roasted than stewed. Brisk acidity adds welcome tension and brightness; fine albeit pervasive tannins add structure; dark minerals add depth. The finish is long and velvety. Alive, even a little wild yet somehow quite elegant. (Buy again? Yes.)
Vin de table (2011), CN, Domaine Comte Abbatucci ($62.00, 11930140)
The second vintage of this wine, which doesn’t meet the appellation’s grape variety requirements and so is classified a vin de table and not entitled to mention the vintage or the grape variety on the label (Abbatucci prints the vintage on the cork). 100% biodyanmically farmed Carcajolo Nero (aka Carcajolu-Neru) from vines average six years old. Hand-picked, crushed by foot. Maceration and fermentation with indigenous yeasts last 15 days. About one-third of the wine is then matured in neutral 600-litre demi-muids and the rest in stainless steel tanks for eight to ten months. Unfiltered and unfined. 13% ABV.
Pale, clear red, approaching the kind of rubis you sometimes see in Jura wines. Appealing nose of red currant, leather, cedar, maquis and a possibly reductive note that one taster described as “balloon animals.” Medium-bodied, silky textured. The fruit is juicy, like fresh squeezed mulberry, overtoned with sandalwood, buoyed by soft acidity. The supple tannins turn astringent on the long, chocolate-noted finish. Complex if not particularly deep but unique and fascinating all the same. (Buy again? Would love to.)
Brett happens 