7th arrondissement, Paris
This year is like no other also for wine events, tastings and other professional gatherings : be it in the spring or at autumn (the most intense seasons
for these wine events) I had like usual
received tons on invitations for wine-centered activities and every each of them (or almost) were backtracked, sometimes postponed at a later date and at the end, plain cancelled. I usually go only to a few of these events depending of my mood but this year even on my own standards I could have used more, this has been really a blank year. When I had the invite from Philippe Pacalet to taste a few of his wines in the fall I answered yes and when I saw that even with the imminent approach of a ban on gatherings the event was not cancelled (we were just days away from another lockdown) I was relieved, thinking, not everybody caves in fear.
This by-invitation-only tasting took place at the Galerie Mayaro in a quiet street of the 7th arrondissement. Philippe Pacalet had a few other (but private) tastings in Paris during the same week. It was a pleasure to see them all again, Monica, Philippe as well as his son who was behind one of the serving tables.
Asked about the vintage Philippe Pacalet says that he lost quite a bit of volume of juice with the drought this summer. Also they had trouble to find pickers because many couldn't reach the region because of the pandemic [many come from abroad, southern or eastern Europe]. They had to hire locally which was not easy because growers were all looking for labor.
Although she was busy pouring the wines most of the time, we could exchange a few words with Monica. She hadn't been back to Brasil for a long time and lived all these months
in Burgundy, she has a friend who travelled there and couldn't fly back because airlines have been phasing out routes, making very difficult to fly back to Europe, this woman was stuck there
wih her children, not easy. Her family can't come over here either, because Brasilians (like many other) are banned from entering the EU.
Here is was we were offered to taste that day :
On the 1st table (manned by Philippe's son) : Ladoix Blanc 2018; Puligny-Montrachet 2018; Ladoix Rouge 2017; Pommard 2017; Nuits-Saint Georges 2017; Moulin à vent 2016; Gevrey chambertin 2016
On the 2nd table (Monica pouring) :
Monthélie 1er Cru Clos Gauthey 2017; Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru 2017; Aloxe Corton 1er Cru 2017; Nuits-Saint Georges 1er Cru Aux Chaignots 2017; Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru 2017; Corton Bressandes Grand Cru 2017; Cornas 2016.
As you can see there's also a Cornas. Philippe also found parcels in Côte Rôtie, and in 2018 they began to make Condrieu as well (they didn't bring the bottles that day). 3 barrels of it, they're beginning to sell it. He vinifies over there in the Rhône, at the beginning he was doing the vinification at Hervé Souhaut and now he does it at Condrieu at a friend's place (a guy who is associate of Thierry Allemand). That's a lot of work to do the job both in Burgundy and the Rhône, and the strange thing is that it's more and more on the same time window, recently Burgundy was even earlier than the Rhône...
If I had to choose one cuvée, this Corton-Bressandes Grand Cru 2017 would be the one, it really stood out. magnificent wine, seductive and already so pleasurable. Don't miss this one, unmistakably great Philippe Pacalet. This goes with a price as you can guess, something like 250 € here in France.
The high-end négoce Albert Bichot sent me this press release about the Hospices sales. The year and context (with the pandemic) being unusual, I found interesting to release the news because they show that life continues...
Albert Bichot acquires the “Pièce des Présidents” at the 160th Hospices de Beaune wine auction It is in an unprecedented context that the 160th Hospices de Beaune wine auction took place on Sunday December 13.
The sale which was initially scheduled on Sunday, November 15 was postponed and finally took place in small committee with the main professional buyers, but also on-line for the French and International clients who were unable to attend. This charity sale, whose profits are donated to the Hospital of Beaune had this year a particular and clear resonance. The sale reached a total of €12,761,600 for 630 barrels (so €20,200 on average per barrel), which represents the 2nd most successful sale in the history of the Hospices after 2018. The exceptional quality of the vintage and the willingness of buyers to take part in a great charity have prevailed over the current sanitary context with prices declining slightly compared to last year (-1.14% for the reds and - 4.32% for the whites). Maison Albert Bichot buys 97 barrels and the “Pièce des Présidents” A family-owned and independent Maison since 1831, Albert Bichot is a major patron in the preservation of Burgundian culture and heritage. "Buying from the Hospices de Beaune is a tradition as much as it is a commitment", says Albéric Bichot, 6th generation of the family and born at the Hospices de Beaune himself. Albert Bichot has been the first buyer of the Hospices de Beaune wine auction for more than 20 years now.
Once again this year, Albert Bichot is proud to support the Hospices de Beaune by purchasing 98 barrels (including the “Pièce des Présidents”) for an amount of €2,974,000 or 22% of the total amount of the sale. By acquiring the “Pièce des Présidents” for €660,000* on behalf of a Chinese friend, Albéric Bichot confirms his support for the “Hospitaliers de France” (French Hospital workers) victims of Covid-19. This barrel, a Clos de la Roche Grand Cru vinified in an oak cask from the Chambord Forest National Park was sold to their benefit. It embodies what the Hospices is all about: excellence for a noble cause.
2020, the Unforgettable vintage
“The very early 2020 vintage reveals wines of a rare homogenity whose flesh and natural concentration
reveal an exceptional year. Despite the heat of summer, the red and white wines have retained
unexpected freshness. The pinot noir suffered more from the drought than the chardonnay, which led to
very low yields in all appellations. A deep vintage and certainly of great aging potential. ” states Alain
Serveau, Technical Director of Maison Albert Bichot.
Now I swear I'm not posting undercover ads for Citroën but you'll see that there's a relation with wine (or booze at large) in this short story. You may have heard that France was a big market for 50cc automobiles, which have (theorically at least) a maximum speed of 45 km/h and can be driven at the age of 14. There's a good reason for the popularity of these
minicars known in French as voitures
sans permis (literally :
cars without driver's license) : many drivers in the countryside lost all their 12 points on their driver's license, possibly because repeated DUI offences and can't pass or afford the tests again, so the immediate solution is a voiture sans permis. These minicars are not cheap usually and their lifespan is much shorter than a regular car which is understandable with such a small engine, but Citroën has recently designed such a minicar, except that it's electric, much cheaper and with a cute design, and as the chosen name for this model was Citroën Ami, i couldn't leave this story on the side, being the proud owner of an Ami 8, which in its grandmother time (1971) was also in some way very inventively designed and cute, like everything Citroën [if they don't give me a new car after this, what can I do ?]...
This cute little car has a limited range (70 km) that fits local use, it costs about 7000 € (and in France you receive a 900 € State subsidy for being a "green" car) and can be plugged at home using a standard outlet.Here is a video on a Renault-Citroën comparative between their respective micro cars.
this Chateau Yvonne Saumur Blanc 2009 was a nice surprise, its almost tiled color had me fear for its holding that many years in the cellar (11 years since it was vinified) but it stood firm on its feet, generous mouth with just the light oxidative touch of the years.
In the weeks before the 2nd lockdown fell upon us when we were free to travel round the provinces, I stumbled upon this pallet of Bernache (fermenting grape juice) in a Super U in the Loire Valley. For a supermarket, going through all this trouble to have its clients have access to bernache is pretty courageous, especially that the profit must be very limited for this type of product (here 2,99 € a bottle), and they can't do anything with the leftover bottles (past the time window, bernache is getting sour and not really drinkable). And the bottles (which have a punctured plastic seal to let the CO2 out) must be kept standing all the way, not an easy walk for a store. This makes a good reason to buy them a couple of bottles of this fermenting pink juice, and bernache is always so delicious...
The trend is here to stay : négoces, mass bottlers and supermarket see obviously a future in woke marketing and labelling, kind of trying to surf on the natural wine authenticity. They usually emphasize on their no-added-sulfites, but they're mum on how they achieved this [pasteurization, other additives %], they usually stop short of saying "naturally vinified", but sometimes
they use ambiguous wording close to that. Of course, many of them are disappointing but it would be unfair to dismiss them all, some are pretty drinkable, although we still have questions on how they worked.
This particular wine was designed by Carl Coignard of Innowine who presents himself as an artisan négociant; he works from organic vineyards and seems genuinely interested in making wines that are closer to the real thing. This particular cuvée is Grenache (the name of the cuvée plays with the words Grenache and Anarchiste with the signature A). Was spotted at Monoprix for 7,95 €.
This other pseudo-revolutionary cuvée named along the namesake far-left French newspaper Libération is an
organic Côtes-du-Rhône Sinargues made sans soufre ajouté (without added sulfur). It is bottled by a négoce named R&D Vins (Dauvergne Ranvier), so I guess it's vinified there too. Also priced about 8 € at Monoprix. These cuvées are one-off offers which you find now and then. Although they might become permanently available on the shelves, I think they're like trials where the négoces test both the feasability of these sulfur-free cuvées and the reaction of the public.
At this price I think it's too close to the real thing (natural wines made by dedicated artisans) to be a threatening competitor for the natural-wine producers, their lowest-priced wines starting at 10 € or 12 €, but in the future if these négociants finetune their skills they can offer something much cheaper, opening the door for consumers for whom 10-12 € is still a bit expensive (we often drink wine every day in France).
The previous wines came from Monoprix which is like a mid-size general store but they do have also wine fairs (foire aux vins in French) now and then. This picture here was shot in a large Super U if I'm right, this is how looks a foire aux vins in general, with a wall of special-offer wines. I already said I used to shun them but now on occasion if I have time I give a look because among what amounts actually to clearance sales allowing the wineries to get cash and get rid of excess stock, you can find a few bargains, often with domaines unknown to you. the trick is try a bottle here and there, open it the same day and come back if the wine is worth. Of course most of these bottles are conventionally vinified, if increasigly organic.
Here is an example of the good deals you may find in these foires (found this at this Super U) : This Père Eole, a biodynamic Côtes du Rhône (Ecocert - Demeter) 2019 was just delicious, it's made by Domaine de la Guicharde, a 40-hectare (plus 20 hectares of woods and garrigue) winery in Vaucluse. Priced at around 6 € I bet on the Demeter certification, biodynamie makes really a big difference in the wine compared to basic organic. This wine can make a fairly honest daily wine for a very affordable price.
Private distillation in France is allowed for those who have an orchard with fruits but the costs are pretty high for the pleasure to make your own booze : you have to pay for the distillation using the services of a registered bouilleur de cru and on top of that you have to pay a stamp tax of 7,5 € per liter (calculated on the base of pure alcool) to the tax authorities. No need to say that the demand has dwindled over the years, nearly extinguishing an ageless tradition. Some do make their moonshine in secret in the French backcountry but the fines are known to be so big you might loose your house if you're caught. These taxes are encouraged by the EU and any change needs a fight in Brussels, which apparently the French don't want to dare, same for their cheese by the way. Here is a page (in French) detailing the heavy rules for private distillation.
Oddly, it's in Hungary that this EU tax rule was fought regarding family distillation. Like France, this country has a long tradition of winemaking and distillation, fruit distillation being known as Palinka there (even under the communist regime people could make their own wine if they owned a few rows of vines), and the government which since 2016 had been forced to levy a 700-Forint (less than 2 €) tax on every home-made liter of Palinka (and Hungarian moonshiners were occasionally caught), fought back in Brussels to obtain full freedom of charge for owners of orchards, be it in a second home. The demand grew steadily over the years to register a home alambic with (per this article) for example 2200 new alambics registered in 2019 alone.
According to this article (in Hungarian) the EU caved in after 10 years of lobbying and changed its rules, allowing the member states to decide for themselves the tax regime on home distilling. As a result, beginning january 1st 2021 Hungarians will again be able to distill from their fruits free of charge. Today there are 27 000 registered home distillers with their own devices in Hungary [and probably an additional, unknown number who aren't registered], and in 2020 (as of october 8) the tax authorities had sold 69 000 tax stamps. Beginning next january 2021, Hungarians owning fruit trees will be allowed to distill up to 86 liters of Palinka or brandy free of tax.
The EU member states are now allowed to let their respective citizens distill up to 50 liters of alcohol but the French government hasn't moved a finger to let the private fruit-trees owners benefit from this new allowance.
Image source : NAV (Hungarian tax authority)
Travel is one of the casualties of this pandemic, Europe closed its doors to much of the world, same for the United States and Japan, but in continental Europe there are disparities that few people know, and a small country of Eastern Europe, Croatia is still open to American visitors, the only EU country do to so, according to this article. The visitors are often people who come for more than a couple of weeks and can work remotely. This is a good opportunity also for out of EU visitors to learn more about the vibrant artisan winemakers of Croatia.
What do peple do when they remote work, stay at home much longer than usual ? For my part, working on the computer, watching movies on Yandex or Ok, real oldies like Jules et Jim, or The Getaway (the latter in part for the music of Toots Thielemans), now and then calling people and yes, having video apéros... We've heard that the wine sales that can't materialize through restaurants and bars are partially compensated through cavistes and supermarket sales, many people devoting part of the money they used to spend at restaurants buying-ordering bottles they'll drink indoors. But there's a question about people possibly drinking more than they did before these episodes of lockdown & curfew, particularly when they really stay at home and do remote work. What do you do if not ending drinking more than before the pandemic ? I think yes, people drink more especially for spirits, although I didn't find stats about the matter. I suspect the supermarkets are unwilling to communicate on that by fear that the government will blame them and edict yet another restricting order. Some studies in Europe play down the issue but this one in the US says there's a big increase in drinking.
Especially now with winter and cold weather coming I'm pretty sure we all buy more spirits, plus I'd say half-jokingly that it helps kill the germs, that's not entirely wrong by the way, like you can also try this old nasal wash treatment which I learnt in Russia : put a bit of salt (not too much) in a mug of warm water, stir it with the finger until it's fully melted, then breath (yes I know, it's not fun, especially the 1st time) this saline water through your nose and sinus, spit through the mouth whatever gets through. Wait 60 seconds (that's my count) until you give a blow. Repeat this right after if you can, whatever germs reached the inside of your nose are eliminated. I've done this several times since the beginning of the pandemic, for example after having found myself trapped in a crowded bus or shop. Israeli scientists working in Vancouver-based SaNOtize are working on something similar that kills all Coronavirus reaching the nose, but until this reaches the drugstores you have the Russian way, and for virus that might have reached the throat, a glass of vodka or whisly will make the job.... My advice for not getting hooked : don't drink during the day (even at lunch).
This autumn, after a nice summer where we were free to roam around, new restrictions fell upon us following spikes in positive cases and a rebound in hospitalized patients. First there was a curfew, and I shot this picture in Paris on the last evening before the start of the 9pm-6am curfew (due for 4 weeks beginning october 17), this was the last time for the foreseeable future where you could sit on a terrace and have a drink, and people in Paris didn't let this opportunity go waste. The following day penalty for breach of curfew was a 135 € fine.
After this curfew interlude we had a 2nd lockdown, but it was kind of a lighter one, everyone going outside being supposed to carry a self-declaration named Attestation de Déplacement Dérogatoire (printed or on a dedicated App on the phone) stating the motive which has to be one of the allowed ones, here it would be "shopping for essential groceries". But the feel is that people are more negligent and go out shopping without real change in the frequency, it's even probable that many don't bother to fill a self-declaration. Plus, the Police seem to have other problems and don't seem to want to enforce the rules, at least in the big cities.
I shot this picture on a street market in Paris, you can see it's sometimes pretty crowded. This 2nd lockdown started october 29 with a maximum distance of 1 kilometer for shopping and exercise (distance was later relaxed to 20 km to ease shopping). We're still under this lockdown until december 15, beyond which we'll be again allowed to move across France without self declaration and without distance limit, but a curfew will then be reinstated...
This 2nd lockdown was already more lax from the start, with rapidly people going back to their shopping and business, but half-way through the lockdown authorities lightened the rules, allopwing basically all shops to open, except bars, restaurants,
theaters. I guess the authorities realized that economically, keeping a strict lockdown in place would be devastating for many people. I think contamination risks remain high in public transport and some shops, many people don't realize that they have to reduce the purchase of groceries at a minimum and they keep strolling in there day after day. Also, the Paris mayor, instead of relaxing the hard-line policy and parking fines against scooters and motorbikes (which would allow many people to avoid crowded public transportation), chose from the start of the pandemic to keep her line before any other consideration, herronor favoring again ideology over safety.
Picture on left : scooters being towed away in Paris (mise à la fourrière in French). Typical cost for the owner : 200 € including the fine (which is 135 €). Many of these owners (some live in the suburbs) earn barely the minimum wage (smic), or 1185 € (take-home income after compulsory health & retirement contributions).
Soon comes Christmas and I fell upon this story recently about people being allowed to cut their own tree on BLM-managed public lands near Lake Tahoe, California. I've been raised and nurtured myself with the idea that it's bad to cut a tree in the woods and on public land or nature reserves, like it deprives a tree from a long life, but although this new move seems counter intuitive at the first glance, it seems it's a good step in the right direction as it helps going forward a pragmatic management of public land in regions prone with devastating forest fires. This is not the group think narrative people like to hear on the issue but it makes sense, and this story which I read a couple years ago on Forbes says the same thing with more details on what changed along the last decades on this issue. Each time I stay in Provence and wander in the wilderness in the var département I feel the same : you see the underbrush getting thicker year after year with thousands of small pine trees, all of this unchallenged. Encouraging people to go cut small pines in Provence's wilderness (and thus use this variety for Christmas instead of the usual fir) could be one of the solutions to keep in check this worryingly-expanding forest-fire fuel. And having people pay (like in California) 10 € for the tree would give more means for other forestry management programs (but having the French play by the rules and pay is another challenge...).
Speaking of forest management, there's this very interesting article (also counter intuitive) about forest preservation in Western Africa, where it seems that commercial exploitation by large companies makes a better job than letting the forest by its own.
We can say a lot of things on Bordeaux but these wines age certainly well, we opened this bottle in october, it was some 18 years after this wine was vinified by Denis and Florence Dubourdieu and it still had a story to tell. I think we may still have a few of those somewhere..
Now I wish we still had some of this but I'm afraid this was the last bottle. This Fleurie En Remont 2010 2010 by Julie Balagny was just magic, and the very last drops, you know, the more-than-turbid bottom of the bottle which I had the privilidge to drink by myself was a pure marvel, with this soft tannic touch and vibrant acidity still pulsing its life... I'll have another look in all the places and cellars we keep bottles, we might be wrong and still have one of these (and again, these labels were the best !)...
Here is another négoce wine made "Sans Soufre Ajouté" (without added sulfur, literally), an organic Côtes du Rhône (Ecocert) which I considered as drinkable if lacking excitement. Made by Dauvergne-Ranvier, the back label says the volume was small and it was their first vintage without added sulfur. Must watch these cuvées year after year, things are moving fast. Found at Monoprix, a chain I never go to (boringly bobo) except occasionally for the wine section.
Of course bars and restaurants suffer a lot these days, you have to pay the rent, pay for the insurance, for already ordered supplies, and we just learnt that bars and restaurants will remain closed until at least january 7. there seems to be no intervention
nor communication by the government about finding a solution for the rents and the insurance costs (I guess it's hard to understand these details when you never had to
earn your money yourself). Many survive by keeping a smaller staff, selling dishes to go and bottles.
Here Le Verre Volé, one of the earliest natural wine venues in Paris does exactly this. When I visited recently (at the 67 rue de Lancry location) there were two guys behind the counter and one of them said that indeed the caviste part of the business is thriving, especially at the other, caviste-only address (38 rue Oberkampf, 75011), as it's clear that people who can't go to restaurants compensate by byuing more wine from cavistes. Le Verre Volé has indeed an impressive choice of wines, at the Lancry shop there are two walls facing each other and stacked with bottles, the lowest price I saw was 8,5 € if I remember and threre are quite many cuvées at around 11 €. I bought a couple of bottles and eventually will post notes about the wines.
The dishes this week are : Boudin noir à griller with gratin dauphinois (for 1 person - 14 €) and Estouffade de paleron de boeuf à la catalane (for 2 people - 27 €). No bread included, there's no delivery, people have to come and get the food themselves.
Le Verre Volé's webpage for hours and contact
Of this we still have a few bottles and are always happy to open one now and then. Very nice, lots of fruit character and still fresh 15 years later, this wine is naturally vinified and unfiltered, and got obviously minimal so2 at bottling. It is good to remind that according to the domaine's website the vinification is natural since 1610...
With the occasional shortage of agricultural labor, be it because of changing immigration policies, rising wages or (like today) health restrictions, wineries may be tempted to use robots and other self-powered machines for several vineyard jobs. While I think it will be hard to automate the skills of pruning, there's room for innovation, although there's a risk the trade looses its soul with these changes. Here a robot made by Naïo Technologies that is being tested on the ground at Maison Hennessy and Bernard Magrez, two large structures that certainly employ a lot of vineyard workers (read article on the issue). The restrictive labor laws in France certainly helps potentially to move toward automated work in the vineyard and it's thus not mystery why this company is French. I met quite a few vintners in this country who didn't want to grow because of the dissuasive regulation and labor costs in France.
With people in several countries getting access to the vaccine (Russia, the UK and the U.S. to this day) comes the question if you have to refrain from drinking alcohol for a certain time around the vaccine injection, and if yes, for how long. In this article published in Russia journalists asked questions to biologist Irina Yakutenko regarding Sputnik V (the Russian vaccine), and she says that initially it was said by
government official Tatyana Golikova that you had to refrain from drinking alcohol for 42 days, but then Alexander Gintsburg, the developer of the vaccine said that it was enough to not drink alcohol 3 days before and after each shot. He was speaking of course in the context of a country where, especially during the cold months of winter, people drink more vodka than say, wine or beer, and like for every type of vaccine, being moderate during the vaccination days is wise and helps the body recover. This story by News Scientist tells about the same thing. And even the 3-day abstinence may be an excess of precaution, as for the vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, there has been no instruction to abstain from alcohol around the time of vaccination. But we'll all agree that a few days will be safe and OK...
Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2262654-should-you-avoid-alcohol-when-getting-a-coronavirus-vaccine/#ixzz6gUom7irg
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