Roussillon 'red of the mo': Mastrío

Domaine Mastrío - Bélesta
A towards-festive bottle of red worthy of anyone's attention, a 2007 'elegant' (does what it says on the label) old-vine Carignan specialty by Mastrío:

2007 Elégant Carignan vieilles vignes vin de pays des Côtes Catalanes (13.5%) - aromatic, floral even, blueberry fruit on nose and palate; shows nice elegance vs intensity, rich and ripe vs spicy with subtle oak notes; attractive texture and length too. 90+

Mastrió is a new-ish estate in the Bélesta back-lands: more words to follow...

A couple of new "wines of the moment"...

One white and one red towards-festive bottles: 2008 Grüner Veltliner Pfaffl (goes to "wotm" 2005-10 page) and 2007 Elégant Carignan Mastrió (takes you to their blurb on FMW).

Roussillon: Domaine Rossignol, Passa

Pascal Rossignol

Pascal Rossignol (which means nightingale, pic.) and his wife Fabienne have 25 hectares (62 acres) of vineyards in Les Aspres zone just outside the village of Passa, west of the A9 motorway between Perpignan and the Spanish border. Originally co-operative growers, they decided to do their own thing and built a cellar and visitor centre a few years ago to focus on quality estate wines.

Tasted Feb/March 06:
2002 Côtes du Roussillon Futs de Chene (Syrah, Grenache & Carignan, 14%) - needs a little air to open up, developing earthy plum fruit with light red pepper notes; quite firm and chunky tannins yet also has good depth of fruit for this vintage, rounded out by a touch of chocolate oak. €7.50 87
2004 Muscat d'Alexandrie sec Vin de Pays d'Oc (Muscat, 13%) - yet another nice example (see below) of a fresh, dry, crisp and mineral Muscat; this one has aniseed characters too and is quite concentrated with elegant length, try with Thai food. €4.20 87
2004 Côtes du Roussillon rosé (Syrah & Grenache, 13%) - gentle ripe red fruit cocktail with elegant acidity adding freshness. €4.50 85-87
2004 Côtes du Roussillon rouge - attractive young berry fruit combines with lightly dry tannins to produce a nice red for drinking with simple food. 83-85
2004 Côtes du Roussillon Les Aspres 'Bérénice' (Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre & Carignan) - just bottled when I tasted it, so the spicy aromatic oak is a little dominant at the moment; however, this has attractive texture and elegant depth of perfumed fruit underneath, subtle length too. 87-89
2003 Côtes du Roussillon Futs de Chene 'Le Graal' (Syrah, Grenache & Carignan, 14%) - some complex sulphide notes on the otherwise closed nose, powerful concentrated and grippy mouthfeel; very young, needs at least 2 years to show itself. 89+

Tasted June 2007:
2006 Muscat sec, vin de pays des Côtes Catalanes (13.5%) - floral grape and white peach aromas with light aniseed notes; soft yet full palate, nice and fresh but rounded too. €4.50 87+
2005 Côtes du Roussillon rouge (Syrah Carignan Grenache 14%) - attractive perfumed spicy plum and black cherry nose; nice juicy ripe fruit v lightly dry bite and grip, rounded and soft v power too. €5 87
2004 Côtes du Roussillon Les Aspres Bérénice (Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre & Carignan) - vanilla coco oak tinged with spicy floral cherry fruit; medium depth, rounded v extracted grip. Quite elegant I guess but seems a bit simple and obvious in terms of overdone new oak v depth of fruit. €9.50 however! 85-87

Update 2009/2010 I went to see the ever cordial Pascal and Fabienne in mid December 09 to catch up and taste their latest releases. Having started down the organic pathway a few years ago, 2009 is their first certified organic vintage.
2008 Muscat sec vin de pays - elegant grapey Muscat aromas with honeysuckle and aniseed too; fuller and oilier on the palate with nutty edges, nice juicy crisp finish; easy tasty dry white. 80-85
2008 Schistes Côtes du Roussillon (mostly Syrah + Grenache & Carignan from their higher altitude vineyard near Oms, 14%) - attractive pure spicy fruit showing lots of black cherry and white pepper; enticing fruity Syrah style with a bit of grip and depth, refreshing bite on the finish too. 87
2007 Bérénice Les Aspres Côtes du Roussillon (Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Carignan) - a touch estery/banana-ish on the nose with grainy oak tones, quite concentrated though showing good depth; it hasn't really come together yet although has rounded tannins and attractive finish. Leave it for 6-12 months to mellow out. 87+
2006 Graal Côtes du Roussillon (Mourvèdre + Carignan & Syrah) - quite aromatic cherry and black olive on the nose; fairly oaky palate yet with dense fruit and gripping tannins, big mouthful but well-handled and promising too. 89+
2009 Muscat de Noel - deliciously fresh and Muscat-y, luscious and sweet vs citrus peel bite and tang. Try with blue cheeses. 85
2004 Rivesaltes Ambré - turning walnut-ty and spicy with its Madeira-like undertones; tangy vs rich and oily, intricate and cheesy then a bit of oomph to finish; needs a few years to come together although it is nice now actually. 87-89
2007 Rivesaltes Grenat (Grenache 17%) - quite youthful and closed up (it was rather cold as well); vibrant black cherry fruit in the mouth, fairly lush then firm and punchy. A bit young at the moment but attractive style. 85+

Plus the latest medal winner is HERE (World Grenache Competition 2013).

Route de Villemolaque, 66300 Passa. Tel/fax: 04 68 38 83 17; domaine.rossignol@free.fr, domainerossignol.fr.

Good match with "brandade"...

This wine went pretty well with brandade de morue (salt cod + potato + olive oil + garlic mash) tonight, admittedly a frozen one but still tasty: 2005 Domaine Mouscaillo Chardonnay from the hills south of Limoux, western Languedoc. Vertical tasting notes (2004 to 2008) will follow plus estate profile: check out that 'Winery A to Z'...

Good match with "brandade": Mouscaillo Chardonnay

This wine went pretty well with brandade de morue (salt cod + potato + olive oil + garlic mash) tonight, admittedly a frozen one but still tasty: 2005 Domaine Mouscaillo Chardonnay from the hills south of Limoux, western Languedoc. Vertical tasting notes (2004 to 2008) plus estate profile on my other blog.

Yawn: yet another luxury "spec edit" Champagne

Champagne Gosset has launched one of those "luxury positioned" (like perfume or posh luggage) champers just in time for Christmas! This "limited edition special cuvée" (well, you'd hope so really) is "a blend of 12 Grands Crus and Premiers Crus from 2004 and 2002." I'd imagine it's very nice and must be a bargain (not) at £85 (unless a British supermarket gets hold of it and allegedly starts giving it away along with those other too-good-to-be-true offers flying around). Mind you, since it's banker bonus season again, no doubt posh champers like this will be flowing merrily anyway.

Lost sheep and sweeties

After telling off sweet Muscat producers in my "Maury" post below and following on from ewes' milk cheese and wine pairing under "Twitter" below that; these wines are actually pretty good with arguably France's best-known sheep cheese, the blue tangy salty Roquefort. There's a great generic TV ad in France for this cheese, by the way. Kind of wild windy rustic and mystical. I did already post this as a "comment" but it doesn't seem to show up without clicking on a link. Oh well...

Wine Travel Guides special offer

As well as "the huge amount of information now free to view on our website," explains owner & publisher Wink Lorch, there's a special discount on Gold Membership (allows you unlimited access including downloadable PDF files of all guides, which aren't free) running until 9th January 2010. Simply "use the promotional code D2GIFT1209 to purchase Gold Membership for only £20 (around US$34) instead of £29. Copy and paste it into the box on the "Gift Membership" page and click enter." So, get planning that wine and food trip now! Guides cover most of France's wine regions plus Tuscany and Rioja. I'm the contributor/writer for Languedoc & Roussillon, by the way, just to state any "interest" if there is any as such (I'm freelance not an employee, I mean). Go to www.winetravelguides.com.

"Wine tasting supper" in Maury

In the unlikely event you're passing through the village of Maury (north Roussillon) on a Friday or Saturday in December, call in at the Maison du Terroir (on the right on the way in from Estagel before the co-op) at teatime (what a quaintly English word) for a bite to eat and taste some of the local wines with the winemakers. Sounds like fun. Today and tomorrow the focus is on Vins Doux Naturels (mostly rich red Maury I'd imagine) including new release "Christmas" Muscat. The latter can be very nice but too often an overpriced example of canny marketing. Ho hum. Anyway, the "gouter de Noel" costs €6 with snacks made by chef Pascal Borrell.

Twitter

Following the herd like a lost sheep, I'm now on twitter.com/WineWriting too. Nothing wrong with that though, I like ewes' milk cheeses actually. Hmm, I think there could be a "great wine & cheese" matches post coming on...
Update - I've abandoned twitter, good for celeb gossip but not much else (never say never though)...

"Making dangerous predictions..."

This was the title of Tim Atkin MW's column in UK drinks retailing fortnightly Off Licence News on 20th November. In quick summary: sommelier, wine guide author and TV personality Matt Skinner appears to have got his fingers burnt in his just-released "the Juice 2010" by recommending "a number of New World wines from the 2009 vintage that he could not have seen before the book's deadline in May." His defence was "...some of the wines he included... are consistently good from year to year." I don't know Matt nor have I read any of his books, but Tim's quite right to point out that he's on rather dodgy ground here in retaining credibility with readers. But what grabbed my attention more is the "excuse" forwarded by the publisher: "this was a way to get around long lead times and potential public disappointment," as in the past apparently "several of Skinner's choices had sold out before the book hit the shelves." Indeed, talk about accidentally admitting this style of paper guide now seems more or less pointless, thanks to the traditional publishing process itself! As Tim concluded, "Why not put the whole thing online to make it more immediate and up to date?" Then again, if you're reading this and agreeing, you already know where the future / present lies for wine writing!

Bordeaux: Côtes de Bourg and Listrac-Médoc

"Côtes de where? Not the favourite coastal or riverbank hang-out for Jean-Luc Picard's scariest enemy, but a lesser-known "Right Bank" Bordeaux appellation. Somehow, it's surprisingly easy to get your geography in a twist on this side of the river and forget you're actually opposite Margaux "just across" the water..." Notes on 40 wines overall including these favourites: Châteaux Fougas, Clos du Piat, Relais de la Poste, Coulée de Bayon, Améthyste de Génibon, Haut-Guiraud, Labadie... plus thoughts on image, tasting grapes, Malbec and wine travel tips..." "...And savour some of the imperial grandeur and wines of these four handsome properties in Listrac-Médoc: Château Fourcas-Dupré, Château Fonréaud, Château Lestage and Château Fourcas-Hosten..." Click here to find out more (goes to my big Bordeaux page)...

Languedoc & Roussillon "Intersud" trade body

I recently noticed on French wine business website www.vitisphere.com that the French government has now stuck the boot in telling the far-too-many wine trade associations in the south to get their act together (they've been going through the motions for about 5 years). Most of them already agreed a few years ago it's a good idea and "Intersud" technically already exists, and they're mysteriously promoting the Sud de France "brand" regardless (no doubt by another separate and well-funded body). Yet it seems the CIVL (Languedoc wines), CIVR (Roussillon), Vins de Pays d'Oc and the other VDP, vin de table etc. wine producers all still prefer to keep their own little organisation totalling several directors, presidents, marketing, PR etc. doing their own little thing (gravy rather than wine train). They'll never conquer export markets unless they unite under one real banner, not just "a good idea" on paper, same goes for France too where producers are failing to get new wine drinkers on-board. I appreciate there are sensitive issues here as some people might lose their jobs in the amalgamation process. But why all the big fanfare all those years ago, yet since then nothing's really happened apart from a lot of meetings and expensive advertising campaigns for Sud de France etc! Lots more background on this on my other blog: frenchcataloniawine.

"Updated regularly or occasionally as fits the mood...not exactly a wine of the week or month but could be...hopefully more spontaneous than that..."

I've just posted my latest Wines of the moment: click on that link and scroll down to Dec. 2009 for a few groovy winter finds: 2008 Rasiguères rosé - 2008 Pinot Noir Rotisserie - 2005 Carinyana Puig-Parahÿ. Anybody tasted these recently or anything similar?