Posts Tagged ‘Organic’
Milan’s 2003 Les Baux-de-Provence
Les Baux-de-Provence 2003, Domaine Milan, Domaine Henri Milan ($25.80, 12229371)
This cuvée, with a slightly different mix of grape varieties, was the AOC Coteaux d’Aix Les Baux de Provence “La Tuilière Vieille” from 1986 to 1998 and has been the Vin de table de France “Le Vallon” since 2007. Organically farmed Grenache (80%), Syrah (10%), Cinsault (5%) and Mourvèdre (5%). Manually harvested. The grapes are vinified together. Whole cluster fermentation with indigenous yeasts. Matured around 12 months in old barrels. 13% ABV.
Evolved to the eye: medium maroon with as much brown as red at the rim. Complex nose of Chinese dried plums, candied raspberries, sandalwood, dried tobacco leaf and faint barley sugar. Medium-bodied and smooth-surfaced, with soft, resolved tannins and coursing acidity. The clean, silky fruit fades to reveal slate, old wood and spice that last through the faintly astringent finish. On opening the bottle, I wondered whether the wine was over the hill but it freshened, sweetened and opened up after an hour. Not a knockout but definitely enjoyable. At or maybe a little past its peak: drink in the next year and carafe an hour ahead of time, putting the carafe in the fridge for the last 20 minutes. Note too that a glass served from a bottle that had been opened, sampled, recorked and left standing for 24 hours was more brown than red and tasted oxidized, desiccated and fruitless. (Buy again? A highly drinkable, decade-old wine offered at a very fair price? Sure.)
A passable match for moussaka, though the tomato put a damper on the wine’s fruit. A better pairing would be well-done red meat – a beef daube made with white wine, say – or pork or rabbit grilled with herbes de Provence.
Addendum: A knowledgeable reader reports “I tried the wine twice and found it quite over the hill. Too bad. I was hoping for better!” Yet Le Journal de Montréal‘s Patrick Désy is positive, awarding the wine three out of five stars, remarking on its freshness and saying comparisons with Châteauneuf-du-Pape are not beyond the pale. The wine advisors at the SAQ store that served me the above-mentioned dead glass claimed the wine had been “magnifique” the day before. A reminder, then, that old wines, especially ones from difficult vintages (2003 was infernal across Europe), are fragile things and that bottle variation in this particular shipment may be high.
Foillard’s 2012 Cuvée Corcelette
Morgon 2012, Cuvée Corcelette, Jean Foillard ($35.75, 12201643)
100% Gamay from organically farmed 80-year-old vines growing in the sandstone soil of the Corcelette vineyard. Manually harvested. Whole cluster fermentation with indigenous yeasts lasts three to four weeks. Matured six to nine months in 30-hectolitre oak foudres. Unfiltered. Sulphur dioxide is added minimally and only at bottling. 13.5% ABV according to SAQ.com (the percentage alcohol has been blacked out on the bottle’s front label; on the back label, a sticker reads 12% but if you peel it off, the label reads 13.5%).
Medium blood red and quite hazy. Fragrant, fresh nose: strawberry, dried cranberry, vine sap, rain drops hitting hot slate, faint sweet spice, distant barnyard. Light- to medium-bodied but intense and present. The sweet fruit is grounded by a deep and very dry substrate of minerals, old wood, tangy acid and fine tannins. Texture? Satin at the start, a velvet astringency at the end. An earthy floral aftertaste aftersmell lingers beyond the long finish. Pure and beautiful but also, at this point, primary and elemental. Will benefit from two to four years in the cellar. If drinking now, carafe an hour or two. (Buy again? A bottle or two to lay down. But hurry, there’s not much left.)
Think the price is high? The wine is retailing for US$39.95, not including sales tax, at Crush Wine & Spirits in New York City and north of US$40 at several other stores in the States. If purchased at the SAQ during today’s 15% off sale, the pre-sales tax price drops to well under C$30.
Classy Cassis
Cassis 2012, Clos Sainte Magdeleine ($28.50, 12206129)
A blend of Marsanne (50%), Ugni Blanc (25%), Clairette (20%) and Bourboulenc (5%) from organically farmed 20- to 30-year-old vines. Manually harvested. Destemmend and crushed before pressing, which is pneumatic. The juice is transferred by gravity to a temperature-controlled stainless steel tank, where it is chilled and clarified though settling, then fermented at 17°C. Malolactic fermentation and 14 to 18 months’ maturation follow. 12.5% ABV.
Discreet nose with hints – but only hints – of white flowers, honey, quartz, white pepper and dried herbs. Rounder and weightier than the SAQ’s only other Cassis, the Clos d’Albizzi, but still fresh and appealing, albeit in that elusive way of some northern Rhône whites. The ethereal fruit is quince-like and scattered with dried lemon zest. Sustained if unassertive acidity, a definite saline streak and a bitter-tinged finish round out the picture. Inscrutable on its own, this really needs food – bouillabaisse or grilled seabass with a squirt of lemon juice and drizzle of olive oil, for example – to show its mettle. First-rate if a little pricey (the appellation is small and demand for its wines is high). (Buy again? Yes.)
oenopole workshop: picnic wines (3/4)
The reds were also served with three sandwiches: a Jewish-French fusion of chopped chicken liver and mousse de foies de volaille on raisin bread; open-faced corned beef garnished with red cabbage; and beef salami with chiles on a lobster roll-style hot dog bun. As is always the case at Hof Kelsten, everything – including the corned beef, salami, pickles and ballpark mustard – was made in house.
Achaïa 2012, Kalavryta, Tetramythos ($16.10, 11885457)
The estate is located in Achaea, on the Gulf of Corinth in the northern Peloponnese. This wine is made using the free-run juice from organically farmed Black of Kalavryta (Μαύρο Καλαβρυτινό) grapes, an indigenous variety once widely grown in the area but now nearly extinct. Alcoholic fermentation (with native yeasts) and nine months’ maturation are in stainless steel vats. Malolactic fermentation is prevented. Use of sulphur dioxide is kept to a bare minimum. The wine is unfined but coarsely filtered before bottling. 13% ABV.
While other bottles have often been reductive, the wine needing at least a couple of hours in a carafe to right itself, this was sweet from the get-go. Lightly candied red fruit, dark spice, slate, undergrowth and a hint of band-aid. Medium-bodied, supple, juicy and dry, with enough acidity to keep things perky. Not very tannic though a faint astringency and bitterness mark the finish. A savoury vin plaisir and a QPR winner. Drink slightly chilled. (Buy again? Yes.)
> A surprisingly good match for the chicken liver, which brought out the wine’s fruit. Excellent with the salami, unfazed by the smouldering chiles. Serviceable with the corned beef. Based on this sampling, the most picnic fare-friendly of the reds.
Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes-de-Nuits 2011, Domaine Henri Naudin-Ferrand ($27.65, 11668698)
100% Pinot Noir from vines averaging 43 years old. Manually harvested. Destemmed. Three days’ cold maceration was followed by 11 days’ alcoholic fermentation with indigenous yeasts, punch-downs and pump-overs. Undergoes malolactic fermentation. Matured 12 months on the lees, 20% in new oak barrels. Blended and filtered before bottling. 12.5% ABV.
Classic red Burg nose: red berries, old wood, beet, minerals, forest floor and hint of new oak. A medium-bodied, silky textured delight with sweet-ripe fruit, supple tannins, bright acidity and darker mineral and wood flavours that linger through the clean finish. As elegant as in earlier vintages but even purer and fresher. (Buy again? Yes.)
> Good with the chicken liver, the berry fruit coming to the fore. Worked with the salami but not with the chiles, which killed the wine. The best of the three wines with the corned beef.
Côtes du Rhône 2011, Daumen ($21.00, 11509857)
Biodynamically and organically farmed Grenache (60%), Syrah (30%) and Mourvèdre (6%) according to the SAQ (earlier vintages have included a dollop of Cinsault) from vines averaging 60 years old. Although marketed under Jean-Paul Daumen’s négociant label, the grapes come from the estate’s own vineyards. Manually harvested, partially destemmed, fermented in temperature-controlled vats with indigenous yeasts and punch-downs for about 20 days, matured approximately 12 months in concrete vats and neutral 50-hl barrels and bottled unfiltered and unfined. Sulphur is added – and then minimally – only just before bottling. 14.5% ABV.
Heady nose of lightly stewed plum, sweet spice, black pepper, leather and graphite. A suave middleweight filled – but not packed – with sweet fruit, enlivening acidity and ripe, round tannins. Pepper and spice perfume the long finish. So fresh and drinkable, the kind of wine the QPR Winner tag was made for. (Buy again? Absolutely.)
> Didn’t sing with the chicken liver. Not bad with the salami, though the chiles did the wine no favours. Very good with the corned beef. Would really shine with grilled red meat – a lamb burger, say.
MWG April 17th tasting (6/6): On and off
IGT Sicilia 2011, Plumbago, Planeta ($22.20, 11724776)
100% Nero d’Avola from vineyards in west-central Sicily. The grapes are destemmed, lightly crushed and transferred to stainless steel vats for 14 days’ fermentation at 25°C with regular pump-overs. The wine is then racked into stainless steel tanks for malolactic fermentation before being moved into third- and fourth-fill oak barrels for eight months’ maturation. 13.5% ABV.
Tertiary, leathery and dried herbal along with the expected blackberry, dried cherry and chocolate cake. Smooth and juicy on the surface but with something dark, angular and faintly acrid and metallic underneath. A Bizarro World version of the charmer tasted a couple of weeks earlier. One intrepid taster reports that he bought and drank a bottle the weekend after the tasting and found it quite different from the wine we tasted and quite in line with my description of the earlier bottle. (Buy again? Based on two out of three bottles, yes.)
IGT Sicilia 2010, Nero di Lupo, COS ($27.25, 12135084)
Biodynamically farmed Nero d’Avola from 18-year-old vines grown in southeast Sicily. Temperature-controlled fermentation (30-33°C) with indigenous yeasts in concrete vats. Aged in barrels for 18 to 24 months. Bottled unfiltered. 12% ABV.
Nuanced, savoury, wafting nose of sour cherry, plum, fired mineral and herbs. Fluid and supple – closer in texture and weight to the preceding flight’s Savigny than to the other Neros in this flight. The dark, dusty fruit is sweet at its core and carried on soft tannins and taut acidity. Earth and licorice notes colour the finish. As always, an elegant wine, though this bottle left us wondering whether the 2010 lacks some of the depth and presence of earlier vintages. (Buy again? Maybe.)
IGT Sicilia 2010, Sàgana, Cusumano ($30.00, 11292580)
100% Nero d’Avola from the Sàgana vineyard near Butera in south-central Sicily. The vines average 18 years old. Manually harvested. Destemmed. Fermented on the skins at 28-30°C in stainless steel tanks for ten to 15 days. Transferred to used 20-hectolitre barrels for malolactic fermentation and 12 month’s maturation. 14% ABV.
Blackberry and plum, dark minerals, carob and faint hints of dried mint and tobacco. The densest, biggest-boned and most structured of the three, with a trickle more than a stream of acidity and round tannins that dry on the finish. The fruit is sun-drenched but not jammy. Broad and long but not what you’d call deep. On the up side, it’s impeccably made and shows admirable restraint for a wine that could have been a fruit bomb. On the down side, it doesn’t have a strong sense of place and isn’t exciting or memorable. Might be interesting to revisit in four or five years. (Buy again? Probably not.)
The Sàgana was the last-minute replacement for a corked-to-high-heaven IGT Sicilia 2008, NeroBaronj, Gulfi ($41.25, 12152757) that’s no longer available without a trip to the burbs. In other words, of the 14 wines in the original tasting, five were off. So it goes.
MWG April 17th tasting (5/6): Pinot Noir and Pinot Nero
Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er cru 2010, Les Hauts Jarrons, Domaine de Bellène ($57.25, 12239262)
The estate is the former Domaine Nicolas Potel, now renamed but still run by Potel; the estate wines are labelled Domaine de Bellène, the négociant wines Maison Roche de Bellène. 100% organically and biodynamically farmed Pinot Noir from 50-year-old vines. Manually harvested. Vinified without additives other than sulphur dioxide. Around 40% of the grapes are destemmed. Fermentation with indigenous yeasts and at temperatures up to 32°C takes place in stainless steel tanks and old oak foudres and lasts between 15 and 25 days. The must is subsequently pressed in a vertical press, with the wine being gravity-fed into first- to third-fill oak barrels for maturation lasting a little more than a year. Unfiltered. 13.5% ABV.
Bizarre nose of smoked meat and the expected red berries, eventually gaining spicy, cedary and ferny notes. In the mouth, primary and closed. Finely structured, with sinewy tannins and fresh acidity. The silky fruit is lean, ripe and clean, the oak discreet. Minerals come out on the finish. A balanced wine with real presence but one that moved no one around the table. That was especially disappointing as the staff at the Laurier SAQ had raved about the wine, declaring it one of the best $60 red Burgs they’d tasted in ages. By coincidence, two staff members happened to be around when this was poured and both said it smelled nothing like the wine they’d tried. So, was our bottle off? (Buy again? Not without tasting another bottle first.)
Alto Adige 2010, Pinot Nero, Ludwig, Elena Walch ($36.50, 12142567)
100% Pinot Noir. Macerated at low temperatures for 48 hours. Part of the must is fermented in Slovenian oak vats, the rest in stainless steel tanks. When malolactic fermentation is completed, the wine is transferred to French oak barrels for 16 months’ maturation. 13% ABV.
Outgoing, unnuanced nose: red berries, dill, spice and oak. Smooth though, compared with the silky Hauts Jarrons, the texture verges on velvety. The fruit is rich, ripe and not particularly deep, the acidity soft, the tannins round. Sweet oak crescendos into the finish, where it’s joined by spice box flavours and a lingering astringency. Popular with some around the table but I found the oak distracting and cloying. Better in a year or two when it has digested the wood? (Buy again? Unlikely.)
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 April 17th tasting (3/6): Dry and not so dry
Alto Adige 2012, Gewürztraminer, Kastelaz, Elena Walch ($40.25, 12142559)
100% Gewürztraminer from the steep Kastelaz vineyard, which has been devoted to the variety for generations. Manually harvested in two passes. The destemmed grapes are crushed, cold-macerated for six hours and pressed. The resulting juice is refrigerated and clarified by sedimentation. Fermentation, with selected yeasts, takes place at 18°C. The wine is kept on the lees for several months. 6.6 g/l residual sugar, 14.5% ABV.
Aromatic nose of rose and, yes, spice, not to mention juniper, orange blossom and a whiff of alcohol. Quite extracted but fresh and unheavy due to the bright acidity and relatively low residual sugar. The flavours echo the aromas and are joined by a hint of gin and tonic. Good depth and a lasting if heady finish. I’m not normally a fan of northern Italian Gewurzes but this is excellent, a wine that would make a good ringer in a flight of Alsatian grand crus. (Buy again? Yes.)
Alsace 2012, Gewürztraminer, Vignoble d’E, Domaine Ostertag ($31.75, 00870493)
100% organically and biodynamically farmed Gewürztraminer from several parcels located around the winery in the commune of Epfig (whence the Vignoble d’E moniker). As the wine is always made in a moelleux style, the grapes are picked late in the season. Manually harvested. Whole-cluster pressed and vinified in stainless steel tanks. Fermented with indigenous yeasts. 50 g/l residual sugar, 12% ABV.
Textbook Gewurz nose dominated by floral and lychee aromas. In the mouth, the wine is pristine, dense but still fluid, fruity but not too, quite sweet and rather long. Lovely in its slightly cloying but not caricatural way. (Buy again? If looking for a fruit-forward, luscious and definitely not dry Gewürztraminer, yes.)
After tasting the wines on their own, we tried them with a fine stinky Muenster from Yannick, which the Walch handled with aplomb and which redeemed the Ostertag.
MWG April 17th tasting (2/6): Good and grand
Alsace 2012, Riesling, Vignoble d’E, Domaine Ostertag ($25.25, 11459984)
100% organically and biodynamically farmed Riesling from 15-odd parcels located around the winery in the commune of Epfig (whence the Vignoble d’E moniker). The manually harvested whole clusters are pressed in a pneumatic press. The long fermentation with indigenous yeasts and maturation on the lees take place in stainless steel tanks, the entire process lasting just under 12 months. 5.5 g/l residual sugar, 13% ABV.
A decidedly grapey nose with dried fern, lemon-lime and lactic notes. So sleek, so fruity and so dry. Alive with acidity. Floral overtones perfume the palate while minerals stay in the background until the finish, where granite and faintly saline chalk outlast the fruit. Lovely now and capable of ageing at least another five years. (Buy again? Gladly.)
Alsace 2010, Riesling, Grand cru Muenchberg, Domaine Ostertag ($49.00, 00739821)
100% organically and biodynamically farmed Riesling from Ostertag’s 1.6 hecatres of the 17-hectare grand cru Muenchberg vineyard. The manually harvested whole clusters are pressed in a pneumatic press. The long fermentation with indigenous yeasts and maturation on the lees take place in stainless steel tanks, the entire process lasting just under 12 months. 8 g/l residual sugar, 14% ABV.
Complex, elegant and deep nose of minerals, candied lemon and pit fruit with floral and petrol notes. Not so much mouth-filling as mouth-inhabiting: richly textured, firmly structured and tightly focused yet somehow also ethereal. Layer upon layer of minerals and fruit are carried on a gushing stream of acidity that slow-fades into a nearly endless, slightly salty-sweet finish. Young and somewhat closed, though chewing the wine reveals its potential. Already spellbinding, this will only improve over the next decade or two. (Buy again? If I can lay my hands on another bottle, absolutely.)
MWG April 17th tasting (1/6): Flat and off
The huge Languedoc-Rousillon wine region arcs northeastward along the French Mediterranean coast from the Spanish border nearly to the Rhône. The two white blends in this flight came from opposite ends of the region.
Coteaux du Languedoc 2010, Puech Noble, Domaine René Rostaing ($24.20, 12167730)
Owned by renowned Côte-Rôtie producer René Rostaing, the estate is located near Nîmes in easternmost Languedoc. This is a blend of Grenache Blanc (50%), Vermentino (35%) and Viognier (15%). Sees only stainless steel until bottling. 13% ABV.
Peach and banana (Juicy Fruit gum in other words), chalk and, as one perceptive sniffer noted, a hint of “fish oil capsules.” Lush, smooth and not very fruity. The chalky substrate, bitter undertow and saline finish add interest but the low acidity fails to provide enough lift or tension. (Buy again? Probably not, especially when Villard’s Saint-Péray is around.)
VDP des Côtes Catalanes 2012, Les Calcinaires, Domaine Gauby ($25.40, 11463060)
A blend of organically farmed grapes, though exactly which isn’t clear. Just about everyone agrees that Muscat dominates the blend and that Macabeu is a minor player. Many add Vermentino to the mix. Some say the Vermintino is joined (or replaced) by Chardonnay and/or Grenache Blanc and/or Grenache Gris. Whatever. The grapes are directly pressed. After clarification by cold settling, the juice is fermented with indigenous yeasts, mainly in barrels, and matured eight months on the lees in lined concrete tanks. Bottled unfiltered and unfined. 13.5% ABV.
Odd nose of baloney and ketchup that slowly gives way to the more expected floral, fruit and mineral aromas. A poised mouthful of sweet-ripe fruit softly lit by lowish acidity. Chalk and saline notes mark the long finish. Quite different from earlier vintages and from the glowing descriptions proffered by SAQ staff and several wine critics, ours was probably an off bottle – the first in a series at this tasting. (Buy again? Yes, to give it another chance.)
Rostaing and Gauby are two well-known and highly regarded producers, which makes the lack of accurate technical information on these wines especially unfathomable.
Brett happens 