Paris, Porte de Versailles
Imagine a wine fair gathering 1000 wineries/domaines from all the French regions, including Champagne and Cognac, all under one roof with the same carefully-sized stand and offering a wide range of cuvées (usually from 6 to 10 each), that's what the visitor of the Salon des Vignerons Indépendanrs can face twice a
year in Paris. This makes a lot of wines to taste and you better plan ahead with the fair's website to
make a choice. The problem is that their website [here the page for the next one in march which is a bit smaller] is not
very user-friendly, you have to click repeatedly without ever having for example all the domaines of a given region on a single page, so I usually prefer to go there without planning. It seems to me that in the past they displayed a large board at the entry with the names of participants and the stands location in the fair, I saw none of this this time, but walking and picking randomly the wineries you'll taste is interesting as well, especially that there is no region order, they're all mixed up with a Champagne producer standing next top a Languedoc for example.
It had been a while that I hadn't visited this fair in spite of receiving lots of invitations, sometimes because I'm out of town, sometimes because of the crushing crowds (see pic on right), but I decided to visit again this december, first because there are a few natural-wine producers who participate, and because interesting vignerons pop up also year after year, who use the fair as a direct access to the Paris-region public. The early-december wine fair is indeed the occasion for many Parisians to restock their cellar, especially before Christmas & New Year, taking advantage of the fact that all the vignerons bring lots of cases of their wine to sell, and at the domaine's rate, no extra for shipping (you can buy just a bottle if you want). It had been a few years since last time I visited, although I receive many invitations from my past visits (I used to give them around, they're not nominative). The good thing is, when you buy wine even once here, the domaines take note of your name and address and you receive every year from them an invitation for 2 people. The entry ticket is very cheap anyway if you don't have any free pass, maybe 6 or 7 €
.
If you ever come, you might be wary of not finding the wine-fair building inside the large convention/fair complex at the Porte de Versailles, but no worry, just follow the crowd outside the Métro exit, they're all certainly go there,
it's a joyous event to
go with friends with virtually thousands of wines to drink/taste at will [the health police has not yet edicted limits to this feast, in part because most come by public transportation] and many young people do that in groups with fellow students or office employees. As said, the event is crowded especially in the afternoon, so the best is to go there early when it opens at 10 am, and preferably on friday or monday (it typically starts friday and ends monday), but I came on saturday this time, and the first hours were fine (this picture above right must have been shot in the afternoon before I left). Saturday & sunday afternoon is really crowded, makes it more difficult to navigate and access some popular stands (happily the most popular are not always the best, it has often to do with a reknown AOC).
Other imperative : come with light cloths because it warms up quickly (because of the growing crowd and what you ingested) and the less you carry the easier it will be to move around and enjoy. You can buy a sandwich or something to eat, or bring your own food, many people do that, sitting somewhere to pause and add solid food to the many liquids they inevitably swallow (and the pours are often generous here...). Lastly you have roomy toilets in the middle of the fair up the escalators, so go with no restraints for a full day of wine and chat with the vignerons (the stands are manned by the vignerons and their family, not commercial clerks).
I was wondering if I'd start with a couple of Champagne producers to open my palate and start this day but I had barely begun to walk along the first row of stands after entering the large fair building that I spotted Jo Landron and his wife pouring wine and speaking to a few people. Muscadet seemed to me a better option actually, and I love improvisation, this was chartered territory but my palate would
appreciate...
__ Les Houx 2016, temperature of the wine a bit too high, but fine for gauging the wine,
which shows off a nice energy. Jo Landron says that in 2017 they had frost also, but they were less affected this time and managed to make yields of about 30 hectoliters/hectare, with very nice balances, akin to the ones of 2007. 2016 was a good vintage too in spite of the frost, just that everyhing was more concentrated, like if they had done a big green harvest.
__ Le Fief du Breil 2014. What a minerality, feels like stone infusion, love it.
__ Grains de Raisins, Muscadet Nouveau 2017. Alive, full mouth, vivid umami feel. He sells this for 7 € (tax included), great deal ! Only a few bottles left alas when this tasting took place. They don't make this cuvée of Nouveau every year but because they had so little wine to sell from 2016 they released this early cuvée Primeur 2017 to help smooth the shock.The vintage was early this year, with blossomong at the end of may and the first picking august 28 (which is not usual).
__ Haute Tradition 2014. Very classy Muscadet, this is a Cru-Communal to be, the vines are old (planted in 1956), from a terroir close to Les Houx, named Mortier Gobin (2 or 3 vignerons have parcels there, has the potential to become a cru communal), a texture type of wine with a long aging potential. The wine tends to be full-bodied and instead of cement vats (which don't work well on this wine) he uses large wooden vessels like 15-hectoliter ones which open the wine and rounds it with generosity.
__ Amphibolite 2016. Very demonstrative wine in the mouth, this terroir is really special. Nice concentration. Yields were 15 to 20 hectoliters in 2016 because of the frost. See on the right the cuvées with bottle prices at the fair (same price than at the domaine usually).
Here is Les Eminades, a domaine from the Languedoc which I visited for a story long time ago in the early years of this blog when the winery was only 5 years old. They were working on 10 hectares then and have grown to more than 15 today. Luc explained me that they restructured the vineyard along the years, they
had originally lots of Carignan of which they kept only the very old vines, buying instead parcels of old Cinsault (40 or 60) , a variety that brings refineness, thin tannins that allows to lower the alcohol in the wines. He says the region is good for wines that can give pleasure without very long élevage, and with these cinsault they can get this refineness and quality. They also planted Mourvèdre and Syrah. They make about 6 cuvées at les Eminades, mostly reds. they sell 60 % in France and 40 % abroad, in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Luxemburg, the U.K., the U.S. and Quebec.
__ Montmajou white Saint Chinian 2016. from a parcel they bought in 2008. Everything is hand-picked at the domaine like it was in 2005, with natural vinification, pressing without débourbage (no settling of the thick lees) on wild yeast, and entonnage (filling into barrels) as soon as the fermentation starts (350-liter barrels aged from 1 to 3 wines). Vanilla notes.
__ Sortilège red Saint Chinian 2015. Patricia tells me that some 10 years ago (2003-2004) Luc planted Syrah on a 300-meter-elevation parcel on hard jurassic limestone, and instead of the usual density in the region of 2000 to 3000 vines per hectare, he opted for 7000 vines/hectare for competition and having the roots go deep. They didn't pick this Syrah during the 6 first years so as to let the vines adapt and grow but now the result is rewarding. They add 30 % of old Grenache Noir (planted in 1962) which is complanted with Grenache Gris & Grenache Blanc, a massal selection planted en foule like it used to be in the old times. Elevage in 600-liter & 350-liter demi-muids for 18 months. Nice refined tannins indeed with a light vanilla side. Luc says that the 300-meter altitude for this syrah and the jurassic limestone gives this freshness and good acidity. The wine has also a very pleasant chalky feel in the mouth. Sells for 16,5 €. THe cuvée existed already in 2002 but not made from these parcels.
__ la Pierre PLantée, red Saint Chinian 2016. Syrah, Cinsault and Grenache on a terroir thick with pebble stones (like Chateauneuf du Pape), no wood here only cement vats,bottled july 2017. Love the chewy mouth with dust feel and sweet spices aromas. Luc says it's a low sulfites wines with 40 mg/liter total SO2 and 10 mg free SO2.
Continuing my random stroll along the stands i landed on the Clos des Quarterons of Agnès & Xavier Amirault, one of the guys behind this nice table wine featured on top of this story of mine;
i keep stumbling on this domaine lately, you learned through my last story how Frantz Saumon travelled to the south of France with Nicolas Grosbois who works also with Xavier Amirault, looking for grapes after the heavy frost damage on their parcels. The domaine farms biodynamic in Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil in
the Loire. Another proof you find good domaines at this fair, and this was for me the opportunity to taste some of their other wines.
__ Les Quarterons 2015, 100 % Cabernet Franc on sand and gravel, vinified in neutral tanks. Clear color. Generous nose, aromas of ripe flowers, roses. Very enjoyable red fuits, speaks truth, makes you want another pour.
__ Les Gravilices, Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil 2014, Cabernet Franc on deep gravel, élevage partially in foudres. The tannins are more silky, but the 1st mouth is less seducing as the previous wine, you have to wait for the 2nd sip to begin to appreciate, very good with a welcome bitterness.
__ Le Vau Renou Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil2014, 24 mùonths in 500-liter & 225-liter barrels. More concentration here. Some sweetness, an enjoyable but somehow more predictable wine.
Let's try a few Bandol wines with the Domaines Bunan, again I stumbled on the stands while walking up an alley, plus in the morning there weren't crowds yet there. The Domaines Bunan farm a total of 50 hectares, and just to remind, the total vineyard surface in bandol is 1500 hectares. From the 11 wines you could sample and
buy bottles (see pricelist on right) I just tasted 3.
__ Moulin des Costes Bandol red 2014.75 % Mourvèdre, 20 % Grenache and 5 % Syrah. Elevage : 18 months in Radoux & François-Frères foudres (large capacity barrels) plus 18 months in bottles. Generous nose. Nice dust feel in the mouth. I'm told that Bandol suffered from the frost in 2017, something very unusual, and their yields are therefore between 20 and 35 hectoliters/hectare instead of (in a normal year) 38-40 ho/ha. Another thing for the vintage 2017 is that since may they didn't get a drop of rain, not even the usual rain storms of august.
__ Chateau la Rouvière Bandol 2014, 95 % Mourvèdre, 5 % Syrah. Vineyard exposed full south. Elevage : 24 months in foudres plus 18 months in bottles. Outstanding acidity here, love that, the guy says it's because of the clayish soil.
__ Moulin des Costes Bandol Charriage 2013. The soil here is the result of geological layers coming to the surface, that's why the cuvée name : sandstone, clay, limestone, lignite mixed together. On the nose, this lovely dust feel again, plus some acidity I think I can smell also. Spicy edge. He says the grapes were picked en surmaturité which I think in English translates simply as very ripe or purposedly overripe. Elevage in 500-liter demi-muids. In the mouth, feels high alcohol and oaky.
The story goes that the family Amiel won the domaine (which had 10 hectares of vineyards at the time) in 1816 when a bishop lost it to a card game. From that
time Mas Amiel grew and changed hands, farming 166 hectares today (of which 146 for reds) in the Maury Appellation (Roussillon) with the following varieties : Grenache Noir (75%), Syrah (10%), Carignan (13%), Mourvèdre (2%) and also Grenache Gris (47%), Macabeu (33%),
Muscat d'Alexandrie (10%), Muscat à Petits Grains (10%). They offered 12 cuvées to taste
if I remember, but they have much more in the domaine. Again I tasted just a handful of them,
had to make a choice. I didn't taste any sweet wines, fortified wines, not that I wouldn't like them but it's tricky to taste other wines after that, not counting that I swallow a bit each time... I rtegret not having tasted their oxidative wines though, seems they had a few of them on their list (see on right).
__ Initial 2014, a red made with 50 % Grenache, 25 % Carignan and 25 % Syrah on indigenous yeast. Exciting nose, in the mouth it seemed to me to be oaky but I'm told there's no wood here (cement vats), must be some spicy notes instead. 14,9 €.
__ Légende 2014, 80 % Grenache & 20 % Carignan, 12-month élevage in cement. asked about the policy on SO2 addings, I'm told that in general they add 3 grams per hectoliter at the encuvage (after pressing) and a little bit at bottling. 18 €.
__ Origine 2014, Côtes du Roussillon Villages. 1/3 of the 3 main red varieties. 18-month élevage in foudres, and it's made with the oldest vines. The wine feels a bit too much sweet, concentrated also, I don't know exactly but it doesn't seem balanced to me. 26,5 €.
__ Voyage en Météore, this was the 1st vintage of this cuvée, with 100 % Grenache, they made 1200 bottles of it that year. Interesting feel in the mouth, I understand the name of the cuvée now, it's vivid with a very energetic tannic touch. Very exciting wine, my stomach noisily appreciates, usually a good omen. 20 €.
Pierre Breton is a loyal participant at this huge wine fair, always there in person, he says his son is supposed to come also (that's part of the job, if sometimes tiresome) he was in town and would be there the next day if I remember. I asked Pierre about the vintage 2017, he said it was a vintage that was at the same time magnificent, ambiguous and difficult like all beatiful vintages : they had a very precocious spring with frost damaging many parcels in particular on Chinon (3 of his 4 hectares over there were fully damaged) and it was the same the previous year, he adds that if they were only on Chinon they'd close down the winery.July and september wer warm, even hot, there was even some water stress in the vineyard because of the draught, the picking being almost 15 days in advance (they began to pick september 18-20) and the result of all this is delicate wines that have refineness, lots of aromas, they taste well, very nice quality.
__ Dilletante 2015, a red with a lovely clear color and such an exciting nose. Nice bitterness too. 14 €.
__ Chinon Beamont 2015. Sugary feel. 14 €.
__ Clos Sénéchal 2014. What a nose ! And in the mouth & swallowed, what a pleasure, Clos Sénéchal is really a seductive cuvée. Pierre confirms that the Clos Sénéchal was a great vintage in 2014, like previously in 2009. He put the cuvée in june 2017 and it sold quickly. tHey'll sell the 2015 certainly in Angers next january at Les Pénitentes.
__ Perrières 2012. Classy wine in the mouth but less seductive. Feels a bit peaked to me also, but with texture and refineness.
I did a pause at this point and ate a sandwich, looking at the fair from above when I spotted this poster with a catchword that was put on the walls all over the wine fair. Déguster c'est Recracher means in French "tasting is spitting", come on, what a joke !. This is of course the politically-correct side of the fair's organizers, they have to show the authorities that they're doing their best to prevent people from drinking excessively, they are (to quote their own words) "engagés dans la consommation responsable" an awful newspeak formula (politically-correct newspeak is everywhere in France) meaning simply they prevent people from being drunk [we've become experts in France to decipher newspeak ;-) ]. Well, that's for the motives behind this slogan, but actually many people in the wine trade believe this, which is more surprising. I think there's no way to really experience a wine if you don't drink it, at least a bit, and the swallow test gives the real wines such a clear advantage when compared to the conventional wines skillfully designed by oenologists. Technological vinification can sometimes fool your palate but not your system, that may be the reason why mainstream wine institutions love so much this motto....
Good thing that there wre domaines from savennières also, with 11 domaines from the tiny appellation (click on page 2 for the last one). As I resumed my walk along the stands I fell upon the one of Chateau d'Epiré,
one of the serious references in that area, let's stop for a few glasses of Chenin.... The domaine farms 13 hectares of vineyards (mostly chenin), with 1 hectare of
red. The stand at the wine fair was manned my the owners themselves, Cécile (above) & Luc (on right) Bizard.
__ Savennières 2016, 100 % Chenin of course, on shist soil. Vinified in stainless-steel tanks. Generic cuvée. 15,5 €.
__ Le Hu Boyau 2015, cadastral name of the parcel. Old vines (55 years). There's some nice roundness here, richness or some light residual sugar. 18 €.
__Cuvée Spéciale 2015, 30-year-old Chenin vines on a phtanite soil, maybe 2 or 3 hectares. Nice minerality feel, I like this one. 18,5 €.
__ La Chapelle 2015, shist soil. Nice structure, obviously some serious stuff that can age well, a square wine carved from stone, very nice. 25 €.
__ Anjou Rouge [red] 2016, Clos de la Cerisaie. Nice chew, with a forward alcohol feel that is a bit annoying. Supple tannins. 8,5 €.
__ Savennières Moelleux 2014 (sweet chenin), 75-cl bottle with 30 grams of residual sugar. I let myself taste a sweet wine after all, I didn't regret it, very good deal at 16,5 € with a beautiful acidity and this lovely fruity mouth. They don't make it every year.
__ Chateau d'Epiré 1997, an old vintage of dry Chenin to finish, this is the cuvée domaine, just that it's 20 years old. What a nice nose, and a superb mouth with a wax side. Excellent, super classy chenin, you should try that ! Only 50 bottles left, the lady tells me. Sells now for 50 €. I learn that their cellar is a 12-century Romanesque chapelle. Again, this wine fair is a great chance to taste such domaines and chat with the owners.
Here is another reference in Alsace, Barmès-Buecher is another good reason to brave the crowds; Geneviève and Maxime take part to this fair every year and that's a stand not to miss, the vineyard is farmed on biodynamics and Maxime is now fully in charge (the vintage 2012 was the 1st he fully vinified himself), following the steps
of his pioneer father François Barmès who passed away unexpectedly in 2011. François Buecher had implemented his vision in the vineyard, the vinification and even the details of the architecture in the chai where Rudolf-Steiner-inspired designs helped infuse this indisputable energy in the wines.
Asked about the prospects of the vintage 2017, Geneviève says that it's small in volume (35 % less than normal because of the frost) but very qualitative. Geneviève says that the previous day they ate in a very nice restaurant with a great wine portfolio, this was out of Paris in the south-west suburb (good to know something out of the beaten path) : L'Escarbille in Meudon, you can reach it directly with the T2 tramway line from Balard.
__ Steingrubler Grand cru Gewûrztraminer 2013. Vibrant energy, lovely, lively mouth, very sappy wine with freshness feel. 23,9 €.
__ Cuvée Sophie 2007, vendanges tardives (late harvest). so fresh and easy drinking, with a gentle side, I love this sweet wine. 11 % in alc. Made from a 24-are surface which is not always vinified as sweet. Limestone table 50 centimeter under the upper earth layer. Geneviève says that the 1996 was super good, same for the 1989. the berries are golden and not too big, the parcel is located above the village along the Rosenberg.
__ Pinot Noir Vieilles Vignes (old vines) 2014. Hengst, 50-year-old vines, 38-are parcel exposed south. 16-month élevage, in 20 % new oak, the rest in oak from 2007-2008, just to let the wine breath. Refiçned Pinot Noir, thin tannic grain. So nice as always, these Alsace Pinots Noirs rock... 26,6 €.
Charles Joguet is an established reference in the Loire, the domaine was founded in 1957 by Charles Joguet who was among the first in the Loire to vinify cuvées parcellaires reflecting different terroirs rather than blending together the same
variety regardless of their respective parcels' qualities. Charles Joguet was among the first domaines (alongside Chateau d'Epiré by the way) to be imported in the United States by Kermit Lynch, who initiated the artisan-focused imports in that country. Today the owner is
Jacques genet and Kevin Fontaine is in charge of the vineyard management (35 hectares) and the vinification (staff). I tasted a few wines, for the average price of the cuvées in France, see this page.
__ Chinon Les Petites Roches 2014.Nothing to say in particular, not very exciting wine.
__ Chinon Les Varennes du Grand Clos 2011. The 2014 of this same cuvée isn't ready yet, I'm told, it must wait more time in the cellar. Here's an intense wine in the throat, this awakes you back in a very happy way. Very enjoyable tannic texture, a refined silk paper. Costs 28 € though.
__ Chinon Clos de la Dioterie 2014. 80-year-old vineyard exposed north/north-east with a rock table very close to the surface. 3-year élevage, was bottled very recently.
This wine fair is not only about tasting, the vignerons sell a lot of wine and over the years more transportation tools have been put at the disposition of visitors, in addition to the ones the foresighted amateurs brought with them. In the past there were just the folding trolleys they'd sell at the door for 15 € (seems
inflation is running high, it's 25 € now) but since then they added platform trolleys and even high caged trolleys of the type you see in use by supermarket staff, and all of this could be rented if I'm right. This leads to real traffic jams with all these trolleys and people carrying cases of wine along the alleys (pic on right).
The vignerons can sell really lots of wine during this fair, and you need to sell a lot, in order to offset the heavy cost for the participating domaines, the fee of the stand which I'm told is skyrocketing and all the side costs like hotel rooms and meals. For the public (and I think even restaurants use the fair to restock their cellar) it's a great opportunity to buy direct from the producer, bypassing the retailer share. Again, Christmas comes soon as well as the New Year festivities and lots of bottles will be popped open, and not only Champagne. You're even advised to call in advance when you know already which volume of which cuvée you want, the vigneron will bring the cases in addition to the ones he planned for the event.
Here again I'm following the leads open when I initially tasted this nice Vin de Table made by Amirault-Grosbois, two families farming organic & biodynamic in Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil in the Loire. As you know because of the lack of grapes in 2016 because of the frost, Nicolas Grosbois drove to Gaillac
with Frantz Saumon and Bertrand Jousset, and Olivier Jean (pictured above) of Les Vignals (a Swiss-owned domaine) is the man from whom they bought the replacement grapes they were looking for. They were all so much satisfied with his grapes that they're buying him fruit again in 2017, so I was thrilled to taste Olivier's own wines. He farms (organic) a large surface as said earlier, 75 hectares (I thought it was bigger) and he vinifies himself part of it only.
__ Les Vignals Tradition Rouge Gaillac 2014 (red), made mostly from the local grape varieties Braucol and Duras, plus Syrah and Merlot. the color is pretty light for a southern red, good omen, not overtly extracted. The nose is gourmand and warmfully appealing. Swallowed (again, the only way to relly gauge a wine...) : Very nice, feels truth and gentelness. Very good deal at 7,5 €. Vinification in stainless-steel, he says.
__ Les Vignals Symphonie, Gaillac 2014. Vinified in foudres. Braucol majority, the rest Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon. The nose has coked-fruit aromas. Nice tension in the mouth with acidity and chalky tannins. 9,5 €.
__ Fauvette Rouge 2015. This wine is made an ancestral way : They ppen the 400-liter barrels by taking out one of the flat caps, they fill them with the destemmed grapes, leave them open, do some pigeage while the fermentation starts on indigenous yeast, then when the maceration and fermentation is over, they rack the grapes, put the caps back in place on the now-empty barrels and fill them right away with the juice just out of the press. The malolactic and the élevage will then take place in these barrels. There will be 200 liters of wine for a 400-liter worth of grapes, after you get through the pressing. They made 4000 bottles of it in 2014 and same in 2015. Lovely wine in the mouth, although Olivier Jean says it's still young and will improve in the bottle. Costs 20 € here at the fair but only 18 € tax included at the domaine.
Here is another valeur sûre of this wine fair, Gilles Bley of the highly-qualitative Cahors domaine Clos Siguier is there to pour his wines and deliver your cases at the domaine's rates. Credit the high elevation of the parcels or the non-interventionist
vinification of Gilles Bley, Clos Siguier wines are excellent value year after year, betraying the reoputation of Cahors wines as being always harshly tannic and heavy.
Asked about the vintage 2017, Gilles says they also suffered from the frost, and they made only 10 % of a normal harvest. They didn't buy elsewhere to compensate, the harvest 2016 was very good including in volumes (2015 was also a good year in
that regard) and they're going to spread the sales of the different cuvées so as to cushion the economic impact of the collapse of the production in 2017, hoping that 2018 will be back in track in terms of volumes. What they picked in 2017 was nice though, will mage nice wines he says.
__ Clos Siguier Cahors 2015 (generic cuvée). A bit of alcohol feel on the tongue. 6 € tax included. Gilles says the farm and the vineyards around were blanketed with snow these days.
__ Clos siguier Vieilles Vignes (old vines) Les Camille 2015, certainly the reference among his cuvées. 8 €, very good deal.
__ Clos Siguier La Gamassade, Cahors 2015. A beautiful Cahors with a lovely chew and tannins, this is a small-batch cuvée made in a single barrel if I'm right, Gilles thinned out the leaves in a parcel and used the most beautiful bunches for this cuvée. Great value also at 15 €.
Gilles had two other wines including a cuvée named Rosé la Malice at 5 € which I alas did not taste.
That's another domaine I'm happy to have discovered here in the fair : the Domaine du Causse Noir was founded in 2011 with the purchase by Jérôme Py of 4,5 hectares in a property with woods and garrigue (scrubland) at a 300-meter elevation near Cabrerolles in the Faugères Appellation area (Languedoc). Jérôme's family has been in the wine/grower trade in the region for ever, he says. I understand the
vineyard management is organic or in conversion, no herbicides in the vineyard and since 2012 the wines are unfined & unfiltered, with at maximum 1 gram SO2 per hectoliter at bottling. They make 35 000 bottles total, with a bit of export in Switzerland.
__ 3,14 Faugères 2014, cuvée name derives from Jérôme Py surname. Bottled a month before. Carignan, Mourvèdre, Syrah, Grenache. The wine has a lovely freshness expression in the mouth, I love that. 10 €.
__ Caïus Faugères 2015 (not sure of the vintage), Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, a bit of Carignan. 18-month élevage (usually it's 15). Substance with re fruit aromas. Gives a feel of high concentration. 15 €.
__ Mathias, Faugères 2015, named from his son (pictured). Syrah 40 %, Grenache 20 %, Mourvèdre 40 %, hand picked like the other wines, sorting in the vineyard. Nose of the dusty type, black fruits, concentration. Like that one too. The cuvée was among the Coups de Coeur of the Revue du Vin de France in 2016.
Asked where his wines can be found, he says Le Vin qui Parle on Boulevard saint-Germain (5th arrondissement), Le Petit Bleu (11th), among other cavistes.
I stopped at the stand of Clos de L'Anhel at random, of course the domaine being organic/biodynamic played a role in my choice, but it's a Languedoc and many things are going on in this region. Also it's a vigneronne, one more reason, by the way she's part of a regional group of women winemakers (or vigneronnes) named Vinifilles. Before buying these vineyards with her husband Philippe
Mathias (who was himself working for a domaine in the Corbières) Sophie Guiraudon was an oenologist doing consultant for different domaines of the region. The
vineyards are mostly old Carignan and Grenache, with some Syrah and Cinsault, the parcels are at an elevation of 200 meters in a landcape suited for vineyards and sheep. Organic farming since 2003, she works from a 10-hectare surface, all included, estate vineyards and rented ones (fermage).
__ Vin de France (table wine) Cuvée Les Autres 2015. A simple cuvée on the fruit to drink with friends. Labelled as table wine because the blend doesn't fit exactly the requirements in terms of respective proportions of the varieties. actually the problem is more complex : the AOC rules say that domaines must not have more than 50 % of Carignan (the rules focus on planted proportions, not on proportions in the cuvées, oddly) and she has 55 %, so she has to downgrade as table wine some of her wine to let the rest of her proction keep the AOC Corbières. Another strange AOC rule, but who cares, the wine is just as good. Nice radiating feel in the throat, dust notes and thin, well-mannered tannins. Very good deal at 8,5 € (cheaper if you buy 6 or even less with 12). I like this wine, easy drinking, she says the parcels are a bit high which
brings freshness. Asked about how she found her parcels she says they were previouslyv farmed for the Cave Coopérative on a terroir she liked very much, it was a 6-hectare surface initially. She replanted some parcels which are 9 years old now but the rest is quite old, going as far as 105 years of age. She has 4 different varieties, Carignan, Grenache, syrah and a bit of Mourvèdre. I'm told they are distributed in the U.S, through K&L Wines on the west coast and through The French Corner on the east coast.
__ Les Terrassettes Corbières 2015. Made with the 4 varieties. More alcohol feel on the tongue. This cuvée is the main cuvée, makes 70 % of the domaines's production. 12 €.
__ Les Dimanches, Corbiéres 2015, made from old Carignan (80 to 100 years) plus a bit of Syrah. The terroir here is very favorable for the Carignan. Nice balanced between these lovely silk-paper tannins, a bright a&cidity and the alcohol, very nice wine. All the wines are unfined and unfiltered, and SO2 is usually added only at the bottling stage. 17,5 €.
__ Envie, Vin de France 2014, 100 % Syrah. The nose rocks, terrific.. Wow, very nice wine in the mouth also, long moth feel, subtle and delicate. She made 2000 bottles of this, no wood, only fiber-glass vats. 25,5 €, worth it.
__ Envie Vin de France 2015, 100 % Grenache. She doesn't make this cuvée every year. Very intense wine, well-integrated tannins, with an acidulous geel also, very nice wine. 25,5 €.
The crowd was beginning to be really thick in the alley and the temperature high, soon time to leave but I spotted this wine from Corsica, the Clos Signadore and here we go again for a few glasses. Christophe Ferrandis landed in Corsica in 1999 after studying oenology and bought 5 hectares of old vines (40 years) of Niellucciu in the Patrimonio Appellation near the village of Poggio d’Oletta, starting his domaine officially in 2001. No herbicides, no chemicals used in the vineyard, which makes now 10
hectares with vines being 50years old on average. Christophe was raised in Marseille and was trained at Pibarnon (Bandol) among others.
__ A Mandria di Signadore 2016, Old vines, Niellucciu. 22 €. No notes.
__ Clos Signadore 2016, old vines more than 50 years. 24-month élevage in demi-muids (large-capacity barrels). Inspiring nose. Wow, in the mouth and after swallowing, this awakes you ! Nice one.
OK, this one was tempting too, let's go for a last couple of glasses. The domaine Les Mille Vignes is managed by Valérie Guerin, another talented vigneronne. Valérie's father Jacques Guérin who was teaching in a viticulture/oenology school bought 10 hectares of vineyard in 1979 with parcels spread over 3 AOCs, Fitou, Rivesaltes and Muscat de Rivesaltes, the domaine being officially established in the late 1980s' by Jacques Guérin who made low yields, parcellaires wines, his daughter being in charge now. 11 hectares today, mostly reds : Carignan (25%), Grenache Noir (40%), Mourvèdre (35%), Clairette (1%), Carignan (15%), Grenache Blanc (80%), Vermentino (2%), Colombard (2%).
__ Fitou Cadette 2014. Carignan, Grenache, Mourvèdre.
Yields 20 hectoliters/hectare. Nice balance, I love that one.
__ Fitou Dennis Royal 2015, Carignan, yields 18 hectoliters/hectare. Nice tension but I prefer the former. Not cheap, 45 €.
That was my last tasting table and it was 5 pm, the placewas really crowded. There are a couple of domaines I didn't write about, one of them was really bad, it was an Irancy (northern Burgundy), Domaine Givaudin, I had stopped there with the hopê to find a little-known jewel but this was really undrinkable, I saw two young people in front of me buy them a few bottles and was sorry for them (but couldn't say anything of course). When I think to the enjoyable wines made by François Ecot and also Nicolas Vauthier in the region it's pretty sad to come across such disappointing wines. This is what to expect in this wine fair, you'll have some crap of course but lots of good surprise also, beyond the recognized values above like Breton and Landron.
Just as I was leaving the building, I spotted a small stand manned by two uniformed police officers, they were giving advice about the relation between the volume of wine you swallow (or spirits) and the reaching of the authorized limit in your system. The guy explained that food going with the drinks wasn't really important, it's really about the volume itself, the weight of the person being a factor too. He told me if I remember that you can drink two 10-centiliter glasses of wine (at 12 %) or two 3-centiliter glasses of whisky (40 %) and remain under the limit of 0,5 gram per liter of blood, if you drink a 3rd glass you may or may not be over the limit, that's where the physical constitution of the person plays a role. If you are caught driving with an alcohol level between 0,5 g/l and 0,8 g/l you lose 6 points in your 12-point permit, you get a 135 € fine and have your driver's licence suspended for 3 years. Above 0,8 g/l it's considered a crime with 6 points also, but a 4500 € fine and 3 year suspension. Read this flyer printed by the French gov for details.
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