Italy: Tuscany - San Polino, Brunello di Montalcino

According to their site, Luigi Fabbro, Katia Nussbaum and family practise "permaculture and biodynamic-organic farming..." at their four hectare estate (10 acres divided roughly into two thirds / one third of vines and olives, which are made into their own extra-virgin olive oil) up in the pretty Montalcino hills. I've never seen or heard the former term used by a winery before, which apparently implies an element of sustainable design or building within a self-sufficient and environmentally friendly farming model (man). The vineyard is planted entirely with the Sangiovese grape, and their first Brunello, as they call this variety here or rather the local 'clone' of it, was released in 2001 following several years of restoration and replanting work between 1991 and 1998. Winemaker and viticulturist Alberto Gjilaska, originally from Albania, has been on the team since those early days. Importers include Integrity Wines in the US, Vintage Roots (£ prices below) and Dynamic Vines in the UK; € prices quoted are approx. cellar door. So, chill out and enjoy the view (copied from www.sanpolino.it)!

2011 Sant Antimo Rosso di Montalcino - lovely fruity vs 'inky' red with dark morello cherry flavours, easy going and tasty. €7

2008 Brunello di Montalcino - light toasted coconut tones, rich vs firm palate, quite extracted and chewy yet has nice tannins and plenty of ripe 'sweet/savoury' fruit, some fresh acidity lingering too on its balanced long finish. €20 £27-£30

2008 Brunello di Montalcino Helichrysum - perfumed floral wild herb and minty notes vs dried fruits, attractive maturing fruit yet still firm and dry mouth-feel, tasty concentrated 'sweet/savoury' finish. €30 £52

2007 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva - similar profile but more developed and softer, lovely dried fruits with meaty edges, still structured with subtle concentration but riper tannins and long finish.

Burgundy: Les Champs de l'Abbaye, Côte Chalonnaise

Photo from www.rawfair.com

Alain and Isabelle Hasard (which means chance or coincidence in French, appropriately perhaps as I did indeed just happen to stop by at their table at Millésime Bio organic wine show a few weeks ago in Montpellier, France) own a few little vineyards in different sites in the Côte de Beaune and (mainly) Côte Chalonnaise (the latter being that chunk roughly in the middle of Burgundy's wine-lands, between the Beaune and Macon vineyard areas). They're based in the hilltop village of Aluze - and have two vineyards here called Clos de Roches and Les Gardes - which lies to the southwest of Rully where they have one plot called Les Cailloux, and slightly northwest of Mercurey where they own two more sites called La Brigadière and Les Marcoeurs. Les Sous Roches in Monthélie (between Volnay and Meursault) completes the Hasard family's patchwork picture; and they also make sparkling wine in addition to the whites and reds sourced from the aforementioned appellations. They've been certified organic - or rather their vineyards have! - since 1999 and are "inspired by biodynamics." I like their nice and simple explanation of organic farming and why they do it: "It teaches us to search for the origins of problems that may arise rather than simply treat the consequences, and to establish harmony rather than fight against it." Otherwise, it looks like their winemaking is pretty traditional and towards 'minimal intervention' (to use a rather overused cliché) for both reds and whites, which in general are aged in 25% to 50% of new oak barrels, "because our wines are so concentrated," as it says modestly in their profile blurb! These are bottled "without fining and filtration... our wines are living products." Here's what I thought of them then:

2010 Rully blanc Les Cailloux (Chardonnay) - enticing creamy vs citrus fruit with a touch of toasted oak, quite subtle and elegant with fresh acidity vs some weight too; still a bit closed up, quite fine and needs more time.
2011 Rully blanc Les Cailloux (Chardonnay) - more aromatic with nutty and peachy fruit, more forward than the 2010 and a touch richer and more buttery already, showing subtle toasty notes vs freshness too. Attractive now actually.
2011 Mercurey blanc La Brigadière (Chardonnay) - a tad richer and fuller with peachy vs toasty flavours, again it's quite delicate and tight on the palate, promising though.
2011 Mercurey rouge La Brigadière (Pinot Noir) - subtle red fruits with lightly funky edges, juicy and soft with a little grip and elegant fresh acidity. Nice wine, drinking well now.

Raeburn Fine Wines (Edinburgh and London) imports their range into the UK, priced at £21.50-£22.50 for some of the wines tasted above or earlier vintages; Leon Stolarski also expressed an interest in them on his blog following a trip there. They cost about €15-€20 cellar door; and you can get some of them in Dublin too according to www.sourgrapes.ie (from about €15). They export to "the US and Far East..." as well, Alain told me at the fair: contact him on alainhasard@wanadoo.fr for more details.

Rhône: Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine fair 6-7 April

This season-teasing Grenache-tastic wine event, called 'Les Printemps de Châteauneuf-du-Pape' ("Spring time for..." I won't carry on singing the words to this inappropriate number from a famous Mel Brooks' film, but that's the way my drifting mind works, especially as it's still winter here: answers on a postcard blah...), will feature over 80 estates and wineries and takes place on 6th and 7th April. Sounds like a good idea!
More info: lesprintempsdechateauneufdupape.fr

Recent Châteauneuf on this blog: World Grenache Competition part 2

La Célestière, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
See side bar links for more.

Roussillon: Le Scarabée, Sorède

This bijou-scale vineyard lies a couple of kilometres from the sea in different spots along the sometimes brooding sometimes radiant Albères hills, which draw the Fauviste border with Spain in the southeastern chunk of the Pyrénées Orientales. Treated organically since the beginning of her adventure in 2007, which owner-grower-winemaker Isabelle Frère admits is time-consuming “intensive” work, since certain of her plots of mostly old vines were “virtually abandoned” and “knew only (synthetic) herbicides and fertilisers for almost all of their life.” This is why she's made a “difficult choice” to focus on one parcel each year to “do the full works on,” as it's very labour-intensive. Good to see there are some EU grants available though to encourage growers to go the extra kilometre required to convert to organics, around 350 Euros per hectare apparently, even if this “doesn't help much.”

As for varieties planted, two-thirds of the Carignan in Le Scarabée (a kind of beetle by the way), or about 2000 vines, is 80 years old, which is tilled by horse and Isabelle says she has “a bit of a soft spot for.” This is used for the Murmûre label, while the other 0.5 hectares, 20 to 70 years old, tops up Volubile, Le P’tit Scarabée red and Sur un nuage. These are found near the village of St André between Argelès and Sorède, where the cellar is. There's also 1 ha (2.47 acres incidentally) of 10 year-old Grenache rubbing trunks with the Carignan here, as well as a small 40 year-old parcel to the west near Laroque–des-Albères, “on loan from a retired grower... this has always been ploughed.” This helps beef up Isabelle's Sur un nuage and Murmûre cuvées.

You'll find about 1 hectare of the 'grey' Grenache variety too, some of it mixed in with the Carignan (that's how they originally planted in the old VDN field-blend days), which livens up Le P’tit Scarabée rosé. There's a small amount more 70 year-old gris in the sandy St André area, which goes into red P’tit Scarabée and La folie Juvénile, as well as some 40 year-old found just west of here near St. Genis des Fontaines, which lurks around in a little Macabeu vineyard destined for Isabelle's Pied’nez white wine.

The Syrah is similarly parcelled into three plots in the St. André zone: one is the source for P’tit scarabée rosé and red, another - also 20 years old but "less vigorous" - for Volubile and Murmûre; and the third, and largest, a "big problem" parcel of young vines that "came with the lot", which Isabelle green-harvests severely to make La Folie Juvénile, although she hopes it will eventually produce very good grapes. I didn't like all her wines though, but that's life I guess. Les Caves de Pyrène (London area) sells this range for about £10 to £20 a bottle; the wines are available in Canada (Quebec) too hence the CA$ prices. And Isabelle is a friendly person to call in on if you're touring this area: Moli d’en Cassanyes, 66690 Sorède. Mobile 06 14 73 34 80, isabellefrere@hotmail.fr, www.laremise.fr (photo taken from there).

2010 Le Petit Scarabée – nice and easy fruity style with funky smoky and liquorice notes, soft palate with just a hint of dry grip. CA$22

2010 Sur un Nuage – similar profile although shows more depth with lusher vs firmer palate and still has attractive tannins though. CA$25

2011 Murmure – pretty intense, grippy with crunchy blueberry vs lusher darker fruit, savoury rustic edges with nice length though. €16 (France)

2010 Murmure – more developed savoury smoky notes vs concentrated lush cherry fruit underneath, firm and tight mouth-feel still; more closed up than the 11 actually, powerful with good depth and attractive rounded tannins.