Posts Tagged ‘oenopole’
An evening with Olivier Guyot (6/6)
Morey Saint-Denis grand cru 2008, Clos Saint-Denis, Domaine Olivier Guyot ($193.00, oenopole, 3 bottles/case)
100% Pinot Noir. 12.5% ABV.
Classy, layered and just beginning to open up – that’s true for the nose as well as the palate. Only a series of reconciled contradictions can hint at the wine’s allure: mouth-filling yet middleweight; intense yet fleet; structured yet supple; complex yet pure; refined yet down-to-earth (no need to give itself airs). With fruit, acidity and tannins in perfect balance, its elegance seems natural, unforced, while its depths seem unplumbable. The ever-evolving aromas and flavours – sweet berries, forest floor, sandalwood, earthy minerals, burning leaves, notes of beet, sarsaparilla, game and spice – hold you in thrall from first sniff through the very long finish. So proportionate and nuanced, so precise and complete. A thoroughbred. (Buy again? If price were no object, yes.)
An evening with Olivier Guyot (5/6)
Gevrey-Chambertin 2010, En Champs, Domaine Olivier Guyot ($66.50, oenopole, 6 bottles/case)
100% Pinot Noir from 60-year-old vines. 12.5% ABV.
Intense nose. Berries and black cherry, slightly candied, with hints of leather, wood and ink and a faint medicinal note. In the mouth, the rich, even weighty fruit is joined by mineral, oak and Asian spice flavours. Beautifully structured though still fluid: the tannins are firm but not astringent, the acidity present but not sharp. The sensation of fullness lasts well into the long finish. Young, true to the appellation (more country gent than city slicker) and full of potential. (Buy again? Sure.)
Gevrey-Chambertin 2007, Les Champs, Domaine Olivier Guyot ($66.50, oenopole, 6 bottles/case)
100% Pinot Noir from 60-year-old vines. 12.5% ABV. And, no, that’s not a typo; the cuvée recently changed names.
Defective bottle. The wine was heavily oxidized.
An evening with Olivier Guyot (4/6)
Chambolle-Musigny 2010, Vieilles vignes, Domaine Olivier Guyot ($92.75, oenopole, 3 bottles/case)
100% Pinot Noir. 12.5% ABV.
Textbook – if primary – nose: red berries, kirsch, faint notes of forest floor, violet, mushroom. Medium-bodied. Smooth and silky, rich and layered. Fruit, tannins and acidity are finely balanced, a balance that lasts through the lengthy finish. Even at this point, the oak is subtle and well integrated. A charmer. (Buy again? If I could scrape up the bucks, sure, though I’d probably be tempted to push the boat right out and fork over another $30 for the Fuées instead.)
Chambolle-Musigny 1er cru 2010, Les Fuées, Domaine Olivier Guyot ($125.00, oenopole, 3 bottles/case)
100% Pinot Noir. 12.5% ABV. Our bottle had been open for several hours.
Complex, earthy, engaging nose of Marmite, slate and mushroom against a backdrop of strawberry, black raspberry, violet and black tea, along with a faint oxidized note. Intense and fresh in the mouth. Supple yet structured. Possessed of every dimension, including the ability to suspend time. Great purity and balance and the most beguiling satiny texture. Beautiful. (Buy again? Would that I could.)
An evening with Olivier Guyot (3/6)
The Favières vineyard is located toward the bottom of the Marsannay hillside. The Guyot vines were planted in the 1980s. The estate makes another red Marsannay (dubbed La Montagne) from 90-year-old vines located at the top of the slope.
Marsannay 2010, Les Favières, Domaine Olivier Guyot ($35.75, 11906035)
100% Pinot Noir. 12% ABV. SAQ.com shows small quantities of this as being available. At the date of this posting, those bottles are all 2009s. The 2010s are in the SAQ’s warehouse and will be released in the coming weeks.
Primary: grapey nose only hinting at berries, spice, kirsch and oak. Supple, with airframe tannins and sleek acidity – silk to the 2009’s velours. The clean, ripe fruit is joined by some darker humus and mineral notes that linger into the sustained finish. Seems full of potential but a little out of sorts for now; will probably hit its stride in six months or a year. (Buy again? Yes.)
Marsannay 2009, Les Favières, Domaine Olivier Guyot ($35.75, 11906035)
100% Pinot Noir. 13% ABV. A few bottles remain in the system (showing as the 2010 on SAQ.com.
Darker and more reticent, the berries tending to black, the forest floor mixed with savoury herbs and charred oak. On the palate, the fruit is very ripe – not jammy but a little candied. Plush tannins and relatively low acidity give the wine a chewy texture. Broader than the other two but also not as deep. Some smoke appears on the finish. On its own, an amiable wine though more earthbound, less vital than its older and younger siblings. (Buy again? Not in preference to the 2010.)
Marsannay 2008, Les Favières, Domaine Olivier Guyot ($36.25 as a private import in 2012, NLA)
100% Pinot Noir. 12.5% ABV.
Beginning to express itself: red berries, leafmould, spice, kirsch and a touch of cola and vanilla oak. In a phrase, ça pinote. Still tight – maybe firm is a better word – but full, round and well balanced. The ripe fruit is structured by sinewy tannins and shot through with sliver threads of acidity. Sustained finish. The most complete of the three, though that may be partly a function of age. (Buy again? Moot but yes.)
This vertical showed the accuracy of Olivier’s vintage judgements: the unappreciated 2008 turning out classic, structured, long-lived wines; the overhyped 2009 giving birth to fruit-forward wines often short on finesse and best drunk in their youth; and 2010 a winegrower’s vintage capable of producing elegant, balanced expressions of terroir. He suggests drinking the Favières fairly young with grilled beef tenderloin.
An evening with Olivier Guyot (2/6)
Bourgogne rouge 2011, Domaine Olivier Guyot ($34.50, oenopole, 6 bottles/case)
100% Pinot Noir from “vines planted by my father and grandfather.” Like all of Olivier’s wines, spends 14 months in large fûts. Not cask aged, however. 12% ABV.
Fragrant nose: red berries, leafmould, hints of spice and old wood. Medium- bordering on light-bodied. Fluid and elegantly fruity but so dry. Animating acidity and fine, tight tannins add texture and some astringency. A faint bitterness – not like that found in Italian wines though – emerges on the finish. Straightforward, fresh and very easy to drink. (Buy again? A bottle or two to enjoy while waiting for the similarly priced 2010 Favières to show up at the monopoly.)
An evening with Olivier Guyot (1/6)
In town in late January on his way to the Gaspé peninsula for a week of snowmobiling, Côtes-de-Nuits winemaker Olivier Guyot made time for a tasting – his second – with the Mo’ Wine Group. Many thanks to oenopole for making this happen.
Initially mentored by the late Denis Mortet, Guyot farms organically and biodynamically but hasn’t bothered with certifications, preferring to call his approach traditional. The vineyards are worked with a horse. The grapes are harvested manually, rigorously sorted and, for the reds, partially destemmed. All wines are made using the same non-interventionist approach: fermentation with indigenous yeasts in open wood vats; gravity flow into untoasted oak barrels, a portion of which are new for the higher-end cuvées; and maturation ranging from 11 to 18 months depending on the cuvée and the vintage. In stark contrast to many Burgundy estates, racking is avoided and chaptalization is kept to a minimum. Sulphur is used sparingly. Ditto filtering and fining, if at all.
Having now tasted through two sets of bottles from a range of vintages, I think it must be the house style to make wines that are accessible at most or all stages of their development. If there’s a downside to the wines, it’s that the prices are a little higher than ideal; then again, that’s true for most Burgundies. Also, the wines are popular with restaurateurs – quite possibly due to the accessibility factor as well as their inherent quality – so they tend to sell out fast. Indeed, of the wines we tasted, only the Marsannay blanc and 2010 Chambolle-Musigny “Vieilles Vignes” remain available for purchase, though the 2010 Marsannay “Les Favières” is slated to show up at the SAQ in a few weeks.
When asked about recent vintages, Guyot (whose contrarian take on 2008 and 2009 has proved spot on) said 2010 produced classic if not marathon wines, 2011 was uneven but, when good, very good and 2012 was exceptional, though yields were low, allocations will be tiny and prices will be high. His advice: either start saving now or stock up on more affordable earlier vintages.
Aligoté 2011, Domaine Olivier Guyot ($24.50, oenopole, 12 bottles/case)
100% Aligoté from 70-year-old vines. 12% ABV.
Clean nose: minerals, apple, fresh straw, dusty lemon. Light but fruity and quite complex for an Aligoté. The piquant acidity comes out on the long, minerally finish. A fresh and refreshing Aligoté that ranks with the best. Drink young. (Buy again? Done!)
Marsannay blanc 2010, Domaine Olivier Guyot ($46.25, oenopole, 6 bottles/case)
100% Chardonnay from 70-year-old vines. Aged in a mix of new and used barrels. Olivier says this ages well, gaining an oily texture and nutty overtones with the years. 12% ABV.
Light tropical fruit (mango?), chalk, dried lemon peel and a lingering note of freshly mown field. Light to medium-bodied yet possessed of a real presence and a certain richness. The fruit is fully ripe but the wine borders on bone dry. Great minerality and good acidity. Pure and savoury, with a hint of spice on the finish. Delicious. Classic. (Buy again? If only it were a little less expensive… but a bottle or two quand même).
Sausage love, 2014 edition
Forget those overpriced Valentine meals prepared by bored chefs and served by jaded waiters in stuffy restaurants. On February 14, sausage lovers, wine lovers and just plain lovers will be heading to Nouveau Palais for a hit of Pork Futures goodness (sweet or spicy sausage sandwiches with fries and coleslaw or sauerkraut) and glass after drinkable glass of — what else? — San Valentino wines poured by oenopole.
The fourth annual Valentine’s Sausage Party
“Because nothing says love like sausage…”
Friday, February 14, 2014
17:30 to midnight (or until they run out)
Nouveau Palais
281 Bernard St. West, Montreal
oenopole workshop: charcuteries + uve italiane (3/3)
The tasting ended with a gorgeous orange wine, the first to be sold at the SAQ.
Sicilia IGT 2011, Ramì, Azienda Agricola COS ($27.25, 12024237)
Biodynamically farmed Inzolia (50%) and Grecanico (50%) from vines averaging ten years old and growing in calcareous soil. Yield: 50 quintals per hectare. The grapes are manually harvested in 12 kg cases, destemmed, soft-crushed and macerated on the skins and pips for ten days. Temperature-controlled fermentation (with indigenous yeasts) and maturation take place in concrete tanks. The wine is filtered before bottling with a 2-micron filter. No sulphur is used during the wine-making but a small squirt of sulphur dioxide is added at bottling. 12% ABV.
Another beautiful, wafting nose: straw, spice, beeswax, hints of dried apricot and sandpaper. The texture is smooth and full, while the sweet and savoury fruit has overtones of dried orange peel, nuts (more almond or pine than hazel) and faint, faint gingersnap. Bright acidity and ghostly tannins add firmness and tension. Long, balanced and remarkably fresh. A haunting beauty. (Buy again? Most definitely.)
As was noted at the tasting, orange wines’ savour, weight and structure tend to make them vins gastronomiques – wines that show best with food or even demand food. Yet while the Ramì proved to be an excellent pairing for the porchetta di testa, it was equally delicious on its own. Its freshness, lightness and barely noticeable tannins mean it’s a far from radical example of the style – a beginner’s orange wine, as it were – but on its own terms it is wholly satisfying, a testament to the winemaker’s craft.
oenopole workshop: charcuteries + uve italiane (2/3)
The workshop’s raison d’être was the second flight and its centrepiece, a long board covered with an impressive array of charcuterie made by Ségué Lepage of Le Comptoir charcuteries et vins: buttery pork liver mousse, dried sausages flavoured with fennel seed or cumin, coppa, soppressata, porchetta di testa (slices of a large rolled sausage, the Italian take on headcheese), pâté de campagne, chorizo and a couple I’m forgetting. Accompaniments included cornichons, pickled fennel and Le Comptoir’s irresistible cumin “mustard,” though the quality of the salumi was so high they seemed unnecessary, like gilt for a lily.
Sangiovese di Romagna 2011, Scabi, San Valentino ($18.00, 11019831)
The 28-hectare estate is located just inland from Rimini on Italy’s Adriatic coast. 100% Sangiovese from decade-old vines. Manually harvested, destemmed, macerated at low temperature for eight days then fermented with indigenous yeasts in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. Half the wine is matured in stainless steel and half in second-fill oak barrels for six months. Sulphur is added only at bottling. 14% ABV.
Dired cherry, spice, background leather, turned earth and terracotta and a kirschy high note. Velevty texture. Fruit forward but not a bomb, thanks in part to the coursing acidity. Dark minerals and just a hint of oak add depth. Fine tannins lend an astringent edge to the finish. The best vintage of this wine to date and a definite QPR winner. (Buy again? Yep.)
> Handled the crazy delicious pork liver mousse better than any other wine in the flight. Ditto the chile-spiced sausages, probably due to its juicy fruit. Still, this food-friendly wine is arguably even better suited to fare like grilled meats and vegetables and savoury, tomato-based pasta dishes (spaghetti with meat ragu or pesto rosso, for example).
Langhe 2011, Nebbiolo, Produttori del Barbaresco ($23.10, 11383617)
100% Nebbiolo from young vines, all of which are located within the Barbaresco DOC. Fermented with selected “Barolo” yeasts at 28ºC in stainless steel tanks. Macerated on the skins for 24 days. Matured six months in very large oak barrels. No fining, light filtering, minimal sulphur dioxide. 14.5% ABV according to the label; 13.5% ABV according to the SAQ (I suspect the label is closer to the truth).
Cherry, underbrush, slate, old wood, hints of truffle and kirsch. Smooth and silky, with clean fruit, bright acidity and fine, supple tannins. Underlying minerals give depth. Good length and beautiful balance. As predicted, this has come together in the months since it first appeared on the SAQ’s shelves. Unbeatable QPR. (Buy again? Of course.)
> Best with the very fresh-tasting pâté de campagne and coppa. It also played interestingly with the spice in the cumin saucisson, whose saltiness brought out the wine’s fruit.
Cerasuolo di Vittoria 2010, Classico, Azienda Agricola COS ($33.75, 11577391)
Biodynamically farmed Nero d’Avola (60%) and Frappato (40%) from 25-year-old vines. Temperature-controlled fermentation with indigenous yeasts in concrete vats. Aged in barrels for 18 to 24 months. Bottled unfiltered. 13% ABV.
Beautiful wafting nose: dried cherry and cranberry, garrigue, sun-baked earth, air-dried beef. Medium-bodied with a silky, almost Burgundian texture. The fruit, as savoury as sweet, glows with a soft acidity. Slatey minerals and fine but lightly raspy tannins add texture and interest. Long and, above all, remarkably fresh. (Buy again? Yes, despite the 15% price increase from last year’s 2009.)
> Probably the most versatile wine of the bunch. Didn’t clash with anything, was relatively unfazed by the chile-flavoured sausages but went especially well with the fennel sausage.
Barolo 2009, Serralunga, Principiano Ferdinando ($39.75, 11387301)
Principiano’s entry-level Barolo. 100% Nebbiolo grapes from 3.5 hectares of young vines. The hand-picked, crushed grapes ferment with indigenous yeasts and no added sulfur for about a month. Matured 24 months in 20- and 40-hectolitre barrels and then in bottle. Bottled unfiltered and unfined. Vegan-compatible. Annual production: about 20,000 bottles. 14% ABV.
Cherry, a bit candied (PEZ if you must know), mowed field, old wood, iron dust, hint of vanilla and violet. Medium-bodied. Richly flavoured but fresh, a mouthful of satiny fruit with soft spicy overtones, lacy if drying tannins and sleek acidity. Elegant, complete, a pleasure to drink. A second bottle opened two days later came across as a little less special (bottle variation? different context?) but still attention-worthy. Not a long ager though it won’t suffer – and may well benefit – from a year or two in the cellar. Another QPR winner. (Buy again? Yes.)
> Achieved synergy with the superb prochetta di testa. Surprisingly good with the liver pâté. Handled the cumin and fennel sausages with aplomb though the coppa let more of the wine come through.
Barolo 2008, Fratelli Alessandria ($41.25, 11797094)
100% Nebbiolo from six vineyards. Manually harvested. Fermented and macerated from 12 to 15 days in temperature-controlled tanks. Matured 32 to 34 months in large Slavonian and French oak casks, two months in stainless steel tanks and six or more months in the bottle. 14% ABV.
A nose more tertiary than the Principiano’s: coffee and cherry with hints of chocolate, licorice, raw meat, truffle, fresh herbs, tomato. The richest and roundest of the Nebbiolos though still medium-bodied. Savoury fruit, plush, firm tannins, chugging acidity and a long, vaporous finish. In contrast to the nose, still a bit primary on the palate, though far from inaccessible. (Buy again? Yes.)
> Worked best with the mildly flavoured dried sausages, the porchetta di testa and the cured meats. The chile-spiced sausages brought out the tannins and the liver mousse give it a faintly metallic taste. Would probably be more at home with a rabbit and mushroom ragu served over pappardelle and showered with Parmesan.
The wines’ lively acidity and savoury character meant they all paired well with these fatty, salty foods. For me, the most unexpected aspect of the tasting was seeing how the different Nebbiolos worked – or didn’t – with a given charcuterie, in particular the pork liver mousse. That said, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the higher-end wines were a bit out of place, that, however convincingly, they were slumming a little. A fascinating exercise, then, but one I’d love to repeat with more rustic wines, like certain Barberas, Dolcettos, Pelavergas and Ruchès.
oenopole workshop: charcuteries + uve italiane (1/3)
A group of wine writers, bloggers and broadcasters were recently summoned to oenopole world headquarters for another of the agency’s workshops devoted to food and wine pairings (previously: oysters, Greek wines with non-Greek dishes). This atelier focused on charcuterie and Italian grape varieties. As the group assembled, a nearly Italian white was poured to wet our whistles.
Corse Figari 2010, Blanc, Clos Canarelli ($40.00, 11794660)
Based in Figari, the southernmost wine-growing region in Corsica and the sunniest in France, Yves Canarelli today has 28 hectares of vineyards in production and makes his wines in a spanking new gravity-fed facility. His white Corse Figari is 100% organically and biodynamically farmed Vermentinu (aka Vermintno). The grapes are manually harvested, fermented with indigenous yeasts and allowed to undergo partial malolactic fermentation. Matured six to eight months on the lees in neutral foudres and barriques. Lightly filtered before bottling. 13% ABV.
Waxed lemon, crushed rock and a hint of herbs. Smooth and satiny, dense but balanced and fresh. Acidity streams quietly beneath the sleek surface. A faintly bitter vein snakes through the mineral substrate. The long finish is inflected with preserved lemon and salt. Perhaps even finer than the 2011. Though this worked surprisingly well as a aperitif, it’ll really sing with fish or Corsican cheeses. (Buy again? Yes.)
Brett happens 