Posts Tagged ‘Organic’
Gang of Rhônes
Daumen is a fairly new line of négociant wines from southern Rhône producer Domaine de la Vieille Julienne. The handsome labels (Côtes-du-Rhône, Lirac, Gigondas, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Principauté d’Orange) were designed by a Quebec firm.
Côtes-du-Rhône 2010, Daumen ($19.00, 11509857)
Organically farmed Grenache (60%), Syrah (30%) and Mourvèdre (6%). Unlike the label’s Lirac and Gigondas but like the VDP de la principauté d’Orange (an old-vine Cabernet Sauvignon–Merlot blend available as a private import from oenopole), the grapes come from Daumen’s own vineyards. They are also co-planted, so this is a field blend. The grapes were hand-picked, sorted, partially destemmed, fermented in temperature-controlled vats with indigenous yeasts, 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% ABV.
Crushed blackberry (fruit and leaves), cherry pit, old wood. Medium-bodied and dry. The fruit is held back, leaving room for dark minerals and black pepper. Freshening acidity and fine if teeth-coating tannins only add to the savour. A kirsch note chimes in on the finish. Food-friendly: a natural for a thyme and garlic-stuffed lamb shoulder of course, but also capable of accompanying a wide range of savoury dishes, including all kinds of grilled meats and vegetables. Hard to beat at the price point, provided you’re not looking for a fruit bomb. (Buy again? Yep.)
By the way, when searching for info on the wine, I noticed another cuvée from Daumen, one I’d not heard about, including from Jean-Paul himself at the MWG tasting he led: Côtes-du-Rhône 2005, La Bosse, Domaine de la Vieille Juilienne ($196.00, 11905930). What’s this? A Côtes-du-Rhône that clocks in at 16.5% and costs more than a magnum of the same estate’s 2004 Châteauneuf-du-Pape?! A query to the agent elicited the following reply: “La Bosse: A micro-parcel (lieu-dit) within the “Clavin” zone, hence CDR, which is a hill that is geologically quite different from the rest of the parcel due to the high amount of sand in the topsoil (not unlike the particularities of the parcel that yields Vieille Julienne’s Réservé in Châteauneuf-du-Pape). Over decades, the estate has noticed a marked difference in the quality of the grenache, and in exceptional vintages, like the 2005 (which is also the 100th anniversary of the domaine) makes small amounts to pay tribute to this unique parcel. CDR in name, but can put a lot of Châteauneufs to shame… 480 bottles produced.” At four bucks shy of $200 a bottle, I doubt I’ll ever taste it but I don’t doubt it’s spectacular. Heads-up, millionaires!
Glou trade tasting with Nicolas Vauthier
As affable as he is scruffy, Nicolas Vauthier entered the wine scene as the owner of a bar, Aux crieurs de vins, that was one of the first to specialize in natural wines. In 2008, he decided to start a négociant firm, Vini Viti Vinci, based in Avallon, near Auxerre, in northern Burgundy dedicated to making unmanipulated, terroir-driven wines with no added sulphur. He learned the basics by working with Philippe Pacalet in Beaune, who continues to advise him. Nicolas sees himself as a winemaker, not a winegrower. When I asked him if he thought he might at some point acquire his own vineyards, his reply was clear: no, never. He does, however, have a talent for sniffing out parcels with great potential. And while he’s happy when the winegrower farms organically, he doesn’t insist they do: the quality of the grapes and their expression of terroir are what matter most.
He buys the grapes à pied, on the vine, harvests them with his own pickers and transports them to his winemaking facilities. Fermentation, with native yeasts, is in old wooden foudres. Some of the reds undergo semi-carbonic maceration to bring out their fruitiness.
Though his first two vintages included AOC wines, Vauthier has decided to buck the appellation system and now labels his wines as vins de France. And speaking of the labels, their whimsical line drawings of men and women in various states of undress (to view three, click on the cuvée names below) so alarmed the SAQ that it refused to accept responsibility for the bottles in case scandalized buyers returned them. In other words, the monopoly suspects that private import customers are prudes. Go figure.
Back to the wines. The common thread is purity, freshness and not just drinkability but guzzleability (look at the alcohol levels!). Unpretentious, unadulterated, expressive of their origin, a pleasure to down: what’s not to like?
Vin de France 2011, O L’Agité, Vini Viti Vinci ($25.90. Glou, NLA)
100% Aligoté, which cannot be mentioned on the label, hence the anagram. 11% ABV.
Bright and citrusy with some chalk and quartz. Light-bodied yet intensely present. Restrained fruit, tart acidity, chalk. Long finish with an appetizing sourness. Lovely. The aperitif par excellence. (Buy? Definitely.)
Vin de France 2011, Sauvignon, Vini Viti Vinci ($27.20, Glou, 12 bottles/case)
100% Sauvignon Blanc from young vines grown in the Saint-Bris area. Manually harvested and sorted. Pressed in a vertical press, transferred by gravity into vats and Burgundy barrels for fermentation and maturation. Racked and blended the summer following the harvest. Natural clarification. Bottled using a gravity feed. No added sulphur. 12.5% ABV.
Definitely Sauvignon Blanc but not of the in-your-face variety: minerals, citrus and gooseberry, a hint of grass. Light, clean, pure: ephemerally intense with laser-like acidity and a leesy/yeasty aftertaste that Vauthier says is an artifact of the winemaking and will soon disappear. (Buy? Yes.)
Vin de France 2011, L’Adroit, Vini Viti Vinci ($27.75, Glou, 12 bottles/case)
100% Pinot Noir. 11.5% ABV.
Red berries, some of them candied, slate and dried wood. The fruit is sweet and tart, shot through with minerals and wrapped in lacy tannins that come to the fore on the finish. Lingering dried herb note. Simple in a good way: direct and to the point, a wine with no complexes. (Buy? Gladly.)
Vin de France 2011, Les Rouquins, Vini Viti Vinci ($28.30, Glou, 12 bottles/case)
100% Pinot Noir from 20-year-old vines. Manually harvested and sorted. The whole grapes are macerated for about two weeks with occasional push-downs. Pressed using a vertical press. The free run and press wines are gravity-fed into Burgundy barrels for eight months’ maturation. Naturally clarified. Bottled using a gravity feed. No added sulphur. 11.5% ABV.
Like the L’Adroit but with more spice and a fresh, herbal note. Light-bodied, more structured, less of a vin plaisir but very tasty. Vauthier says it will benefit from some time in the bottle. (Buy again? Yes.)
Vin de France 2011, Le Molomon, Vini Viti Vinci (price TBA, Glou, arriving fall 2013)
100% Pinot Noir. 11.5% ABV.
Even more closed: less fruit, more wood, more structure. Tight though fine tannins. The potential’s apparent. Du sérieux as they say around here. (Buy? Probably.)
Vin de France 2011, Et pis, neuneuil !, Vini Viti Vinci (price TBA, Glou, arriving fall 2013)
100% Pinot Noir. 11% ABV.
Charming nose, a bit candied, with a crushed-leaf-like freshness. Rich and spicy, almost meaty, the fruit somehow deeper and more savoury than the other Pinots’. Beautifully structured. Fine, firm tannins give a lightly astringent edge to the long finish. (Buy again? Definitely.)
Alzipratu’s 2011 Fiumeseccu rouge
Corse Calvi 2011, Cuvée Fiumeseccu, Domaine d’Alzipratu ($19.45, 11095658)
Organically farmed Nielluccio (60%) and Sciacarello (40%) from ten- to 30-year old vines. Destemmed, macerated eight to 12 days and fermented with indigenous yeasts in temperature-controlled tanks, matured one year in concrete tanks. Lightly filtered before bottling. 13.5% ABV.
Dusty cherry and plum, dried herbs, sun-baked fields. In weight and texture, closer to a Chianti than, say, a Côtes-du-Rhône. Savoury elements – minerals, herbs, spice, fine if astringent tannins, piquant acidity, alcohol – are wrapped around a sweet core of fruit, which sours ever so slightly as it flows into the drying finish. So fresh and drinkable though, at this early stage, best given 30 minutes to an hour in a carafe. With its French and Italian roots, this is uncommonly versatile with food, especially of the Mediterranean variety. (Buy again? A no brainer.)
MWG April 13th tasting (4/5): Twixt Old World and New
Syrah 2009, Syrocco, Domaine des Ouleb Thaleb ($20.60, 11375561)
A joint venture between Crozes-Hermitage-based winemaker Alain Graillot and Morocco’s largest wine producer, Thalvin. This 100% young-vine Syrah is made with grapes grown mainly in vineyards near the winery, which is located between Rabat and Casablanca and about 40 km inland from Morocco’s Atlantic coast. The vineyards are manually weeded and ploughed and no herbicides and fungicides are used. In 2009, the grapes were fully destemmed and fermented in closed concrete vats with daily pump-overs. Total maceration time was ten days. The wine then spent seven and a half months in tanks followed by seven and half months in French oak barrels (50% new, 50% second vintage). Lightly filtered before bottling. 13.5% ABV.
Rich, berries, smoke, sweat, hint of animale, eventually cola. Velvety and liqueur-ish, the ripe almost sweet fruit saved from bombdom by the tonic acidity, soft if puckery tannins and savoury edge. Slow-fade finish. Not as pure, complex or deep as Graillot’s Rhône Syrahs but enjoyable in its own right. The best wine from this project to date. (Buy again? Sure.)
Syrah 2010, No. 2, Central Victoria, Graillot Australia ($41.50, 11844815)
A joint venture between Alain Graillot and Bidbendum’s Robert Walters. Two cuvées are made – this second wine and the flagship Graillot Syrah – and 2010 was the first vintage of each. Both are 100% Syrah from organically farmed (though not certified as such) ten-year-old vines. The winemaking is identical for both cuvées: mostly destemmed but about 10% whole bunches; fermented in small open tanks with native yeasts; aged in a mix of old and new oak barrels. The batches for the cuvées are selected on a barrel by barrel basis and, as it turned out, in 2010 the oakiest batches went into the second wine (still only about 10% new oak). Screwcapped. 13% ABV.
“Wet rubber-clad dog” was one taster’s description of the initially dominant smell (probably related to screwed-up screwcapping). I also got plum, bacon, pepper and tomato sauce. Rich, dense and intense but still more Syrah- than Shiraz-like. The ripe fruit is structured with round tannins and welcome acidity. A minerally substrate grounds and deepens the wine. Long finish with faint chocolate notes. Ready to go. (Buy again? Not at the current asking price.)
Syrah 2009, Le Pousseur, Central Coast, Bonny Doon ($26.80, 10961016)
100% Syrah made from purchased grapes grown in three Central Coast vineyards. Each vineyard’s production is manually harvested and fermented separately. Indigenous yeasts. Maturation in French oak barrels. Both tartaric acid and sulphur dioxide are added. Screwcapped. 13.5% ABV.
Rich and savoury nose: red meat, leather, dusty minerals, plum, background oak and a whiff of alcohol. Plush yet fluid. Full of ripe fruit but not a bomb. Fine tannins and juicy acidity. It all adds up to a vin plaisir, albeit a slightly pricey one. (Buy again? Maybe.)
Syrah 2009, Les Côtes de l’Ouest, California, Terre Rouge ($23.20, 00897124)
98% Syrah, about 60% coming from a Sierra foothills vineyard and the rest from various mountain sites, and 2% Viognier. The grapes were lightly crushed, co-fermented in large tanks with regular pump-overs. Matured 17 months in French oak barrels (20% new). 14.5% ABV.
Herbs, earth, blackberry liqueur with a red meat note. Pure and, despite the high alcohol, balanced. There’s a certain depth of flavour (though not of structure), a vein of slatey minerals and a clean, lightly astringent finish. The most Rhône-ish of the bunch. If this were under $20, it’d be a certifiable QPR winner. (Buy again? Sure.)
MWG May 16th tasting (3/5): Hatzidakis cubed
A native of Crete who worked for Boutari, Haridimos Hatzidakis founded his eponymous estate in 1996, starting with vines owned by his wife’s family. The vineyards surrounding the canava are certified organic, a rare occurrence on the island, and the vines are trained into the traditional basket or nest shape, which offers some protection from the wind and sun and helps conserve precious moisture. Like all vines on phylloxera-free Santorini, they are ungrafted.
Santorini 2011, Assyrtiko, Domaine Hatzidakis ($21.95, 11901171)
Assyrtiko (90%), Aidani (5%) and Athiri (5%), which, oddly enough, is the exactly the same blend as Argyros’s Atlantis. No maceration. After clarification, the must is fermented at 18ºC with selected dry yeasts. Matured on the lees for 40 days. Aged in stainless steal tanks. Lightly filtered and dosed with sulphur dioxide before bottling. Around 50,000 bottles made. 13.5% ABV.
Minerals on steroids, lemon and a whiff of turpentine. Smooth on entry but with some bite on exit. A mouthful of lemon with the pith, chalk, quartz and trippy acid. Long, saline finish. (Buy again? Automatically.)
Santorini 2011, Assyrtiko, Cuvée No. 15, Domaine Hatzidakis ($28.95, 11901189)
100% organically farmed Assyrtiko. Macerated on the skin for for 12 hours. The must is then separated from the grapes, clarified and fermented with indigenous yeasts at 18°C. Maturated on the lees in stainless steel tanks for eight months. Bottled manually, unfiltered with only a small amount of sulphur. 2,700 bottles made. 14.5% ABV.
Minerals and lemon again but with a candied edge. Not bone dry on the attack. The mid-palate is laden with extract, polished stones and firm acidity. A dry astringency and a bitter note creep in on the finish along with the expected sea spray. Long, long, long. Wow-worthy. (Buy again? Imperatively.)
Santorini 2009, Cuvée spéciale nº 15, Domaine Hatzidakis ($28.15 in 2011, oenopole, NLA)
100% organically farmed Assyrtiko. Wine-making is similar to that for the 2011. 14% ABV if I’m remembering correctly.
While the 2011s were silver-gold with pale green glints, this was tending more toward gold-bronze. Striking, magnetic nose of preserved lemon, dried pine needles, oxidized honey and more. Dry and complex in the mouth, dense but saved from heaviness by the firm acidity and general savour. Layer after layer of bitter minerals. The finish is long and, yes, saline. Impressive. (Buy again? Gladly.)
MWG May 16th tasting (2/5): Pink Bandol
Bandol 2011, Moulin des Costes, Domaine Bunan ($22.75, 11937974)
Organically farmed Cinsault (40%), Mouvèdre (35%) and Grenache (25%). Manually harvested. Directly pressed. The grape varieties are separately fermented in stainless steel vats for about two weeks. The wines are blended at the end of January and bottled in March. 14% ABV.
Spicy red grapefruit, nectarine and a little garrigue. Fairly dense and round. Quite dry. Minerals upfront, the fruit more in the background. Long, bitter-edged finish. Savoury and dimensional, a food wine, not a sipper. (Buy again? Yes.)
Bandol 2011, Cuvée India, Dupéré Barrera ($24.95, 11900805)
The first vintage of the pink version of this wine. Mourvèdre (60%) and Cinsault (40%). Manually harvested and sorted. The Mourvèdre is macerated one hour and then “bled” from the vat. The Cinsault is directly pressed. Fermented at low temperature. Matured seven months in stainless steel tanks. No malo, so filtered before bottling to prevent spontaneous malolactic fermentation in the flask. 13% ABV.
Minerals, dried herbs, subdued fruit and a whiff of alcohol. Fruitier and sweet-spicier than the other two rosés but in every other aspect lighter, rainwatery even. For several people around the table, this was the wine of the flight, but I found it one-dimenional. (Buy again? Probably not, especially given the price.)
Bandol 2011, La Bastide Blanche ($23.95, 11945317)
Biodynamically farmed Mourvèdre (60%), Cinsault (20%) and Grenache (20%). Manually harvested. The Mourvèdre is directly pressed, the Cinsault and Grenache are given a 24-hour maceration on the skins. The varieties are fermented separately with indigenous yeast in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. The decision whether to allow malolactic fermentation is made on a parcel-by-parcel basis. Matured between five and ten months before bottling. 13.5% ABV.
Relatively closed nose of stone fruit, red berries, dusty herbs, minerals and a hint of pork/ham juice. Rich, smooth and dry but also fruity (blood orange!) and acid-bright. Some depth and good length, again with a lingering faint bitterness. Appetizing. (Buy again? Sure.)
A flight that didn’t push many tasters’ buttons. “I like rosés but these just don’t do it for me,” said one representative of the majority. As a longtime fan of Bandol rosés, I found them appealing. I suspect part of the problem for some is their austerity: like many Chiantis, these are wines that need food to show themselves at their best. They’ll also benefit from another year or two of bottle age.
A BV with pretensions
This is a Beaujolais-Villages but one in which the actual village name, in this case Leynes (northernmost Beaujolais, southernmost Burgundy and also the operations base of Jean Rijckaert), replaces the “Villages” (along the same lines as what’s allowed for certain Côtes-du-Rhône villages like Cairanne and Séguret). The Bien-Venu is a vestige of the first vintages, the producer’s way of getting around the AOC authorities who declassified the wine and forced it to be labeled as a vin de table, not a Beaujolais.
Beaujolais-Leynes 2011, Bien-Venu In X-Tremis, La Soufrandière / Bret Bros. ($29.75, 11904611)
100% organically farmed Gamay from 65-year-old vines. Manually harvested. The whole, uncrushed clusters are macerated two to three weeks, with light pump-overs and occasional punch-downs. Matured 18 months in Burgundy barrels. 12.5% ABV.
The staff at my neighbourhood SAQ store opened a bottle of this when it arrived back in February and found it off-puttingly bad, so bad that they decided to give it a second chance after the shipment had had a couple of months to recover from suspected travel shock. A good call, as it’s now a textbook Bojo, albeit one in a rich style. The texture is dense enough to have you thinking velour instead of silk. There’s lots of red fruit, some vine sap and minerals and an unsweet floral note (iris?). The acidity is cranberry juice bright, the tannins are light and the fruit lasts right through the finish. While cru-like in terms of body, it falls short of that level in the depth department. In fact, it seems kind of one-note, unexciting and, above all, poor value when set aside true crus like Lapierre’s Morgon ($28 though NLA) or Brun’s Moulin-à-Vent ($24) let alone some of the private import Bojos. Maybe it needs more time, but I wouldn’t bet on it. (Buy again? Unlikely.)
Get your Cab Franc on
Anjou 2010, Mozaïk, Pithon-Paillé ($23.30, 11906457)
100% organically farmed, non-estate Cabernet Franc from 30- to 40-year-old vines. Fermented with indigenous yeasts. Matured ten months in second- to sixth-vintage oak barrels. No chaptalization and minimal sulphur dioxide. 13.4% ABV.
Classic Cab Franc nose: red fruit and mulberry, turned earth, slate, a hint of green tobacco leaf. I got a whiff of barnyard too. Medium-bodied but dense with juicy tart fruit. Dimension is provided by light, tight tannins, lively acidity and a minerally undertow. The sustained finish ties everything up nicely. Not a keeper – a wine for drinking now and in the next couple of years – but if you’re in the mood to get your Cab Franc on, this’ll certainly do the trick. (Buy again? Yes.)
So-so Syrah
IGP Pays d’Hérault 2011, Syrah, Domaine de Petit Roubié ($15.70, 11703502)
100% organically farmed Syrah. Destemmed. Temperature-controlled fermentation with selected yeasts. Macerated 30 days. Screwcapped. 12.5% ABV.
The red fruit, turned earth, bacon and animale you expect from warm-climate Syrah are there, along with a little barnyard and, surprisingly for a 12.5% wine, alcohol. Medium-bodied. The ripe fruit is joined by spice on the attack and darker, slatey flavours on the mid-palate. Said fruit and its sweetness soon fade leaving an astringency and bitterness that border on the unpleasant. Food – in my case a lamb leg steak – brought out the wine’s best side. And it was a little less uncharming the next day. Yet the half bottle’s worth of wine that was combined with chopped shallots, boiled down to a few spoonfuls and mounted with butter to make a sauce for crisp-skinned salmon gave the sauce such an astringently desiccating bite that I had to add sugar – a first. The bottom line: appealing on paper (varietally correct, organic, civilized alcohol level, under $16) but with a very low pleasure quotient. Dommage. (Buy again? Probably not.)
New arrivals from Glou (5/5)
Located near Templeton in the Paso Robles AVA, AmByth Estate acquired its land in 2001 and planted its first vines in 2004. With daytime temperatures reaching 100ºF (38ºC) or higher in the summer, the owners wisely decided to focus on southern European grape varieties. As hot as it gets at midday, cool Pacific winds bring the night temperatures down to around 50ºF (10ºC), helping to preserve the grapes’ acid balance and prevent overripeness. The estate is certified organic and biodynamic and its 20 acres (8 ha) of vineyards and olive groves are dry-farmed. Winemaking uses natural yeasts and no added anything, except sulphur (no sulphur in the 2012s). The wines are bottled unfiltered and unfined. The estate has begun experimenting with amphoras. Total annual wine production is around 1,000 cases.
Red Table Wine 2011, Paso Robles, AmByth Estate ($34.55, Glou, 6 bottles/case)
Having only small quantities of fruit in frosty springed 2011, the estate decided to concoct a one-off table wine from lots that didn’t make it into the regular cuvées. A crazy blend of Grenache (20%), Mourvèdre (19%), Sangiovese (19%), Tempranillo (18%), Grenache Blanc (10%), Counoise (7%), Syrah (5%) and Marsanne (2%), all from estate vineyards. 14 ppm sulphur was added. 138 cases were made; as of this posting, Glou has only one left. 13.3% ABV.
Savoury nose of red and black fruit (a bit Chambord-like), hay stubble, ink. Medium-bodied with good acidity, slender yet pleasantly raspy tannins and clean fruit, neither candied nor heavy. Tastes of the earth. Very drinkable. (Buy again? Yes but…)
Adamo 2009, Paso Robles, AmByth Estate ($47.00, Glou, 6 bottles/case)
Grenache (59%) Mourvèdre (17%), Syrah (13%) and Counoise (11%). Lightly stomped with the stems. Part of the GSM was fermented in a new French oak barrel, part in a neutral barrel; all was given two weeks’ maceration. The remaining GSM and the Cournoise were open-top fermented with regular punch-downs. 90 cases made. 13% ABV.
Red and black berries, lightly candied, along with some dusty garrigue notes. Soft-textured, pure and, for a Southern Californian, restrained, an impression only heightened by the bright acidity and sinewy tannins. Long, lightly astringent finish. Not a lot of depth but a really enjoyable surface. Ready to go. (Buy again? Yes but…)
With their lean fruit, strong acidity, reasonable alcohol levels, overall poise and great savour, these are some of the freshest, food-friendliest, most non-palate-clobbering (digeste, as the French succinctly say) Rhône-style wines from the New World I’ve tasted. Why the “yes buts” then? In a word, QPR, which is low relative to the wines’ Old World counterparts. But that’s true for many Californians these days, let alone micro-production natural wines from artisanal producers. Relative to other Golden State wines, they’re not overpriced (e.g. $47 Adamo vs. $49 Cigare Volant).
Brett happens 