Posts Tagged ‘Off the beaten path’
A bouquet of bubblies from La QV
Notes from an informal tasting of some of the sparklers represented by La QV. The champagnes are sold at the SAQ; the others can be ordered through the agency.
Bubulle 2009, Méthode traditionnelle, Les Pervenches ($30.00, 12 bottles per case)
2/3 Chardonnay, 1/3 Seyval. Made from biodyanmically farmed grapes grown near Farnham in the Eastern Townships. Produced using the champagne method and with zero dosage. The owners have been making a few cases of sparkling wine for several years now (the 2008 was 100% Chardonnay) but this is the first vintage sold to the public. Only a half dozen or so cases have been released due to a purely aesthetic problem with the other bottles, namely the lees sticking to the side of the bottle instead of sliding into the neck for removal during disgorging. Encouraged by our and others’ assurances that such a superficial blemish wouldn’t prevent us from buying bottles, the winemaker said he may decide to offer the lees-streaked bottles for sale in the new year.
Crystal-clear with a slight green cast and a very fine bead. Appealing nose of brioche and lemon with subtle mineral and floral notes. Soft bubbles. Fruity but bone dry. Bright, clean and long with a gooseberry note (the Seyval?) coming out on the finish. Like the estate’s still Chardonnays, a delicious wine that can easily stand comparison with similarly priced wines from around the world. 12% abv.
Foule Bulles, Clos Saragnat ($15, 12 bottles per case)
This sparkling cider is made from fruit farmed organically near Frelighsburg. Several varieties of apple are pressed to make the base cider but fresh plum juice is used for the dosage. Rusty pink to the eye (due partly to the apple varieties and partly to intentional oxidation of the raw fruit). Nose of sweet apple and, yep, yellow plum. Fruity but with an appealing sourness. Fine bubbles. Long drying finish. 9% abv. As they say around here, original.
Vin mousseux de qualité 2004, Domaine de la Chappe ($22, 6 bottles per case)
Based in the Tonnerre AOC, located northeast of Chablis, Domaine de la Chappe has been organic-converting-to-biodynamic since the early naughts. Chardonnay (80%) and Pinot Noir (20%). Colour bordering on pale pink. Intriguing nose with hints of red berries and roasted coffee. Fine bubbles, soft effervescence. Flavourful with a woody edge. Good finish, with sourish fruit giving way to faint walnut flavours. Unusual and enjoyable.
Cava 2009, Brut nature, Cellers de Can Suriol del Castell de Grabuac ($20.75, 12 bottles per case)
Organically farmed Macabeu (30%), Xarel.lo (30%) and Parellada (30%). Lemon zest and quartz. Fine bead. Fruity and floral on the attack yet very dry. Tastes “white.” Lingering bread flavours. Clean, elegant and refreshing. 11.5% abv.
Champagne, Grand cru, Blanc de Noirs, E. Barnaut ($46.25, 11152958)
100% sustainably farmed Pinot Noir. Brioche, white fruit, lemon, oxidized apple. Less dry than the preceding. Denser, too, but lifted by the bubbles and acid. Long. Not incredibly complex or deep but tasty and good QPR. 12.0% abv.
Champagne 1996, Brut, Fleury ($97.50, 11544062)
Biodynamically farmed Pinot Noir (80%) and Chardonnay (20%). Aged under cork – not the usual crown cap – before disgorgement to allow micro-oxygenation and encourage the development of a finer effervescence. Yellow-gold to the eye. Powerful, complex nose: oxidized apple, lemon, honey and more. Rich and deep on the palate, with layers of flavour. Astoundingly fruity and winey and far from bone dry yet in no way heavy thanks to the soft effervescence and coursing acidity. Long. Assertive yet seductive, a complete wine. 12.5% abv.
Two for the life list
Vin de Savoie 2009, Les Alpes, Domaine Belluard ($26.95, 11544417)
100% biodynamically farmed Grignet. Fermented with native yeasts, no chaptalization, lightly filtered before bottling. 12.5% ABV. My first encounter with the grape variety, which the Oxford Companion to Wine says is the Jura’s Savagnin (the more recent Wikipedia entry casts doubt on that claim).
Soft, elusive nose evoking stones, flowers and beeswax. Light and minerally, even rainwatery, on the palate, the fruit – more sensed than tasted – tending toward lemon. Dry and acid bright, though that’s really apparent only on the finish. Surprisingly long given the ephemeral flavours, with lingering notes of honey and linden blossom. Subdued, yes, but also elegant, pure, quenching and delicious.
Lacrima di Morro d’Alba 2009, Panse, Monte Schiavo ($18.40, 11451894 though the link is to the 2010, which appears to have a different name: Marzaiola)
100% Lacrima di Morro. Made from manually and machine-harvested grapes, which are fermented for 7-10 days and raised for 3 months off the lees, all in stainless steel tanks. Filtered before bottling. Lacrima di Morro is a “fast maturing, wild strawberry-scented red grape specialty of Morro d’alba in the Marche” (The Oxford Companion to Wine). Reduced to a single hectare in the mid-1980s, the variety has been revived through the creation of the Lacrima di Morro d’Alba appellation.
The nose is one of the most surprising in red winedom: outrageously floral (“rose water,” said one taster; “peonies,” another; “if you were tasting this blind from a black glass, you’d swear it was a Moscato,” noted a third) along with the expected red fruit. Less unconventional on the palate: medium-bodied (12.5% ABV), lightly structured, with a velvety texture, cherry and wildberry flavours and a faint bitterness on a longish finish. Opened at the most recent Pork Futures event, the wine clashed with the headcheese but worked with the liver terrine adulterated with red currant jelly.
Brett happens 