South of France
Growing Grey in the Sun
Posted by: | CommentsSpring has sprung in the Roussillon, prompting Katie Jones of Domaine Jones to share her enthusiasm for the season of renewal. Hers is a pocket handkerchief estate making three lovely wines. Her white is outstanding and is made from the Grenache gris, locally prized for its ageing capacity but unknown anywhere else.
‘The more I work with this grape variety the more I like it. It is a little frightening though as the grapes are pink and the juice when the grapes are pressed is bright orange, so I am always amazed by the lovely pale colour of the final wine. Grenache Gris makes some of the best white wines from this area of southern France and is often blended with other local grapes. Mine is not blended but exclusively Grenache Gris.
So why are my Grenache Gris special? They are 80 years old, they are planted on black slate soils and therefore they produce a very limited amount of grapes. The low productivity of my vines gives great depth and concentration to the final wine. It also means that the root structure is so well established that they don’t suffer from summer drought.
It still makes me smile that I almost didn’t buy this vineyard. Monsieur Bourrell who sold it to me forgot to mention that half of the vineyard was planted with Grenache Gris and not the red Grenache noir that I was expecting. As he took the grapes to the local cooperative, it didn’t matter to him that half the grapes were white. When I told him that I wasn’t sure that I still wanted to buy his vineyard he told me it wasn’t a problem – I could just mix it all together and make the traditional sweet dessert wine from Maury!
Not on your nelly, Monsieur Bourrell.’
Here at The Society we still need to wait for the 2011 but a small quantity of the 2010 (ref FC22301) is still available to order. To do so, please call Member Services on 01438 740 222.
Marcel Orford-Williams
Society buyer
Why You Should Not Overlook The Languedoc’s Superb 2010s
Posted by: | CommentsThe Languedoc is a big place – the largest single wine region on earth, according to some. It certainly feels like it, with over a thousand miles clocked up in less than a week.
Mont St Baudile with the vines of Montpeyroux in the foreground
I shall take nothing away from the Rhône, which has brilliant wines; but the Languedoc does too, and what was remarkable about this trip was the sheer quality of what was on offer and especially from the 2010 vintage.
The Rhône of course is not that far away and so seems reasonable that vintages should follow. The Languedoc being so large however, this is not always the case. 2008 is a great example: average in the Rhône but actually very good in the Languedoc.
Anyway, this is not about 2008 but rather about 2010: sublime in the Rhône and just as good in the Languedoc.
What makes 2010 special? The answer is that 2010 has everything. The wines are very dark, very fruity – satisfyingly full bodied yet without any of the aggressive tannins that are often present in good vintages. There is nothing baked or raisiny in these 2010s; the relatively cool but dry summer prevented that and indeed allowed the grapes to preserve acidity. The weather was perfect and allowed growers to wait and pick when they liked. The grapes were fully ripe.
There are several 2010s forthcoming in the July List (Montpeyroux la Pinpanella from La Jase Castel is one of many favourites) but otherwise there will be a very full listing in a Languedoc offer which will be published in the autumn.
Marcel Orford-Williams
Society Buyer
Welsh Carignan?
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Domaine Aupilhac
But Sylvain’s career as a fruit and vegetable producer was short lived, as one year’s crop was wiped out. His father had some vines which he gave to Sylvain. He should have joined the coop, but he didn’t and the rest is history. Except that much of what Sylvain’s dad had planted was carignan.
When young Sylvain went to wine school, he learned that carignan was the root of all evil. But Sylvain made his carignan wine and it was David Pugh who tasted it and who bought it for his restaurant. And once again the rest is history.
Le Mimosa
The Mimosa was packed recently for a special dinner with a carefully chosen menu to match Aupilhac wines. The highlight unquestionably was a 1990 Carignan, Sylvain’s second vintage. This was a wine of extraordinary beauty and complexity.
It is partly thanks to Sylvain Fadat and the fact that he sold to David Pugh that the carignan grape was saved. I have recommended this restaurant before and do so again without hesitation.
Marcel Orford-Williams
Buyer, South of France
Saint Mont Celebrates 30 Years
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Winemaker Olivier Bourdet-Pees (left) & Plaimont president André Dubosc (right) in celebratory mood.
Saint Mont is in the South West, covering a scattered vineyard among rolling hills to the south of the River Adour and along one of the routes to the shrine of Saint James at Compostela. On a clear day, one can just see the Pyrenees on the horizon. The terroir is fairly complex with clays, sands and limestone all contributing to slightly different styles of wine.
The vineyard however had to be recreated from scratch as all that was left after phylloxera were a few isolated vines. The process was painfully slow and was very much the work of people like André Dubosc, a keen ampelographer who would eventually become president of the Plaimont group of cooperatives.
Saint Mont wines exist in three colours with rosé being possibly the least interesting. The reds are based on three varieties: tannat, which is the main grape of nearby Madiran and accounts for about 70% of any blend. Then there is cabernet sauvignon and pinenc. These are full bodied, dark, dense wines that are fruity but also quite tannic, broadly similar in style to Madiran but a little softer.
The whites are based on the Gros Manseng grape, the same as in Jurançon but Saint Mont is always a blend of varieties and the other two are petit courbu and arrufiac. The whites are clean tasting, bright and refreshing
Saint Mont covers some 42 villages and everything is made by the excellent coop. Most of the wines are blends, some barrel aged and sold at different price points. One or two single estates are made separately and sold under a Château name. In the past we have listed the wine from Château de Sabazan which lies of sandy soils and makes a wine of real elegance. The 2008 vintage will feature in the January list.
What amazed me however was just how well these wines keep. To celebrate their 30th, Saint Mont put on a brilliant tasting in London for the trade and journalists. There at the heart of the tasting was a vertical tasting of Château de Sabazan, back to the very first vintage ever made which was 1987, and delightful it was too.
Marcel Orford-Williams
Romain Bouchard, 1923-2011
Posted by: | CommentsSadly we have to announce that Romain Bouchard passed away on July 17th.
Romain Bouchard
Eventually he returned to France and settled in a delightful Provençal Mas, Le Val des Rois, surrounded by vines and fields of lavender. His first vintage was 1964, which was 100% grenache and is still good today. Thereafter he began to change the makeup of his vineyard, planting syrah (one of the first to do so) and more controversially gamay, which he felt would do well in this northern corner of Provence.
And so he continued to make vintage after vintage of exceptional wine that, possibly thanks to its input of gamay, always ended up tasting like rather fine old Burgundy. The pragmatism of the citrus farmer remained however, and in an age when it was considered correct to only pick by hand, Romain harvested by machine. As a result, Romain saved potentially dreadful vintages like 1987 and 2002 when incessant rain all but destroyed the crop. In 2003 on the other hand, a vintage marked by both drought and extreme heat, Romain was able to intervene early and pick quickly and made one of the loveliest wines of the vintage.
Romain and his wife Nancy were hosts to a memorable visit of The Wine Society’s Dining Club in 1992 which included the following vintages:
1991: Underrated vintage but here soft, fruity and delicious.
1990: Grander and splendidly full.
1988: Elegant and refined.
1987: A little mushroomy, like old pinot.
1983: Vigorous, full, figgy and full of life.
1978: One of the greatest Rhône vintages, complex, weighty, full-bodied, wonderful.
1971: Made from 100% grenache and tasting like old Sauternes: pale garnet, butterscotch and sweet.
Romain Bouchard was an important figure in the development of Rhône wine. But while some of his colleagues were sometimes tempted by the benefits of overripe grapes, extraction and barrel ageing, Romain kept to his path, which was of beauty, poise and finesse. To itinerant wine buyers like Sebastian and myself, he provided tiny bottles of lavender essence to help us remember his delightful part of Provence. We shall miss him.
Marcel Orford-Williams
A Tasting at Domaine La Grange des Pères
Posted by: | CommentsThe Town of Aniane is neither remarkable nor indeed especially attractive. For years it was asleep, waking up only to vote in its Communist mayor and to harvest its grapes which were invariably delivered to the town cooperative.
It all changed when a new and independent estate burst suddenly on the scene. At first, Daumas Gassac was built as a retreat for its new owners trying to escape from the rat race. But then a visiting friend and expert geologist from Bordeaux remarked on the exceptional quality of the soils. Another Bordelais, Emile Peynaud, nursed the first wine and in so doing created a legend.
Today the “Terre d’Aniane” is a Mecca for winemakers. Chateau Cissac from the Medoc has a vineyard here, as does Gerard Depardieu. Robert Mondavi nearly came, but then came up against local rivalries and the Communist Mayor.
Laurent Vaille of Domaine La Grange des Pères
The Vaille family was local. This was a respected, hard working family who had farmed a few acres for generations. What changed it for them was a son, Laurent (pictured), who had ideas of creating another Grand Vin.
He first came under the wing of Aime Guibert himself who soon sent him to another friend, Eloi Durrbach at Domaine de Trévallon and from there to Chave in Hermitage and Perrin in Châteauneuf. Laurent Vaille returned with cuttings from all these estates, rather like Jack with his beans.
Success was also pretty well immediate, but stardom did not suit this reserved family quite as well. The Vailles remain aloof, reserved and shy of the public gaze. Visiting is tricky and convenient ways of communicating such as email haven’t made their way here. Rather large guard dogs make their presence felt as one approaches the wrought iron gate. Crossing the threshold is a little unnerving. After all the dogs are quite large and Laurent Vaille still hasn’t said anything as we work across the pretty courtyard to the cellars.
At this stage heavy sweaters are put on, even at the height of summer, as these are the coldest cellars for miles around. The wines are tasted, grape variety by grape variety and it is immediately obvious that the wines are like no other; the mourvèdre and counoise for instance speaking as if from the grandest estate in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
Meanwhile Laurent still hasn’t said anything, answering my attempts at conversation with at best a smile. The tasting is soon over. Back in daylight and twenty degrees hotter, sweaters come off. The dogs are back to escort me back past the iron gate.
La Grange des Pères makes exceptional wines. The whites, made from roussanne and chardonnay have both weight and finesse and in taste fall somewhere between the Rhone and Meursault. The reds, greatly influenced by mourvedre have spice and Mediterranean warmth. Both are better decanted and both gain in complexity with age.
Marcel Orford-Williams
Languedoc buyer
News from the Midi
Posted by: | CommentsJust back from an exhilarating week in the Midi, taking in most points between Faugères and Bandol, finishing up in the northern Rhône and a first look at the 2010s.
The first thing to say was that it was very hot and that everywhere the vines are at least two weeks ahead of schedule. The vines are in full flower and the predictions are for a good size crop. Last year, the 2010 harvest, was very late, often picking in October. These early indications suggest that 2011 will be early, maybe late August for the northern Rhône, maybe earlier for parts of the Languedoc.
Another 2003 type vintage? Not in the south, or at least not yet as there is plenty of water and no signs of water stress. The vines look incredibly healthy. The photo by the way is syrah from the Méal slope on Hermitage.
All fruit crops are early with apricots already available and as good as I’ve tasted.
So there is still a long wait for 2011. The 2010s meanwhile, mostly still in cask, look very promising, dark, sleek and refined. More on that later.
Marcel Orford-Williams
Rhône, Southern France & French Country buyer
A treat in Montpeyroux
Posted by: | CommentsCritics of the Languedoc, and there are a few, often suggest that there is no real notion of terroir. Worse, the wines are little more than simple, with no capacity for ageing. The same people will very likely be the same ones who will condemn the carignan grape and who still actively encourage growers to remove it.
This is Sylvain Fadat standing outside his cellar in Montpeyroux and about to dig out a bottle a bottle of 1998. He had no need to prove the point; indeed I had told him of a wonderful bottle of 1999 which I had drunk a day or two before. But we got talking about Montpeyroux and its future, and this 1998 was a way of illustrating a point.
It was also breakfast and this was a lovely way to start the day. This was a real treat, a wine of infinite complexity and grace – and still youthful.
As for the future of Montpeyroux, it is likely that it will given Cru status by 2014.
Crash Test Rosés
Posted by: | CommentsHelping suppliers pour wines at Wine Society tastings is not only good fun but it’s a great way to hear about their wines first-hand and to learn from the often searching questions put to them by members.
As those of you who have attended grower tastings will know, there are some real characters among our producers, many of whom tell a great story as well as make a good wine or two.
Pierre Bories of Château Ollieux Romanis
First of all Pierre was keen to impress upon me the importance of the colour of his rosé. Tilting the glass against the white table cloth he commanded me to ‘take a look at the colour…it’s not at all orange, it’s blue!’ I confess I couldn’t honestly say that I would call the colour blue, but it was indeed a beautifully delicate colour; the palest of pellucid pinks; more purply than peachy pink, so I think I know what he means. ‘This is vital’, Pierre went on, ‘it shows that there is no oxidation. Once oxidation occurs you start to lose fruit. You must avoid this at all costs’
Then Pierre went on to tell me about his rosé crash test. ‘Every year, usually in April at the beginning of the first warm days, we invite five families to our house for a day of eating and drinking, with the odd game to keep the children amused. The day starts around 11am with some aperitifs and nibbles, then we have a picnic lunch and a barbecue in the evening. Throughout the day we drink nothing but our new Corbières rosé. Our friends and their children all bring mattresses and crash on the floor. We usually get through several cases of rosé and the next morning we all get up and go about our usual business without feeling jaded or having sore heads. This is the test of how pure the wine is. Some of my friends are keen cyclists and have even been known to go off and compete the next day…and no, they didn’t crash!’
Perhaps I misunderstood and Pierre meant crache not crash, but somehow I don’t think so. It’s good to hear tales from growers who clearly enjoy drinking their own wines and whose zest for life is so infectious. Let’s celebrate with a glass of blue-tinged rosé and drink to headache-free mornings after!
Vendanges 2010
Posted by: | CommentsAugust is supposed to be a quiet month in France as businesses close for the month.
Not so down in the Midi when growers begin to prepare for the vintage. Many will start this week and at Domaine de l’Arrjolle the starting gun was fired on Saturday 21st August when the first sauvignons were picked.
So far so good. The grapes are in perfect condition and, though the summer has been very dry with no rain for the last two months, there had been enough rainfall during the winter and spring so the vines have not had to suffer for lack of water. The size of the crop is small which should be good news for quality.
Harvesting here is a long and protracted affair as the last cabernets will probably have to wait till well into October. Fingers crossed then.
