Le Marais, Paris
This is small natural-wine tasting named Pépites that took place in the Marais on a side street (impasse Guéménée near the Place des Vosges) in a restaurant named Capitaine, I would have missed it if not tipped about
it by Lexie and later Aaron (these Americans are well connected!). This month of april has been mostly fair and sunny in France and in Paris,
with a little breeze that prevented top reach high temperatures. . The terraces of course enjoyed in this spring 2022 a solid rebound after two years of restraints and downright suppression, and parks, gardens & lawns were full as well (pic on left : Place des Vosges nearby).
Tastings have taken the same path, even in small venues, people would elbow their way in cramped spaces without masks and worries. The fee for this professional tasting was a mere 5 €, and guess what you could taste for that humble fee and the great wine people you coud chat with ?? That's one of the reasons Paris still offers opportunities regarding wine that few if any other town can offer.
Alice of Alice & Olivier De Moor from Courgis, Burgundy, was outside pouring her wines which made a good excuse to begin with
her whites.
__ Bourgogne
Blanc 2020, Vendangeur Masqué (négoce), Chardonnay. The wine is not chilled but there's a nice ampleness and feel on the palate, well-structured white. Grapes purchased to two growers who are also here at this tasting for their own wine. 20 € (pro price).
__ Chablis L'Humeur du Temps 2020, Chardonnay, bottled in february. Energy in the mouth, almost acidulous, nice balance. 15,5 € (pro price).
Sans Bruit, Vin de France 2020, Sauvignon. Made from one of their own parcels in Saint Bris (that's why the name of the cuvée, which means noiseless in French but sounds like Saint Bris), with a surface of 40 ares. 15 % alcohol (picked very ripe). Some years they made only 1500 bottles from this parcel; now they've replaced the missing vines with 20 % of Sauvignon Gris. The mouth is majestic and demonstrative ! Very atypical Sauvignon, it's powerful with 15 % but it actually goes down so easy with this particular aromatics. 15 grams of residual sugar, you barely feel anything sweet here. 14 € (pro price).
next to Alice, Hervé Villemade made a good match to taste after her whites. My camera inbetween inadvertedly switched to sepia mode before I noticed it but the missed shot was not that bad, so I posted it...
__ Gamay 2021,
négoce wine with grapes purchased in the Loir & Cher and in Beaujolais. Vinified in tanks.
Light-colored red.In the mouth, feels almost like Pineau d'Aunis with both this lightness and at the same time an enjoyable tannic structure. 7,8 €.
__ Cheverny red 2021, blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay. Vinified in both barrels and cement tanks. Super mouth feel, very feminine wine, delicate with discreet tannic touch. Love it. 7,6 €.
__ Cheverny Les Ardilles 2020, Pinot Noir (85 %), Gamay (15 %). Bottled september 2021. Nice glycerol legs on the inside of the glass. 20 % of this cuvée is vinified in amphorae. Alcohol feel in the mouth (13 % on the label). 10 mg SO2 here. 12 €.
__ Cheverny Désiré 2020, in magnum only. Vinified 100 % in amphorae. Nice wine, radiates down the throat to the stomach, love that wine ! Zero SO2 ! Hervé travelled to Georgia in 2012 and works with amphorae since 2014. This wine is very fresh, no spit here. He only begins to pour this wine so that amateurs can discover it. All wines unfiltered. 42 € (but it's a magnum).
I stopped at the table of the Vignerons d'Estézargues (which I made a short profile in 2007), this unique coopérative in the south of France that has been vinifying naturally all its wines for quite a long time now, and this was a surprise to meet again Anna Tyack there, we had at Le Nez dans le Vert a few years ago, then in Tokyo at Festivin and it's with her that I had visited and profiled the excellent Piss Alley in Shinjuku. Anna trained in different domaines when she came back in France, , among them Domaine de la Pinte (Jura), Nicolas Carmarans (Aveyron), Vieux Télégraphe, worked in New Zealand as well and she now works for Estézargues where she's in charge of the communication. I learn that only 10 to 15 % of Estézargues wine is sold in France, I remember having bought a batch of an excellent cuvée from them, Les Airs rouge, which is impossible to find in France, it's all sold in Japan (mid-scroll to the 4th wine on this page), this wine was so good ! (I still have a couple of cases from it), I'd be jealous if I hadn't managed to get my hand on a few of these bottles, but I'd wish it could be found here for everyone to enjoy !. I also learn that the bag-in-box wines which they sell is also unfiltered. Now the coopérative has 13 growers (10 having a surface between 15 and 70 hectares) for a total surface of 550 hectares, 73 % of the surface being fully organic and 5 % of the production is made of whites.
__ Ephémère Blanc 2021, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Viognier. A bit rich, but the serving temperature may be a bit high. 5.1 €.
__ Carambouille, Vin de France 2021 (the bottle Anna is holding on the picture), this cuvée was vinified by Anna herself ! A rosé made of Cinsault (60 %), Carignan (37 %), Grenache(3 %), with using 25% of direct press. Enjoyable rosé with a mouth that feels both like a red and a white, I guess it's because of the shiller type of vinification. 4,2 €.
__ Les Galets 2021, Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, Mourvèdre. The grapes are not organic here but still a nice, fruity wine. 7 €.
__ Domaine Les Genestas 2021, Grenache, Syrah, Counoise, Carignan. Counoise bring the spicy something in this wine. Super mouth indeed ! A must try if you see a bottle ! Very desmonstrative wine, I love it ! 5,1 € (all pro price of course).
__ Domaine de Sarrelon 2021, Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, Mourvèdre. The vigneron David here is one of the two growers who converted to organic farming in 2008.A bit angular and some astringency. 5,1 €.
__ La Granacha Sinargues 2021, Grenache & Mourvèdre. Will be fully organic certified in 2023 (in conversion right now). Only old vines here. Eric Solomon of Eric Solomon Selections once during a visit said this wine had to be bottled separately (it was deemed to be part of Les Galets) and so we owe him this great cuvée. Powerful mouth, still a bit young, but charmingly warmful in the throat, keep watch of this wine, very nice.
I had tasted Hervé Villemade's reds outside, and Laetitia was pouring his whites inside :
__ Cheverny white 2020, blend of Sauvignon (70 %) & Chardonnay (30 %). Bottled july 2021. Quite ripe and powerful. 7.60 € (all prices are pro prices).
__ Cheverny Montcrochet 2020, Sauvignon and Chardonnay, plus a bit of Menu Pineau. Sympa, nice. 12 €.
__ Cheverny La Bodice 2020, Sauvignon (80 %), Chardonnay (20 %). I love that one ! Vibrant, alive !!! Looks unfiltered but I'm told it is. 13,2 €.
__ Cour-Cheverny Les Chataigniers 2020. This is Romorantin of course. Quite concentrated, intense with power, good to eat with some dish.
This small tasting event is really a gem, now we walk to the table of the Frères soulier (Soulier brothers in French). If you're not familiar with this domaine located in the village of Saint Hilaire d'Ozilhan west of Avignon in the Gard (south of France), read Aaron's stories about them and subscribe to his substack for more details, you won't read about them in the mainstream media. The family domaine has a vineyard surface today of 8 hectares, plus 25 hectares of olive trees and grazing land for farm animals. They never use any so2 and always make plenty of vinification experiments.
__ Fantôme 2021, Grenache, juice taken from the beginning of the press. Charles says that the wine is not place yet with a little bit of mousiness. For me, I love this cuvée, silky, discreet, at the same time onctuous and vivid ! 16,2 € (pro price).
__ Les Croses 2020, direct-press Mourvèdre, which subsequently has an élevage sous voile, a rosé which is more vinous, very different style here. Lovely wine with a chalky tannic feel. 16,8 €.
__ Prime 2021, in magnums only, direct press from Cinsault, Clairette Blanche & Clairette Rose, what a pleasure in the mouth, another wonder, sooo good ! 11 % only, you got to try this !
There was also Fanny Sabre in this tasting, it's been a while since I visited her in 2010 and she now works from 7 hectares. I took few notes although I very much enjoyed her wines, I was certainly busy chatting with Lexie.
__ Beaune les Prévolles, Chardonnay 2020. Nice freshness.0 19,50 €.
__ Beaune Clos des Renardes, Chardonnay 2020. Umami feel, I love that ! 21 €.
__ Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2020. Nice inspiring wine.
__ Beaune Clos des Renardes red, Pinot Noir. Very classy Pinot. 21 €.
I then tasted cider from the Cidrerie du Leguer which is located far away from Paris, in Lannion (Brittany) and Cédric Le Bloas who is farmer and cidermaker was pouring. His wife is a Brit and so he's fluent himself. He's making some 12 or 13 cuvées of cider ! Alcohol in his ciders range from 5,5 % to 7,5 %, he started this in 2016 and now produces 45 000 bottles a year including apple
juice, all is organic of course. Link to a few of his ciders.
__ Cailloux. Short mouth but very interesting, with mushromm aromas. 6 €.
__ Barbe, made from apples and also rhubarb. Man that's super aromatics as well ! 5,4 €.
__ Accident. No notes, sorry 4,20 €.
__ Brutbrut. 4,20 €.
__ Granit. Surprising aromas in the mouth, stony indeed, something evoking flint sparks, rubbed stones. 3,6 €.
__ Premium. Amber color, like very ripe. They use apples that are bitter for this batch, and they wait [something I can't decipher on my notes] in order not to have the tannic side.
__ Poiré. Wouaouh, this awakes you, just try that ! It's fresh with a light sweetness, you just want to pour yourself another one right away ! 5,4 €. All prices pro without tax.
There was quite a crowd at the table of Domaine Lissner (Alsace), with Theo Schloegel pouring, so many people that I had a hard time getting everything he said about the wines and the parcels.
__ Obertal,
Pinot Blanc 2016. Richness, nice power, harmonious wine. Théo speaks about the work on the soil when I taste this.9,69 € (pro price)
__ Pinot Gris 2020. Creamy notes on the nose. Hard to read myself for the rest of my notes here.7,89 €.
__ Riesling Rothstein 2020. Nive vibes, love it ! 13,45 €.
__ Altenberg de Wolxeim Grand Cru 2019. Flower notes on the nose, 16,28 €.[unintelligible words for the mouth feel] interesting wine.
__ Muschelkalk Gewürztraminer 2019, super majestic, love this one. 12,62 €.
__ Pinot Noir Reserve 2020. So good, man !! Don't miss it ! Alsace is indeed the dream region for Pinot Noir !!! 12,23 €.
Lots of great people in this tasting, including chef Nobuyuki Akishige with his staff, posing here for me with Lexie. Nobuyuki Akishige is the man behind Restaurant Automne in Paris, a top-notch gastronomic table in the 11th arrondissement, centered on creative French cuisine.
You may know that Jean-François Nicq of Domaine Les Foulards Rouges (pictured on
left here) was the one
that put the Estézargues coopératives on its natural-wine tracks. He then started his own thing at Les Foulards Rouges, one of the most vibrant wine farm of his region. It was a pleasurte to sip their wines here. The domaine now makes 18 hectares in surface and is located in Montesquieu des Albères south of Perpignan (near the Pyrenees Mountains).
__ Potemkine 2021, Carignan Blanc and Carignan Gris, destemmed, maceration for 1 week. Fresh wine with a mouthfeel of a white, lovely wine !. 10,45 €.
__ Grenache 2021. Old Grenache vines. Nice tannic chew with good length in the mouth and down the throat, because you don't spit that ! Lovely ! 11,55 €.
__ Glaneurs, Grenache 2021. Younger vines. Carbonic maceration. Well integrated tannins or at least well in their way to be. 11,55 € as well.
__ Frida, Grenache & Carignan 2021. 100-year old vines. A bit angulkar in the mouth, need to eat with that I think. 12,65 €.
Eric Pfifferling of Domaine L'Anglore in the Rhône now kind of retired and his sons arer in charge, in particular Thibault who is doing both in the vineyard and the cellar (he and his wife/girlfriend should have a baby imminbently now). L'Anglore is for me and many wine lovers a monument for their wines : Rhône wines that are fresh and leave on you a deep, unforgettable imprint.
__ Lirac 2019. Grenache (70 %), Mourvèdre (30 %), some Clairette. What a mouth and throat !! (what you'd miss if you spit and don't swallow !). Superb ! Buy that at first glance !
__ Pierre Chaude 2019, Grenache and Mourvèdre. Old Grenache vines. 2019 was the year with 45 C in june (113 F).
__ Tavel Vintage 2018. Grenache, Clairette, Cinsault. Nice dark rosé like what you expect from a Tavel, dense but fresh, with a mouthfeel close to a white's.
I managed to sneak my glass here along the Japanese staff of Automne who were tasting the wines of La Cadette with Valentin Montanet but I didn't have the time to get back to his table before the end of the event.
I also tasted the wines of Mas Foulaquier but somehow forgot to take any picture at their table. Blandine who was pouring the wines manages the wine farm with her husband :
__ Oiseau Blanc 2020, Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, Bourboulenc, Rolle and Clairette. Waouh, this wine is a white and after my last taste which was a red, it awakes you ! 12,65 €.
__ La Chouette Blanche 2019, same variety blend, but spent time in barrels and amphorae. Nice one. 16,4 €.
__ Orange à la Mer 2021, Muscat d'Alexandrie, Grenache Blanc. Maceration white. I note that I begin to really feel that I had a lot of wines... Nice Muscat aromas, and an acidulous side. 13,8 €.
__ Terre Rose 2021, Alicante Bouschet, an hybrid derived from Grenache, created by Louis & Henri Bouschet in 1855. This is a teinturier variety (was intended to add color) and here with the direct press you have a light-colored red. Not bad ! Quite powerful wine.
__ Les Montagnes Bleues 2019, Grenache. Light-colored red, nice balance with length and intensity, love it ! 8,4 € (pro price)
__Les Calades 2020, Syrah (80 %), Grenache (20 %). Wouah, that's intense and moves your senses, with tannins that are at the same time marked and refined. 14,95 €.
__ Les Amours Vendangeurs 2019, Grenache. Here they put the Grenache in infusion, no destemming, with a stainless-steel lid used to keep the grapes in the juice. Vinified in amphorae, and after pressing, went in amphorae again.. Pretty stunningly good wine, good length with fresh touch on the side of the mouth. Nice astringency. Love it ! 23 €.
My last domaine was Les Vins de Lavie, an 11-hectare wine farm with a 6-generation history, which is located in the Muscadet region (Loire), and Guillaume and Adèle Lavie were pouring their wines.
__ 1930, Gros Plant du Pays Nantais 2021, a vat sample (brut de cuve). Should be bottled by now. Harmonious, umami feel with this lovely wholeness, love it ! Goes down easy, even after having so many wines. 10 % alcohol only ! 6,75 € (pro price).
__ Cuvée Denis, Melon de Bourgogne 2021. Also vat sample. Intensity with freshness, roundness and what I'd say is minerality. Here, deeper terroirs with clay. 6,2 €.
__ Lavie le Vaurien, Melon de Bourgogne 2021 Blend of terroirs on draining soils. Warmful side with a nice resonance down the throat, good length ! 6,5 €.
__ Tribu, Cabernet Sauvignon 2021. 100 % Cabernet Sauvignon, destemmed with maceration 10 days. Vat sample, terroir on gneiss, picked late october. Nose of red fruits, there's a candy style in the mouth, lovely. 6,5 €.
__ Cap au Sud, Syrah (from the Luberon), Cabernet (Corbières), Grenache (Corbières), Merlot (Ardèche) 2019, purchased grapes. Dust notes on the nose. Intensity in the mouth, this awakes you beautifully ! Some candied notes. 6,5 €.
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