Wine Tasting, Vineyards, in France

Paris Wine Bars : Le Verre à Pied

Claude chatting with patrons

One Year . This wineblog has gone through one year of visits, tastings and various experiences . To share it with you, I have been to places I would'nt have always been to : Editing this journal has been a win-win situation for all of us . Let's try to beat this road further down...

Rue Mouffetard is a street in the 5th arrondissement . It is a lively street with a colourful daily market near St Medard church . I chose to visit a bar here named " Le verre à pied " after looking at a book that alluded to it . I occasionally come in this street to see a movie at " L'épée de Bois " , a movie theater that shows usually good movies . I remember seeing " Come and see " (ИДИ И СМОТРИ) there, an apocalyptic war movie by Elim Klimov, shot in Soviet Union in the 80's ( strongly recommend it ).
Le verre à pied is quite narrow . A sort of large hallway stretched deep into the recesses of the building . Mirrors (on which good photographic works are exposed) tone down the narrowness effect . At the end , behind frosted glass , the kitchen .
The bar counter is on the left when you enter, right after the tabac counter where locals buy their cigarettes . The whole place is largely unchanged since 60 years I would say , except the bar counter wich was very low and has been raised . I walked to the bar , found a place to stand between patrons and looked at the wines by the glass on the board with an angel on it .
I made a curious choice this day . I usually choose among the reds , and now,
who knows why, I opted for a glass of Muscadet at 2,6 Euro . I soon had this clear fresh wine in a 14 cl filled-to-the-top glass in front of me . Coincidences are strange . Why did I choose to visit this bar , in a street I associated with movies I came to see near here, and chose to drink a muscadet ?
I began to speak with Claude, the owner, and Hendrika, his wife . First spoke with her, she being interested in my camera wich I discreetly used to capture the ambiance . She had this light foreign accent and I asked where from . The north, she said . Holland, I suggested . Right . She spent half her life in France but retained her lovely accent .
Claude took this bar 21 years ago . Since 1983 the rue Mouffetard changed, with more restaurants vying for the young evening crowd of this university neighbourhood ( La Sorbonne is close by ). But it had already changed in the 1970's, says someone who witnessed it . Second half of the 80's was also a turning point with a boom in real estate prices and rents . It nonetheles still has a neighbourhood touch, thanks to its daily morning market down the street near St Medard church . Claude previously worked in the TNP ( théatre) bar when he heard of this available location and invested here .

Domaine Ricard ( Touraine )

Saint Aignan sur Cher

Not far from Saint Aignan sur Cher in Touraine , on the other side of the Cher river, lies the Domaine Ricard . It is actually very close to Thésée . Its vineyards are on a southern exposition . Vincent Ricard began his activity in 1999 but he has generations of winemakers behind him : His grandfather was one of the 3 associates who created the Oisly-Thésée wine-coop . He now works on 14,5 hectares . Was working on 17 hectares not long ago but he views himself ideally with a 12-13 hectares vineyard . It is a surface that can be handled, quietly and seriously, as needed for the type of work in the vineyard he does : Earthing down under the rows, keeping grass and weeds between them, meticulous pruning . His serious work in the vineyard, at the harvest, and when maturing the wines, has brought him beautiful results that led to recognition worldwide . 65 % of his wine is for export ( U.S. : Petit Pois Corp ) .
Most of the vineyard is in Sauvignon, with small surfaces of Gamay, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay and Cot ( Malbec )

The cellar , as often in the region , is under the hill

Vincent Ricard opens the door of the cave-like cellar, wich goes deep under the hill . The chalk ( tuffeau ) of the walls gives this cool temperature, and the needed humidity as well .
__1 First we taste Petiot 2003, a Sauvignon . Smaller quantity for this year, due to the 2003 heat wave . 40-50 hectoliters/hectare ( 10 less than usual ) . In contrast, 2004 obliged to have debudding on the vines in spring to limit the number of grapes ( wich on a year following a heat wave year, would have been too many ) . Small part in casks for this wine we taste ( 1/5 of the wine ) . Sauvignon much more fleshy in 2003 . Bottle type is " feuille morte" , with the classical Loire valley shape and a light green colour . 4,8 Euro .
__2 "Les 3 Chenes" 2003 (Vieilles vignes) . Old vines . 80 years old Sauvignon vines . All aged in casks . Not for oak aromas, but for oxygenation . 1/4 in new casks, and the following 1/4s in 1 year, 2yrs, 3yrs old casks . Bigger frame and stronger freshness for this wine .Taken from a cask . Will be bottled in june . Still young, vincent says . Good wine . Bottle type here will be "antique", same Loire shape but darker green . 7,2 Euro .
__3 " ? " Chardonnay 2003 . Superb nose . Also superb in the mouth . 6 g residual sugar . 14,5° . "?" is the name of this cuvée . History of this cuvée is when meeting with a group of friends-winemakers in march-april as he does each year to exchange ideas and share a good meal, they all tasted from his casks . Of wich 2 casks of Chardonnay . One of the friends pointed to one of these casks and said : This is it ! Not knowing what name to choose for this unexpected cuvée, he wrote ? on the cask . And someone suggested this was the name . Very nice wine . 9 Euro . All the prices I indicate are usually the price for individual customers (tax included) at the Estate . Professional buyers' price for this one is 5,2 Euro .

Clos Roche Blanche (Touraine )

Clos Roche Blanche : the house and chai Clos Roche Blanche is among these estates that make outstanding Touraine wines in the Loire valley. It is managed by two passionate vintners : Catherine Roussel and Didier Barrouillet, who work on 18 hectares, half in red grape varieties, half in white, near Mareuil-sur-cher, on the left bank of the Cher river, not far from the Chenonceau chateau.The door to the cellar and chai under the hill
They slightly disminished the surface of their vineyard do do a better work. They do organic viticulture since 1991 (Ecocert) and this of course means hard work everywhere in the vineyard.
Catherine Roussel begins the visit for us, in the cellar and the chai, leading us to the deep caves and galleries under the chalk hill on the back of the house. The hills along the Cher river are mined with galleries, caves and tunnels from which the chalk was extracted centuries ago to build the houses and chateaus of the region Catherine Roussel with her two dogs

Then comes Didier Barrouillet, as Catherine has to do elsewhere. He will let us discover the domaine's wines, tasting from bottles and casks in the low-lit cellar. Previously to his activity in the wine world, he was a mathematician, and he brought methodology as well as intuition in the chai.
It is raining outside and the dogs (mother and her young one) come and go to ask silently for attention, a play or a stroke ...

Catherine Roussel and Didier Barouillet

Let's taste.
__1 . Chardonnay "Terre Blanche" 2003 . 100% Chardonnay-only not being allowed, there is 2% of something else. Nose is quite like new wine still in vinification. Vinified in new casks. Very nice wine. turbid. Non filtered. 7 Euro. And 5,3 Euro for the filtered one.
__2. Sauvignon 2003. This white is vinified in 12-hectoliter tronconic vats (wooden vats). Nice nose. Freshness. 13,8°, this is 2003 for sure. Rich in the mouth. But very mineral at the same time. 2003 has not produced the classical Touraine Sauvignon wines, and this is true all over the region. In other places around here, there is the temptation to add enzymes, and it makes a gap between the nose and the mouth. This wine costs 7,5 Euro. Very small production this year .

The cellar gallery with the tronconic wooden vats and other containers
__3 . A red. Gamay 2003. Strong nose. Jam. Quite a deep colour. Gamay is a difficult grape variety to work on (in the vineyard), which is a reason of the small surface of it in the world. The grape skin is very thin on Gamay and it makes it more likely to suffer from disease and external threats. Stricter pruning is necessary. In the Domaine, 3 persons work : The two of them, and a third person. Plus 20 people hired for harvest time. This Gamay is priced 5,3 Euro.