Posts Tagged ‘Organic’
Le gros lot de Greg Leclerc
A historian by training, Grégory Leclerc did stints as a journalist and marketer before falling into the world of natural wine-making. He purchased his four-hectare estate – downsized from the original 6.5 hectares, named Chahut et Prodiges and located in Chargé in the hills near Amboise in the Tourraine – in 2007. He farms organically and makes wines from Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Gamay, Côt and Grolleau. The land is worked using a tractor, though Leclerc says he may switch to horses at some point. Harvesting is manual. Vinification of the reds involves placing the whole clusters in concrete tanks for two to three weeks with no added sulphur and no punch-downs or pump-overs – a form of carbonic maceration, what? Pressing is slow and gentle. The wines are unfined and lightly filtered. No sulphur is added to the reds; a tiny amount is added to the whites at bottling.
Vin de France 2013, Le Coup de Canon, Domaine Chahut et Prodiges ($26.87, private import, 12 bottles/case, NLA)
100% Grolleau from 60-year-old vines grown on clay and flint. Matured around nine months in fibreglass tanks. 11% ABV. Quebec agent: Deux Caves.
Lovely nose of Swedish berries, sandalwood, green earth and clean horse stable. Light-bodied and dry. The tart fruit is set on slate. Barely tannic with a silky texture and clean finish. The bottle at the second tasting showed even brighter and cheerier than the one at the first. Simple and appealing, as wines made from this variety should be. A vin plaisir that goes really well with charcuterie. (Buy again? Done!)
Vin de France 2013, La Meule, Domaine Chahut et Prodiges ($26.87, private import, 12 bottles/case, NLA)
100% Gamay from 25- to 30-year-old vines grown on clay and limestone. Matured around nine months in fibreglass tanks. 11% ABV. Quebec agent: Deux Caves.
Sour red berries, smelling a bit candied, with gamy, slate and pastry overtones. Wonderfully pure, tart and juicy fruit, vibrant acidity and lacy tannins. Long, smooth finish. A complete wine that even Beaujolais sceptics might like. If Deux Caves hadn’t been sold out of this, the group would have ordered two or three cases on the spot. (Buy again? If only…)
Vin de France 2013, Les Têtes Noires, Domaine Chahut et Prodiges ($26.87, private import, 12 bottles/case)
100% Côt (aka Malbec). Matured in used barrels. 11% ABV. Quebec agent: Deux Caves.
Darker, meatier nose, the fruit tending to roasted cherries and blackberries with slate and wood notes. Smooth on the palate, due in part to acidity that’s softer than the other Leclerc wines and a tannic structure that’s lighter than expected. Savoury finish though not a lot of follow-through. For me, the wine’s best quality is the purity of its fruit. (Buy again? Done!)
Vin de pays du Val de Loire 2012, Grolleau, Clau De Nell ($40.00, 12411763)
100% Grolleau from biodynamically farmed vines between 60 and 90 years old and grown in silty clay on tufa. Yields were a low 17 hl/ha. Harvested by hand and destemmed. Maceration and fermentation (indigenous yeasts) at 18 to 25°C and involving gentle punch-downs and limited pump-overs lasted 20 days. The grapes were then gently and slowly pressed with a pneumatic press. Half the wine was transferred to fifth-fill French oak casks from Burgundy and half to large vats for maturation on the fine lees, which lasted 12 months. The wine was bottled on a fruit day without filtering or fining. 12% ABV. Quebec agent: Séguin-Robillard.
Raspberry-green pepper jelly with a hint of sawed wood. Extracted and dense bordering on heavy. Oddly, given the avoidance of new barrels, the oak treatment seemed a little too lavish and obvious for such a modest grape variety (and I wasn’t the only one to complain of such). Combine that with relatively low acidity and you have a lethargic wine, albeit one with a certain hefty presence. Bottom line: it’s a wine that tries to hard, that gives itself airs. Tellingly, the wine was served double-blind and no one guessed it was made from the same grape as the archetypal Coup de Canon. A few years in the cellar may improve things but who knows? While I’ve enjoyed earlier vintages, this is not what I’m looking for in a Grolleau. (Buy again? Nope.)
Mo’ Wine Group September 27th tastings: flight 2 of 3
Les elixirs de Xavier Marchais
In late September, the Mo’ Wine Group initiated what we hope will be a near-monthly series of agency tastings, at which a representative from one of Quebec’s many wine agencies presents a selection of wines, usually private imports, from the agency’s portfolio.
Kicking off the series was one of the newest kids on the block, Deux Caves. (The agency’s name is a play on words, une cave being a cellar in French and un cave being a dumbass, an incompetent, a sucker.) The cave leading the tasting was Max Campbell, who earns an actual living pouring wine, serving tables and shucking oysters at Joe Beef and Vin Papillon; the other cave, Alexander Campbell (no relation to Max) is a Montrealer currently based in Dijon, where he’s studying oenology.
Deux Caves’s portfolio may be small for now but their focus is already clear: ultra-drinkable natural wines. In other words, right up the MWG’s alley, which is part of the reason why demand for seats at the tasting was so high that we ended up holding two sessions back to back (the promise of food, including a dish from Vin Papillon, may also have had something to do with it).
♦
We began with a white and a red from Xavier Marchais, a young winemaker based in the Anjou region. His four hectares of vines (half Chenin, half Cabernet Franc) are farmed biodynamically using a horse and manual labour. Pesticides, herbicides and other synthetic products are systematically avoided. Wine-making is non-interventionist. For the two Elixir cuvées, fermentation (with indigenous yeasts, naturally) and maturation take place in used barriques. Cellar techniques are pretty much limited to crushing and punching down by foot, manual pressing and racking. No sugar or sulphur are added. The unfiltered and unfined wines are bottled by hand and closed with a crown cap (the red’s cap reportedly allows more oxygen exchange than the white’s, which may partially explain the white’s reductive side).
Vin de France 2013, L’Elixir de Jouvence, Xavier Marchais ($28.54, private import, 12 bottles/case, NLA)
100% Chenin Blanc grown on schist. Yields in 2012 were an incredibly low 13 hl/ha (probably similar in 2013). Matured 12 months. Crown-capped. 11.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Deux Caves.
Reductive aromas on the nose and a faint spritz on the palate; carafing the wine well in advance helped to eliminate both. Engaging nose of wax, quince, lemon, minerals, honey, honeysuckle and straw/hay. Coming across as very close to the juice in the mouth. Dry, though, with zingy acidity, ethereal fruit, lots of minerals and a good, clean, tart finish. Light but vibrant and mouth-filling. The winemaker says this is young and more reduced than in other vintages. He also foresees a long life for it, predicting that the acidity will decease while the wine will become rounder and more aromatically complex. In the meantime, he suggests carafing it “violently.” (Buy again? In multiples.)
Vin de France 2013, L’Elixir de Longue Vie, Xavier Marchais ($26.87, private import, 12 bottles/case, NLA)
100% Cabernet Franc grown on schist and spilite. Yields in 2012 were 27 hl/ha (probably similar in 2013). Crown-capped. 11% ABV. Quebec agent: Deux Caves.
Exuberant nose of red fruit with floral, spice and incense overtones but no green pepper. Less exuberant than expected on the palate. Medium-bodied and satin-textured. Very dry, again with ethereal fruit. The acidity is bright and the tannins soft. A streak of slate runs throughout and is joined by spice on the long finish. The bottle at the second tasting was mushroomier than the first. The group’s resident Cab Franc hater actually enjoyed this enough to buy a couple of bottles. (Buy again? Yes.)
Mo’ Wine Group September 27th tastings: flight 1 of 3
More research required
IGT Emilia Rosso 2013, Trebbiolo, La Stoppa ($21.80, 11896501)
A blend of Barbera (60%) and Bonarda (40%) from organically farmed six- to 23 year-old vines. Fermented with indigenous yeasts. Matured five months in stainless steel. Unfiltered and unfined. A small squirt of sulphur dioxide is added at bottling. Reducing sugar: 7.9 g/l. 13% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Earthy nose of spicy red fruit with slate and leather overtones. Medium-bodied. Rounder and less dry than in earlier vintages. A little hard-candied on entry, the fragrant fruit is savouried by dried herb notes, souring acidity and a soft astringency that lingers through the medium-long finish. Still, even when drunk with food (in this instance, an onion and meguez pizza), the wine’s residual sugar is apparent; it’s not enough to be disagreeable but it is enough to be distracting. I suspect and hope it’s an artefact of the vintage and not a concession to the North American fad for off-dry red wines. (Buy again? Another bottle to see what’s up. And bottles of the 2014 when it rolls around, for sure.)
Trebbiolo and its predecessor, Gutturnio, have long been among my favourite everyday Italian reds, so I jumped on this new arrival when I ran across it at the SAQ. On opening a bottle, I was surprised to find it sweeter than expected – enough that I immediately went to SAQ.com to check the wine’s reducing sugar content, which turned out to be nearly double the 4 g/l widely considered the upper limit for dry reds. Not finding the wine really compatible with the savoury pizza, I drank half the bottle and saved the other half, which I tried a couple of days later with a roasted rack of suckling pig. And, indeed, the wine showed better, though whether that was due to the dish, my mood or two days’ carafing is unclear to me. What is clear is that the two wine advisors I’ve since spoken to at two SAQ stores both loved the wine and claimed not to have noticed any sweetness; one of them even described it as food-friendly and un peu rustique, which is exactly how I would have characterized the 2010, 2011 and 2012. Obviously, more research is required.
In vino Valréas
Côtes-du-Rhône-Villages Valréas 2011, Clos Bellane ($21.35, 12577085)
The 48-hectare estate, which used to be known as Clos Petite Bellane, was acquired in 2010 by Stéphane Vedeau. It is located on the Vinsobres plateau, southwest of Valréas in the Vaucluse. Vedeau claims the relatively high elevation (400 m), northerly situation and eastern exposure give Clos Bellane’s wines a freshness and balance unusual for the area. The farming is organic (the estate has applied for Ecocert certification) and the winery is gravity-fed. The grapes for this 50-50 blend of Grenache and Syrah were picked by hand and destemmed. Fermentation took place in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. The wine was matured in concrete tanks. Reducing sugar: 2.3 g/l. 14% ABV. Quebec agent: Vinealis.
Dark fruit and cherries along with some dried pine needles and a floral note. Balanced and silky textured in the mouth. Medium- to full-bodied, with smooth tannins and glowing acidity. The pure fruit brings blackberries to mind, while savoury overtones, including a hint of animale, add complexity. Slatey minerals come out on the bitter-edged finish and the alcohol is warming, not hot. The overall impression is indeed one of freshness. An honest wine sold at an honest price. Very food-friendly. Carafe an hour or two ahead of time and don’t serve it too warm. (Buy again? Yep.)
Not my style…
…but maybe yours?
Vino de la tierra de Castilla 2011, Cala N.2, Tinedo ($19.15, 12595259)
A blend of organically farmed Tempranillo (85%) and Graciano (15%). Manually harvested. Maceration and alcoholic fermentation with manual pump-overs take place in temperature-controlled (25°C) tanks, at least some of them unlined concrete, and last about two weeks. The wine is then transferred to concrete tanks and used barrels for malolactic fermentation. Maturation in used 225-litre barrels lasts 18 months and is followed by further time in concrete tanks. 15% ABV. Quebec agent: Vinicolor.
Dark, Bordeaux-like nose: plum and black cherry, leather, tobacco and spice. A full-bodied mouthful of super-ripe, lightly candied fruit and spice, round tannins and lithe acidity. Concentrated from start to long, coffee- and chocolate-overtoned, alcohol-flaring finish. The overall effect is New Worldish though, in its way, the wine is balanced. Fans of big, fruit-driven wines should make a beeline – for them, this will be a real QPR winner – but I find it unrefreshing, even palate-fatiguing, and can’t imagine it working with anything except grilled red meat. (Buy again? Unlikely.)
Sehr guter Zweiglet
Burgenland 2013, Zweigelt, Heideboden, Weingut Pittnauer ($20.30, 12677115)
100% biodynamically and organically farmed Zweigelt. Fermented with indigenous yeasts (thee only addition is a little sulphur at bottling). Matured 12 months in netural oak barrels. Reducing sugar: 4.3 g/l. 13.5% ABV. Screwcapped. Quebec agent: Rézin.
Spicy meatloaf, slate, dried cherries and an earthy-mushroomy note. Medium-bodied, fundamentally supple and quite dry. Layered, with the sweet-tart fruit on the surface and minerals, earth and wood below. The tannins are light and raspy, the acidity bright and nippy. Long-steeped blackcurrant tea – tannic astringency and all – colours the sustained finish. Suave but with an appealingly rustic edge, this seems a little primary at present, though I’m sure it would make a great pairing for a hearty stew. Would rank this alongside the more elegant Meinklang as one of the best Zweigelts I’ve tasted. (Buy again? For sure, though only a few bottles are left in the system.)
Rad icon
IGT Venezia Giulia 2007, Ribolla Gialla, Radikon ($52.00/500 ml, 12493121)
100% organically farmed Ribolla Gialla. Manually harvested. The grapes were destemmed, then placed in neutral Slavonian oak vats (no temperature control) for maceration and fermentation with indigenous yeasts and manual punch-downs three or four times a day. When alcoholic fermentation was complete, the vats were topped up and closed. In all, the wine remained in contact with the skins for between three and four months. The grapes were gently pressed and the wine racked into neutral 25- to 35-hectolitre Slavonian oak barrels for about 40 months. Further racking was performed as needed. No added sulphur, no filtering, no fining. Reducing sugar: 1.7 g/l. 13.75% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Carafed. Hazy bronze, looking a little like raw cider. Very funky-reduced for the first four hours, then redolent of cedar, dried apricot, straw, white spice, sawed pine and shoe polish. Similarly complex and disconcerting on the palate. Medium-bodied. Extracted and yellow-fruity yet so dry and savoury. Richly textured with subterranean limestone, fine-edged acidity and light tannins that swell on the long, long finish. Fascinating. Serve no cooler than cool room temperature (16-18°C). (Buy again? Yes.)
The wine’s balance and structure make it a candidate for aging. And age well these wines do: opened last winter, a bottle of the first Radikon wine available in Quebec, the 2002 Oslavje (a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc), was a thing of beauty – perfectly at peak, tannins resolved, sweet and savoury and, against all expectations, totally funkless.
The wine comes in 500 ml bottles because Stanko Radkion feels that 500 ml is the ideal amount of wine for one person to drink by himself or for two people to share, assuming they’ll also share a 500 ml bottle of red. Convinced that using a standard cork would allow too high a rate of oxygen exchange, he designed his bottles to have smaller bore necks that take very long, narrow corks.
MWG October 8th tasting: flight 7 of 7
Double Barral
Faugères 2012, Valinière, Domaine Léon Barral ($61.00, 12427052)
A 80-20 blend of Mourvèdre and Syrah from biodynamically farmed vines between 15 and 30 years old. Manually harvested. Gravity-fed into cement vats. Macerated and fermented with indigenous yeasts three to four weeks with regular manual punch-downs. Aged 24 to 36 months in oak barrels (10% new). Never racked, filtered or fined. No added sulphur. 13.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Vini-Vins.
Complex, unplumbable nose: Médoc-like aromas with notes of spice, cherry, “burned popcorn,” hazelnutty dry-aged beef and, eventually, flowers, cedar and clay. Brooding and introverted on the palate. Full-bodied. Balanced though displaying a tight, rigid frame. Possessed of every dimension. The endless finish has a spicy note that one taster likened to tourtière and another to incense. Magnificent. A complete wine that won’t peak for a decade. (Buy again? Budget permitting, yes.)
Faugères 2012, Jadis, Domaine Léon Barral ($42.00, 12427010)
A blend of Carignan (50%), Syrah (40%) and Grenache (10%) from biodynamically farmed 30- to 60-year-old vines. Manually harvested. Gravity-fed into cement vats. Macerated and fermented with indigenous yeasts three to four weeks with regular manual punch-downs. Aged 24 to 36 months in oak barrels (10% new). Never racked, filtered or fined. No added sulphur. 13.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Vini-Vins.
Deep and savoury nose of slate, graphite, plum and dried beef. In the mouth, it’s juicy yet dry, tight yet beautifully balanced. The dark fruit, redolent of spice, is set on slate, structured with tingly tannins and acidity. The long finish strikes a peppery note. Such purity, precision and just plain deliciousness. It may be a baby but it’s a gorgeous one. (Buy again? Done!)
Both wines were carafed and poured back into their bottles at 4 p.m. We tasted them at about 9:30. I kept my glasses and returned to them after everyone had left and I’d finished straightening up the room, at 11 p.m., i.e. seven hours later. Only then were they really beginning to sing.
MWG October 8th tasting: flight 5 of 7
Three Arbois reds
Arbois 2012, Poulsard de l’Ami Karl, Domaine de la Pinte ($24.25, 12616515)
100% biodynamically and organically farmed Poulsard from a single vineyard planted nearly 40 years ago. Manually harvested. Destemmed. Maceration and fermentation, with indigenous yeasts and daily pump-overs, take place in tanks. Matured in 50-hl oak barrels for eight or nine months. Lightly filtered before bottling. 12% ABV. Quebec agent: Raisonnance.
Fragrant nose of red berries, sweet spice, cedar and slate. Light- to medium-bodied, silky textured, wonderfully fresh, fluid and alive. The pale cherry-cranberry fruit is bright with acidity and deepened by a savoury, woodsy substrate. Chewing reveals fine, tight tannins, showing the wine to be more structured than first appears. Long, spicy finish. Bordering on magical – even New World fans and self-proclaimed Poulsard haters gave it a thumbs-up. Serve lightly chilled. (Buy again? Done and done again!)
Arbois 2011, Trousseau Grevillière, Domaine Daniel Dugois ($24.55, 12210419)
100% Trousseau from vines planted in the one-hectare Grevillière lieu-dit in the 1950s. Manually harvested. 100% destemmed. The lightly crushed grapes are cold-macerated then fermented with indigenous yeasts for around 18 days. Matured in large oak barrels for 18 months. Lightly filtered before bottling. Reducing sugar: 1.7 g/l. 13% ABV. Quebec agent: Symbiose.
Jammy red berries and crushed leaves. Round, extracted and mouth-filling. The fruit, which tastes stewed, is structured only a little by the streaming acidity and soft tannins. Decent length but heavy for a Jura red, lacking detail and devoid of excitement. Some drinkers report it needs a few years in the cellar or many hours in a carafe to start strutting its stuff; maybe that explains it. (Buy again? A bottle to age and see what gives?)
Arbois 2013, Poulsard, Jacques Puffeney ($31.50, private import, 12 bottles/case)
100% organically farmed Poulsard from several different parcels in Montigny and Arbois. Manually harvested. Fermented in vats with indigenous yeasts for 15 to 20 days, then racked into neutral foudres for malolactic fermentation. Matured in barrels for around two years. Unfiltered and unfined. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Vini-Vins.
Closed nose, somewhat slatey and offering up an unusual aroma one taster described as “cold poutine.” Slowly develops minty raspberry and cedar shake notes. Similarly closed and unexpressive in the mouth. Light- to medium-bodied. The fruit is lean, the acidity brisk, the tannins light and tight. Minerals and spice come out on the long finish. Classic natural Poulsard – hazy, earthy and complex – but somewhat enigmatic and austere for now. Will be interesting to revisit in a couple of years. (Buy again? Yes, especially since this is the retiring Puffeney’s next-to-last vintage.)
MWG October 8th tasting: flight 4 of 7
Blancs de Provence
IGP Méditerranée 2013, Viognier Sainte-Fleur, Triennes ($22.30, 12625681)
Triennes in the project of two well-known Burgundians (Jacques Seysses of Domaine Dujac and Aubert de Villaine of Domaine de la Romanée Conti) and a Paris-based friend. The estate is located in the Var, east of Aix-en-Provence, was founded in 1997 and began converting to organic farming in 2008 (the 2011 vintage of the Sainte-Fleur was the estate’s first certified organic wine). This 100% Viognier is fermented in temperature-controlled tanks and matured in tanks. Reducing sugar: 1.8 g/l. 13.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Séguin & Robillard.
Quartz dust and faint peach filigreed with honeysuckle, smoked salt and garrigue. Bordering on unctuous in the mouth, where it proves more of a fruit cocktail, albeit a dry and alcoholic one that’s freshened by smooth acidity and backdropped by sun-baked stones. A faint bitterness threads through the long finish. Not bad for an inexpensive Viognier – no one’s going to mistake it for a Condrieu – and pleasant enough to drink but not really memorable and not the bargain that the red is. Might well show better at the dining table than it does at the tasting table. (Buy again? Maybe.)
Bandol 2014, Domaine du Gros’Noré ($30.75, 12206989)
Despite what you’ll read on SAQ.com and on the Quebec agent’s website, this is a 70-30 blend of Ugni Blanc (aka Trebbiano) and Clairette from sustainably farmed vines averaging 30 years old. The must is macerated on the skins for 24 hours, then fermented at low temperatures with indigenous yeasts. Sees only stainless steel until bottling. Unfiltered and unfined. 13.5% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Shy nose of quartz, wet ash, earth and white flowers. The rich texture is balanced by a steady stream of underlying acidity. Somewhat neutral in flavour yet somehow savoury and mouth-filling. Stones and lemon pith haunt the long finish. While this will never be an exuberant wine, it is a baby at this point and, as a second bottle showed, it doesn’t stop evolving for hours after opening. Definitely a food wine: I thought sea bass with pesto might make a good match but that second bottle was transporting with the winemaker’s recommended pairing of grilled mussels with rosemary, my recipe for which you’ll find after the jump. (Buy again? Done!)
MWG October 8th tasting: flight 2 of 7
Brett happens 