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Showing posts with label Minervois. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Minervois. Show all posts

02 October 2014

Languedoc: Château Cabezac, Minervois


This charming swanky 75 hectare estate hidden away outside the wee village of Bize-Minervois (between Capestang and Homps on the region's northern edge with the bottom tip of the Saint-Chinian appellation, if you get what I mean: or look at a map...) was bought by Gontran Dondain in 1997, who must have invested a good deal of time and wonga into restoring the property and vineyards. The newest developments are on-site apartments and spa complex to complement their hotel and seasonal restaurant (open May to end Sept). What self-respecting poshly renovated château in the Languedoc doesn't have this nowadays!
Some good wines being made here but their “top” reds are quite pricey, although 2009 wasn't perhaps the best vintage to judge them on (hot and dry, many of them are now looking a bit clunky and out of balance with austere tannins), so I look forward to tasting some more recent vintages in the future. More info @ www.chateaucabezac.com where I pinched the handsome photo from.

2013 Cuvée Alice white (Maccabeu, Vermentino, Roussanne, Grenache blanc; 14% abv) – touches of honey/banana and yeast-lees vs a crisp 'mineral' side, juicy and refreshing with some roundness too. €7.30 cellar door / £8.77 UK.
2012 Rosé (Syrah, Grenache; 13.5%) - nice red fruity vs creamy style, a hint of rounded mouth-feel vs crisper finish. €7.30 / £8.77
2011 La Tradition red (Carignan, Grenache, Syrah; 14.5%) - attractive sweet fruit with perfumed floral tones, crunchy berries vs riper liquorice etc. with powerful weighty finish. Nice style. £8.77
2009 Carinu (Carignan; 15%) - maturing savoury and smoky vs a tarter herbier side, power vs bite on the palate, still quite tannic with lingering meaty development; those tannins are a bit too “09” but it's an interesting red I suppose. €12.80 / £11.48
2009 Cuvée Arthur (Mourvèdre, Syrah, Grenache; 14.5%) - fairly oaky smoky and extracted with structured powerful mouth-feel, that oak lingers a little combined with oomph, savoury fruit and a bitter twist of tannin. One for sipping gently around the round table no doubt. €17.10 / £15.11
2009 Grande Cuvée Belvèze (Syrah, Mourvèdre, Grenache; 14.5%) - again showing plenty of dark chocolate oak with grippy punchy palate, better sweet fruit coming through vs similar bitter twist of tannins. €27.80 / £21.51

This is a preview snippet from my forthcoming 2014 Languedoc report - coming soon, honest!

14 August 2013

Languedoc: Château Maris - Minervois La Livinière

from chateaumaris.com
Robert Eden, "bio-dynamic wine maker" as he describes himself on their website, has been working in the Languedoc for many years now and set up Château Maris 15 years ago, backed by Kevin Parker of Green Partners. They're obviously very committed to environmentally friendly wine production - Demeter certified since 2008, Biodyvins in 2004 (both for biodynamics), Ecocert in 2002 and the National Organic Program - and there's a fair amount of detail on this on their site: click on web link under the photo (Robert with one of their vineyard horses). But to try and go 'all the way' organically, in terms of carbon emissions, water and energy sustainability etc., they also built "the world’s first hemp cellar." Before you spliff-heads out there get too excited, this means they used hemp and lime bricks, which apparently continue absorbing CO2 for many years "as the lime solidifies into limestone," and a lot of raw wood from sustainably managed forests. They claim these materials also provide excellent natural insulation, while being able "to breathe" at the same time...

The € prices quoted are from online retailer The Languedoc Wineshop. Their wines are well distributed in the US, e.g. Verity Wine Partners NY or Kimberly Jones in California, and in Canada (see website for more info); and through Armit Wines in London (£ prices from their online store).
2011 Maris Organic Minervois (mostly Syrah, Grenache) - lovely pure spicy violet and black cherry aromas, tasty fruit with fairly easy-going tannins, nice ripe vs peppery finish. €7.80, £59.94 for six.
2010 La Touge Minervois La Livinière (85% Syrah, Grenache, Carignan) - similar pure spicy Syrah style fruit on the nose, punchier and more structured though, attractive dry tannin vs sweet fruit texture, fresh bite and good length. €12.40, £89.94 for six.
2010 Continuité de Nature La Livinière (90% Carignan, Grenache) - jammy blue fruits lined with fresh acidity yet powerful too, concentrated and tight palate, very different from the above wine considering it's the same vintage, leaner and longer; probably more versatile with food though. €21.60, £119.94 for six.
2009 Nouvelles Fraiches Grenache - 'oily' sweet liquorice notes on the nose, ripe and rounded mouth-feel, quite punchy, fades a little in the end. €16.60

04 July 2012

Languedoc: Minervois, red white rosé 2010 and 2011

It was perhaps reassuring to see some familiar names cropping up among my favourites at this year's Minervois tasting and over lunch afterwards, such as Château La Grave, Sainte Eulalie, Borie de Maurel, Domaine Cavaillès and Gérard Bertrand. These sprawling and mostly picturesque wine-lands stretch from St-Chinian country to the east across to Carcassonne in the west and towards Narbonne to the south, signed and sealed by the Canal du Midi flowing along its substantial bottom (roughly speaking) on its ambling way out into the Mediterranean.
To find your way around this vast wine region more easily, pockets of quality are found here and there around Minerve or St. Jean de Minervois, for example, or in the Montagne Noire foothills in villages like Trausse-Minervois and Caunes-Minervois, and around La Livinière. However, I didn't include many from the latter trendy sub-appellation this time, especially 2009s, as I just found too many of these reds were over-extracted or swamped in new oak (helps justify those high prices perhaps!). Generally, the reds (and rosés) featured here major on Syrah with Grenache, Carignan and occasionally some of the other Languedoc varieties (I chucked away the tech sheets, as my bag was just too heavy...). Whites tend to be based on Grenache blanc and/or varieties such as Roussanne, Marsanne or Muscat even.
I sat next to Michel Escande from Borie de Maurel at lunchtime and had a good chat with him about his philosophy, wines, food (his substantial rosé went well with blue cheese even actually) etc. Which was great, as I've known and liked their wines for some time (wife Sylvie and son Gabriel are very much involved in the vineyard and winery too, by the way) - see this mini-profile for a snippet about them (there is more lurking around, just can't seem to find the notes on the blog...) - but haven't yet been there or hadn't met the personality behind the bottles until now. This amicable down-to-earth kinda guy has a playful sense of humour and believes in keeping things as simple and natural as possible, putting in a lot of work in the field and cellar to make it all happen. These Minervois wines were sampled and savoured a couple of months ago on the annual "Millésimes in the Languedoc" bash...
"The windmill" from boriedemaurel.fr
Rosé 2011

Vignobles de Pouzols Mailhac Florilège - nice zingy zesty underbelly vs gentle red fruits and perfumed roses, lively juicy finish.
Château Villerambert Moureau - nice 'tight' Provence style, lighter and zestier vs aromatic fruit and crisp bite.
Château La Grave Expression - quite delicate and zesty with lees tones, crisp palate with crunchy red fruits then rounder oilier finish.
Château Sainte Eulalie Printemps d'Eulalie - bit tight and closed up but I like that elegant crisp style.
Borie de Maurel - chunky full-bodied style, rounded and fruity, quite powerful 14% alc. vs nice 'winey' texture then a touch of freshness on the finish; a foodie rosé, good with different cheeses.

White 2011

Tour Saint Martin - not bad, lightly chalky vs bit of zest and aromatic floral fruit.
Le Clos des Suds Elegie - touches of vanilla and coconut but not overdone, hints of banana with fennel edges, lightly creamy vs bit of freshness too. Good in the end.
Château Villerambert Julien - aromatic with peachy apricot notes, quite concentrated and full vs crisp and steely, leesy creamy texture then mineral bite. Very good.
Château La Grave Expression - lovely complex nose, pungent celery vs oily exotic characters, crisp 'chalky' palate with very fresh long finish. Delicious.
Borie de Maurel La Belle Aude - closed up to start with, subtle yeast lees intensity and concentration reveal themselves, crisp and tight, should round out a little. Good.
Alliance Minervois La Capricieuse - aromatic grapey nose with citrus peel in a Muscat-y style, zesty 'chalky' palate with lingering floral notes. A bit different.

Red - 2010

Château du Donjon Grande Tradition - nice dark spicy fruit, vibrant and tasty with a little grip vs roundness. Straightforward but good with it.
Vignobles BonfilsChâteau Millegrand Aurore - quite dense and closed up, hints of black plum with savoury edges, again grippy vs quite rich and rounded. Good.
Borie de Maurel Sylla - 'reductive' nose (was an unfinished vat sample) but has concentrated dark berry and plum fruit, attractive savoury vs sweet profile, firm vs rounded texture. Promising assuming that pong goes away.
Château Mignan Pech Quisou - the tannins are pretty full-on, but it has good depth of fruit and substance, spicy vs sweet blackberry fruit, grip vs rounded mouth-feel. Good.
Domaine des Tourels Les Terres Rouges - quite dense and extracted vs underlying attractive spicy/minty black cherry fruit, fairly lush and concentrated vs that dry grip. Should be good after a few months in bottle.
Château Sainte Eulalie Plaisir d'Eulalie - ripe yet savoury dark fruit, nice fruity spicy chunky style with a little grip vs lingering black fruits. Attractive now.
Anne Gros et Jean Paul Tollot Les Fontanilles - touches of coco oak but nicely done adding dry grainy vs rounded texture, subtle black fruit finish and  good weight.
Domaine Cavaillès Cuvée Jeannot - enticing vibrant black cherry and cassis aromas, lightly minty too and savoury edges; fairly firm tannin but has enough fruit and weight to balance it out.
Domaine Cavaillès - purer fruit character and spicy too, black cherry/berry flavours layered with attractive grip and texture, lingering spicy fruit and oomph. Good stuff.
Domaine Saint Jacques d'Albas - quite straightforward with nice chunky mouth-feel and spicy fruit, a bit short but with attractive dry/rounded texture.

2011 (mostly unfinished wines)

Château Villegly Moureau - upfront lively black cherry fruit vs chunky tannins although reasonably soft already, ripe vs dry finish.
Château La Villatade Noma - similar fruit and style, grippier though and more closed up, could be good further down the line.
Château La Villatade Sanguine - chunkier still yet has more depth of fruit, a bit firm and closed up at the moment but has appealing spicy berry fruit underneath. Good.
Château de Sérame Réserve - again quite dense and grippy vs attractive upfront dark vs spicy fruit, reasonable substance and a tad of character too. Pretty good.


MINERVOIS LA LIVINIERE

2010


Gérard Bertrand Château Laville Bertrou - enticing upfront blackberry/cherry aromas with subtle coconut oak notes and grainy texture, firm vs rounded palate, coco choc texture underpinned by lively spicy fruit. Good.
Borie de Maurel La Féline - closed up but its attractive black cherry and spice character comes through, dark meaty palate with concentrated vs grippy mix, tight long finish yet a rounder side too. Needs time but will be very good.


2009


Alliance Minervois Grand Terroir - appealing upfront Syrah fruit style, herby minty black cherry, quite soft and tasty now yet has a bit of grip and length.
Gérard Bertrand Le Viala - complex herby minty tones vs richer black cherry liquorice and black pepper; grippy and concentrated mouth-feel vs rounder 'sweeter' texture to finish, powerful and long. Promising.
Château Sainte Eulalie La Cantilène - subtle grainy coconut oaky vs spicy berry fruit, more elegant less heavy handed style. Good.
Oustal de Cazes - light grainy coco touches and texture vs subtle concentration and ripe dark berry vs savoury development; well made with bit of character too, better and perhaps less Bordeaux / more interesting than previously!


Other recent bits and pieces on Minervois:
La Rouviole Feb 2012
Muscat & Minervois June 2011 (a Muscat and cheese post from this year's trip will follow at some point soon...)
Domaine Sénat Sept 2011
Clos du Gravillas Aug 2011, update to follow.


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02 June 2011

Languedoc: Minervois & Muscat

“What, no reds?” is possibly the first thought that permeates your enquiring mind, but Minervois is also a little corner of Muscat heaven in the Languedoc. Especially the stunningly back-dropped lost little corner of Saint-Jean de Minervois, a blink-and-miss-it village lying “out there” on the northeastern edge of the appellation roughly between St-Chinian (town) and awesomely Mediaeval Minerve itself (a must-see in the area). Here they grow (100% ‘Petit Grain’ variety, AKA Muscat d’Alsace, Moscatel de Douro, Moscato d’Asti, yellow Muscat in Germany & Hungary) and make a small quantity of traditional sweet fortified Muscats (Vins Doux Naturels), as well as, increasingly, dry Muscat, late-picked barrel-aged Muscat and even ‘Fine de Muscat’ (a rather good ‘eau de vie’ or grappa actually, see below). Certain estates are at the forefront of this almost ‘adapt or die’ movement, e.g. Barrubio, Sacré Coeur, Clos Gravillas and the Saint-Jean co-op winery too.

Most of these wines were sampled at the ‘Chai de Port Minervois’ in Homps - a wine shop on the Quai des Tonneliers that also holds tutored tastings - at the end of March, where a group of us landed after an energetic bike ride alongside the Midi canal (and slightly hazardous, as it was stormy the week before so the path was nicely branch-strewn). By the way, there’s a handy rental company called Mellow Vélos (mellowvelos.com) that will deliver bikes to any spot in the area then pick them up again at an agreed rendezvous and time, so you can peddle as far as and take as long as you want.

2010 Domaine de Barrubio Muscat sec – lively aromatic and grapey, crisp mineral mouth-feel vs nice Muscat fruit, attractive dry style. 1
2009 Muscat de Saint-Jean de Minervois VDN, Cave Coop – nice and fresh and relatively light, a bit of kick and sweetness vs fair bite too. 1
2009 Domaine du Sacré Coeur ‘cuvée Kevin’ – more exotic and sweeter, quite rich vs still has nice bite though. 1
2010 Domaine de Barrubio Muscat de SJM VDN – nice and fresh with citrus vs pineapple notes, lovely balance and classic style. 1+
Barrubio Muscat de St-Jean ‘Vendanges d’Automne’ (barrel aged) – dried apricot, candied and complex oxidative notes, oily texture vs light oomph. 2
2008 Barrubio Muscat ‘cuvée Nicolas’ (selected late-picked grapes) – delicious exotic marmalade aromas/flavours, concentrated and lush vs a touch of underlying freshness. 2
Fine de Muscat ‘Esprit de Barrubio’ (44% alc.) – very Muscat-y aromas, quite fine actually despite that ‘wow’ kick. A small shot after a big dinner would be nice.
Tasted at the Natural Wine Fair in London, May 2011:
2009 Clos du Gravillas ‘Douce Providence’ Muscat de St-Jean – delicious style, floral with orange peel twist, refreshing vs sweet finish. 1+

A few other Minervois wines worth including tasted during the “Millésimes en Languedoc” event in late March 2011, mostly while eating, as you do. I’ve used my simplified scoring system of one, two or three ‘ticks’ (good, very good, fabulous); or just plain 1 to 3 above and below.

2010 Domaine de Barrubio rosé (red, white and grey Grenache; saignée or ‘bleed’ method) – attractive elegant style with zingy mouth-feel and light red fruits tinged with rose petal perfume. 2
2008 Château Sainte-Eulalie, La Livinière red – quite rich and smoky, maturing lush palate vs oak backdrop, fairly supple tannins and fresh bite; more concentrated than some 08s with nice ‘sweet’ black cherry finish. 2
2009 Villerambert-Julien white (Roussanne, Viognier) – attractive exotic honeyed nose vs aromatic floral and lees-edged, good concentration and juicy ‘fat’ fruit vs crisp finish. 2
2010 Château La Grave rosé – elegant crisp with pink rose tones, subtle red fruits with zingy lees-y finish. 1
2007 Château La Grave ‘Privilege’ red – still quite tight and firm in the mouth vs underlying smoky/savoury side and dark fruit. 1-2
More to follow, maybe.

27 June 2010

La Distillerie restaurant - Saint Marcel sur Aude

Just unearthed their shiny black & silver card (must sort out that huge pile of business cards some day...): I went to this "smart minimalist" place back in March with a big party of Minervois (goes to my 2009 Languedoc vintage report) winemakers and other wine scribblers, educators, importers etc. The owners have nicely refitted this former distillery leaving a sense of industrial space without it feeling like a warehouse. The food was good - we had a set double-ducky menu, simple yet pretty classic - and their site says they do a €12 lunchtime menu, which is difficult to find in France anymore. From memory, you can get a good deal evenings too with a menu at about €20 I think; and they also do tapas etc. My favourite Minervois wines with the meal: 2001 Château Bonhomme "Les Alaterres" red, 2007 Château Tourril red and textbook sweetie 2008 Domaine Barroubio Muscat de St-Jean-de-Minervois. Chemin des coopératives, 11120 Saint Marcel sur Aude. Tel: 04 68 33 38 56, ladistillerierestaurant.com.

15 June 2010

Latest "wines of the moment"

Castillo Perelada Cava Brut Rosado (Monastrell/Garnacha 11.5%) - perfect red fruit summer fizz really. Deep cherry pink colour with tasty raspberry, toasted nut and chocolate biscuit fruit; fine frothy mouthfeel and refreshing off-dry finish. €4.85 on offer.
2009 Château La Grave Minervois (Syrah, Grenache, Carignan) - vibrant spicy black cherry, cassis and liquorice; juicy, fairly easy with soft-ish palate and nice fruity finish. €5.90 cellar door.
More "wotm" here.

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