(Angers coming soon after this)
Here is a very unusual bottle that I found on a flemarket in Paris very recently : This Vin des Grottes 2005 is made from a small 20-are vineyard of Pinot Noir planted near the chateau of Saint-Germain-en-Laye west of Paris. The region is a bit too north for pinot
noir but you can see with the picture on top of this article from Le Parisien how the walls below the Chateau help reverberate the sun and ripen the grapes. The parcel was planted in 2000 with 1900 vines (at thus a density of 10 000 per hectare) and 2005 is considered one of the best vintage of this wine. The parcel stands on the same slope where the monks of the Saint Wandrille abbey (Normandy) farmed their own parcel in the 15th century from which they made a reknown wine.
Very pleasant wine to drink with a savory substance, a sweet edge (but it's obviously dry, it's just the glycerin) and earthy, underwoods aromas. I can't believe I paid only 3 € for this bottle. This wine is not on the market, it is probably distributed to sponsors (the towns of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Le Pecq) and volunteers who help this not-for-profit venture. If not for the absurd EU laws and regulations it would be possible to replant vines all over the paris region, which until the late 18th century was the largest wine-producing region in France with 42 000 hectares. This Pdf document on the EU procedure for obtaining planting rights is eye opening, I understand why most people even courageous will give up. Correction : I initially blamed the EU bureaucracy for limiting the replantings to no more than the equivalent of 1 % of the total surface but a reader (thank you Roelof !) just told me this is actually the French administration that lobbied to have these stringent limits....
We opened this bottle on day one 2020, for lunch, an incredibly delicious Emmannuel Giboulot Pinot Noir 2005 in spite of its age (a bit more than 14 years). You might think its uninterventionist winemaking could have rendered it more fragile, but natural wines can stand the test of time and they still convey their delicate qualities as well, if certainly different from what they would have offered in their early years if we had chosen to open the bottle then.
OK, the Giboulot wasn't actually the first wine we had in 2020, it was the first still wine, sparklings don't really count ;-) The real first wine in these early hours of 2020 was this vintage Burgundy sparkling (a méthode champenoise by Flavigny) dating from the early 2000s, we just guessed its age because no vintage or clue on the label and the cork was really looking veeeeery old (it might even be much older than that-- the domaine was created in 1994). Very rewarding experience, beautiful thin mouth feel with discreet bubbles and lasting length. There is a bubbly life beyond Champagne.
Speaking of these few days around the New Year we had simple, healthy meals including with local cheese found on a little town's friday market, often unmarked, non-appellation cheese made by real family farms. Such a happy treat, like drinking humble table wine (Vin de France). By chance none of these were excessively salty (a problem nowadays similar to the heavy reliance of wineries on sulfites). The only two with a label were lovely as well (you can order blind if you can read the info), and for your information the Tonnerre is not a real appellation, the name was registered by cheese maker Sylvain Crégut (an affineur actually) who created here along his recipe an excellent cheese in tribute to the city of Tonerre near which he and his family live.
Here is another rare, old bottle I spotted on a flea market in Paris : An Auvergne wine dating from the late 1950s' to early 1960s', I'd say : a Vin délimité de qualité supérieure (VDQS) featuring an image of the Chateau Féodal de Tournoëlon the label. No missing wine, interesting color and 5 € only but somehow again I didn't buy it fearing it would be really madereized. Actually if I remember I thought I'd come back to his spot and take it but I forgot. These Auvergne wines at the time were probably made the old way in cement tanks and no sophisticated oenology, which makes for an interesting travel through time.
A small group of winemakers from Oregon House visited France recently, namely Aaron and Cara from Frenchtown Farms and also Bryn & Jeffrey of Ellsworth Wines who're are just starting to make wine from grapes sourced from what remains of the Renaissance Vineyards. They all known each other in this corner of the Sierra Foothills, including Gideon Beinstock who did a pioneer work here. We went together to the small tasting event that takes place every year on a barge (péniche Melody)along the Seine in Paris, with only biodynamic and natural wines. See the list od the participating winemakers here. This takes place along Quai de Bercy on the 12th arrondissement, see this older story for more pictures. It always takes place on the weekend in mid december, and the vignerons sell bottles and cases as well, people can park along the seine easily and load the wine in their trunk. Fee for this tasting is 6 € which includes the glass.
Aaron kindly invited me a few days before for dinner while in Paris with all his party, and this happened in the aptly named restaurant À La Renaissance, also an institution here regarding its wine list, tons of great producers and cuvées. Plus, very casual venue with enough room, and on a quieter side of the rue de la Roquette far from Bastille. I ordered a steak tartare but the grilled cheese ordered by Bryn looked very tempting retrospectively... The place is open 7 days a week, a rarity in Paris.
That's one of the wines we had at À La Renaissance, and you don't come across a wine from Nicolas Renard easily, the vigneron working on small volumes on an almost reclusive way in his deep cellar of Amboise. His cuvée Léo is made from Côt and I think the vintage here was 2014. Very nice as always with his wines.
Aaron had brought with him a bottle from a cuvée that was not yet ready when I visited Frenchtown Farms in 2018, and he gave it to me that day. After a couple of week to let it recover from the flight we opened it for dinner.
__ Frenchtown Farms Nineteen Harts 2017 is a majority Syrah (95 %) with a bit of Roussanne from the North Yuba AVA, made again from what remains planted of the Renaissance vineyards that are the founding stone of the Appellation. The wine paired beautifully with this Boeuf Bourguignon cooked by B. with dry herb aromas, empyreumatic notes, a fresh and suave wine all the way. At the time we tasted it in Oregon House it was quite tannic, and the stony soil of Renaissance emphasized this character. He told me at the time that the grapes went through a relatively light press and developed rather low alcohol for a Syrah, it was picked at 21,5-22,5 Brix. At 13,4 % it's still pretty reasonable given the climate in the Sierra Foothills.
So here are a few producers pouring their wines on the barge, great tasting event again and small enough to make it possible to taste them all (but unsurprisingly I couldn't).
This was such a pleasure to taste both the whites and the reds poured by Emmanuel Giboulot, they all breathed truth and harmony, such a delight.
__
We tasted a few bottles from Champagne Fleury, and for once this was not Morgane pouring but her brothers Jean-Sébastien et Benoît, one doing the farming side and the other the cellar if I remember.
Pierre and Jean Dietrich are the two brothers behind this Domaine Achillée located near Sélestat in northern Alsace, a domaine farmed along the biodynamic method. Their father was selling the grapes to the local coopérative in spite of farming biodynamic since 2003 and the sons changed course, selling in bottles and starting with non-interventionist ways in the cellar. They vinify naturally with indigenous yeast, using the least possible SO2 like 1 gram/hectoliter before bottling. The domaine was started by the two brothers in 2016 with their father's 18 hectares. They're 8 people to work on the vineyard (18,5 hectares today). They export in the US (Bon Raisin), UK, Japan and a few other countries. They recently (2016) built a chai using straw for natural insulation.
__ Pinot Blanc, actually half Pinot Blanc, half Auxerrois. Nice smoky feel here, he says that's the light oxidation.
__ Their Pinot Noir was exquisite, this super delicate and fresh thing that Alsace can do so beautifully with their Pinot Noir and at a very affordable price. See this color on the leftover in my glass. Don't miss that if you see it !
__ We have here a real gem of a fruit wine making only 5,5 % in alcohol (feels more like 8%, don't be afraid), it's made from quetsches or damsons, a fruit pretty common on Alsace and Lorraine, and if I remember it was so fresh and aromatic (cinnamon, clove, spices), a super light and refreshing bubbly wine indeed, something very unusual for a wine. Crown cap closure, unfiltered. They have 3,5 hectares of damsons, so I guess there's potential for this bubbly. They crush the fruits, have them macerate, then pressed (it's loaded with pectin) and they put some freshly pressed grape juice (about 5 %) for the refermentation in the bottles and the bubbles. This is 100 % natural and made from the farms grapes and fruit. Worth a try, you'll be convinced and hooked. Sells for 9 € public price at the domaine.
Interview with Pierre Dietrich, the 2nd half about this fruit wine.
Among the cuvées of Jean-Claude Lapalu I liked particularly his :
__ Beaujolais Village 2018 "le Rang du Merlo" (bottle sold here 24 €) made from overripe grapes on 15-day maceration under cold temperature in order not to have extraction. The color is bright, light red and tastes so good, like candy.
__ Alma Mater (33 €), turbid, relatively translucent red with milky shades. Vinified in 400-liter amphorae made in France (Seguret, Rhône), long maceration (7-8 months, taken out of the vessel about 15 april). Superb texture in the mouth, delicious. Unfiltered no added sulfites here.
Happy to see Marie-Laurence Saladin (it had been a while since last time), one of the two sisters of the vibrant family Domaine Saladin and it was good to have her wines again with their feel of garrige and dry herbs. the deep-root family domaine has a vineyard surface of 16 hectares with 25 parcels and 13 varieties. These are mostly small parcels which her family bought along the years, parcels which larger, wealthier domaines didn't want.
__ Syrah and Viognier (5 %)
__ Haut Brissan, Grenache 100 % 2017, vinified in cement tank. Smoky notes, character with a noticeable length in the mouth.
When I visited Causse Marine a few years ago the domaine was managed by husband and wife Patrice Lescarret and Virginie Maignien bust they divorced recently and Patrice is now alone in charge. He says he's struggling to make ends meet and do the work by himself, adding that it'll take a few months to see if he can pass the storm.
__ Sy Rosé, an orange wine (white varieties macerated 3 weeks like a red) blended with red juice (direct-pressed syrah) to soften the sometimes-astringent tannins of the skin contact. Very nice result indeed for this unusual orange/rosé wine. 18 €.
__ Zacm'Orange 2018. Super good, yellowish color, neat, straight, stony wine with minerality, very classy white.
__ Du Rat... des Pâquerettes, Duras 2018, unfined, unfiltered, little extraction, easy to drink in spite of 14,5 %, lovely. Zero added sulfites as well. Since 2018, Patrice says he prints the figure of total so2 for each of the cuvées, something he says is oddly totally illegal to do [thanks again to these moronic EU rules i guess]. Knowing this info helps the consumer know what he's buying. When he adds some SO2 it's either after malolactic or before bottling.
__ Causse Toujours 2017, Syrah and Prunelard (local red variety, interesting to know that Malbec is a cross between Magdeleine Noire & Prunelard, both local variety of the south-west).
__ Les 7 Souris 2017 (35 €), made with Syrah. Nice one too.
Domaine Le Sang des Cailloux is located in Vacqueyras (Rhône), making wine since around 1990.
__ Un Sang Blanc, Vacqueyras 2018, a blend of Grenache Blanc, Clairette mostly, then Roussanne, Marssanne, Bourboulenc and a bit of Viognier. Grapes pressed, then juice put into barrels where it stays 12 months through the two fermentations, the bottling taking place just before the end of the vendanges.
__ Doucinello, Vacqueyras 2017 (17 €). Blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cinsault & Carignan vinified separately. These are all the varieties of the appellation for the reds of the domaine, he picks early to keep the fruity side. Feels like unfiltered, he confirms, he didn't filter the 2017s, in general he prefers not to as it deprives the wine of something. Enjoyable, I guess it's still young though.
__ Doucinello, Vacqueyras 2014 (18 €). More interesting here with the aging. So2 added after the fermentation and before bottling.
__ Lopy, Vieilles Vignes old vines planted between 1939 and 1947), Vacqueyras 2016.
__ Oumage, Vacqueyras 2015, 100 % old vines. Not made every year, small cuvée. 30 €.
Now that Paul Barre has retired, the domaine is now managed by his son Gabriel & wife Edith who began buying back the domaine in 2014 until Paul's retirement in 2016. What we taste here are Gabriel & Edith's production, but they keep working on his philosophy, aiming for wines thare are drunk and not wines that are tasted [big difference on which I agree there's often a misconception]. He says for that life must radiate through the domaine, they pick ripe (if not too ripe) in boxes and in a good ambiance with a good sorting and hygiene in the cellar. The wines breath harmony here also. The total vineyard surface is presently 7 hectares, they both work in the vineyard and have an employee for the administrative part. They make the biodynamic preps on the domaine and they invite other growers if they want to do the preps with them. The plants used for herb teas all grow on the domaine, except for Valerian (Edith says Valerian extract is tricky to make). They like to takle the plants from the year because they'll better reflect the vintage, instead of using leftovers from the previous year.
__ Leeloo, Vin de France 2017. This cuvée is an exercice de style he says, it's not a "small wine" (petit vin) in spite of being an entry-level wine, he wants people to feel like they're crunching a fruit.
__ Aux Caudeleyres 2017, young vines. Since they took over the domaine they've done quite a lot of replantings between 2013 & 2015, with a total replanted of 2,4 hectares. Here this is a Fronsac with traditional vinification, élevage on quite old barrels and also fiberglass vats.
__ Chateau La Grave 2017. 15 €.
__ Chateau la Fleur Cailleau 2015, clay-limestone slopes on Canon-Fronsac. 25 €. A bit more Merlot here and for the élevage use of barrels 2-3 wines old. Compared to what Paul Barre did they use less barrels. Nice wine.
__ La Fleur Cailleau 43 2011, a cuvée made by Paul Barre, a total of 3 barrels. They didn't make this cuvée again since, I understand that these vines were uprooted.
Domaine Gauby is located in Languedoc Roussillon, this is an old reference on the artisan scene and Le Soula is from what i understand a cooperation with his former importer in the UK Mark Walford. Gerard Gauby took the wheel in the family domaine in 1980 and his son Lionel joined.
__ Le Soula Trigone, Terres d'Altitudes, Vin de France 2016
__ Le Soula 2016 Blanc, a white vinified by Wendy Paillé. Super nice, balanced, harmonious with a nice tension.
__ Soula 2009, Carignan Syrah Grenache. 26 €. Super nice wine, fresh, delicious.
Absentee's Avi Deixler was in town a few days ago with his girlfriend Natasha, and we had dinner together along with Aaron, Jade and a couple of friends from Colombia. They were on their way to visit winemakers and attend a couple of small, confidential tastings in Montpellier and the Loire. We went to Le Baratin, one of the earliest natural-wine bistrots in Paris, like in the late 1980s' really before the word even was aknowledged.
This place doesn't change, remains casual, affordable with so many exciting wines to choose from,
and Raquel
in the kitchen keeps making her terrific and homey dishes. I always choose a Joue de Boeuf, sooo good... With an entree, a dish each plus 2 bottles it cost us only about 55 € each. At one point Aaron went to the counter with one of Absentee's cuvées which Avi had brought along (Balou) to have Pinoteau taste it, his opinion is gold of course, knows a lot. He recognized the variety (Syrah) immediately and from what i remember he said that while the variety can be boring, here with the light oaky character it helped.
And this one got instantly hooked to the delicious tongue some of us (including me) had as entree, Raquel having brought it a little piece of it... From then on it kept looking in the direction of the kitchen, watching Raquel obsessively in wait for another treat.
The white we began this evening with, an exciting Chenin, a Vin de France 2017 made by Bruno Rochard, a neighbor of Richard Leroy who took the wheel at Domaine de Mirebeau in 1998. Great job. I understand this cuvée if hard to find in the shops, often sold out.
Another well-inspired choice by Aaron was this Jura red, La Pépée, an Arbois Pinot Noir 2018 from Les Bottes Rouges, vinified by talented winemaker Jean Baptiste Ménigoz, a former primary school teacher who learned the job with Stéphane Tissot. Peppery wine with light red fruits notes, so easy to drink, I'm sure I'd down this bottle by myself. I read the vines are 40 years old and the soil is clay. 3-week maceration, smooth pressing to keep the fruity side, élevage in 600-liter demi-muids plus stainless-steel vats. Bottled spring 2019 with very little SO2.
this is a story about tiny houses initiatives I found in the Washington Post. Tiny houses are something I find exciting for many reasons, first because it makes us learn efficient ergonomy and spartan life, and leaves us with more room to look and explore the world. It is also interesting in the perspective of homelessness and excessive house prices, i even think you could build condos with tiny houses.
On the same issue of tiny houses I heard recently about a Hungarian company, Continest, that makes folding houses, on the format and size of containers, allowing a semi-truck to move easily at once 10 such houses. there's an array of other companies worldwide making such foldable units, and I am sure it will help a lot.
Here same passion for tiny houses, this young couple (on the picture Anton and Vika) built themselves this tiny house in a small destitute village near Belgorod (Russia) near the border with Ukraine, planting their crops, fruit trees and giving a new life and hope to dying villages where they were not at first well understood. Before stlling there they travelled across Russia (he's from Siberia, she's from Kharkov) looking to different regions and villages before setting their sights on this village of Novy Oskol near a large forest. The building has been well-thought including for the waste water, insulation, everything. they recently bought a Russian wood stove (an air-tight stove) named Огонь-батарея 5, has an interesting design, we don't see these stoves over here in France. You can follow the adventure of Vika and Anton on their VK page (the Russian Facebook).
Very nice surprise when we opened this Bénédicte de Rycke Cuvée Louise, Jasnières 2005 around Christmas. The Chenin stood the test of time (more than 14 years !), vibrant and balanced, a pleasure. I'll look for her wines, haven't heard of her lately.
This Blaufränkisch Kalkstein 2017 by Claus Preisinger was such a pleasure to sip. The wine is unfiltered, suavely fresh with an annoying easiness to drink (prefer have two bottles than one if you're several to drink). I read Preisinger farms 19 hectares biodynamic in Burgenland, Austria, a surface split in more than 60 blocks. This cuvée is aged on lees in large-capacity barrels for 6 months. Low SO2 added before bottling. Feels like really low amounts. Highly recommended.
This seagull spying on me in Seattle on the Bremerton ferry is a good illustration picture for these recent news : a French CNRS research team has used the ability of Albatros to follow fishing boats in the open seas to count fishing boats in different areas, fitting 19 of these large birds with electronic material like GPS antenna and radar detector, both powered with a micro solar panel. The thing is, these fishing boats could be theorically counted and mapped without using these flying spies, but many of them are suspected to switch off their Automatic Identification System transponder in spite of its continuous use being compulsory by international law (illegal fishing being the main suspected motive for this, but there may be other trafficking at work). With the use of these unwitting collaborators we now know the exact proportion of boats who hide their position by checking the fishing boats spotted by the birds through their activated radar (the boats who switch off their transponder keep using a radar to avoid obstacles or traffic) and comparing with the ones listed through the transponder system. The experiment allowed to locate 353 ships of which 100 (or 28 %) were hiding their location. The authorities now have a way to pinpoint them and decide to conduct checks (not easy though as this may be hundreds of miles from land).
Hi Bertrand,
I think you got it wrong about the EU and planting restrictions ! It actually was the EU that wanted to liberate planting restrictions, but France and French winegrowers that very much wanted to keep them. The winegrowers think it is a way to prevent "boom and bust" cycles and stabilise production levels. You may agree with that point of view or not, but it is not correct to blame the EU for something the French did themselves !!
Posted by: Roelof Ligtmans | February 06, 2020 at 12:33 PM
Hi Bertrand, I discovered your blog a while back but with lockdown, I'm getting caught up! I live near Saint-Germain-en-Laye, go to the market from time to time and never saw that wine, pretty interesting-I'll look closer next time for some such bottles. My town, Beynes, is about 15 km southwest of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and we have a tiny Patrimoine vineyard planted with chardonnay that produces about 1200 bottles at best farmed by members of the association here in town, I guess I should join someday! https://vigneronsdebeynes.blog4ever.com/photos/le-vin-les-coteaux-de-beynes. And also nearby, the Winerie Parisienne just outside Paris planted 10 hectares of vines on the plain of Versailles near Davron, their site explains what they are going for. http://www.winerieparisienne.fr/vignoble
On another note, It was cool to see the folks from Oregon House on your blog. I lived near there before moving to France and had never heard of Renniasnce until last year in the New York Times, fascinating history. Next time I go back, I'll try to stop in and visit them along with Absentee that I saw your post about. I also used to live in Inverness for about a year in 2005. Stay safe, look forward to more posts!
Posted by: D | April 12, 2020 at 05:06 PM
Hi D
Thank you for your comments and for the info on these unknown vineyards nearParis, there's hopefully a future for this region ! More posts are coming soon, hoping I can manage to visit a few people !
Posted by: Bert | May 09, 2020 at 05:24 PM