Got a backlog of "News" items that may not seem so new by now, but I'm an adept of slow things, no need to hurry, anything looked upon with fresh eyes can be news...
We had this beer a few months ago thanks to a special delivery by my friend Alex who has special conduit for small allotment deliveries from this very unique brewery located near Austin, Texas. Most Europeans have a distorded image of Texas and this could change overnight if (beyond going there and wandering around on the side roads like i did long time ago) they just had a sip of this beer. This Jester King Simple Means is certainly one of the best and most surprising American beers (made with native yeast !), just delicious and easy drinking with a moderate 5,5 % alcohol content. The Rate Beer page about this beer also sees some common ground with the Düsseldorf Alt beers, happy to hear that, i stayed a few times near Düsseldorf and the local Diebels Alt was my favorite beer then. Jester King beers are pretty confidential and hard to find, if you see one, whatever the type, grab it.
When I visited my friends Jack and Joanne (authors at Fork & Bottle) in Santa Rosa with my niece last summer, we were treated with great wines for dinner, and among those this exceptionnal Australian red, a Wendouree Shiraz Mataro 1998 (60% Shiraz and 40% Mataro from 1893 Central, 1919 Eastern, and 1920 Eastern bush vines). Jack was very generous because this is a very rare and pricey wine, but he said that thanks to my visit he was happy to have the opportunity to open it. I don't find my notes from this dinner but from my recollection it was an exquisite, refined wine with beautiful tannins and spicy notes, and fresh in spite of its age, an awsome wine like you come across rarely at this point. I see on the web that Jamie Goode tasted a vertical from this Australian winery located in the Clare Valley. The domaine which has very old vines is managed by Tony Brady who surprisingly had no experience in winemaking when he bought the property in 1974, learning the trade from an old man who had been working there since 1917. Read Jamie Goode's piece about Wendouree. These wines are hard to find, you can order through this mailing list and they're known to age very well, the one we had was a good proof. No need to say, if you can afford, buy without hesitation.
Other, nice profile on Tony Brady and Wendouree.
Let's stay in the range of cult wines and cult beers, this time this is about Chateau Musar, a Lebanese winery rightly considered by many as a cult winery making wines that can age beautifully. The tasting took place in Paris at Philippe Faure-Brac's Bistrot du Sommelier (right in front of Caves Augé) but I was scheduled to be in Budapest at the time of the tasting last september, so I delegated B.
who tastes very well. She was indeed impressed by the wines :
__ Musar Jeune
{young] Blanc 2017, blend of Viognier, Vermentino, Chardonnay. Young vines (2000) in Bekaa Valley at 900-1000 mters elevation. Stainless-steel vinification & élevage (one year). 17 € (prices are usual retail prices at French cavistes).
Color : gold. Fruity, intense with resin notes.
__ Chateau Musar Blanc 2009. Blend of 2/3 Obaideh and 1/3 Merwah, local varieties with connections to Chasselas, Chardonnay and Sémillon. Rocky mountain soil, low yields (10 to 20 hectoliters/hectare), elevation 1200 meters. fermentation for 3-4 weeks in Nevers-region French oak, plus 6 months in vats before blending and bottling within a year from harvest. Goes on the market 7 years after harvest (!). 40 €.
Nice blend between the oaky notes and the spices with hints of almond and gingerbread. Enjoyable bitterness, neat with good length.
__ Musar Jeune [young] Rosé 2017. Cinsault 85 %, Mourvèdre 15 %. Bekaa valley, also planted in 2000 and 900-1000 m elevation. Rosé de saignée and press juice since 2015 (before it was 100 % Saignée). 16 €. Cement tanks. Dense color, Fullness and neatness feel in the mouth.
__ Chateau Musar Rosé 2016. Cinsault, Obaïdeh & Merwah, ungrafted vines planted between 1920 & 1947 at an elevation of 1400 meters on rocky limestone soils; very low yields, 10-20 he/ha. 6-9 month fermentation in French oak, bottled a year after harvest with further aging in bottles. 32 € . Pale color. Discreet nose. Bitterness more forward in the mouth with an end on orange peel.
__ Chateau Musar Rosé 2004. Obaïdeh, Merwah, Cinsault, the two first are white varieties and the Cinsault is vinified as a red, they later blend the whole. 46 €. Color : onion peel, orange. Discreet nose. Mouth : evolved, matured wine, very classy. Not made every vintage. 46 €.
__ Musar Jeune Rouge 2016. Cinsault, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah. Young vines, Bekaa valley, planted in 2000 at 900-1000 m elevetion. Fermented in cement tanks, bottled a year after picking, then on the market after a further year in bottles. 16 €. Mostly found in the U.K. Round wine with fruit. No sediment
in the bottle which makes it an easy wine commercially.
__ Hochar Père et Fils Rouge 2015. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault, Grenache. Unique terroir near the village of Aana in the Bekaa Valley with deep limestone soils. 30-year-old vines, low yields (20-30 ho/ha). Separate vinification in cement tanks, then élevage for 6-9 months in French oak before blending and bottling, unfiltered, unfined. Reaches the market 4 years after harvest. 27 €. Aromas os small red fruits. The wine show the same neatness found in the rosé & whites.
__ Chateau Musar Rouge 2011. Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan, Cinsault. Terroirs near Aana and Kefraya in Bekaa Valley, gravel soil on limestone. 40-y-old vines, yields 15-35 ho/ha. Slow fermentation (under 30 C), separate in cement tanks, then 1-year élevage in Oak. Blend after 2 years and again 1 year in cement vat before bottling. Further élevage in bottles for 4 years, reaches the market 7 years after picking. 39 €. Again small red fruits, blackcurrant, tobacco, an enjoying gourmand wine with good length.
__ Chateau Musar Rouge 2003. Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan, Cinsault. No further detail here on the terroirs or vinification, I guess the records were sketchy back then. 48 €. 2003 was a good vintage with warm weather but still 5 C cooler than Bordeaux (2003 was a big heat wave in Europe). Mouth : meat juice. Well-integrated tannins.
__ Chateau Musar Rouge 1989 Cuvée Spéciale. 100 % Carignan. Specially vinified for year 2000 when it reached the market. 230 €. Color : evolution. Nose : toasted notes on the nose.
__ Chateau Musar Rouge 1974. Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan, Cinsault. The wine was reconditioned with recorking at the domaine. 425 €. Reached the market in 2002 ! Refined wine and you feel the same fruity notes of the 2011 !!!
Thanks to Hungarian wine blogger András Kovács at Borrajongo, I had the chance again last year to taste a long line of the old-variety wines of Jószef Szentesi who is in Hungary made the same pioneer work than Plageoles in Gaillac. Like Plageoles he was mostly
ignored at the beginning by the wine authorities before at las being recognized and emulated. Here is Szentesi Pince website. Like last time the tasting took place in his cellar in Budaörs just on the outskirts of Budapest, a former wine-producing village with very appropriate slopes and terroirs now alas mostly built over with residential houses. I recount here part of what we tasted, József makes so many cuvées, on average 25
per year, many being made from rare, near-exctinct varieties which he brought back to life. Here is a selection of what we tasted that day, this was, again, exceptional...
__ Zengő 2017, small bottle. Variety is a Hungarian crossing from the 1950s'. Generous nose, same for the mouth (tasting temp was a bit high). Early-ripening variety, no skin contact but feels quite tannic because of thick skins. Generous alcohol feel but well balanced, goes down easy as well, this sample was unfiltered but if there is residual sugar he would filter it. 2000 bottles total.
__ Grüner Veltliner (Zöldveltelini in Hungarian) 2017, small bottle sample also. Vinified in plastic tanks.30-32 year old vines, not typical of the variety, he says. He's not fully satisfied with many of the wines made from the rare white varieties, he may focus his work on the red ones in the coming years.
__ Grüner Veltliner 207, sample from a different vat, very different, superb mouth feel, very classy, shines along the palate, good length. May be bottled separately from the rest of the batch. Feels so good even after the glass is emptied [good thing there's the efficient BKK transit system in Budapest to bring me back safely downtown].
__ Sample Sauvignon Blanc 2017, still in cellar, was to be bottled in 3 months. Nose : Sauvignon style. Andras likes this one, he likes the ones who have this green and acidity side, like the New-Zealand Sauvignons. Generous Sauvignon, I love it too.
__ Sauvignon Blanc 2016, already bottled; different nose type, not Sauvignon at all. Nice enjoyable wine too.
__ Zengö 2017 from a bottle now. That was a hot year, he says, they had to take off leaves. Nice classy wine, sweetness feel (30 grams) but it's fine with the balanced acidity. He grabs more bottles, there's be 16 samples of reds, I should have spit more, but that's my way of feeling the wine...
__ Feketefájú Bajor 2016, means Blackwood of Bavaria if I understand well. Variety with large berries. Transluscent color, and you can see it on the grapes also (picture on right), I'm told. That's a great red ! Makes me think to Pineau d'Aunis ! I tell József he must speed up the replanting of this variety, terrific red ! He made a small volume, in demijohn, 200 to 300 bottles.
__ Kék Bajor 2016, ripens earlier than the previous. A little more body, he says. Appealing nose, with ripeness feel and notes of flowers, pepper. Super nice mouth, good length.
__ Tihanyi Kék 2017, a little darker type of variety. 3 months in barrel. Some nail polish notes on the nose. Fruity.
__ Tarcali Kék 2017, Origin of variety is in a region of Serbia (formerly Hungary before 1920).
__ Kadarka 2017, was to be bottled in a month. Nice gentleness, as is. Light robe with still noticeable tannins. 2 barrels 300 liters each. Will go well with food.
__ Kadarka 2017, from the other barrel. He and Bálint Losonci took the wood from a 100-year-old parcel for a massal selection. He says the P9 clone used in Hungary rots very fast and brings some rot aromas in the wine which looses its fruity side. Super Kadarka indeed.
__ Pinot Noir 2017. Astringency in the mouth but good structure and freshness. He says after the end of communism the growers were pushed to plant Pinot Noir but this variety is not really suited for here.
__ Tarcali Kék 2017, from Serbia originally. Late-ripening variety. Delicate nose of red flowers. Super nice wine, spices, flowers, chocolate notes. Sells for 4000 Forints (12,5 €) but the EU now says it's not legal to sell it because the variety is not listed in the "EU list of authorized varieties"...
__ Csókaszőlő 2016, this old variety is named from a bird. This was quite a revolutionwhen the first wine was made in 2004, some winemakers decided to plant some themselves but 10 years later they pulled up the vines because this variety is difficult to farm. He made 2 barrels of this. Super nice wine, notes of mokka, chocolate.
__ Csókaszőlő 2017, 2 barrels also. This variety can stand new barrels. If I can read my notes, he said this wine was at the top of wine lists in Vienna before 1914. Very nice wine, and very special with at the same time some bitterness and cherries aromas.
__ Kékfrankos 2015, from a bottle (not a sample). Nose with sweet spices and dry aromatic leaves. Super good ! Not on the market at the time of the tasting. 300 bottles.
I discovered another wine bar in Budapest, I mean a real wine bar where the domaines and artisan producers are for the most farming organic and/or biodynamic. My Wine, the wine bar,
and Artizan Shop [prices in Forints, 1000 Forints are about 3 €], the caviste side were founded a few months ago (june 2018) by József Szentesi and associates, it is located in the
heart of Budapest on Arany János utca 16 in the 5th district. Hungary is a wine producing country with a long history but while in Budapest you may miss out the best quality wines because most venues presenting themselves as wine bars are commercial operations not focused on the real thing. Artisan wines aren't necessarily very expensive like you can see while visiting My Wine, they offer 12 wines by the glass at prices beginning at 200 Forints (0,6 €) for a 0,5 dcl glass, or 660 Forints (2 €) for a 1,5 dcl glass. The wine bar/shop has a good selection of Hungarian artisan, small-producers wines (including Szentesi's) and Hungarian craft beers. I dropped there for a couple glasses.
__ Besenyei Borház, Bikaner
2012, 300 Forints a glass (0,95 €) 3390 Forints (10,6 €) a bottle (to go). Refined, powerful with aromas of dry aromatic leaves, eucalyptus. They bought the whole cuvée from the domaine (Borház in Hungarian) and rebranded it with a label of their own, they discovered the wine in a tasting event. Great move, here is really a great Bikaver, Egri Bikaver is an iconic blend in Hungary, Bikaver means Bull's Blood and it's produced in the region of Eger, a nice city in the mountains north of Budapest, but most Bikaver wines you'll come across in the shops will disappoint you because they're commercial products, that's why it's so important to get to the right place to taste/buy wines. This domaine seems to be a large family domaine with 45 hectares but this cuvée is worth of interest nonetheless.
__ Attila Pince, Syrah 2008. Bottle price 5200 Forints (16 €) Syrah wasn't a popular variety here 2 or 3 years ago. Nice presence and shining feel when swallowed, my stomach loves it as first sip. Aromas of peony and ripe fruit, love it. Other Atilla Pince cuvées found at Artizan Shop.
The other must-visit wine bar in Budapest is Drop Shop, superb selection also of Hungarian & Eastern European artisan wines.
Increasing the organic surface in Bordeaux
I was invited to a communication event about Vineam, a Bordeaux company owned by Canadian-Chinese Yuan You (who already invested in organic tea in Asia), that manages 6 Chateaux with a total surface of 270 hectares,
all being now farmed
organic (the oldest since 1999). Mr Jean-Baptiste Soula, the oenologist and director of Vineam worked abroad many years in wineries including Egypt and Armenia (Armenia Wine Company).
Beyond the organic farming, the company openly favors the use of the most modern technolgy to vinify its wines, but is also adding more cuvées made without added SO2. For the weed control they don't use herbicides but instead sow particular types of weeds like crimson clover to fill positively the surface and avoid other, unwanted weeds like quackgrass. Smely in the cellar, instead of
using SO2 they choose a type of bacteria to overwhelm the harvesting machine, the gondolas, and the vats. Mr Soula says this is a very important innovation, because conventional wineries routinely pour half a liter of pure liquid SO2 in a given barrel of wine. For the acidity, for the sauvignon for example, with which they want to keep a good acidity level, they inoculate with bacteria that don't attack citric acid, this way they eschew the use of additives for the reacification of the juice. This is a very interesting trend and while we're dealing here with wines that are not "natural wines", there's a decisive break from the conventional wines, with not only the organic farming the willingness to find alternative ways to replace additives, beginning with SO2 and acid correction. You'll see more and more of these wines in the supermarket and we should pay attention and not brush off these changes.
Vineam makes 1,5 million bottles and sells abroad including in China. They sell a lot through supermarkets like in Carrefour Chateau Moulin de Pillardot (a 200 000-bottle domaine) with prices at about 6 € for the basic organic wine and a bit more like 6,5 or 7 € for the organic-plus-without SO2.
The wines we tasted that day are cuvées that were created in 2018 and sold to Cavistes & Restaurants exclusively, and from zero cavistes/restaurants early 2018 when they started this project, they sell now to about 100 cavistes & restaurants, that's a new market they're aiming for their wines. These wines are the Bio Full serie (a rosé, 2 reds here & here, one white, made without
added SO2), A Bout de Soufre a Bordeaux also without added sulfites, a Moulis AOC 2016 in conversion (gets certified in 2019) without SO2, a Bergerac without sulfites and an organic Sauternes 2016 (in conversion) made without added SO2.
I was particularly impressed by the Bergerac 2016 " Si J'Avais un Tel Nez", very nice tannin structure, delicate wine in the mouth, great deal I think at 12 €, although you can indeed find fully-natural wine in France at this price range.
I was samely impressed by the Sauternes (retail price 23 €), as you may know, Sauternes is o,ne of the wines that are the most soaked in sulfites, and working without SO2 is a challenge, plus the wine tastes good, nice limpidity and onctuosity in the mouth, a pleasure. And notice on the picture on right the color : unlike conventional, SO2-soaked Sauternes that are light-colored on the yellowish range of gold, this one is darker with orange shades, typical of a white made wirthout SO2 that has integrated oxidative pigmentation... Mr Soula says they subjected a few bottles to extreme conditions including keeping them in the trunk of a car for days including under 40 C summer temperature to see if the wine could handle the lack of SO2...
Here is one of these new supermarket wines, made by another négoce, Cave d'Augustin Florent, which is actually working exclusively for Carrefour. This Beaujolais Villages Nouveau 2018 could be find on the shelves in Carrefour supermarkets (I founf this one in Paris) for 4,95 €; the label sports proudly the words "Sans Soufre Ajouté" (without added sulfites), it was not really competing with the Nouveau wines we drink usually (and for which we pay between 9 and 12 € in Paris) but, well, that was almost drinkable, so we need to pay attention and wish they improve their lot, there are plenty of consumers who will never pay 10 or 12 € for a Beaujolais Nouveau and there's a market for more affordable wines without SO2, given they're not stuffed with other additives or manipulations as a compensation (but expect the worse, there's a god chance the wines are overmanipulated by trained oenologists). The back label further says that (in French) "This wine doesn't contain preservatives and as a result should be consumed in the months following the purchase". If, like highly probable, the wine was sterilized through alternative ways, this sentence is deceptive, the wine is dead and won't move anywhere.
This one has the typical label of the natural wines but this wine also made without sulfites (Cuvée Sans Soufre) doesn't taste good, it seems overextracted, making me wonder if the winery used flash pasteurization as a way to sterilize the wine and thus eschew the use of sulfites. Poor job. The back label, apart from a couple of cool sentences to get in the natural-wine vibe, says the wine was bottled by G. Gelin "Lesz Pasquiers" in Lancié, Beaujolais. This is Gilles Gelin of the Domaine des Nugues, a 34-hectare domaine. Again, a wine to check now and then in the coming years, the technique may improve. Read this interesting document [in French] dealing with the alternatives at the disposal of commercial organic wineries to replace SO2, it is utmost interesting as they list several of the dirty little secrets of the wine industry : Among others, the heating of the incoming juice (thermo-traitement), the acidification of the must with tartaric acid, the adding of lyzosyme and at the end flash-pasteurization for 10 to 20 seconds. You'll get no SO2 but a quite horribly spoofulated wine, to use the famùous word of Joe Dressner.
You get to suffer sometimes in this job : I bought this other one in a Super U in the Loire for 3,85 €, seems oddly cheap indeed, I wonder if there's a mistake here. the lablel says Ventoux 2018 "without added sulfites", it's made by Nat & Sens Artisans Vignerons (but I doubt about the artisan thing here). Whatever, this wine was really undrinkable, the flash-pasteurization has gone way beyond the 10 seconds or something, or they were too generous with the other additives. Even with lowering your expectation at the max you will put the bottle aside and use this concentrated bland juice for cooking, and even for cooking that might be risky. Note that this wine didn't have problems getting its AOC label, this speaks volumes...
I'll keep trying though, in spite of the uneven experiences with these wines, and I hope someday we'll have an insider information about all the vinification process these négociants use...
Read this other document (in French) about the research sponsored by various French state research bodies as well as the French wine authorities [Pôles IFV 21,33,34,49 ,68,69,81),INRA, Inter Rhône, ICV, CIVC, Centre du Rosé ,CIVRB]. they've been looking since 2009 into alternatives to using sulfites (especially on what they call "Itinéraire I3") and apparently these researchers are unaware about the past and present experiences of natural winemakers and the exciting wines they're making, so the comments are quite funny, like the "unwanted changes in the organoleptic characteristics of the wines". And at one point this sentence was particularly juicy (I leave it as such, in French) :
"Tout ceci confirme, qu’en l’état actuel des connaissances et des moyens techniques disponibles pour produire du vin, et sauf à accepter une remise en cause de l’originalité sensorielle convenue des divers produits, ne pas sulfiter durant l’itinéraire d’élaboration d’un vin reste une pratique hasardeuse et non recommandable (ce qui n’exclut pas des initiatives individuelles sur des marchés bien spécifiques dits « de niche »)." In short, if it tastes different from the crap conventional wines favored by the AOC tasters (which the writer calls "originalité sensorielle convenue des divers produits"), no way you can make a good wines without sulfites...
Well, this wasn't an AOC, just a vulgar Vin de France, and trained oenologists didn't have to plot behind the scenes to make is without added sulfites using unmentionable tricks,
and what a pleasure for this Chateau Lamery Autrement 2011.... The various French research bodies who spend a fortune looking for industrial alternatives to sulfites might spare our tax money and just look into how all these magnificent so2-free wines are made. this is certainly a bit more expensive a wine at 15,5 € (on this webpage) but considering the difference in the production mode and the authenticity of the wine, i consider it as actually much cheaper.
We again opened a bottle by Julie Balagny, also a so2-free Fleurie En Remont 2010, an exquisitely refined wine with still its youthful energy. the color of the wine wasn't actually that purple, the picture is misleading, this was a lmuch gentler sof red, of the type you feel in love at first glance.
You may know who is Jean-Louis Trintignant, he's a now-retired French actor, and he happens to own a domaine in the Rhône since 1996, Domaine Rouge Garance. this wine which is I think the Cuvée domaine, Rouge Garance 2016 is made from organic vines (no herbicides), hand picked and low-temp fermentation with minimum SO2. 70 % Syrah, 30 % Grenache with low yields (30 ho/ha). It tastes this way, certainly wholly natural winemaking here with wild yeast. Clafoutis notes on the nose, light sweetness in the mouth, dust feel with acidity, excellent, a good deal at 14 € (at Aux Vins Coeurs which is a caviste + restaurant in the 12th in Paris).
I'm jealous, I've been quite far away on motorbike myself, like northern Romania along the Ukraine border or also Portugal (that was before I started Wineterroirs), but Stephanie beat me easily : I met her last september in the Bukk mountains in Hungary where her Dutch father (himself a biker) and Hungarian mother manage a campground (where i stayed for a weekend) and bed & breakfast. She was just back from the Americas where she spent months on her bike with her friend Ashley, she had bought the 750 cc Ural sidecar (new) in Washington state and travelled all the way to Panama (Instagram for the trip : ride4lovetravels), shipping it afterwards the bike to Europe. Two women travelling by themselves in central America seems risky (especially in Mexico) but they went fine, respecting a few rules like finding an accomodation long before dark. Daughter is well into her father's path, here, now an experienced biker... I hear from her thar these Russian-made Ural sidecar motorcycles are a hot sell in the United States, and they're not cheap but the quality has much improved from the soviet years even if the design remained very similar. That's now a cult motorbike.
On the same register my trained eye spotted this vintage-looking Pannonia sidecar in Budapest lest september. Pannonia was the domestic motorbike
in Hungary during the communist years, but this one seems to be a limited serie or prototype, I don't know, made very recently, it is fitted with an Aprilia engine (possibly an Austrian Rotax originally) making it certainly a very efficient & reliable vintage-looking motorbike. Couldn't speak with its owner and didn't find anything on the web about an Aprilia-powered Pannonia. This model kept exactly the original body and aesthetics found in the original models back in the communist times, including the reactor-looking prow of the sidecar. This bike will also make a killing among passionate sidecar lovers if they start production.
This is old news indeed, I took this picture somewhere in october, having found that a supermarket in the Loire (Super U) was selling bernache or vin nouveau, actually sweet grape juice beginning to ferment, this is a delicious, lightly inebriating beverage which you can get easily in the local wineries all over France if you bring your empty plastic bottle, but it's pretty rare that shops or supermarkets sell it because it's tricky for retailers, it has to be bottled with a plastic cap with holes so that CO2 can get out (otherwise the bottle explodes) and thus the bottles have to be kept standing all the time. Plus if you keep them for too long, the sweetness fades and the wine enters in a less enjoyable stage, not sweet anymore and yet not matured wine. Kudos for this supermarket for having ordered these bottles, was cheat at about 2 €.
This movement took us all by surprise, even if discontent was palpable in France, especially in the countryside and the "forgottent territories of the republic" like we use to say in France. My feeling is that the country's leadership certainly
thought that as this silent majority never revolts it could pass its new taxes and
increase discreetly the existing ones, but this time the excuse of saving the planet didn't work, whatever the official motive, this was certainly too much for many people who use their car to commute. For people who routinely drive a second-hand diesel car for which they paid, say, 3500 to 5000 €, the government's offer to get a couple thousands euros if you replace your old "polluting" car with an expensive hybrid car was nonsense bordering insult [and wait for a decade from now when authorities "discover" that batteries are highly-polluting items asking for a special tax].
Add to this the max speed on non-divided roads being lowered overnight all over France to 80 km/hour (from 90 km/h), the year-to-year inflation on local and property taxes and plenty other things that could be dealt with individually but add up to each other, and that's what you get, almost a revolution. When you speak with farmers and growers there's samely a big discontent with the overreaching government and European regulations that are the equivalent of heavy taxes on small farms, and many people from the agriculture sector sympathize with this movement. I'm not sure the leadership has fully understood the scope of the problems, and now they seem to blame Russia for this, that's pretty weird, seems to be a trend to blame Russia for one's own failures, I hope i'll not be in the crosshairs of the domestic intelligence with my recent Russian story...;-)
I noticed (beginning late summer) that more and more speed cameras along the French roads were either disabled one way or another or plain destroyed by fire, this started long before the yellow-vests thing and was (I think) triggered by the government's decision to lower the maximum-speed on non-divided roads from 90 to 80 km/hour [Whatever the official limit, I'll not communicate on my own speed on my motorbike along open roads when I go to the Loire...]. I'm pretty sure that was the early beginning of the revolt, people began to sabotage the radars all over (under the cover of night of course, the fines are disproportionally huge for hampering the radars, even with a mere plastic sheet), as a way to retaliate against the authorities and what they felt as another hidden tax grab. It seems 60 % of radars have been either destroyed or rendered inoperative with tape or paint. On my way to the Loire I estimated that 80 % were made blind, and oddly even weeks later, the tape, plastic bags or other blinds were still in place, as if the authorities were reluctant to put them back in work condition, possibly by fear of appearing provocative toward a deeply-entrenched discontent over the radars. There's been also a spate of arson attacks against the toll booths on the divided highways in France. People who use them a bit easily spend in the hundreds of Euros every year and when you compare with Switzerland where you pay 36 € a year for unlimited use, you certainly feel ripped off. France is a bigger country of course but with the huge number of highway users (including foreign going through the country), even 50 € per year would be largely sufficient to maintain the roads. That was just a side comment on another aspect of the French tax revolt...
This is still news, actually, I may have picked those apples in october, we're still eating them or cooking them up to this day, and will certainly still have some early march. I shot this picture in a remote corner of Burgundy where we discovered long time
ago a verger conservatoire or conservatory orchard, I wrote several times
about it and when going to Burgundy around october or even november we always manage to make a detour, having beforehand bought a roll of garbage bags. Nobody picks these apples, a crime given how good they are (and obviously they're organic).
I did the same in the Loire, picking the fruits either from a neglected orchard or along side roads, these are often priceless old varieties (some of them very acidic, obviously intended for distillation or feeding the pigs) and locals aren't interested, probably byuing instead shiny apples from the supermaket I suppose. I used B.'s car to ferry the load to Paris and stocked it in the attic (picture on right). If people in the countryside were wise enough to at at least use these orchards planted by their own elders (add to that a bit of vegetable garden and mushroom picking) they'd both eat better and increase their disposable income.
If you're reluctant to pick fruits that don't belong to you, just wait very late in the season when obviously the regular owners have shown no interest, and pick only those on the ground, this will make your crime a mere misdemeanor, and keep in mind you're doing a service to Mother Nature who designed these healthy apples to be eaten by mindful humans...
I'm proud of that one, I asked André Fouassier in the Loire to try make a small volume of Côt sans soufre just for a try; we had tasted a batch of Côt 2016 from the vat and it was so good as such that I told him he'd make a killing if he showed that in certain wine bars. I know that's not easy as it seems, when you're not fully in the natural-wine mode there's reluctance of the potential wine bars, even if André's farming is very close to organic (with grass growing between the rows) and the vinification on indigenous yeast and sulfur free most of the time except for bottling. So he bottles a couple of cases of this unfiltered Côt, not adding any sulfites and I opened a bottle from time to time. This one, opened not so long ago was really gorgeous, silky, full-mouthed and with this energeic acidity, a pleasure. He did another try in 2017 and will possibly make the jump for a full batch of it in the coming years. His wines in Paris can be found at Le Vin en Tête.
I did the same for this 5-liter volume of Sauvignon which I filled direct from the tank at André Fouassier during my last visit late january, here again, unfiltered and no added sulfites, atypical Sauvignon indeed, compared to the mainstream stuff, it's generous (still on its lees), round and lightly oxidative, a delight, makes you high the gentle way, not so common with designer Sauvignons vinified with an elaborate oenologist forethought, we're alas forbidden to have this type of Sauvignon in the regular retail market because of the shortsightedness of all the players, the Appellation system, the wine authorities, the mainstream retailers and wholesale buyers (they'd all turn crazy if you brought this at their tasting committees). Time for another yellow revolution here (with direct, bulk sales ?) I can't believe I paid 2 € a liter for this....
Japanese whisky is getting very expensive even purchased in Japan like I have been doing through B. or other people who fly direct, now the duty free at Narita (Fa-So-La for example) has raised its price so much for the 12 years Nikka or Yamazaki that I switched to other
beverages found in regular shops in town instead, and the move proved wise, I discovered a nice japanese vodka and recently this Japanese Gin, Akayane Craft Gin, an intense, aromtic 47 % content gin made
you thought the Japanese reached the top for their whiskies and that was it, but it seems they're intent of working as hard on their gins (and possibly vodkas) even though they've been making gin since the 1930s', and like this article says it well, Gin is Next [meanin after Japanese whisky] and with Suntory joining the fray, expect a good choice of top-notch gins getting awards and flooding the markets. I understand that making gin is not as difficult technically compared to whisky with which you have to import lots of rare (in Japan) commodities, and with also the tricky oak parameter.
I paid 30 € to Junko for this Akayane Craft Gin (volume 720 ml), she sourced it in a regular shop in Osaka and that's a pretty good deal. It's made with juniper berries only and sports 447 % alcohol content. This gin is made in the village of Eichō Beppu (Kagoshima Prefecture) in southern Kyushu by Sata Souji Shouten, nice job. I usually have it diluted with a little bit of neutral water.
According to this source, Sata Souji Shouten has a long relationship with French (Alsatian) distiller Jean Paul Mette, and some of the gins produced are the result of the collaboration between the two distilleries.
For beginners, difference between Whisky & Gin
I love Oregon, they already have special laws allowing on-farm meat processing thanks to which farmers can sell their meat direct to the consumers, but recently they also (like 20 other states) allowed the recovery of roadkill meat, a meat that too often is lost because drivers can't dispose of it. I shot this picture last summer (further east than Oregon though), the animal had been obviously hit shortly before but remained on the side of the road. I myself unwillingly killed a roe deer in the Loire with B.'s car a few years ago at night (that could have turned bad for me if I had been riding my motorbike instead) and I ended up having a friend-hunter recover the poor animal which died minutes later the hit in the ditch, but that's not really legal in France, you're supposed to tell the Gendarmerie who will dispose of it. This deer seemed to have been killed very recently and would have this been in France, I'd have put it in the trunk swiftly and brought it to one of my acquaintances in the backcountry, they have a special lab to cut them expertly and enough freezer room...
This is a must-see movie if you're into real wines, Wine Calling ( watch the trailer) is a 2018 jerky-rhythm documentary made by Bruno Sauvard, this is about rebel natural winemakers and growers, a big family having fun but also working hard for at the end a terrific product that is healthy and true. You'll see there winemakers you may be familiar with, Yoyo, Michaël Georget (Domaine du Temps Retrouvé), Olivier Cros & Sylvain Respaut (La Cave Apicole), Stéphane Morin (Domaine Léonine), Jean-François Nicq (Les Foulards Rouges), Jean Sébastien Gioan (Domaine Potron-Minet), Loïc Roure (Domaine du Possible) and Alain Castex. Great screening.
Very nice Vin de Pays d'Indre et Loire (I'd normally hate this type of Appellation),
the cuvée name is Farandole 2010, a red made by an organic producer, Domaine de l'Ouche Gaillard near Montlouis which is a bit under the radar (I need to visit them), they work their soils with a draft horse, don't filter their wines and rely obviously on indigenous yeast. The wine (100 % Gamay) was earthy and easy going with a pleasant chew breathing truth. The domaine is part of the Vignerons Indépendants and it might take part to the Salon at Porte de Versailles, I'll check that. The reds cost something like 10 € retail, a bargain for true wines.
Another proof that we shouldn't always brush away the wines found in supermarkets, I don't buy much wine there but when visiting one especially in the Loire
I try to look around. Here this bottle caught my eye because it comes from the area of La Livinière in the Minervois which I visited a few months ago. You haven't large flatland industrial vineyards there, it's pretty sloppy and close to the guarrigue. the domaine, Chateau La Croix Martelle, is farmed organic. this cuvée Hauts de Sirus 2015 is a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault, and the price being 6,20 € at this SuperU I gave it a try. The wine is really good, vibrant and spicy, well balanced with acidity to support its 14 % content, really a good deal for a daily wine. The vintage 2014 of this cuvée was named by la Revue du Vin de France as one of the best deals for the 2016 supermarket ine fairs. Totally agree.
Last summer in Marseilles while visiting friends there I had a terrific whisky from Taiwan, and when I say terrific, I mean it, really exceptionnal, it was a Kavalan Solist, a bottle that goes at 200 € in France at La Maison du Whisky, not really in my price range. So I kept the name in my mind and when we spent a few days in Taipei recently i looked for a bottle, not this one which was still expensive if half theFrench price but I was sure the entry level bottle of this distillery would be a good deal. I was right, very good mid-range whisky for which I paid 1000 Taiwan Dollars (28,6 € - 32,4 USD). If you look for a good spirits retailer I have one, I don't have the exact address but it's right on the other side of the street from Cho Hotel, at 119 Kunming street, the shop is stocked from floor to ceiling and in the middle of the room with tons of bottles, including the full range of Kavalans, they have also a choice of local spirits which I really should have bought for a try. Great shop, hasn't a presence on the Internet I'm pretty sure.
That was just a terrific Volnay, this Jean javillier & Fils Volnay 1999 was so refined and classy, an old lady full of life and such a length. I've read that the domaine was set up in 1933 by a retired military, his son who later control turned it organic in 1972, indeed very early. Sons Alain a nd Thierry joined in 1976. Below the radar and superb wine. Thank you to expert sommelier Alain Segelle who sourced and opened this during one of his dinners.
We had this wine when visiting friends sometime ago, superb wine : Chateau Mamin Graves 2014, organic domaine. Beautiful nose for a start, fresh mouth, onctuous wine with silky tannins. Certainly vinified very respectfully from its mouth and swallowing feel. Very good value at 12,6 € retail. I read that the owner Vincent Lataste restructured the property in 1991, its surface is 12 hectares, 8 Merot, 2 Cabernet Sauvignon, 1 Petit Verdot.
Remember this wine I found a year ago in a Monoprix in Paris (during a wine fair) ? This was a Vin de France 2016 made naturally by a biodynamic Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgeuil domaine (Amirault Grosbois) with organic grapes purchased in the south-west (Gaillac), after they had lost much of their fruit (90 %) with frost. This wine was simply beautiful and true and it was supposed to be a one-off, but the domaine loved so much this experience that they repeated it for the last vintage and bought again grapes to grower Olivier Jean. I spotted the bottle inadvertedly while looking at the wine-fair offers in this Loire supermarket and bought it right away (price was only 6,5 €).
Again, this is a proof that real wines are sneaking into supermarkets, I found the bottle in a Super U and it seems the domainer sells these cuvée there now. I'm sure most clueless clients in this supermarkets pass this wine without realizing what they get, choosing instead other offers with more prestigious appellations. Lovely powerful table wine, with an energy, pulse and a light tickling on the tip of the tongue that hints very low sulfites, good concentration, velvet feel, lovely wine for just 6,5 €. Stocked a few of them.
You have to keep in perspective that the French are still the biggest consumers per capita and they often still drink wine daily; plus they tend to be tightfisted when having to spend for wine,
some could afford to pay more but even people at ease financially have trouble putting more than 5 or 6 € for a bottle. That's why it's interesting to look around in the supermarkets for what they might have for their budget. we saw that the pale copies of natural wines don't really make the job, the négoces using doctoring ways that are worse than SO2, but you can get interesting wines among the vast majority of bland conventional wines, all yopu need is a good eye :
I found this Abondance de la Grange is a SuperU in the Loire (Saint Aignan), what caught my eye was the variety blend, not very usual nor mainstream, Colombard & Folle Blance. The usual profit-looking wineries keep themselves on their boring interpretations of Sauvignon and Chardonnay. I looked more closely, and this was a Vin de France, which I usually consider less suspicious than appellations, especially on these shelves. The domaine is the 50-hectare Chateau de la Grange in the Muscadet region, managed by Baudouin de Goulaine who has a long lineage of vignerons behind him. This wine was a no-fuss, easydrink that went well with our choucroute, and the price was really very low at 3 €...
The problem is the average supermarket client will prefer a fake wine with a Bordeaux label at 5 € than this honorable wine, you still need to have a bit of wine experience and education to find your way.
You may know that one of my passion is wood stoves (Could make a special blog centered on them), and I'll make a digression with a few of them here. I found this one in a remote corner of Nevada last summer, there was this abandoned house near where we camped and inside one of the side buildings into which I ventured (obviously was not inhabited since the 1950s') there was this custom-modified stove, complete with a heating oil tank connected to the stove with also a small tap to stop the flowing or modify the flux. Pretty nice welder job in the middle of nowhere, odd appearance but did certainly work well and for a very affordable price, using wood or heating oil alternatively.
This one was spotted in Denio, Nevada, a nice isolated community like I love them, we stopped at the Diamond Inn Bar which is also a gas station if I remember, the type of country coffee shop you don't want to leaver when you step in. They had this great stove here, seems custom-made too, if I remember the lady told me the previous owners had put it there. Square design, not very elegant but certainly very efficient.
This is another beautiful stove, this was in a cafe along the road, it is beautifully oversized with wide flame view, seems to be custom-made too, we spotted this one somewhere in the mountains, lots of woods in this part of the country, no shortage of heating wood.
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