Posts Tagged ‘Red wine’
The SAQ does natural wines – part 2
The Barbera d’Asti 2008, Terra del Noce, Trinchero ($24.50, 12517710) has considerable initial appeal, provided you’re not bothered by the whiff of volatile acidity. The vibrant attack, pure fruit, upfront cherry and slate flavours, bright acidity and light rustic tannins are typical of the grape and appellation. Too bad, then, that the wine falls short on the finish. Buy again? Twenty-five bucks for a dead-ender? Probably not.
Having enjoyed other wines from the winemaker in his Domaine la Fourmente guise, we had high hopes for the Côtes du Rhône Villages Visan 2012, Native, Rémi Pouizin ($19.90, 12517832). How disappointing then to report it has as many cons as pros. Burned rubber and barnyard cancel out the otherwise attractive nose of raspberry jam, black tea leaves and black pepper. And though I don’t quite agree with one taster’s dismissal (“blackberry yogurt with tannins”), the lean, way peppery fruit is dominated by a parching dryness and tannic astringency while a metallic edge and flaring alcohol do no favours to the finish. Improves – turns sweeter and fruitier – after a couple of hours but not enough to dispel the impression that this is a textbook example of why I sometimes find Grenache hard to love. Buy again? Probably not.
A cipher when opened, especially on the nose, the Corbières 2012, L’Enclos, Domaine des Deux Ânes ($24.70, 12518000) doesn’t really come around until an hour later, at which point it shows itself to be the richest and roundest wine of the six, an agreeably earthy mouthful of red and black fruit, dried herbs and spice with a mineral underlay. The plush tannins and soft acidity have just enough presence while the finish provides a warm-and-fuzzy send-off. Not a throat-grabber by any means but easy to drink. Buy again? Sure, though not without wishing the price was closer to $20.
SAQ natural wines tasting: post 2 of 3.
The SAQ does natural wines – part 1
On April 23, the SAQ came out with its first ever official release of natural wines* (“official” because a few natural wines have made their way onto the monopoly’s shelves in the past, a recent example being the Jean-Michel Stephan Côte-Rôtie that the Mo’ Wine Group swooned over in July). Friends and I had planned to taste through the lineup soon after the release but, for various reasons, the event was postponed until last Friday.
Due to the postponement, most of the wines are – like my free time – now in short supply, so it hardly seems worthwhile to give them the full Brett Happens treatment. Yet the release is a milestone of sorts for the SAQ and for local lovers of natural wines, one that shouldn’t go unremarked. What’s more, the tasting left me with a few thoughts about the operation and the future of such wines at the SAQ. My solution is a set of quick notes followed by a comment or two.
Of the eight wines in the release, two – a Chardonnay and a Syrah made by Gérard Bertrand – were either new vintages or restockings of unmemorable wines that the SAQ started carrying a few months ago. We focused on the other six and on a mystery wine served at the end.
The 100% Gamay, near-Beaujolais Vin de France 2013, Le P’tit Poquelin, Maison B. Perraud ($21.75, 12517998) smells of jujubes and spice with unmistakable meat and soy sauce notes. While the wine is fruity, it’s also very dry, especially on the extremely short, black pepper-scented finish. What structure there is comes from acidity, not tannins. The bottom line? To riff off Gertrude Stein, there’s not much there there. In fact, I don’t know if I’ve ever encountered a red wine with so little presence. Buy again? No.
Another 100% Gamay, this time from 50-year-old vines in the Loire valley, the Touraine 2013, Première Vendange, Henry Marionnet ($24.20, 12517875) has a strikingly lactic nose that, when combined with the fruit, has you thinking of raspberry-strawberry yogurt. In the mouth, it’s richer, deeper, plusher-tannined and more minerally than the P’tit Poquelin, and the juicy finish has a lingering astringency. On its own terms, enjoyable enough – though, when you can get excellent Morgons from Brun for the same price and from Foillard for $3 more, the QPR seems way off. Buy again? No.
If you score a bottle of the 100% Cabernet Franc Chinon 2012, Cuvée Beaumont, Épaulé Jeté, Domaine Breton ($22.70, 12517921), be sure to carafe it before serving because on opening the wine has little to say. After breathing for an hour, it suddenly blossoms. The nose gains notes of red fruit, cured meat, forest floor, green sap, sawed wood and spice. The austere, ungiving palate turns rich and expressive: the texture supple, the fruit bone dry but juicy and pure, the acidity singing, the tannins caressing, the finish long and clean. In short, a beaut. Buy again? Definitely.
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*What is a natural wine? According to the Association des vins naturels, the basic principles of natural winemaking are organic or biodynamic farming (not necessarily certified), manual harvesting, fermentation with native yeasts and the avoidance of harsh physical procedures (reverse osmosis, cross-flow filtration, flash pasteurization, thermovinification, etc.) and of additives, including sugar, with an exception being made for small amounts of sulphur dioxide added as a stabilizer at bottling. As a definition, that works for me, though I’d add that many natural winemakers say that their wines are made in the vineyard, not the cellar, that their goal is to add nothing and take nothing away, which leads them to adopt a non-interventionist approach in the cellar and to largely or completely avoid filtering and fining.
The upsides of natural wines include their individuality and a juicy vibrancy that, in the best examples, seems very close to the fruit and terroir. Many also have a rustic appeal – a sense of not taking themselves too seriously – that their more polished and manipulated counterparts lack. Downsides include greater bottle-to-bottle variability, the ever-present possibility of reductive notes on opening, the need to store the bottles at cool temperatures (ideally 14ºC/57ºF or less) and, for some drinkers and some wines, their cloudy appearance and funky bouquets.
SAQ natural wines tasting: post 1 of 3.
La Laïsité n’a nul besoin de charte
Côtes du Roussillon 2012, Cuvée Laïs, Domaine Olivier Pithon ($26.20, 11925720)
The Laïs line is named after Pithon’s pet cow. Organically farmed Grenache Noir (40%), Carignan (40%) and Mourvèdre (20%). Manually harvested at the beginning of maturity, often a week or two before the neighbours start, the idea being to make wines that are fresher and less heavy than the norm. Vinification is traditional (native yeasts, non-interventionist). The wine is matured in concrete tanks and foudres. Reducing sugar: 3.2 g/l. 13.6% ABV. Quebec agent: Planvin.
Unlike several bottles of last year’s 2011, free of reductive and barnyard aromas. Clean as a whistle, in fact. Fragrant nose, redolent of plum and blackberry, graphite and sun-baked earth with sawdust, spice chest, dried herbs and animale notes. Medium-bodied and fundamentally supple. The upfront, ripe-sweet fruit gives way to a taut, drying mid-palate lightly soured by smooth acidity and structured by pervasive fine tannins that lend an astringent haze to the long, minerally, juicy finish. Fresh, balanced and so, so drinkable. Well nigh perfect with bœuf à la Robespierre. (Buy again? Yes.)
When is the SAQ going to start carrying the white?
I hate when this happens
I pull an old bottle from my cellar. Thinking it’s probably over the hill and not something I’d want to chance sharing with friends, I open it one evening when I’m alone. The wine is glorious. And I’m the only person around to appreciate it.
In this case, the bottle is a Sonoma Mountains 1993, Cabernet Sauvignon, Laurel Glen, for which I paid a stiff $49.50 back in the day. The reason why was that it was said to be a sleeper, an underappreciated wine that could hold its own against better-known Cal Cabs costing two or three times as much. And you know what? It does.
Earlier in the day, I’d found a a beautiful veal rib steak sitting in my butcher’s display case. Looking for something I could, weather permitting, grill or, weather not, cook on the stovetop, I grabbed it.
Look in food-and-wine pairing books and you’ll often find that mature Bordeaux, in particular Médoc, is a recommended accompaniment for côtes de veau. And I was sure I had a cru bourgeois or two from the 1990s or early 2000s at home. Except when I looked, I didn’t. After hesitating over a 2002 Chinon, I went with this. And now, since there’s no one to share the experience with, I regret it. Except the wine is so delicious, I don’t really.
Gorgeous Bordeauxish nose of cassis, cedar and cigar box along with notes of turned earth and slate. A joy in the mouth: the fruit sweet and vibrant, the texture satiny, the tannins resolved into velvet, the acidity bright and streaming. The long finish is remarkable for its complex of savoury, minerally, tobacco/herby nuances. What’s more, the wine is dry and perfectly digeste, spritely, invigorating, with an alcohol level of 12.5%. Probably as good as it ever will be, though probably not declining for a few years more.
It’s the kind of wine that restores my faith in California. Except does anyone in California make wines like this any more?
Aglianico × 3
Irpinia 2011, Rubrato, Feudi di San Gregorio ($22.45, 12476680)
100% Aglianico. Macerated and fermented for two to three weeks in stainless steel tanks. Matured eight to ten months also in stainless steel tanks. 13.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Italvine.
Cherry, slate, leather, spice, blackberry yogurt. Structured but medium-bodied and surprisingly fluid. The firm tannins and bright acidity are balanced by the dark, faintly juicy fruit. Volcanic minerals tinge the mid-palate and last well into the finish. Moreish though it needs an hour or two in the carafe to uncoil. Modern but in a good way. The SAQ used to stock several of Feudi’s wines and this bottling shows why it’s great to have them back. (Buy again? Done!)
Aglianico del Vulture 2009, Piano del Cerro, Vigneti del Vulture (Farnese) ($27.40, 12015470)
100% Aglianico from the Acrenza area. The grapes are gently destemmed. Maceration and fermentation in small wood vats with four manual pump-overs a day last 25 to 30 days. Matured in new oak barriques for 24 months. 14% ABV. Quebec agent: Montalvin.
Cassis liqueur, shoe leather, black olives and mocha. Full-bodied and, due to the combination of super-ripe fruit and heavy oak treatment, sweet (“the better to cover the rubber,” noted one taster). Spice and minerals are there but only if you look for them. The tannins are plush, the acidity downplayed. Creamy vanilla oak dominates the finish. Cloying and unrefreshing. The style may be popular – the Montreal allocation sold out fast and there’s very little left in the province – but it’s not one I find appealing in the slightest. (Buy again? No.)
IGP Basilicata Rosso 2012, Antelio, Camerlengo ($25.60, 11951961)
Contrary to what you’ll read on SAQ.com, this is neither a DOC wine nor the estate’s flagship (that honour falls to the eponymous Aglianico del Vulture, which is available through the private import channel). 100% organically farmed Aglianico from the Rapolla area. Manually harvested. Fermented with native yeasts and macerated for 25 days. Matured in 50-hl Slavonian oak botte. Unfiltered and unfined. Lightly sulphured at bottling to increase stability during transportation. 13% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
With its vinegary aromas and sharp taste, the bottle at the tasting seemed off. That it was was confirmed by a pristine and delicious second bottle purchased and opened a few days later: a fragrant, medium-bodied wine whose black currant and blackberry fruit is veined with obsidian and Drum tobacco, framed by tart acidity and fine, drying tannins and sustained through the long, savoury finish. A perennial favourite in fine form in 2012. (Buy again? Done!)
MWG March 12th tasting: flight 5 of 7.
Native Sardinians
Isola dei Nuraghi 2013, Thesys, Pala ($20.40, 12476671)
A blend of 80% Bovale Sardo (which may or may not be related to Spain’s Bobal or Graciano) from 70-year-old vines and 20% Syrah from 30-year-old vines. Manually harvested. After pressing, the juice is macerated on the skins with added yeasts for 10 days. Alcoholic and malolactic fermentation then ensue. Matured in new oak (Allier) barrels for three months. 13.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Élixirs vins et spiritueux.
Meaty nose: dark red fruit, bacon, ground beef and oak. In the piehole, it’s full-bodied, rich, chewy and, notwithstanding the very ripe fruit, quite dry. The high extract, round tannins and juicy acidity make for a mouthful but a balanced and savoury one with a certain complexity. Some ash and oak surface on the sustained finish. (Buy again? Along with some beef or lamb for the grill, sure.)
Monica di Sardegna 2011, I Fiori, Pala ($15.45, 11766714)
100% Monica from vines planted 25 to 30 years ago. The grapes are pressed. The juice is macerated on the skins and with the addition of selected yeasts for five days, after which fermentation takes place, all in temperature-controlled (22-24°C) stainless steel tanks. Light clarification and transfer to underground cement tanks for six months’ maturation follow. 14% ABV. Quebec agent: Élixirs vins et spiritueux.
Unexpectedly complex nose: candied red currants, ash, Keds, roast lamb juice, menthol and turned earth. Velvety, smooth, ripe-sweet yet savoury. Fresh and supple despite the rustic tannins and slatey underlay. The clean finish brings a faint alcoholic flare. A fine candidate for an everyday red. Sure to be compatible with Mediterranean stews and braised dishes and probably more than OK with pizza. (Buy again? Sure.)
MWG March 12th tasting: flight 4 of 7.
Textbook trio
Natural wine nuts Primavin hosted Piedmontese winemaker Alessandro Barosi of Cascina Corte at a series of events in Montreal this weekend. A friend and I caught up with him on Saturday evening at the always enjoyable if often noisy Le Comptoir charcuteries et vins.
The estate sits in the San Luigi hills near the village of Dogliani, a stone’s throw from the Barolo and Barbaresco appellations. The farming is rigorously organic and loosely biodynamic. Yields are kept low and all harvesting is manual. Alessandro is a firm believer that good wines are made in the vineyard, not in the cellar, so the winemaking is non-interventionist. Only indigenous yeasts and manual pump-overs are used. Extraneous flavours like new oak are avoided and the wines are bottled unfiltered and unfined. All three wines we tasted shared an authenticity, directness and purity that gave them no small appeal.
Dogliani 2013, Cascina Corte ($24.39, private import, 12 bottles/case)
100% Dolcetto from 60-year old vines. Spends 10 months in stainless steel. Quebec agent: Primavin.
Redolent of red berries and cherries, supple and juicy with smooth tannins and acidity, a dark mineral substrate and a lingering bitter almond finish. Not as rustic or in-your-face as some but undeniably a pleasure to drink. (Buy again? Sure.)
Langhe Barbera 2012, Cascina Corte ($29.34, private import, 12 bottles/case)
100% Barbera from 10-year-old vines. Matured six months in large neutral oak barrels. Quebec agent: Primavin.
Berries again but darker ones along with some slate and hints of licorice and spice. Medium-bodied and juicy, the wine is lit up by brilliant acidity. Tannins are sotto voce, not that the wine needs more of them: the excitement here is the fruit that rings clear as a bell. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. Our favourite of the three, a real coup de cœur for both of us. (Buy again? Oh, yes.)
Langhe Nebbiolo 2011, Cascina Corte ($35.32, private import, 6 bottles/case)
100% Nebbiolo from 10-year-old vines. Matured 24 months in large neutral oak barrels and two years in the bottle. Quebec agent: Primavin.
Closed and ungiving at first but soon opening up Classic Nebbiolo nose of cherry, turned earth, violet, dried rose petal, the faintest hint of tar. Medium-bodied and far more structured than the other two – taut with airframe tannins, tense with acidity. Once again the fruit is naturally sweet and remarkably bright and clear. Finishes clean and long. A delight. (Buy again? Yes.)
MWG February 18th tasting: Clos du Rouge Gorge rouge
A transplant from the Loire Valley, Cyril Fahl owns and farms a number of parcels around the village of Latour-de-France in the Côtes Catalanes region of the Roussillon, inland from the Mediterranean coast and just north of the Spanish border. The area forms the historic boundary between France and Catalonia and lies on the geologic frontier between Corbières and the foothills of the Pyrenees. Fahl’s hillside vineyards, which face north and east, are biodynamically farmed, worked by hand or horse and planted to local varieties (his reds don’t qualify for the AOC because they don’t contain Syrah or Mourvèdre, neither of which is native to the region). The winemaking is non-interventionist, even minimalist. As a result, the terroir is there for the tasting.
IGP Côtes Catalanes 2013, Cuvée du Patron, Clos du Rouge Gorge ($30.25, private import, NLA)
A blend of Grenache and Cinsault. Fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured in 500-litre wooden barrels. Bottled unfiltered and unfined. 14% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Reduced, sulphurous nose that eventually gives up some red fruit and earth notes (so carafe it a couple of hours before serving, all right?). No funk in the mouth, though, just pure, rich yet ethereal fruit on a frame of silky smooth acidity and supple tannins that turn a little raspy on the clean finish. Straightforward and eminently drinkable, this would be the perfect everyday red if only it were a few dollars cheaper. (Buy again? Sure.)
IGP Côtes Catalanes 2013, Jeunes vignes, Clos du Rouge Gorge ($38.00, private import, NLA)
100% Grenache from 30-year-old vines in a single parcel with gneiss subsoil. Manually harvested, trod by foot, vinified with indigenous yeasts in wooden vats for three months, matured eight months in stainless steel. 13% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Cherry cough drop, slate, hints of violet and dill. Medium- to full-bodied, smooth, supple, dry. A delicious mouthful of ripe-sweet spicy fruit, silky tannins and bright acidity. Longer and deeper than the Cuvée du Patron, cooler and more satiny that your typical Rhône Grenache. Lip-smackingly good. (Buy again? Yes.)
IGP Côtes Catalanes 2012, Vieilles vignes, Clos du Rouge Gorge ($55.75, private import, NLA)
A blend of Carignan (80%) and Grenache (20%) from 50- to 100-year-old vines rooted in gneiss. After light foot-treading, the whole bunches are transferred to wooden vats for low-temperature fermentation with no punch-downs or pump-overs. Matured 12 months in 500-litre barrels and old casks. Unfiltered and bottled by gravity. Total sulphur dioxide is less than 20 mg/l. 13% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Fragrant, terroir-redolent nose of raspberry, turned earth and wood with earthy and floral overtones and the promise of much more. Dense but not weighty. The fruit is profound – “soulless dark” to quote one taster, like the eidos of black currant juice – and perfectly balanced by the round/soft tannins and sleek acidity. Smoky minerals inhabit the long, savoury finish. The wonder is how it manages to be both immediate and remote, both upfront and enigmatic. The sweet spot of the flight. (Buy again? Imperatively.)
IGP Côtes Catalanes 2012, Ubac, Clos du Rouge Gorge ($93.75, private import, NLA)
100% Cinsault from a single parcel of 40-year-old vines. The gneiss slope is steep and faces due north. Extremely low yields (c. 15 hl/ha). The whole berries are macerated for 10 days, then foot-trod and transferred with the stems to wooden vats for fermentation. Matured 20 months in Austrian demi-muids. Bottled by gravity. Total sulphur dioxide around 20 mg/l. 14% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Brooding, profound, turning more fragrant as it breathed: raspberry cordial, turned earth, garrigue.
Fluid yet dry and velvety tannined. Young, so primary and closed, but hinting at great depth. The dark fruit is both savoury and sweet-tart, while the mineral substrate is most apparent on the minutes-long finish. Absolutely gorgeous: du grand vin as they say around here. Probably won’t peak for another 10 to 15 years. (Buy again? If the price isn’t prohibitive, go for it!)
Demand for the Jeunes vignes is high (so much so that oenopole requires that purchasers also buy a case of the Vieilles vignes). One of the reasons is that restaurateurs find it hard to convince customers to lay down a C-note and change – what the VV will run you in a resto – for a vin de pays, however amazing. And while the MWG has been buying the white, JV and VV since they first became available in Quebec, the JV – largely because of its price – has always elicited the most interest. Yet this flight, our first time tasting the reds side by side, showed the VV to be the real QPR winner, combining some of the JV’s fruity appeal with much of the Ubac’s complexity and depth.
(Flight: 4/5)
An OK wine at an OK price
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2013, La Cuvée dell’Abate, Zaccagnini ($18.30, 908954)
Another wine not listed on the producer’s website, this looks like it could be a Quebec-only bottling. 100% Montepulciano from vines between 20 and 25 years old. Manually harvested in several passes. Macerated on the skins for 15 days and fermented (both alcoholic and malolactic) in temperature-controlled (28-30C) stainless steel tanks. Matured in 1,000-litre oak barrels (90%) and second-fill oak casks for around six months. Aged three months in the bottle before release. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Balthazard.
Red and black berries, turned earth, terracotta and a hint of black licorice. Medium-bodied and well balanced. Dry but not austere thanks to the ripe sweet fruit (cherry) and thread of oaky vanilla. The smooth surface is supported but undisturbed by soft acidity and light tannins. Gauzy minerals and a faint astringency, most obvious on the finish, add savour. Not the kind of wine that has you sitting up and taking notice but drinkable all the same, an “OK wine at an OK price” as one Cellartracker user concluded about the 2010. That said, it’s the best pairing yet for one of my winter staples: pork shoulder stewed with onions, garlic, tomatoes, while wine, chile and black-eyed peas (grazie, Marcella). (Buy again? Sure.)
Brett happens 
The SAQ does natural wines – part 3
with 8 comments
The mystery wine is brought out in a decanter. The bouquet wafts around the table even as the glasses are poured. And what a lovely bouquet it is, a mix of crushed blackberry and blackberry jam with hints of pumice dust, smoke and game and a floral note pitched somewhere between violet and rose. In the mouth, the wine is fresh and pure, medium-bodied and supple, filled with sun-ripe yet ethereal fruit, dusty minerals and juicy acidity, framed by springy tannins that persist through a long, savoury finish. What can it be?
The wine’s solar quality has us immediately eliminating northern climes. After dallying with southern France and considering the flavour profile, we turn our attention to Italy. The fine structure and excellent balance are not unlike those of a Nebbiolo, yet the taste isn’t Baroloesque and that touch of jamminess seems incongruous. The host demands a guess. A newfangled Piedmont blend from a hot vintage?
The answer – and some thoughts about the SAQ’s first ever natural wine operation – are after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »
Written by carswell
June 1, 2015 at 15:58
Posted in Commentary, Tasting notes
Tagged with Natural wine, Organic, Private imports, Red wine, Sicily, Upper mid