Wine News (8)

Marcel Lapierre pouring his 2006 rosé Caves-Augé Beaujolais tasting (march 24th). When I said to Marcel Lapierre that I did not know he made a rosé, he said with a grin : "neither do my customers, they would pelt me with stones if they knew..."
This rosé wine (2006) was made at the Chateau Cambon ("Vinified by Marcel Lapierre" in french on the label) because there was a demand for it. Lapierre made the first of this pinks in 2000. This is a bled wine taken from the main Beaujolais red cuvée, after 3-4 or 5 days in a vat, and fermented separately. This is a light, fruity wine. It has to be stored carefully as it got only a bit of SO2 at bottling (20 mg, which is nothing). Smaller wine bottles for singles (or for single women) These bottles on the picture look like ordinary 75 cl bottles, but these are smaller versions, like 37,5cl or even 25cl. That's how you know that Paris is home to a lot of singles : Some food stores have quite a large selection of wines in small bottles ( usually 37,5 cl) in a corner of their wine section, like here at Monoprix (36 different wines in that section in the Monoprix I checked). Cork included, they are just miniatures of the 75cls (the handful of 25cls had a screwcap). The main french wine regions are here. Mostly negoce wine, except a few like an Alphonse Mellot Sancerre 2005 at 4,3 euro, or a Bouchard Chardonnay 2005 at 4,6 Euro. Some of the other Appellations in this size in the store : Beaujolais-Villages, Montagne-St-Emilion, Chateauneuf Du Pape, Brouilly, Cotes De provence, Sauternes.
As I was looking at the wines, a young woman grabbed a 37,5cl Bordeaux "Prince Bouquet" at 2,85 Euro that I doubt is worth the money...

Alice Feiring in Paris We met Alice ! B. and I were happy to spend some time with Alice Feiring during her last visit here. Sitting at Le Baron Rouge in front of a glass of Macon-Solutré Chardonnay and Coteaux Du Layon Chenin, we chatted about different things of the wine world. She was on her way to the Dive (a natural-wine gathering) at Le Havre in Normandy. I loved reading her recount of it on her website, she knows how to paint an atmosphere and I trust her taste. She has been completing her new book, titled "The Battle for Wine and Love (or How I Saved the World From Parkerization)". It wil be in the shelves in spring 2008 (Harcourt). Riesling Grands Crus through different terroirsAt the Grands Crus D'Alsace Tasting the other day at the somptuous Grand Hotel in Paris, there was, in addition to the 29 estate stands in the main room [pic on the left], a room dedicated to the Riesling Grands Crus relating with particular types of soil : 9 soils, 9 tables, usually 7 or 8 wines on each, to have a feel of how the soil characteristics shape the wines : granite, shists, sand/grit, clay/marl, gypsum/marl/clay, marl/limestone (by far the most common soil here : some 20 wines on this table) , limestone, volcanic, granite/limestone. Thierry Fritsch of the CIVA, explained brightly how these different soils shape the wines. Definitely an exercise that I would like to repeat, as it is a first hand experience of the reality of terroir.The solution against the dreaded breath checks ?As I was waiting for the rain to ease up at a recent wine tasting (Rencontres Vinicoles), I spotted this stand with these tiny yellow bottles. Invented after a 6-year research in Normandy, this new product is made with plant extracts (among which artichoke) and is supposed to fight the hangover following a dinner with excessive food and drinks. The recipe is secret but Security Feel-better's formula is said to act as an hepatoprotector and a hepatic cell regenerator. Taken shortlly after dinner or a heavy drinking, it is said to suppress the hangover and usual tiredness. In France, where authorities are touchy when it comes to alcohol enforcement and breath checks, the product was briefly banned last year because it was credited with hiding the real alcohol intake in breath checks. Could the inventors dream of a better publicity ?...Charly Thevenet Beaujolais tasting at Caves Augé. Jean Paul Thevenet and his son Charly were present to pour several of their wines, including the Morgon 1993 old vines on the picture (still very healthy, with a vibrant mouth). I particularly appreciated the Morgon 2004 old vines. This turbid wine was suave, both on the nose and on the palate, and had a nice length. It is made from 4 plots vinified separately in light-toast casks.
Charly Thevenet, 25, will start his own wine adventure later this year. He just bought a 1,5-hectare, 70-year-old vineyard in Regnié and 1 hectare (old vines also) in Beaujolais-Villages. He worked 2 years with Marcel Lapierre and 3 years with his father. Something tells me that we'll have nice surprises soon...Christophe Pacalet Christophe Pacalet makes a Saint Amour ! 2006 was the first millesime for his Saint Amour, which was made from a maybe 0,5-hectare rented plot, or about 30 hectoliters or 4000 bottles. Silky wine, even if it asks to wait a while. Christophe Pacalet says that The Saint Amour's sell too fast at the Saint Valentine's Day, even in faraway places like Japan, when, like for other "true" wines, they need to wait sometime to reach their full potential. Very little intervention here. Elevage in Foudre, only 10% of the wine was filtered, the lower part, where the lees were the thickest. He is not looking for extraction or color.
I also loved his Chenas 2005. Intense underwoods nose, fruity at the same time. The mouth is pure pleasure, very nice. Made from a 0,7-hectare (rented) plot.Philippe Jambon and "la Tranche" I really awakened to Philippe Jambon's wines at the Caves Augé tasting. Philippe Jambon began making wine in 1997 and he is not afraid to have all of his wines labelled as Vin de Table. His vineyards are quite old (40 to 70 years), and with yields between 25 and 30 hectoliter/hectare, he crafts beautiful, authentic wines with no filtration, fining or SO2. La Tranche is the first cuvée of its name and came from the lower 10%, highly-turbid part of was to be the Primeur cuvée : After bottling the Primeur, he left this thick-lees part of the wine to rest a few months, sediment and clear up, and when he came back to taste it, he understood he had a nice cuvée. This wine is gentle, and has a nice texture. 12,5° (See the pig head on the label : "Tranche de Jambon" in french means (Ham Slice"...).
Les Ganivets 2005 is made from a one-hectare plot that he bought in 2003. It has surprising aromas, fruity but not typical for a Gamay. Liked it. I bought a bottle of each (8,71 and 9,61 Euro).These trees are spoiled.... There are a couple of plane trees in front of the Caves Augé in Paris which, due to the uneasy access to the spitoons, benefited during these last years of the most delicious irrigation of the plant world. Where on earth can a tree be administred such diet-supplements as wines by Foillard, Descombes, Jambon, Lapierre, Metras, Pacalet, and Thevenet ? Not to name the next natural-wines tastings of this spring 2007 (see my Paris-cavistes page for dates)...
The wine on the picture was a Morgon, Cote de Py, old vines 2004. A beautiful fruity wine with a living presence in the mouth. Like the other wines this day, I drank some but still had to (reluctantly) empty the bottom of the glass [picture], if I wanted to stay fit. Among the 3 of his wines, this was also the one that Jean Foillard himself prefered.

Comments

[William Patton]

Great to hear that there are some real Beaujolais wines still out there. Reminds me of my time in Lyon. A hangover cure..Now that's really something! Just the ticket after indulging in all those wonderful wines.

[Eric Lecours]

Bert, is Christophe Pacalet related to Philippe?

[Bertrand]

Yes, Eric, they're cousins...It seems that the Pacalets were baptized with wine...