Posts Tagged ‘Organic’
MWG July 18th tasting (2/5): Three pink Pinot Noirs
Sancerre rosé 2012, La Louée, Sylvain Bailly ($22.00, 12052246)
100% Pinot Noir from vines averaging 15 to 30 years old. The grapes are pressed with no preceding maceration. The must is chilled and clarified by allowing large particles to settle out for 24 to 48 hours. Alcoholic fermentation lasts two weeks and takes place in temperature-controlled vats. The wine is matured on its fine lees, racked, cold stabilized and lightly filtered before being bottled in the spring following the harvest. 13.5% ABV.
Pale coppery pink. Minerals, cherry and peach on the nose. Fresh and light in the mouth, with a bell-like clarity: sweet and tangy strawberry, crushed minerals, bright acidity and a clean finish. A vin plaisir if ever there were one, a pure delight. (Buy again? Absolutely.)
Vireton Rosé 2012, Willamette Valley, Archery Summit (US$24.00, importation valise)
100% Pinot Noir from five estate-owned vineyards. A saignée method rosé: the still-pink juice is “bled” from the red wine vat after a short maceration on the skins. Fermented in neutral oak barrels. 13.5% ABV if I’m remembering correctly.
Bright pink bordering on scarlet. Cherry again but sterner and stonier with a hint of something green (watermelon rind? rhubarb?). Quite intense: mouth-filling fruit, coursing acidity (softened by a hint of residual sugar) and even some tannins. The finish is drier and a little less juicy – a good thing. Substantial enough to serve with grilled salmon or even Thanksgiving turkey. (Buy again? Maybe.)
Sancerre rosé 2012, Vincent Pinard ($30.00, 11804178)
100% organically farmed Pinot Noir from vines averaging ten years old. Manually harvested. The uncrushed grapes are pneumatically pressed. The resulting must is fermented and matured entirely in stainless steel tanks. 13% ABV.
Medium pink with a grey cast. Muted nose, mainly chalk and strawberry. Dry, clean and tasty enough but also a bit flat, even monotone and not remarkably fresh. In fact, the pleasure quotient is pretty low. Could well show better at the dining table but on its own and at that price… (Buy again? No.)
Go-to Gaillac
Gaillac 2011, Peyrouzelles, Causse Marines ($18.60, 00709931)
Organically farmed Syrah (35%), Duras (30%), Braucol (aka Fer, 25%) and Jurançon Noir (5%) from 15- to 20-year-old vines. Mechanically destemmed. Fermented with indigenous yeasts and macerated in temperature-controlled fiber vats for about two weeks. After a brief settling, the wine is racked into old barrels for maturation. 14% ABV.
A bit farty and sulphurous at first – probably due to the reduction-prone Duras though nothing 30 minutes in a carafe can’t take care of – then spicy red plum and blackberry with pencil shavings, turned earth, a whiff of red meat and a hint of flowers (distant lilac?). Medium-bodied if a little heady. Smooth, silky and very dry. Your first impression is that it’s fruitier than is actually the case. There’s fruit, of course, but it’s as savoury as sweet, riddled with acidity and plushed by tannins. Earth, wood and stone persist into the finish and leave faint sour, astringent, bitter and alcoholic notes bobbing in their wake. You’ll want to drink this lightly chilled, ideally alongside herby grilled pork or, once the cool weather returns, a confit duck leg, whose fat the acidity will cut like a scalpel. (Buy again? For sure.)
A new trip down Strada provinciale 68
This showed up unannounced in 23 SAQ outlets yesterday. What’s more, in contrast to last year’s Occhipintalypse, the outlets involved have received multiple cases. While we may be looking at the first wave of an eventual wider release (the Quebec agent reports that this year’s allocation is 2,400 bottles, nearly 10% of the total production), chances are good it will fly off the shelves. You have been warned.
IGT Sicilia 2012, SP68 Rosso, Arianna Occhipinti ($25.20, 11811765)
A blend (usually 50-50, though one or two Italian sites say the 2012 is 70-30) of organically farmed Nero d’Avola and Frappato from vines averaging ten years of age. Manually harvested. Fermented with indigenous yeasts. Macerated 30 days on the skins with daily pump-overs and punch-downs. Aged six months on the lees in tanks and two months in the bottle. Sees only stainless steel until bottling. Bottled unfiltered, unfined and with minimal sulphur dioxide. 12.5% ABV.
The expected cherry and berries are there but in 2012 they’re sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper and joined by earth, slate, spice (fennel seed?) and a lifting floral note. In the mouth, it’s a fresh and fluid middleweight. The fruit starts out juicy, sweet and bright but is soon darkened by minerals, souring acidity and a light tannic astringency. After the other flavours fade, a faint bitterness lingers, drawing you back for another sip to sweeten the palate and start the cycle anew. As loveable as ever and one of the food-friendliest wines in the universe. (Buy again? In multiples.)
The price has crept up $2.50 from the 2011 sold last November. Yet as a Web search shows, shops in New York City are listing the wine for US$28 and even US$30, and that’s before sales taxes, which are included in the SAQ’s price. The exchange rate may be a factor in the rise, as may Arianna’s growing renown. That said, you can bring the price down to last year’s level by reserving your bottles now and buying them on Friday through Sunday, August 2 through 4, when the SAQ is offering a 10% discount on purchases of $100 or more.
Alternate Altano
Douro 2010, Organic / Biologique, Altano ($16.95, 11157097)
Altano is owned by the Symington family of Port fame. This is a 100% Touriga Nacional made from grapes grown in the estate’s three organcially farmed vineyards, planted in the 1980s, in the Vilariça Valley in the Douro Superior sub-region, near the Spanish border. After manual sorting, the grapes are fermented at 25-26ºC in temperature-controlled stainless steel vats with extended maceration and regular pump-overs. The wine is matured ten months in second-vintage French oak barrels. 12.9% ABV.
Fragrant – blackberry, blueberry and spice – at first but then shut down (or maybe my sinuses shut down). Medium-bodied and thus lighter than most Douros (which regularly clock in at 14%, 15% and even 15.5%), and all the better for it. Sweet-fruited at its core but also savoury with slate, old wood, a faint stemminess and a bitter plum pit note. The tannins are light, pervasive and just a little raspy and there’s plenty of acidity to brighten and sour the fruit. Finishes dry and surprisingly long. Nothing profound but fresh, tasty and, as the French untranslatably say, digeste. A natural with grilled pork or chicken and a definite step up from the regular Altano. Oddly, though this is a new arrival, there aren’t many bottles around. (Buy again? Yes.)
Hard to read
Meursault 2011, Domaine François Mikulski ($53.00, 11436070)
100% Chardonnay, organically farmed though not certified as such. The grapes come from several estate-owned parcels in various climats and are fully destemmed, gently pressed, clarified by settling and separately fermented and matured before blending. Fermentation is with indigenous yeasts and lasts about two weeks. Racked into French oak barrels (<15% new) for malolactic fermentation and 10 to 12 months’ maturation. Fined before bottling. 12.8% ABV.
Attractive if monolithic nose: lemon, flint, faint cut hay. Taut, acidic and limestoney in the mouth, full of citrus and green apple. Some salinity and a white pepper note mark the long, clean finish. Concentrated more than rich (not a hint of butter), this starts and ends strong but is oddly uneventful in between. I’ve nothing but respect for Mikulski’s wines, so I’m guessing it’s in a closed-down phase. If that’s due to travel shock, a couple of months should be enough time for the wine to find its footing, though it probably won’t peak for another four or five years. (Buy again? Maybe.)
Beatus ille
Isabelle Ferrando acquired Domaine Saint-Préfert in the southern Châteauneuf du Pape AOC in 2002. Her 2007 Châteauneuf, one of the few wines I’ve ever called sexy, impressed the hell out of me. She recently began making a Côtes-du-Rhône. Not only does it bear a family resemblance to that CDP, it proved a great match for a grilled bavette seasoned with rosemary and garlic (recipe after the jump).
And in case you’re wondering, beatus ille, Latin for “happy is the man,” is the opening line of Horace’s second Epode, which “praises country life [and] the pristine joys of working one’s own land free from exploitation.”
Côtes du Rhône 2012, Beatus Ille, Domaine Saint-Préfert ($18.90, 11941631)
Grenache (85%) and Cinsault (15%) from 40- to 70-year-old vines grown in La Lionne (on the border of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC in Sorgues commune). The estate has obtained organic certification for the 2013 vintage. Fully destemmed. Matured six months in concrete vats. 14% ABV.
Seductive nose of crushed black raspberry and red cherry, herbes de Provence, faint brick dust and leather and a whiff of kirsch. In the mouth the wine is a silky-textured if heady middleweight. The peppery fruit, splintery tannins, nipping acidity and underlying dryness are wrapped in a gauzy veil of sweetness and glycerine. The long finish – lifted, not heated, by alcohol – leads to a red licorice, red currant jam aftertaste. While there’s nothing Pinot Noirish about it, I kept coming back to the descriptor Burgundian. Proof that Côtes du Rhônes don’t have to be fruit bombs or bruisers. Grenache lovers should make a beeline. (Buy again? Yes.)
MWG June 20th tasting (8/8): Two savoury reds
Dâo 2008, Reserva, Àlvaro Castro ($25.20, 11902106)
Touriga Nacional (65%) and Tinta Roriz (35%). Fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel vats. Transferred to old French oak barrels for 14 months for malolactic fermentation and maturation. 13% ABV.
Coffee, plum, blackberry, spice, background herbs. Smooth, rich and dry – the fruit is ripe but not sweet or heavy. Fine-grained tannins, firm acidity, some subtle slate and a long finish. Remarkably balanced and pure. Perhaps a shade less impressive than its white sibling, this is still one of the most elegant red Dâos I’ve tasted. Sr. Castro’s got talent. (Buy again? Yes.)
Faro 2010, Rosso, Azienda Agricola Bonavita ($37.50, oenopole, NLA though found on resto wine lists)
Faro is a DOC located between Messina and Mount Etna on Sicily’s northeast coast. This is a blend of organically farmed Nerello Mascalese (60%), Nerello Cappuccio (30%) and Nocera (10%) from six- to 50-year-old vines. Manually harvested. The winemaking is non-interventionist: spontaneous fermentation, no additives, long maceration with manual punch-downs, gentle pressing in a basket press. Matured 16 months in neutral oak botti and four months in the bottle. 13.5% ABV.
Complex, wafting nose of red cherry, faint rubber, cut wood, dried herbs, dried ink and eventually cheese. Medium-bodied and fluid but with a dense core of ripe, balsamic- and anise-accented red fruit. Tannins and acidity are firm, though more deep-running than upfront. The bitter-edged finish is long and savoury. A pleasure to drink, this would make an interesting ringer in a flight of terroir-driven Etna wines; I suspect it would come across as rounder and earthier but no less fresh or delicious. (Buy again? Yes.)
MWG June 20th tasting (6/8): An organic Negroamaro
Vino da tavola 2010, Anne, Azienda Agricola Biologica Natalino del Prete ($20.10, oenopole, NLA)
The winery is located in San Donaci in Puglia, the heel of the Italian boot, and has been certified organic since 1994. 100% Negroamaro from 70-year-old vines. Manually harvested. Fermented in termperature-controlled tanks with indigenous yeasts. Unfiltered, unfined, unsulphured.
Dark berries and plum (but not, praise be, prune) with overtones of dried earth, rubber, herbs, cedar and tomato. Round and smooth until you chew, then astringent with tooth-coating tannins. Earthy yet fresh, packed with ripe fruit and juicy acidity. Black pepper, minerals and olive emerge on the finish. The alcohol (14% or 15% if I’m remembering correctly) adds warmth, not heat. Rustic and authentic: the kind of appealing, old-fashioned, terroir-driven wine that internationalization is making an endangered species. (Buy again? Yes.)
We’d intended to taste this alongside Natalino del Prete’s even more affordable Salice Salentino ($17.35, oenopole, now also NLA) but that bottle and a Sicilian rosé were AWOL.
MWG June 20th tasting (3/8): Frankly pink
Ladybug rosé 2012, Niagara Peninsula, VQA, Malivoire Wine Company ($15.95, LCBO 559088)
Cabernet Franc (74%), Gamay (19%) and Pinot Noir (7%). After crushing, the grapes were left to macerate on their skins for 12 to 24 hours. Fermentation took place in stainless steel tanks. 13% ABV.
Pink heading toward cherry red. Engaging nose of red berries and spice. Smooth texture. Clean and fruity though with a savoury streak. Off-off-dry though with enough acidity to lightly sour the finish. A summer sipper, nothing more but also nothing less. (Buy again? At that price, sure.)
Bourgueil 2011, Équinoxe, Domaine Yannick Amirault ($20.55, 11900872)
100% organically farmed Cabernet Franc from 30-year-old vines. Manually harvested. Barrel fermented with indigenous yeasts. Matured 12 months in barrels. The winemaker suggests aging this for two to five years after bottling. 12.5% ABV.
Pale coppery pink in the bottle but pallid in the glass, a straw-coloured white with rosy glints. Faintly fruity nose (strawberry-rhubarb?) with whiffs of dried dill, seaside rocks, dried chlorine. Less spectral on the palate: dry, lightly and tartly fruity, chock-a-block with minerals and firm acidity. A bitter note chimes in on the finish. Seems to straddle the line between rosé and white. Its savour and strictness make it a food wine (I’m thinking a cool slice of seafood terrine). (Buy again? Yes.)
MWG June 20th tasting (1/8): Les Compères et un confrère
Côtes du Jura 2010, Chardonnay, Les Compères, Essencia ($26.70, 11544003)
Essencia is a joint venture between Puligny-based caviste and cheesemonger Philippe Bouvret and cult winemaker Jean-François Ganevat. 100% Chardonnay (not 90% Chard and 10% Savagnin as SAQ.com claims). I haven’t found much technical information about the wine other than that the vinification is “traditional,” which in Ganevat’s case probably means organically or biodynamically farmed grapes, whole cluster alcoholic fermentation with indigenous yeasts, no racking of the must, malolactic fermentation, maturation in large and/or small barrels, no filtering or fining and minimal use of sulphur dioxide. 12.5% ABV.
Lovely fresh nose of ripe apple, dried hay and lemon. The freshness continues onto the palate with its round, ripe-sweet fruit (more pear than apple), buoyant acitidy and crunchy minerals. The long finish brings a hint of salty hazlenut brittle. Mouth-filling yet the farthest thing from heavy, tense yet oh, so accessible. More complete than the 2005 yet equally pleasureable. (Buy again? Posthaste – this is a second shipment and there’s not a lot left.)
Côtes du Jura 2009, Tradition, Domaine Berthet-Bondet ($25.00, 11794694)
A blend of organically farmed Chardonnay and Savagnin (70-30 according to most, 80-20 according to SAQ.com). Fermented with indigenous yeasts. Matured two years sous voile, under a yeast veil, in large barrels. 13% ABV.
Textbook oxidized Jura nose: apple, silage and walnut. Medium-bodied and dry. Fine, even delicate bolts of fruit, straw, minerals and nuts unfurl and are wafted by smooth acidity. Fresher and less oxidatively full-bore than some (which is probably truer to the true traditional Jura style) but impeccably well-mannered and balanced, this would make a good introduction to non-ouillé wines as well as a fine accompaniment to Comté cheese, not to mention white fish and lobster, especially if in a creamy curry sauce. (Buy again? Sure.)
Brett happens 