Wine News (35)

Julie Balagny & Yvon MetrasSomewhere between Romanèche-Thorins and Fleurie (Beaujolais)
This picture was shot during a short visit that we had at Yvon Métras. When we dropped there near Fleurie at his chai on a slope in the middle of the vineyards very recently, he was backing up in his pickup truck and leaving. We were so lucky, a minute later and he was gone. He stepped out of the truck with a young woman and we spent maybe an hour with them there in the chai, along with two men who were there to help Yvon Métras I guess. Yvon Métras said he was sorry as there were no bottle stocked here, but he found a couple of them to taste in spite of the fact that his last-vintage wines were sold out. His wines were a great way to feel good in this cold october day. I warmed up my glass with my hands wrapped around it to savour the wine at its best, and I didn't regret the couple of minutes I lost holding the glass tight and whirling the wine... We also all the while began to learn about this energetic and charming young woman named Julie Balagny, who works on 3,5 hectares near here and has the chance to be friend with Yvon Métras.
Back in Paris, I found a bottle of her wine at the Caves du Panthéon (174 rue Saint Jacques) and we opened it for dinner. Her Fleurie "En Rémont" 2009 is a beautiful wine, especially after half an hour so that it opens up. Lightly fizzy maybe, fruit aromas, some laurel leaf notes (ink also maybe) and minerality, the whole wrapped a bright freshness. The caviste told me the wine is made from old vines. Costs 25 € here. There was another cuvée made from young vines at about 18 €. Take note : Julie Balagny will pour her wines for tasting next november 27th at the Caves du Panthéon [the day changed, it'll not be the 20th but the 27th]...

The Yvon Métras wines we had were his Fleurie Vieilles Vignes 2009 and also his Cuvée Printemps 2009. That was good indeed, my notes underline this cuvée Printemps, delicious, and I found out later that when still available, it was priced only 12 €.

A great red in the Muscadet region A very beautiful red from the Muscadet region : Domaine de la Pépière Cuvée Granit 2009, a Vin de Pays de Loire Atlantique, not in Muscadet Appellation of course. This unfiltered wine is a blend vinified through carbonic maceration. It is beautifully silky with fruit and lets itself drink very easily. Marc Ollivier at La Pépière works his wines on a very natural way, and if he's known mostly for his Muscadets, few people know he's making a few reds too. He planted the red varieties on well-exposed plots while often in the area, the vignerons reserve the less interesting spots for red varieties as they're not valued by the Appellation rules. But his careful pruning and vinification must also have played a part in this delicious wine. The incredible thing here, especially when you're enjoying each sip with friends, is the price : 3,5 € at the winery, somewhere near 5 € at the few cavistes who carry his reds (Caves du Panthéon in Paris for example, but don't go rush now, they're sold out). Some of it seems to be exported if I believe this page. Jacky Blot You probably haven't read about it anywhere else : Jacky Blot, whom I met recently (see picture) is buying up the Clos de Mosny, a 22-hectare vineyard located on one of the best terroirs of Montlouis, and which are mostly planted with Chenin Blanc. This additional surface of Chenin Blanc will allow him to further develop his white wine production, which came until now from his Domaine de la Taille aux Loups.
Jacky Blot is also behind the Domaine de la Butte, which makes some of the best reds of the Loire valley from Cabernet Franc planted on stony slopes. Wine by the liter, drink as you want This was in a restaurant along the highway in Auvergne : the Relais du Clos is a road-stop restaurant near Orcet (south of Clermont-Ferrand) where workers go for lunch, it is managed by two middle-aged women and it has its regular customers who come here for a cheap meal. When I say cheap, it is cheap : first, you find a full one-liter bottle of wine waiting for you (there's one on each table at lunch hours) before you even order your lunch. And there's a reason why : the wine is included, just drink what you want. Oh yes, I must admit that the wine is not really enjoyable, but this reminded me that long time ago, this kind of simple wine you'd get in that sort of restaurant was probably a light, enjoyable piquette or simple local wine that you and me wouldn't have balked at drinking. This one seemed according to the label to have been bottled in the region but it is probably an industrial blend of who-knows-what. The alcohol level was also something of the past : 11°.
Now let's see what we got for lunch : a Steak Frites (beef and french fries) served with salad and good bread at 6,8 €, then a big plate with 4 cheeses (Saint Nectaire, Cantal, Fourme d'Ambert and Brillat-Savarin) among which you could a few slices as you pleased (3 €). From all of these I preferred the aged Fourme d'Ambert which was strong and intense. And on the top of this you had all the wine you could drink, for no additional cost... I love Auvergne, but too bad it was a real crap. I imagine a traveller driving through this region in, say, the first half of the 20th century : this light table wine would have made the job, for sure... Damien CoqueletThis young guy could be said as being a very promising winemaker of the Beaujolais, but that's it, were already there : after tasting his Chiroubles Vieilles Vignes 2009 (old vines - 80 years), it's obvious that we're having another talented winemaker to relieve the gloom of the Beaujolais. Very nice aromas on the nose, beautiful mouth and well, you're just impressed already now, but a couple of years in the cellar will make a great job. Damien had a good teacher of course : his stepfather Georges Descombes, in the cellar of whom I took this picture. He vinified this Chiroubles in Georges Descombes's facility. He has 1,5 hectare in Chiroubles and 4 hectares in Côtes de Py.
His family name comes from his mother Ghislaine, now Georges Descombes' wife. Actually, Damien has been raised by Georges Descombes as well since the youngest age and he helped very early in the vineyard, if not in the vinification work.
The cock on the label is because coquelet means young cock in French. A very nice Pinot-Noir/Gamay blend from Auvergne That's the type of wine I love to come across : a light, savoury red that you just sip in a single dinner with your dear one (considering that I'll be the one who downs the biggest half...). The cuvée Nacarat of Claude Courtois was a perfect example of these lively wines that are liquid joy. Here was another such thirst wine : Les Milans is made by Marie & Vincent Tricot, a young couple from Orcet in the Auvergne (a mountainous region south-east in the Loire Valley Appellation zone). It is a Vin de France (formerly Vin de Table) with no clearly visible vintage (but it's a 2009, a lot number on fine prints tells it), and it's a blend of Pinot Noir (60 %) and Gamay (40 %). The two varieties are vinified separately and later blended after the malolactic fermentation. There was a carbonic maceration on the Gamay, with whole clusters and a fermentation time which was not too long. The Pinot Noir, partially destemmed, went through a more classical vinification, with a few punching-downs of the cap. The wine is unfiltered and unfined.
costs 6 € only at the estate. tricotvincent [at] hotmail [dot] com A very nice wine from the Puzelats I loved that Puzelat wine that we got recently at his home in Les Montils in the Loire. Again, here is an unfiltered light wine that you drink easily and puts you in a very good mood for the rest of the day... It's is made

with 100 % of Pinot Meunier, and old variety of the Loire which is almost gone in the region (thanks to the Appellation bodies which chose to ignore the local varieties). The wine, which is raised in casks and is bottled unfiltered, has this savoury and peppery mouth that makes you ask for more. You don't just drink this wine, you eat it !
The vines are a collection of very small plots (a few rows each, usually) scattered in the Orléanais region (near Orléans), an area which is off the radar in terms of wine. The plots are owned by old farmers who don't want to exploit them anymore (they were used for personal consumption), and to prevent their uprooting, a non-profit group named Amitié Argonne rents them and the Puzelats make wine with the grapes. These plots are farmed organic on the biodynamy management. The image on the label features Jean Gagin, an iconic French actor (Le rouge est Mis is one of his best movies), because Gabin used to have a cask of Pinot Meunier delivered in his cellar every year...
Here is a famous scene of another of Gabin's movies, La Traversée de Paris, where he helps another timorous guy transport black-market pork meat on foot through Paris in 1943 under curfew, during the starving years of the German occupation. Thinking they're being followed by informants, they hide a few minutes in a small bar (managed by a couple of Auvergnats) where they ask for two glasses of hot wine (vin chaud).... L'Anglore If you go eat at the wine bar/restaurant Baratin in Paris like we did very recently, try this Les Pierres Chaudes from Domaine de l'Anglore, it's simply delicious. If you're used to pass Rhone wines because they're likely to be heavy and high in alcohol, be ready to change your mind : this unfiltered Côtes du Rhone lets itself drink like a Loire Gamay. Every sip is pleasure, there was a bit of gas there which gave a tiny fizzy feel, but it added to the overall impression of freshness. 13 ° only (in 2009 !). Eric Pfifferling, the winemaker and owner of l'Anglore makes a very great job in the Rhone. I remember tasting his wines once and noticing that every single one was just beautiful. This one costs 33 € in the restaurant.
Paired also nicely with the collier d'agneau prepared by Raquel. For information, the three-course lunch at le Baratin costs 16 €, quite a good deal. K-Mart, a Korean/Japanese eatery in Paris A tip for those who like to go eat in a Japanese restaurant near Rue Sainte Anne in Paris (the rue Sainte Anne is the epicenter of the Paris Japanese neighborhood) : there's a Korean food store named K-Mart which has a Kafeteria on the side where you can eat for a mere 7 € or 8 €, for example a bento box with everything inside or a Bibimba. Very good value, and you can get your dish warmed in the microwave. The staff, which is mostly Korean with a few Japanese, is young and friendly.
The food store (almost a supermarket size) has fresh food from both Korean and Japanese origin. You'll find Paris' Japanese free newspapers on the cafeteria side.
Google map of K-Mart. - 6 rue Sainte Anne 75001 Paris.Open 7 days a week from noon to 8 pm !! (rare in France)

Comments

[Bob R.]

Marc Ollivier's Cuvee Granit is indeed exported to the US. It's featured this month at a top wine shop in Massachusetts: http://thewineandcheesecask.com/newsletter.htm

[Chris Barker]

I am also a wine lover and I must say that you have a very nice blog. How I wish that I could also go to these places and try all these varieties of wines.