Posts Tagged ‘Under 13 percent’
L’autour d’Anne Paillet
Anne Paillet is married to Greg Leclerc. In 2010, she decided to abandon her corporate career and become a natural winemaker. Wanting to make wines different from Leclerc’s, she has leased 2.5 hectares of biodynamically farmed vines from Languedoc winemaker Christophe Beau (Domaine Beauthorey in the Pic Saint-Loup region). Harvesting is manual and the grapes are vinified naturally, in concrete tanks with no added anything, in the Languedoc. Wanting to make wines different from your everyday Languedocs, she transports the just-fermented juice to Leclerc’s cellars in the Loire for malolactic fermentation, maturation, blending and bottling with no fining, filtering or added sulphur.
Depending on the date on which the wine leaves the Languedoc, it is labelled Coteaux du Languedoc or Vin de France. To avoid red tape and confusion, Paillet is reportedly planning to opt exclusively for the Vin de France designation in future vintages.
Coteaux du Languedoc 2013, C.S.G., Autour de l’Anne ($27.71, private import, 12 bottles/case)
Syrah and Grenache with a little Cinsault thrown in. The 40- to 60-yar-old vines are rooted in limestone and red clay. The grapes are vinified separately in tanks, with alcoholic fermentation typically lasting 12 to 14 days. Maturation in concrete tanks lasts 12 months. 13% ABV. Quebec agent: Deux Caves.
Engaging nose of red and black fruit with hints of spice and faint burnt rubber. Medium-bodied, dry and savoury, with clean fruit and bright acidity. Fundamentally fluid and supple though not lacking tannic grit. The finish is long and minerally. As Loire-ish and it is Languedoc-ish, this is a wonderfully drinkable wine. What’s more, a few bottles remain available. (Buy again? Done!)
Coteaux du Languedoc 2013, Pot d’Anne, Autour de l’Anne ($55.47/1500 ml, private import, 6 bottles/case, NLA)
The cuvée’s name, which translates as “Anne’s pot,” is a homonym of peau d’âne (donkey skin). 100% Cinsault from 20-year-old vines grown on limestone and red clay. Half the grapes are destemmed, the other half left as whole clusters. Semi-carbonic maceration in concrete tanks lasts 12 days. Maturation in concrete tanks lasts 12 months. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Deux Caves.
Pretty, perfumy nose of red and black fruit, including berries, overtoned with flowers, sawed wood and spice. Barely medium-bodied. The lightly juicy fruit is fresh and fluid, structured by supple tannins. Finishes long and clean. So, so drinkable. (Buy again? Moot but yes.)
At the second tasting, someone asked why the wines were so Loire-like. Could the fact that they were fermented with native yeasts explain it? Probably not, as the wines didn’t leave the Languedoc until alcoholic fermentation was completed. On the other hand, malolactic fermentation took place in the Loire, so indigenous bacteria could be a factor (though wouldn’t the wines also bring some Languedoc microflora with them?). To my mind, Max Campbell’s theory that the difference is due to the cooler temperatures of the Loire cellars seems more realistic.
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As mentioned earlier, both tastings were followed by a light meal of salads, charcuterie and cheese. As the tail ends of the Deux Caves bottles were insufficient to slake the collective thirst, a few other wines were uncorked (gratitude to all who supplied them). I stopped taking notes at that point but wanted to mention four in passing.
Damien Coquelet’s Beaujolais-Villages “Fou du Beaujo” has long been a Mo’ Wine Group favourite. At the second tasting, the 2012 ($22.43, private import, La QV/Insolite, NLA) and 2014 ($19.20, 12604080) were served side by side. The 2012 was a thing of beauty: vibrant, fruity, sappy, fluid, lip-smacking. The 2014 seemed a little harder and less smiling, though whether that’s a function of the vintage, the age, this particular bottle or the filtering and/or sulphuring possibly required by the SAQ is anybody’s guess.
The Valle del Maule 2014, Pipeño, Collection Rézin, Louis-Antoine Luyt ($18.15, 12511887) is a lovable, natural Chilean wine made entirely using purchased País grapes from organcially farmed vines about a century and a half old. (Luyt buys the grapes – at fair trade prices – from his pickers, one of whose photograph appears on the label.) Fragrant and fruity, ripe and juicy, light and fresh, with frisky acidity, very soft tannins, a disarming rusticity and a quaffability quotient that’s off the charts. I’ve drunk more of this wine than any other this year and it was interesting to hear others who were just discovering it planning to buy cases the next time it rolls around.
The 2001 Château Coutet is a classic Barsac that’s showing beautifully. Rich but not heavy (good acidity), sweet but not saccharine. The complex flavours and aromatics are dominated by stone fruit and botrytis. The finish lasts for minutes. A deluxe end to a most enjoyable evening.
MWG September 27th tastings: flight 3 of 3
♦
Lastly, here’s a link to another, much less tardy report on the tasting – one from which some of the earlier-cited technical information about Xavier Marchais comes – that was posted on the Quebec-based wine discussion board Fou du vin by a new and welcome addition to the Mo’ Wine Group. Du beau travail, Raisin Breton !
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).
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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
Better than ever
Kamptal 2014, Riesling, Domaene Gobelsburg ($19.05, 10790309)
100% Riesling from vines between three and 20 years old. The farming is technically sustainable but close to organic. Harvested in late October. Fermented and matured in stainless steel. 6.9 g/l. 12.5% ABV. Screwcapped. Quebec agent: Les vins Alain Bélanger.
Slate and limestone, lemon-lime, green apple, white flowers and sawed pine. The faint spritz and crisp upfront fruit fade across the mid-palate revealing a matrix of minerals. Zingy acidity nips any sweetness in the bud and turns the finish mouth-wateringly tart. Ends on a salty lemon note. So clean and bracing. Always a good buy but better than ever in 2014. (Buy again? Yes.)
Peaked and peaking
To celebrate his impending marriage, a MWG member raided his cellar and generously treated the group to two 1990 St-Juliens. Thanks and congratulations, David!
Saint-Julien 1990, Château Lagrange
A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (44%), Merlot (44%) and Petit Verdot (12%). Manually harvested. Maceration and fermentation of the various lots takes place in temperature-controlled (28°C) stainless steel vats ranging in size from 66 to 220 hl and lasts two to three weeks. The lots are selected, blended and matured in French oak barrels (60% new) for 21 months. Fined with egg whites and racked by candle light before bottling. 13% ABV.
Young to the eye for a 25-year-old wine: some fading at the rim but virtually no bricking. Effusive nose of cassis, graphite, red meat, “honeycomb,” modelling clay, cigar box and green pepper. Savoury and smooth, rich and elegant. The tannins are mostly resolved though the wine still has plenty of structure. Leather, stones, spice and wood (not oak) overtone the long finish. A complete wine. Classic Médoc, at or near peak.
Saint-Julien 1990, Château Léoville-Barton
A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc; haven’t found the exact percentages used in 1990 but it’s usually something like 65%, 25% and 10% respectively. Current-day wine-making practices, which are probably not too dissimilar from those used a quarter of a century ago, are: manual harvesting; destemming, crushing and fermenting on a plot by plot basis in temperature-controlled wood vats; alcoholic fermentation lasting seven to 10 days with twice daily pump-overs; three week’s maceration on the skins; maturation in French oak barrels (50-70% new) for 16 to 18 months and topped up three times a week; fining in the barrels with fresh egg whites. 12.5% ABV.
Even less bricking than the Lagrange. The expected cassis is there but as a backdrop to beef chop suey, “tamarind,” chestnut honey and graphite. Smoothly structured with soft-glow acidity and round, resolving tannins that, as chewing reveals, still have an astringent bite. The fruit remains vibrant and the wine’s depth is not yet fully in evidence. Tobacco and cedar linger long. Darker and more umami-rich than a bottle opened a decade earlier, I think this needs another five or 10 years to peak. That said, I’m sure it’d be a here-now delight with a roasted leg of lamb.
MWG October 8th tasting: flight 6 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
Trocken und korken
Rheinhessen 2014, Riesling, Trocken, Weingut Keller ($27.45, 10558446)
100% Riesling. Manually harvested. The must gets around 20 hours of skin contact. Cool-temperature fermentation with indigenous yeasts takes place in stainless steel tanks and lasts two months. Matured on the lees with no stirring in stainless steel tanks for four months. Reducing sugar: 4.1 g/l. 11.5% ABV (12% per SAQ.com). Quebec agent: Valmonti.
Developing, minerally nose that turns a little perfumy, is shaded by lemon-lime-grapefruit and “vanilla ice cream” aromas and eventually gains green melon notes. Faintly spritzy in the mouth. Full of ripe fruit and minerals. Bright – not sharp – with acidity, showing some depth (age will bring more) and possessed of an appealing sour edge. Dry but not austerely so. Finishes long and clean. While this didn’t appear to push the assembled tasters’ buttons, I liked its focus and balance. Would make an excellent pairing for trout and other freshwater fish (all the better if there’s some bacon present) or a simple roast chicken, not to mention herb-inflected southeast Asian cuisine. (Buy again? A bottle to take to Nhu Y, for sure, and maybe a couple more for the cellar.)
Nahe 2014, Riesling, Trocken, Vulkangestein, Weingut Schäfer-Fröhlich ($29.50, 12721454)
12% ABV. Quebec agent: Avant-Garde.
Corked. Which was a shame because you could tell this is, if anything, even finer than the Keller.
MWG October 8th tasting: flight 1 of 7
Here now and how!
This may be yet another of the select group of SAQ wines sold only at the Atwater outlet and not listed on SAQ.com*. I picked up my bottle on Friday. Calling a few minutes ago to reserve a couple more, I was told they have 150 in stock.
Muscadet-Sèvre et Maine 2014, Amphibolite, Domaines Landron ($21.50, 12741084)
100% Melon de Bourgogne from organically and biodynamically farmed vines between 23 and 40 years old. The soil in the 7.5 ha vineyard is mainly decomposing amphibolite, whence the cuvée’s name. Yields were abnormally low in 2014: 37 hl/ha vs. the usual 45 hl/ha. The grapes were manually harvested and whole-cluster pressed. The must was chilled and allowed to clarify by settling. Fermentation with indigenous yeasts and no chaptalization took place in temperature-controlled, glass-lined cement tanks, with sulphur dioxide being added at the end to prevent malolactic fermentation. The wine was matured on the lees for four months, then cold-stabilized and gravity-bottled. Unfiltered and unfined. 12% ABV. Quebec agent: Rézin.
The nose of wet stones, gooseberry and ash only hints at the transfixingly vibrant mouthful to come: intertwining green fruit, crunchy minerals, lip-smacking acidity and salinity that’s off the charts. Ends long and clean with lingering bitter almond and bitter lemon notes. The kind of wine where one sip demands another and the bottle is empty before you know it. Not a keeper – even the winemaker says so – but killer here and now with Trésors du large on the half shell adorned with only a squirt of lemon and a grind of black pepper. (Buy again? Done!)
*Mystery solved: the wine was part of the October 8th natural wines release and should have been embargoed until then. In other words, Atwater jumped the gun. At 9 a.m. on Friday, October 9, bottles can be found in 74 stores across Quebec.
Brett happens 