Roussillon 'French Catalonia' wine book

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Showing posts with label Cinsault. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cinsault. Show all posts

09 July 2021

South of France, Pays d'Oc part three: Rosé.

These five rosés are all IGP Pays d'Oc from the Languedoc.
Marselan 2020 Les Caves Richemer (13.5% abv) - As I said in two previous posts about IGP Pays d'Oc (part 1 and part 2), Marselan is a crossing of Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache that's been around for a few decades and has adapted well to the Languedoc. Well-made easy-going tasty rosé combining juicy red fruits and white peach with creamier food-leaning mouth-weight and fresh zingy finish. Not bad match with a kinda 'surf & turf' pasta dish: spicy sausage tortelloni topped with bolognese and sardine sauce with courgettes, garlic, ginger and smoked paprika! France cellar door €4.30, Netherlands €8.95, US €9.99.

01 July 2021

Chile review 2021 masterclass

Valle de Elqui
Two tasting sessions featuring very diverse wines were held live via Zoom at the end of May, hosted by Wines of Chile UK, Tim Atkin MW and several leading Chilean winemakers also online commenting on their wines as we sampled from home. Tim picked sixteen whites, reds and a rosé to showcase the latest developments on the ground in Chile, enhanced by lots of up-to-date information on vineyards, grape varieties and wine regions. Atkin produces a substantial report every year on the Chilean wine scene, which can be purchased from this website here. Wine geek warning: this post is quite long and 'serious' (but does contain some great wines to look out for)...

31 March 2012

Languedoc: Clos des Augustins, Pic Saint Loup

While browsing through my long-lost 'little red book' (it is, velvety too) recently containing a fair chunk of last year's tasting notes scribbled on the hoof, I was surprised to rediscover these wines from leading Pic Saint Loup estate Clos des Augustins, which never saw the digital light of day. Until now, that is. Augustins is owned and run by the Mézy family with son Frédéric (hence "le gamin" below meaning kid) now in charge, whose efforts have led to the vineyards becoming officially certified organic this year. He’s also been implementing some biodynamic measures to soil and vines, which have almost reached 30 ha (75 acres) in undulating surface area spreading around the wee village of Saint Mathieu de Tréviers. There are some nice pics @ closdesaugustins.com in one of those Flash slideshows that you can't copy from!

2010 Les Bambins white (Marsanne, Roussanne) - nice creamy lees-edged style vs tighter crisper palate and closing up on the finish (should be drinking well now though). Good.
2010 Joseph white (Chardonnay, Marsanne, Roussanne) - was still quite toasty when I tried it, although rich and juicy too vs more structured finish; very promising, needing 6+ months in bottle to open up.
2010 Les Bambins rosé (Cinsault, Grenache) - attractive zesty ‘Provence’ style rosé, has fair extract vs zing with long perfumed finish. Delicious quaffer.
All these reds are appellation Pic Saint Loup:
2010 Les Bambins (Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre) - bright cherry and spicy liquorice with subtle wild herby side, good fruit vs light grip, fairly tight finish showing nice concentration too. Good stuff.
2009 Le Gamin (Syrah, Grenache) - spicy and rustic hints with ripe dark fruit and minty edges, more savoury and firmer mouth-feel with big/long finish; wow, very good.
2006 Sourire d’Odile (Syrah, Grenache) - maturing meaty leather tones, solid concentrated palate with again minty flavours then turning more ‘sweet/savoury’, still quite tight with attractive acidity/tannins vs maturing fruit. Lovely.
2006 L’Ainé (mostly Syrah) - a touch more oak suffused with savoury notes, pretty dense and extracted yet has a lot of substance, still seems young really with those big grainy rounded tannins vs lovely depth of fruit underneath. Towards excellent.

Clos des Augustins wines featured previously on this blog: 2004 and 2003(“Languedoc & Roussillon top wines over €10 tasting” posted 2007), 2008(“Languedoc vintage report” posted 2009). Which confirm this winery has been "delivering" (to use marketing babble) high quality over the years and continues to do so!

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