Wine News (63)

Some pictures speak by themselves Could be anywhere in France (and elsewhere)
Some pictures speak by themselves indeed, I could almost post this one without further comment, but I'll indulge in a couple of ones.
I shot this picture a few weeks ago while walking with a vigneron along one of his parcels (I leave you guess which one was his own on the picture, given the type of domaines I visit). He didn't point to this visual difference with this other parcel (which was obviously worked differently), he was entirely focused on explaining his work and challenges in the last vintage. But for me this contrasted landscape in the far popped up as being richly informative, I saw this as an ideal photographic illustration of what is going on behind the scene in the wine world.

I strongly recommend to visit the wine regions in april or may, before the foliage of the vines has come out in force. I'll not be more specific on the issue but you'll see what many wineries would prefer to remain in the dark. Be it in Bordeaux, the Beaujolais, Chablis or the Loire, you could even check the parcels you like first and then try to find the winegrowers behind them, it'll spare you laborious research and other vain random tastings. I have a few similar interesting pictures (see at mid-scroll) showing how the Beaujolais vineyards can look when the business-minded winegrowers take shortcuts in their parcels.

Oh, and I have another guess for you : you'll find such contrasted vicinity typically across France and very often one of the parcels gets its AOC label right away while the other may face hurdles (to say the least) at the agreement commission, guess which ?!?...;-)

Meryl Croizier (left)

I tasted a few wine from Meryl Croizier recently in Ardèche (Rhone), this young guy is beginning to make wine (1st vintage 2012) and I think you'll hear about him. The area of Ardèche near Aubenas is indeed rich in talented artisan vignerons with Gilles Azzoni, Le Mazel, Andrea Calek, les Deux Terres, Sylvain Bock and others. Meryl grandfather was a grower at Valvignières (where Andrea Calek works), he came at Le Mazel (Gérald Oustric) for the harvest and that's it, he loved it and got hooked to this life and philosophy. He now works on 5,5 hectares in Valvignières and makes between 7 and 9 cuvées. The name of his domaine is La Vrille et le Papillon (the tendril and the butterfly), I made a photo essay on tendrils years ago, they evocate lightness, innocence and life. Meryl exports already 30 % of this wine, Quebec (Vin Libre), Japan (Mr Ito of Oeno-connexion), the United States (Weygandt Wines), Denmark (Niche Vine), Holland (Vinoblesse).

__ 100 % Ugni Blanc 2014, direct press, already bottled (but no cuvée name yet). Still dense color albeit the direct press (see pic on side, bottle without label). Fermented in fiber-glass vat, no filtration. Very aromatic and expressive. Lots of pectine in this varietal wine, and he says its difficult to avoid the turbidity if like him you refuse interventionist enological tools. Ugni Blanc was common in the region to make high yields and then was uprooted, it's been replanted today but as a base wine for sparkling. So his wine is pretty unique in this regard. His idea here is to make a summer white, like he does his rosé : low alcohol (this wine makes 10,8 %) and freshness. This is a try, he made 900 bottles this year. Zero SO2 anytime in this cuvée. Meryl is a trained enologist (graduated from Dijon and Montpellier) but he doesn't use the tricks and additives that are taught at the wine school. He worked 10 years in mainstream wineries before starting his own domaine.
__ "Z" Blanc 2013, 100 % Viognier, bottled 10 days before this visit. Direct press with beginning of the fermentation in vats and then immediately continues in 3-wine-old 350-liter barrels (got them in Burgundy). Stayed on lees without stirring or moving for 10 months in the barrels, plus another 10 months in tank. He says it is still recovering from the bottling shock.
__ Tous Cousins, Syrah 2014, bottled the previous day. Half carbonic, half traditional, all in vats. He says he makes very light Syrahs, he doesn't look for extraction. SO2 : 1 gram at bottling. Nose : fresh, alive and exciting. There will be 5200 bottles of this. 11,5 % alcohol (and we're in the Rhône !). Costs 6,4 € tax included for this wine, the sulfur-free Z Blanc and Z Rouge costs more, 10 €.
Here is a video (in French) where Meryl explains his path and philosophy.

Sylvain Bock

We also tasted a few wines by Sylvan Bock, also from Ardèche and a friend of Meryl and the other artisan vignerons of the area. He works now on 6 hectares compared to 4 in 2013. His wines are labelled as Vin de France (table wine).
__ Faux Sans Blanc 2014, white from a fiberglass vat, blend of Chardonnay with Grenache Blanc. Will be bottle with crown caps because a bit of residual sugar (6 to 7 grams when this visit took place) and no SO2 (not filtered either). This is a first bottling of a cuvée named "Ne Fait pas Sans Blanc" (which will be dryier for the 2nd bottling), the name having two meanings, "don't make without white" (literally) and don't pretend (phoneticly). He had to make this early bottling because he hasn't room enough, otherwise he prefers to relase the wine in time.
__ L'Equilibriste, Chardonnay from a barrel (about 10 barrels of this). Very clear, not turbid, that's the advantage of casks he says. Selection of his best chardonnays on silt and limestone, will be ready in august.
__ Fruit de la Patience, Chardonnay 2013, two (old) barrels only. Name because it took time to become what it is.
__ Reviens Gamay 2014, from a stainless-steel vat. Carbonic maceration. From a vineyard he began to work on last year. Was to bottled 10 days after this visit. Two terroirs, Limestone and basalt, the two being blended. Will not be filtered, no addition, he'll just try to take the CO2 out before bottling. Nice red.
__ Part of Grelots, Grenache, partly 50 years old in goblet and the rest 30 years old on trellis, currently in conversion. he got the vineyards last year with the one of gamay. Carbonic maceration. Nice parcel he says because it's isolated and surrounded with woods. More astringency here, more rustic. Was to be bottled 10 days later.
__ Suck a Rock, Merlot 2014 100 %, from a cask, limestone soil, he has been working for 5 years on this parcel. He tries to make an "anti merlot", as it is a carbonic maceration, there are no added sulfites and it's old oak. Also located in a wild area, a fresh terroir. Color : quite light. Easy drinking. Will be bottled in july.
__ Raffut, Syrah 2014, from a cask. Clay-limestone. The only cuvée which is not a 100 % carbonic. He wanted to make a wine that would be moe than fruit and can age. Very nice, nose and mouth, refined mouthfeel
A few prices for Sylvain Bock's wines

The river Ardèche

In case you wonder what Ardèche is, beyound being pârt of the Rhone wine region and an administrative département, this is also a 125-km river that comes out of the ground in the Vivarais at an elevation of about 1500 meters and will join the Rhône river near Pont-Saint-Esprit. Better known as a mid-size river when you see it near the Rhône valley, the Ardèche river is a picturesque stream deeper inside the mountain, its beauty being underlined here and there by elegant and undestructible old bridges. The backcountry of Ardèche is really worth a detour.

More table wines to come soon (pic from Decanter)

This has to do with appellation issues and petty politics : I was tipped about this Decanter article by Michael : Vouvray appellation bureaucrats just banned two producers from using the Vouvray appellation on the pretext that the wines were vinified in a facility located a few kilometers from the Vouvray sector. After being initially authorized to do so for years, the INAO body changed its mind, forcing the two outstanding vignerons to bottle these cuvées as Vin de France. We should thank these INAO guys, the Table Wine label look more and more these days as a guarantee of quality. Digging into this intriguing change of mind from the local INAO bureaucrats, Decanter finds a clew from the two vignerons : it is likely that the reason is a bitter rivalry between the Montlouis AOC and the Vouvray AOC, Montlouis being no more considered as a minor contender but ranking now often on top thanks precisely to the work of Blot and Chidaine. if they think the move will hamper the sales of these two successful rivals, the Vouvray INAO makes a mistake, they're rather shooting themselves in the foot.

A nice sulfur-free wine

This was at Véronique's birthday party ouitside Paris in Saint Germain en Laye, there was this bottle specially fit for her as she really doesn't stand so2, and I was very happy to experience that wine that was unknown to me : La Descente aux Amphores by Nicolas Réau (his blog here), a Vin de France (table wine) made in Anjou (Loire) with Cabernet Franc, the cuvée name paraphrasing humoristicly "la descente aux enfers" which means descent into hell. See this page with picture and a video about his vinification in amphora. The wine is bottled 19 route de Sainte Verge (Sainte Vierge ?) 79100 Sainte Radégonde des Pommiers (couldn't find the place on Google Maps).

This is as you can guess a carbonic maceration (7 month) made in a large-size (88-liter) amphora, Georgian type (interred), it tastes so good, fruit and velvet at the same time, a treat to swallow and drink without moderation. The back label says it all : Sans sulfites ajoutés (no added sulfites) and 11,5 % in alcohol, I'd drink that everyday if I could. The price tag is beyond my means though, more than 40 euro retail. I have to check his other, more affordable cuvée when I can, I will do without the amphora if necessary, should be great nonetheless.

A nice red from Auvergne

Going through Auvergne we had a couple of nice reds at Jean Maupertuis. Jean is as usual simple and easy going, always a pleasure to visit him. His grape volume in 2014 was severely affected by the drosphilia damages, like in some parts of the Loire, in Alsace and Jura.
__ Pierres Noires 2014, old vines of Gamay, near the village. Was to be bottled the following week. Nice translucent color. Very enjoyable wine, alive and fruity, morello cherries. A bit of gas but no problem, goes down well

__ La Plage, Vin de France 2014 (XIV). Bottled the previous week then when we visited. Gamay from Riom, the parcel of red that was the least affected by the drosophilia, almost no damage. Most of his loss was on his Pinot Noir and on the Gamay of Pierres Noires. They had to pick a week earlier than planned that's why the wines are lighter that year.
I like this wine, very fruity and vivid. 11,5 % in alcohol, overall less this year than the previous vintages. Zero added sulfites.
__ We now taste a barrel of La Plage that has not been bottled yet, the wine is much rounder and open, the other being still not recovering from the bottling shock. Zero added sulfites too. Very tasty and enjoyable.

__ Neyrou 2014, Pinot Noir, also recently bottled but without racking. A bit closed too. A bit more astringent, black fruit notes. Normally he makes 3000 or 3500 bottles of this, but in 2014 only 1200. Parcel makes 1,5 hectare. The slope is steep there and the soil is sandy with erosion, so the vines struggle, also with the grass that takes the little water, explains also the low yields.

__ Pink Bulles 2014, sparkling. Parcel of Gamay, named La Guillaume. Direct press. Almost dry bubbly (dryer than the 2013), makes 11 %. He says that with a natural sparkling it's always difficult to know if the wild yeast will eat all the sugar or stop before.

A 100 % Grolleau by Domaine Breton

I tasted this nice vin de soif recently with Pierre Breton, the Epaulé Jeté 2014, a table wine, 100 % Grolleau that sports only 11,5 % alcohol on its label info. Grolleau is a variety that was much more common a hundred years ago but is now hard to find thanks to the AOC bashing it as a minor variety. After AOC was set up, from 1938, growers uproooted their grolleau to replant cabernet franc that was selling better.

The label is a plus with the iconic drawing and caption by Tolmer, until now it was printed only for lavinia and the Japanese market. But this 100 % Grolleau is the first vintage of its kind, the Bretons rent this vineyard of grolleau which is 50 years old and grows on sandy soil.

Grolleau is known to be light and fruity but Pierre says that 2014 brought more density. Easy wine, not much tannin. Unfiltered.

Next year Pierre says that he may bottle this grolleau in one-liter bottle, to signal I guess its easy-drinking, no-fuss nature.
The wine has almost a peppery side, Pierre says that this is brought by the carbonic maceration.

Also tasted among others :
__ Avis de Vin Fort, Bourgueil 2014, bottled early april, more or like the others we tasted that day. Cabernet Franc, 50-year old on gravel. Direct press, élevage in Grenier wooded foudres, this is a rosé that looks like a red. Nice light wine, very fruity, not filtered just a bit of so2 added.
__ Bourgueil Clos Sénéchal 2011. That was good. 2-year élevage in 2 Grenier tronconic foudres. From a terroir that is particularly good, year after year it seems to me. His family own this parcel since 1786, quite a long ownership.

They wanted to ban Breton's "Nuits D'Ivresse"

I didn't write much about it but you may know that the bright minds who have been at the wheel for a couple of years in France had the plan to police the Internet, the media, and even the blogs and the cuvées names in order to fight the scourge of alcohol. When Erdogan meets Fidel Castro (the driver-in-chief just visited the colorful dictator by the way)... We used to just laugh about the issue but they were serious about it and I think we owed a missed majority in the senate or something like that to have this brilliant project scrapped.

Here you can see through this article in the local newspaper in the Loire that Domaine Breton's Nuits D'Ivresse would have been targeted for inciting drunkenness, Nuits D'Ivresse meaning drunken nights, OMG, I guess the red & green puritans up there couldn't suffer such a free-minded, Rabelaisian provocation...
The mainstream media in France is not very courageous to fight the soft totalitarianism of our progressive and politically-correct governments, but we have sometimes a good surprise and this article in the Nouvelle République (see enlarged pic of the article) if still very moderate has at least said a word against this nonsense. I won't be specific about it but Pierre hasn't a particularly good opinion of Marisol Touraine, the minister and leading crusader who backed this very restrictive approach in controlling the media, blogs and cuvées names regarding wine and alcohol. I suggest she drinks a couple of bottles of Nuits D'Ivresse, she may recover a bit of common sense.
But don't hope in vain : After this failed attempt, our MPs who seem to have a lot of spare time, took revenge elsewhere, with a bright mind named Olivier Veran passing successfully a law banning skinny catwalk models on fashion shows and ads (no, I'm serious). We probably now have a new type of commission d'agrément to gauge the skinniness of models (this is how they fight unemployment, I guess)...
Link to the online version of the article

Another era

Let's rewind back in time for a contrasting view of what was the government policy regarding wine consumption a few decades ago. Common sense was the norm then, and the puritan approach of our modern progressive ministers would have been labelled pure folly. This was somewhere in the 1930s', and the very serious Ministère de l'Agriculture was issuing this type of message through posters :

A Meal without Wines is a Day without Sun
What a beautiful sentence,"A meal without wines is a day without sun", note the "s", we're dealing with several wines in A meal... Everything is said there, it's simple, it's crystal clear with no hint of excess, and it has behind it the several thousand years of the Mediterranean Civilization. Implicitely the message was, enjoy, have good time with family, colleagues and friends and drink wine while eating, it's good for you and it's good for the nation. These [probably socialist if it was the mid 1930s] French officials would certainly be regarded today like awfull irresponsable, know-nothing populists by their contemporary equivalents, can you believe how things changed in this country ?
That's why we can't but be puzzled when we read the signature on the lower left of the poster : Ministère de l'Agriculture. Today we view these posters as beautiful relics of a time when we all simply shared this wine culture light-heartedly and without malice. Knowing the mindset of our present-day rulers, if the ministre who authored this sentence back in the 1930s' had a street named after him, our modern green/red puritans will certainly have it renamed promptly for a more politically-correct hero, why not Claude Évin or Marisol Touraine...
I saw that poster in the tasting room of Baudry recently.

Marie-Laurence Saladin at the Folies Bergères

I was invited recently at a large professional tasting featuring only women winemakers or I should say winegrowers, to translate adequately the word vigneronnes. The event was organized by the wine communication agency Clair de Lune and the women winegrowers group was the Cercle Femmes de Vin (here is their Facebook page) which fedferates some 200 vigneronnes coming from 9 regions (but oddly not from the Loire in spite of the many prominent women winemakers there). The group was set up in 2009 by Chantal Pegaz (Etoiles en Beaujolais) and Marie-Laurence Saladin. The group want to share the wine culture in France, including through education, like for example have a national day Ecoles en vendanges which is I guess have classes come to the harvest to experience this colorful aspect of the wine culture. They may be determined enough to succeed where men didn't and hopefully have the puritan excesses scrapped from the government policies regarding wine (time to dream...).
Here is the list of all the participating vigneronnes/domaines.

To make this tasting event more appealing (a wine fair with only vigneronnes !) it took place at the Folies Bergère (there was no show at that time), not in the theater itself where Marie-Laurence and I ventured for a picture with her rosé 2014, but in the lounge or hall, an impressive room between the street access and the theater. I arrived there after work so I didn't really have time to taste much, and with many wines there you had the impression that a skilled enologist had made the job, so I'll concentrate on two tables that stood out from the half dozen I tasted, beginning with Marie-Laurence Saladin (Domaine saladin) who is the only winegrower I really knew that day and whose work in the vineyard is transparent.

__ Per El 2014, white Côtes du Rhone Villages. Vinified in cement vats, 3 months élevage. Sterile filtration. 20 mg so2 on the incoming grapes, plus some at bottling. Very aromatic, that's a southern white, tastes well in spite of the warm temperature for a white (there was no cooling system for the wines in the event). Marsanne, Roussane, Viognier, Bourboulenc, Clairette, Grenache Blanc.
__ Rosé Tralala 2014, Cotes du Rhone. Rosé semi-direct-press for the Cinsault after a night of cold maceration, the other varieties being Grenache, Clairette, Carignan and Syrah. Cold-temperature pre-maceration. In the mouth, a very saline wine, very interesting, and this again is pite of being served to very cold. Soil : clay limestone with ammonites. 2500 bottles in 2014, they target 4000 bottles for the vintage 2015 (they lost grapes in 2014).In 2014 the volume is small : 20 hectoliters (3000 bottles, vs 4000 bottles on a normal year).
__ Cuvée Paul, red Côtes du Rhône 2014. 90 % Grenache, 10 % Clairette. Carbonic maceration (whole clusters) in cement vats only (the ones you can see in my story about the Saladin sisters. Bottled in april, very early for this vintage because they hadn't any wine to sell, otherwise this cuvée gets a 2-winter élevage. For example the 2012 was even bottled this april 2015. Minimum filtration. SO2 also on incoming grapes and at bottling.
The wine has a beautiful power feel with aromas of ripe black fruits.

Johana Unang (Rhône/Ventoux)

My other good luck was to stop by pure chance at the table of Joanna from the Chateau Unang, I immediately spotted her nice accent although she speaks good French. Joanna King and her husband James are Scotts who settled here in 2001 with 20 hectares of vineyards at the time, the Chateau Unang was a deep-rooted domain with the Château history going back to 1500 years ago. The new owners who made their first harvest in 2003 moved the vineyard management to organic and they pick the grapes by hand, downsizing the total surface to 15 hectares today. Both Joanna and her husband work full time on the domaine. For the picking, in order to decide at the last minute for the proper time to harvest, they use locals that are available rapidly instead of having to plan ahead with team of foreigners (Spanish or East-Europeans). For example last year was tricky because of rain problems and you had to decide quickly.
Exported to the U.S. by Vintage 59.

__ Chateau Unang Ventoux cuvée domaine (no cuvée name actually) AOC Ventoux 2013. Bottled april 2015. Lightly filtered. Majority of Grenache with Syrah, Cinsault. Destemmed, slow fermentation (3 weeks) to get the maximum fruit, stainless-steel vats. Minimum SO2, on the incoming grapes only. In the mouth, majestic, the wine kind of resonates on the palate. Vines about 40 years. Nice wine, costs 8 € tax included at the domaine. They export to the U.S., Germany, Denmark, Canada (Quebec) and of course Scottland.

__ La Croix Ventoux 2011, a higher-end cuvée. Not organic then because they were in conversion (certified in 2013). Concentrated red, classy, nice length. 65 % Grenache, 35 % Syrah & 5 % Cinsault. Vineyard at 350 m elevation. Nice powerful feel. Joanna says that she and her husband have a passion for Grenache and they chose these parcels in altitude for this quality cuvée, the higher-elevation grenache have this silkiness that you won't find in the plain, possibly with the cool nights. Vinified 16 months in demi-muids (500-liter Temptos barrels) plus one year in bottles. Volume : 4000/5000 bottles. Costs 18 € tax included. Nice wine that is just in its youth.

Beaujolais Très très vieilles vignes 2005

I was invited a few weeks ago to a tasting event featuring a very unusual négoce, it is Les Editions de Vins Rares and it is centered on wines made across the French regions from very old vines, I mean, really very very old. Our guests says that in addition to being very old, the parcels he selects for these wines are surrounded with wild life and woods and are farmed organic. Here are a few of the outstanding wines I tasted that day :

__ First this Très Très Vieilles Vignes Beaujolais 2005 (bottled in magnums only). Vines aged 80 at least up to 100, growing on red porphyry, sand, feldspar. Hand picked. Light fining but unfiltered. Zero so2 added on this vintage, no additives. Jean-Armand Bloc who runs this négoce used to own this vineyard in the past, it is a 7-hectare plot on mid slope near Beaujeu (now owned by a grower named Georges Balandras). Vinified in 600-liter micro fermenters that turn around slowly so that you don't have a cap showing up at the top, The maceration/fermentation lasted 24 months here. They've been beginning to sell the wine for about a year.
color : evolved. Classy mouth, enjoyable wine that gets down easily. We're encourage to eat some caramel chocolate as paring example. I'm not convinced, the wine is so nice by itself.
Here is the back label info for this wine.

Pineau d'Aunis 2006 -- 107-year-old vines

Now that's interesting, here is wine made from really-old vines (107 years) : planted in 1875 in the Vendomois region (in the Loire, the Vendômois is today the main region for this variety). Let's remind that there are about 200 hectares planted with Pineau d'Aunis in total. Jean-Armand Bloc says that unlike today pineau d'aunis was the most common variety in the 17th and 188th century and growers had sometimes yields up to 200 hectoliters/hectare and it was certainly not excellent with such yields. Considered in its time as a table wine the variety was later massively uprooted and we have now only 200 hectares of it. Our guest says that he was lucky to find a grower (Patrice Colin) who had a 2-hectare block of it planted 140 to 160 years ago. the parcel is bordered by woods on two sides, on the other sides it's a fiels and a grass road, so this is really organic with a diverse insect life. The yields here are 14 hectoliters/hectare on good years.
Half of the grapes have an élevage in a rotating micro fermenter and the rest in 300-liter barrels.
Color : not dark, that's a real pineau d'aunis... Aromas of pepper, plus some strawberry. Good acidity in the mouth, with good length. Nice chew, and the wine is obviously at the beginning of its life.
Here we were offered to eat some chocolate with ginger, but ginger was to strong for the wine, I definitely prefer the wine alone...
Here is the back label info for this wine.

Very very old vines - Carignan 2006

__Here is the "Very Very Old Vines" of Carignan (100 %), vintage 2006, AOC Corbières, made with a parcel owned by Christophe Cambriel. Vines age : 78 and more.
Light perly feel on the tongue, I thought there was no added so2 but our guest says it actually got 2 grams.
The mouth is majestic, intense, splendid wine. An exquisite wine with this complex aroma and meat juice, and such a length. The mouth touch tells you it's still young and will grow even better.

__ We also tasted a Coteaux du Layon Chaume, chenin picked grape per grape, every 3 days, very old vines (75 to 82). Grower : Domaine du Petit Metris. Pressed and Vinified in 400-liter barrels made in the Vosges mountains (new barrels from what I understand). He orders the barrels at the last minute because he'll know the type of roasting he needs just when he tastes the grapes. In spite of the residual sugar (150-200 grams) this wine has only 6 grams of added so2 (Chateau Yquem uses 14 or 15 grams) and got no filtration. The reason why he can use so little so2 is that the wine rests 24 months without moving. Then bottlings is done without pump, by gravity and the bottle will rest another year in a 12°C cellar.
Color : gold with vivid reflections. Nose : caramel. Very nice wine, again, intense, velvety and long in the mouth. I wonder why I don't drink more of these Coteaux-du-Layon wines (of this quality at least); I remained polite but would have easily helped myself otherwise.

Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme pouring his rosé

Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme who was formerly an associate of Thierry Puzelat in a négoce in Les Montils, now runs the operation by his own. He owns about 8 hectares of vineyards (in 2009 he began with 2,5 hectares) and he also purchases additional grapes in the region and as far as Ancenis, making a nice range of diverse wines. Here are a couple of them I tasted at his place

__ Melon de Bourgogne 2014, Vin de Table made with grapes purchased in the village of Oudon in the Coteaux d'Ancenis area 250 km from here (between Nantes and Angers). Vinified in 300-liter casks. He bought the grapes to a young guy who begins his own thing. He will not get this parcel next year but another one. Unfiltered wine, tastes well, sharp and neat. Bottled the previous week and seems to have recovered. 11,8 %.

__ KO, a rosé Vin de France made with lots of Gamay and some Cabernet Franc. Nice vibrant color. 5 grams residual sugar, thus it was filtered. He purchased the grapes from Olivier Bellanger in Thésée, a young guy whom I visited and knows what he is doing.

__ Vercheny 2014, 100 % Pinot Noir from a vineyard on sands, located near Les Montils in the direction of Blois, near the woods. This is on the Cheverny appellation but because the wine is a single variety he hasn't the right to it. He has been renting this surface for 2 years, and for the first vintages he was not lucky as frost and roe deers took their toll but this year he had a nice enough volume to make a separate cuvée. Makes 11,5 %. Nose fine, small astringency in the mouth. After a few minutes in my glass and a bit warmer, tastes already much better, nice fruit. Picked by hand, whole-clustered fermentation in tronconic wooden fermenters, and after the fermentation right into the barrels, no racking during winter.
No Suzukii drosophilia here, he picked early when he saw the problems in the Cher valley with this insect, that's why it is low in alcohol. In the Cher valley he saw his parcel of Pineau d'Aunis that went south in the matter of 3 days only.

__ Tel Quel 2013, majority Gamay (80 %) and a bit of Côt, bottled july 2014. Lots of reduction here Pierre-Olivier warns. I love the nose, very exciting. Astringency in the mouth, may come from the Côt, it is vinified whole-clustered (he has no destemmer). At this stage (it is early) it is less seductive than Vercheny. Second sip is delicious though, after I warmed up my tasting glass, and much less astringent.

Wine-importer group trip

This was a few months ago (forgot to tell about it in my last Wine News), I met Raphael of Return to Terroir (front left) with his salesman in L.A. Jean-Baptiste Dhalluin (front right) as well as two other guys from the restaurant scene in this part of California : Justin Prairie and Stephen Rudicel. They were all on their way for a wine trip through France (Loire, Beaujolais) and Italy. We had dinner together at la Nouvelle Mairie this time, and had lots of good wine too in addition with our andouillettes...

This mini story is not undercover advertising, I think it is newsworthy to show the hard work of wine importers, can you imagine going visit and taste in all those nice artisan wineries... They also visited Philippe Pacalet who (not common) visited California with his wife Monica around the same time when Raphael was there. The Pacalets and Raphael toured several organic vineyards in southern California including the outstanding AmByth Estate which is dry farming on the dry slopes of Paso Robles.
The Yvon Métras Fleurie 2012 was particularly beautiful and delicate. In addition to the Huet we had Domaine Mosse's Savennières Arena 2009. With the nice food and the wines our bill was only 50 euros each if I remember, I was surprised myself how affordable this place is.

Customized Massey-Fergusson 25

On a short visit at domaine PLageoles recently (in the Gaillac region) I spotted this strange machine : This straddle tractor is originally a Massey Ferguson 25, a model from the 1960s', and like you can check on this Google search on this model, there has never been a straddle-tractor version of the 25, it was a regular machine and this one has been customized to work in the vineyard by a local workshop. This was something relatively common then in the 1960s' or 1970s', a cheap way to get custom machines that could properly do the job. "Real", new straddle tractors were much more expensive and imaginative mechanical workshop filled the gap for a fraction of the price.

Along my travels across the wine regions I've come across many surprising machines, especially from the 1960s' when local makers weren't limited by the bureaucracy and the norms, the tractors were cutely small and light and the almost-artisan makers in certain regions built their machiines along the precise requirements of the farmers.

Another weird machine

Here is another strange machine spotted at Plageoles, also from around the 1970s' : From what I remember this machine was locally made (in the Gaillac region) by a mechanic named Granier, using a recycled Renault 8 or 10 engine, it is some sort of straddle machine for the harvest (possibly for low vines without tresilling like it could be found in the region then), the pickers would empty the comportes (large basketys to collect the grapes) on both sides of the row and the machine would raise them to the gondolas (with a spiral screw I guess) when arrived at the end of the row. This is a totally local type of machine that you're unlikemy to see elsewhere.
This reminds me of the tractor I saw at Yvon Métras, also a survivor from the 1960s', it was fitted with a Citroën 2CV engine...
There should be a museum for these machines anf if some of them wouldn't be of any use today, some others could bring some inspiration to some local makers or workshops, and I know winegrowers that are not shy of having a tool made from scratch if they need something special and if the makers don't adapt to their needs.

An old Mauzac parcel with all colors

Bernard Plageoles showed us a nice parcel of Mauzac near the winery, it was back in april that's why the buds were only coming out, but what was interesting is that the parcel is planted in goblets and without trellising, like it was the norm in the old time, and Bernard's father and himself continued this tradition while mainstream wineries adopted the trellis. He says that goblet is good for several reasons, one of them being that the clusters are protected from the sun by the foliage. Another benefit of these low goblets is the lower yields because you do short pruning on these and keep only 2 buds per branch. They usually don't get fros here, the last big frost they got was in 1991. This parcel here was plowed by a horse at the beginning, and they kept the goblets low also for this reason. Now asthey use tractors they tend to bring the height a bit higher.
Here this 60-year old parcel is planted with the different colors of the local variety Mauzac, as you have the Mauzac Rose, the Mauzac Roux (redhead), the Mauzac Vert, the Mauzac Noir, and the Mauzac Gris, no less.
We owe these preserved old varieties to Bernard's grandfather who was a winegrower and a grafter himself, so he could manage all these massal selections by himself, and from this intact vine capital, Bernard's father could develop in the 1970s' the coming-back of the many local varieties that were being snubbed at that time by mainstream wineries who would replant instead Bordeaux varieties.
Another treasure of the region beyong the local Gaillac varieties (my preferred being the Fer Servadou) is the architecture with many castles and chateaus dotting the landscape.

Nice 100 % Tannat

I was invited rtecently to a wine event centered on Madiran wines, one of the AOC appellations of the Sud-Ouest wine region. While many growers there still sell to the coop or the négoce, there are a number of wineries that bottle their own wines. The region is known for it reds made in part or totally with Tannat, the star variety of the region. The wines of Madiran were known for being very astringent but in the recent years (I don't know if it's a blessing or a bad omen), the wines have become much smoother in the last few years thanks to skilled enology and modern vinification techniques. The tasting featured mainstream wines (including quite a number made by coops & négoces) that had been selected blind to be presented in this Paris event (organized by the wine communication agency Pain Vin & Company). I tasted a few dry whites from the region first, the Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh, they're unsurprising but rather easy to drink for southern whites, and they're damn cheap.

__The first white I stumbled upon was actually the one I preferred among the other dry whites : Château Barréjat Pacherenc du Vic Bilh, vinified two months in vats on fine lees. 80 % Gros Manseng, 20 % Petit Courbu. Very aromatic, powerful wine with nice roundness and drinkability. Costs only 4,3 € tax included at the winery.

Regarding the reds I found they were too often heavy with excessive alcohol and extraction. The climate and varieties may in part explain this but I suspect "modern" enology plays a good part too. These red wines had a majority of Tannat (70 % or more) with a percentage of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, which are supposed to soften the Tannat.
__ The Madiran I preferred was without hesitation this Chateau Viella 2012 Prestige, and oddly it was a 100 % Tannat, from a 25-year-old vineyard on pebble stones and clay, 4-hectare parcel, hand picked, not organic. 28 days vatting, 12 months in new oak. The wine shows what looks like a sharp freshness with notes of dust and guarrigue, it stands out inspite of the high alcohol. Costs 14 € retail..

Lovely bottle of red from the Muscadet

This was in the Loire a few weeks ago, I foraged into the messy celmlar I keep there and found what is bossibly the last bottle of La Pépie from a batch I bought a few years ago while visiting the domaine of La Pèpière.
The wine is just so delicious and enjoyable. This unfiltered Cabernet Franc 2012 is made in an unlikely region, the Muscadet. So smooth and voluptuously fruity, a delight of a wine which had very little SO2 added. May this turbid, milky color may inspire you, this was food as well as wine. If I remember I paid less than 5 € tax included for this bottle back then.
This was time to restock and travel again to Western tip of the Loire.

Plowing in Muscadet

By the way, I took the opportunity of a short visit at la Pépière to restock directly. Marc Ollivier was around, from what I understand he passes the reins progressively to his associates.
We still had time during this short visit to see one of the modern tractors work, this was on Monnières-Saint Fiacre, a terroir of gneiss that needed to have its grass kept in check. Monnières-Saint Fiacre is in the process to become a Cru Communal (the terroir of Clisson is already a Cru Communal). Marc says they began making wine from this terroir in 2013.

Marc says that the plowing here is a very difficult job that needs lots of attention and alertness so as not to uproot the vines.They'll have to till by hand to finish the work beneath the vines, where the blades can't get too close. Part of his surface here is 60 years old, this is selection massale. The goos smell of healthy earth strikes you when you approach the tractor. The soil was still soft that day but Marc says that this gneiss having a good share of clay too, if they wait too much it might quickly be to hard to plow. The yellow dots on the left are replantings, also massal selections.

To stay on the register machines, here is an undestructible tractor spotted at the facility (picture on right). Marc Ollivier remembers that he bought it second hand in 1984 from the former owner of the domaine, Marc thinks it was built in 1968 or 1969. Still works ! Why do we need all these computerized systems ? 2:43

Muscadet, 100 + years

I couldn't but share the picture of this gorgeous vine of Muscadet which is more than 100 years old, this is on Clisson. Marc says that a neighbor who is 95 told him that he has always seen this old parcel since he was a child. No need to say the tractor driver has to be very careful, they even had to adjust the plows so that the blades pass at a respectable distance from the rootstock, this will just leave more work to do by hand on the remaining grass. Mark says that oddly they still yield a correct volume for their age.

We tasted the generic Muscadet 2014, a nice vintage with also volumes (40 ho/ha) that are at last correct after several diffucult years. Asked if they had problems with the Suzukii drosophilia, Marc Ollivier says that it affected a bit the red grapes, on the Côt, and only on the end of the rows near the hedge, 2 or 3 vines in each row had damaged grapes. He hadn't heard about this insect before and only later read articles about it.

__ We tasted Clisson 2012 in bottle, very round, because both the lees aging ( years on its lees) and the soil. And while the yields at la Pépière were 20 ho/ha in 1012, at Clisson it was 12 ho/ha. Alcohol 13,4 with a high acidity, big wine with good balance, less than 1 gr residual sugar.
__ Among other wines we tasted also the very nice cuvée "4" 2010, the grapes here come from both Chateau Thebaud (2/3) and Clisson (1/3) and the name "4" because this wine stayed 4 full years on its lees. Marc says they don't do this cuvée every year and this may be the last year they do it, because they have today a strong demand for the individual Crus Communaux. They had made this blend to test linger élevages, first in 2009 on 3 years (cuvée 3). Nice ripeness in the mouth, very interesting Muscadet.
__ Cuvée "3" 2009, blend of the two terroirs for 3 years on their lees. 2009 is more easy to drink, Marc says, and summer was more sunny. the 2010 has more acidity compared to this one. Very saline feel along the ripeness, very nice Muscadet.
Another treat : the reds :
__ La Pépie, Cabernet Franc 2014, Vin de Pays du Val de Loire bottled a week before. Delicious ans easy to drink. I love the reds of La Pépière, they're under the radar.
__ La Pépie Côt 2014, Vin de Pays du Val de Loire. Almost same vinification but with Côt, he just did a carbonic maceration Beaujolais-style with 1/4 of the grapes (whole-clustered then). Also no oak, just stainless steel. Destemmed, 4 days of maceration (but still a dark color) and he kept only the free-run juice (not the press juice for this cuvée). Tastes more meaty, delicious too, and a treat, costs between 5 € and 6 € tax included at the winery. The cab franc is difficult to work on a carbonic because the stem is often green.
__ Cuvée Granit 2013, Vin de Pays de Louire Atlantique. Blend Cab Franc (50 %), Côt ( 20 %), Merlot (20 %) and Cab Sauvignon (10 %). Lovely nose too. Bottled august 2014. Some astringency in te mouth. Marc says that they added the press juice of the others, they rounded the wine with some wood élevage but he says it's better to wait more to drink it. I believe that, having had recently a lovely bottle of La Pépie which I had bouight here a few years ago.
Regarding SO2 reds have 20 mg total (no free SO2). The Briords and base cuvée have 30 mg total and 20 mg free, and the longer-élevage cuvées they check along the years and add if necessary, the "4" and "3" thus reach higher levels, like 50/60 total in order to keep some free. The reds are unfiltered.

André Fouassier's Menu Pineau

We had this Menu Pineau a few weeks ago (cuvée le Caillou du Tertre 2013), it's made in Touraine (Loire) by André Fouassier. I appreciate to still find menu Pineau from this region, considering this now-minor variety is not favored by the AOC administration (growers are thus indirectly encouraged to get rid of it).

A gorgeous Côt from Touraine

This was a few months ago, maybe in march, we were visiting André Fouassier in Touraine and he let us taste his Côt which was still in vats. Man, that was so good and easy drinking, look at this color, you almost have the taste visually here, this was liquid food. I hope he keep it this way, unfiltered. Such a great job with a côt that was a pleasure so early. I need to visit him again and see if it's bottled by now.

Sunflower field fertilized with trash

You may remember that until maybe the mid 199os' the vineyards of Champagne were routinely fertilized by a very strange compost : grinded trash brought there by large cities (Paris if I'm right). the practice was then dropped, possibly (I think) because wine tourism took off and people were beginning to stroll in the vineyards and ask questions. By the way either some keep using this type of waste of they've put so much of it along the years that on a routine stop in a Champagne vineyard in 2013 I still found parcels littered with blue plastic.
You might wonder if the trash trade found another "export" market ? I think I have an answer after spotting a whole field in Touraine covered with the easily-recognizable shredded waste with its tiny pieces of blue plastic. This young shoot of sunflower must wonder where it has landed.

Still relishing this very special Champagne enjoyed in a family reunion

Comments

[Bob Rossi]

A terrific post. It sounds like you've done nothing lately but travel around France and taste wine. Une belle vie! While I have visited all of the wine areas you mention, I was particularly interested in your discussion of the southern Ardeche. Many young vignerons (including those you write about) have established themselves there recently, and many of their wines are imported into the United States (and even sold here in the back woods of Portland, Maine). However, one vigneron, Jerome Mazel, who is one of the best in the southern Ardeche in my opinion, rarely gets written about, and as far as I know his wines are not available outside France. If you get back to that area, you might want to check him out. I wrote about him and his winery back in 2010 in this blog post: http://www.mainelywinenews.blogspot.com/2010/04/domaine-mazel-jerome-mazel-master.html