Wine News (6)

Now and then, a bottle of wine will bring the spirit of joy and happiness to your table. You just begin to sip and fly into the heavens of its mysterious alchemy. This was so obvious with this Nacarat from Claude Courtois (a Loire wine) that I thought I had to write a couple of words about it. We bought this basic-cuvée (made of Gamay plus Pinot Noir plus "something else", no SO2 added) wine when we visited the estate in may 2005 (the 18 months in our cellar may be important). Very lightly "perlant" (that's why B. wanted to carafe it), its color is clear-bright red with some milky turbidity. Full of delicate red fruits aromas, the mouth is pure suavity with every new sip a new wonder. We finished the bottle off that evening... Claude Gilois pouring the Monte Bello into B.'s glass

Lavinia, the huge Paris wine store, held a California wines tasting october 26th. 7 wines were proposed to Lavinia Club members. Most were reasonably priced on french standards (8,5 to 13,30 Euro). The first one that we tasted was amazingly aromatic: this Mc Manis Viognier 2005 (13,3 Euro) was a festival of aromas and flavours, including exotic fruits ones.
But the king of the evening was Ridge's Monte Bello 2000, proposed at 149 Euro that evening, and presented by importer Claude Gilois (Vins du Monde) as possibly the best wine of the world. Known as the winner of the 1976 Paris tasting (with its 1971 millesime), this wine has the complexity, refined texture, plenitude and length of an exceptional wine. New aromas keep coming minutes after minutes. Santa Cruz mountains, altitude 850m, not very far from the Pacific. A real terroir, Claude Gilois says.75% C.S., 23% Merlot, 2% C.F. 1998 was a bad year, but 90, 92, 94, 96, 97 were top millesimes. Look at the smiles and controlled impatience of some among the two dozens (or more) who waited for their pour (click on right)...

Revolutionary wine marketing...

Marketing strategy has accustomed us to funny names like Yellow Tail, or Red Bicyclette. In France, the wine-store chain Nicolas (owned by french Castel group, like Oddbins in the UK) seem to have capitalized on the leftist mythology for one of its foreign imports: Che, San Juan, Argentina Syrah 2004 is a cheap argentina wine (4,5 Euro) sold exclusively at Nicolas and Oddbins. The label looks like a revolutionary flag. The fine print does not say if the Argentina-born icon of the militant left was a wine lover. The wine itself seems surprisingly well done for its price range (take out the 20% VAT, the store's margin and the transport fee, how much did they pay in Argentina for it??). Quite supple, refined tannins. Pleasant wine. Trouble ahead for the cheap french wines...

A different, hidden political message here?

I shot the picture of this poster some time ago, somewhere in France. Designed to promote wines from one of the french wine regions, it may have some hidden political message: in french, it reads "To discover a great wine region, make a right turn, then right, then right again".
With the 2007 elections coming up, the vignerons will probably be split across a wide political spectrum like the rest of the country. Wine producers and growers live a very diverse reality in France, some being very demanding for more state subsidies and protection, and some who would just like the state to leave them alone...

B. brought back this bottle of Russian Champagne (Rossiiskoye Champanskoye) from a short trip in Russia. This one was not drinkable actually, tasting like a sort of mix of water, alcohol and non-descript juice. I say "this one" because Russian Champagne has been made in many different locations since the early soviet times and because I still remember really nice experiences with it both in the Soviet Union and Russia. It was usually Sovietskoye Champanskoye (soviet Champagne), a low alcohol (10,5°) between dry and sweet sparkling which I remember was pleasant and made us elated without being smashed... The french have repeatedly objected to the use of Champagne's brand name for russian sparkling (like you can read in this Pravda article), not to avail.
There's a growing market in Russia for locally made sparkling. and russian Champagne is usually priced 3 to 11 Euro (105 to 398 Rubles) in Russia depending of the cuvée and brand. Some of the soviet-era sparkling wineries were located outside of Russia, like Artyomovsk, or Kiev-Champagne in Ukraine, and keep making bubbles today.

A tasting event with about 50 Languedoc family wineries was recently organized by Christine Ontivero at Porte Dauphine in Paris. B. and I only tasted a few of them, and here are two wines (and estates) that took my attention.
First, this outstanding Coteaux du Languedoc (red) 2004 "Les cresses" by Domaine de Granoupiac, owned by Marie Claude Flavard (pic on left) and her husband Claude. 40 year-old Syrah plus Grenache, Mourvedre and Carignan, quite black robe. Very refined nose. Beautiful wine, refined in the palate. 7-8 years potential. 10,5 Euro public price. My choice.
Then, this Cotes du Roussillon Villages 2004 old vines (60 to 100 years) from Le Roc des Anges, the estate of Marjorie Gallet (pic, right) in Tautavel, on a 25 hectare vineyard with low yields (14 ho/ha). The wine (public price 16 Euro) is a blend of Carignan, Grenache and Syrah. Very arid, schistic soil. The wine has beautiful spicy undertones and a nice texture. Already discovered by our northern european friends...

This autumn 2006 has been a record-year for mushrooms, as this picture can attest, and I think that was not only in the Loire, but all over France. It took me a couple of hours, maybe 3, to pick these (some are out of the field of view) in a single weekend, and there has been several weekends like that (don't propose me mushrooms for a while!)... I gave plenty of them to friends.
Whatever, the wine on the picture was just for the composition, but we later actually had a beautiful pairing with the boletus: this was a Bordeaux, a Chateau Troquart, St Georges-St Emilion 2000. This is a refined and elegant wine which went well with the silky texture of the mushrooms.

Comments

[Dr. Vino]

That's funny about Che! I think that wine would do well here in the US too. Minus the VAT it would be less than $5!

[hikalu]

What a lots of mushrooms! You don't wanna see them for a while? hahaha.

[GollyG]

Those mushrooms look fabulous, I'm always nervous of poisoning myself and others, but the French seem to be far more confident.

[Jim Kay]

One reason Ridge Monte Bello is so good - winemaker Paul Draper trained at Ch. Latour

[jim frankfurth]

Dear Sirs: Please either e mail me or phone me at 858349 0079. I am interested in former soviet wine countries and champagnes. You assistance would be appreciated. Years ago while in Poland I had fabulous Russian Champagne but I no longer have the name. Sincerely, Jim