Pinot Noir: Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand

Monthélie vineyards
vins-bourgogne.fr

This dual-hemisphere array of tasty Pinot was sampled and selected from a triad of recent tastings in London (Marks & Spencer, Wines of Chile, Armit), all going to show that Burgundy, home of Pinot if you like, really does have its work cut out nowadays. Although the Nuits St. Georges, Volnay or Corton-Bressandes scrutinized below were particularly good, French Pinot does sometimes lack a bit of obvious charm; whether because a certain wine just needs more time to open up or simply just isn't as good as it should be, given its high price and reputation of the producer, area or vineyard it comes from.

Roussillon: 3 white wines

If you've been kind enough or bothered to read anything else Roussillon on this excitingly narrow-focused blog, you'll have noticed a slight enthusiasm for the sometimes superb white wines being made more and more often nowadays in the region. I tried these two below not so long ago, on the "South of France" stand at the London Wine Fair: both from well-known and well-regarded estates, very different in style, varietal make-up and with three years of age between them too (Ed: I've since added a third - scroll down).

Jean Gardiès' quite fine Clos des Vignes is crafted from Grenaches blanc and gris grown on an elevated (380m) vineyard in the Vingrau area, which were fermented and aged for 12 months in demi-muids barrels (600 litre size). It's sold in the UK by H2Vin Ltd. for about £17 retail, so it's no giveaway but has a bit of class, as I said.

Le Soula is joint-owned by Gérard Gauby and UK importer Richards Walford (their wines are handled by Peter Weygandt-Metzler in the US), and this nicely maturing white is made from a heady cocktail of Sauvignon blanc, Grenache blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne, Macabeu and Malvoisie; all grown at altitude on sites around St. Martin de Fenouillet, Feilluns and Le Vivier. It's also similarly grandiosely priced at £22.49: there's a list of UK retail and restaurant stockists on their website. 

Domaine Gardiès 2009 Clos des Vignes white Cotes du Roussillon - toasty notes layered with peachy hints, quite steely mouth-feel vs those toasty edges adding texture and flavour vs attractive exotic apricot fruit underneath.

More Gardiès' wines and profile here (written in 2007 after I went to the winery, and updated in 2011 and 2012).

Le Soula 2006 white vin de pays des Cotes Catalanes - enticing developing nose with quite rich hazelnut tones, roast nut flavours too and rounded mouth-feel; fairly intricate with mature vs still alive profile. 

Blurb on Le Soula to follow.


UPDATED 1st November: found this one at Marks & Spencer's recent press tasting, the latest release of a Collioure dry white I've tried previous vintages of made by the Cave de l'Abbé Rous co-op winery. Much improved I'd say - it was always too oaky before - although it appears to have gone up by £3 in two years, so is very overpriced. I'm not blaming M&S particularly, just the silly prices now attached to the apparently fashionable Collioure appellation!
2010 Cornet blanc (60% Grenache gris, 20% Grenache blanc, 20% Vermentino; 14% alc.) - lightly toasty tones with yeast-lees edges vs oilier and more exotic side, steelier crisper palate than previous vintages with a touch of oak grain underneath vs nice weight and oomph, finishing with ripe peachy fruit and oily texture vs attractive bitter twist. Well-made, good quality foodie white. £11.99 in 100 stores.

And a few sexy Languedoc whites, just to develop the "theme"!

Portugal: Quinta da Falorca, Dão

This pretty 13 hectare estate lurks in the increasingly hot Dão region about 10 miles from the historic town of Viseu, lining the somewhat inclined banks of the Dão river itself. There are four Quintas or vineyards actually – Vale das Escadinhas (perhaps the best-known one), Barreiro, Esmoitada and Falorca – where vines are kept company by olive, nut and pine trees. I'm told Quinta Vale das Escadinhas goes back a long long way and was founded by the Costa Barros de Figueiredo family. More info @ qve.pt or on London wine merchant Armit's site, who had these flavoursome little Portuguese numbers at their recent tasting. Mind you, they're on the dear side though...

2010 rosé (Touriga Nacional, 13.5% alc.) - big fruity rosé style with boiled sweet notes, dried red fruits vs tangier redcurrant and Morello cherry edges; good but expensive. £12

2010 white (Encruzado and Malvasia, 13% alc.) - juicy with light yeast-lees notes, banana vs green fruit combo, bit of oomph too vs crisp, full tasty and long finish. £14

2004 Reserva red (Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Alfrocheiro Preto, Tinta Pinheira, Jaen; 14.5% alc.) - rich smoky black cherry, chocolate, liquorice and pepper aromas / flavours; chunky and grippy vs attractive dried fruits and complex smoky maturing finish. £20

2006 E-Falorca red (Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Alfrocheiro Preto, Tinta Pinheira, Jaen; 14.5%) - smoky nose with sweet dark berries vs herby peppery tones, punchy and firm vs developing nice sweet fruit edges vs still very lively. £11

Lots more Portugal here.

Heavy metal legends Motörhead release wine

The latest in a (too) long line of celeb wines "made" by pop / film stars etc., and by far the most interesting in terms of who whatever the wine actually tastes like (post a comment if you have), I spotted this on DECANTER.COM recently and thought it worth, erm, thrashing out here. Click on the link below to read the full story on Decanter's site, by ace (of spades) web editor Adam Lechmere:

"Rock legends Motörhead have released their own wine, an Australian Shiraz loaded with attitude – as well as fruity aromas and rounded tannins..."

Languedoc: Domaine de Cabrol, Cabardès

"Sally shovelling grape
skins out of a vat."
From domainedecabrol.fr

UPDATE: always a pleasure to have the chance to try or re-try one of Claude's lovely reds, which I did recently and is tasting-noted below and "scored" using my newfangled 1 to 3 system, as opposed to ye oldie 100-point thing for the wines below that sampled in situ when I visited him on the estate on the wilder side of Cabardès country back in April 2008. Anyway, just goes to show that Cabrol is probably one of the leading 'wineries' in this area.

Tasted on the 'Sud de France' stand at the London Wine Trade Fair:

2007 Vent d'Est (60% Syrah, 30% Cabernet, 10% Grenache) - complex herbal Syrah edges with very attractive dark vs crunchy fruit profile, lush and concentrated with 'tar' and liquorice notes vs underlying lively cassis, tight firm and powerful finish. Classy stuff. 2-3 £15 Seabright & Seabright, London. 

And this is what I said and tried three and a half years ago:

Claude Carayol and his team work 21 handsome hectares of vines planted on this elevated - up to 300 metres / 950 feet altitude in parts - sprawling estate (the remaining 100 or so ha are scented scrubland and forest), out of which they coax a handful of exciting red wines. The most representative are perhaps the following three rich solid blends: Vent d’Ouest, or West Wind made mainly from Cabernet Sauvignon, Vent d’Est - East Wind with Syrah predominating - and the dense age-worthy La Dérive; which are up there among the Cabardès appellation’s best wines (as long as you like chunky tannins) and reflect its philosophy in terms of varieties chosen and the sites each one performs best in.

Finding the domaine can be tricky: access is through an old gated wall on the left off the D118 road heading north from Carcassonne towards Mazamet, just after the village of Villegailhenc (bit of a mouthful that one), where vineyards and landscape begin to get sparser and wilder before merging into the ominous Montagne Noire (Black Mountain obviously). See website below for more details on going there, but basically they're open for tasting from 11am-12pm (except in winter) and 5-7pm every day (earlier in the summer) including Saturdays: ring first anyway. Claude sells his wines mostly to wine merchants and restaurants in France, so is probably as yet undiscovered in English speaking wine circles... (see update above, he now has a UK importer at least).

2005 Vent d'Est (mostly Syrah 13.5%) - attractively floral, rustic tinged black cherry nose; moves on to tight, firm and fresh mouth-feel layered with dark chocolate and cherry fruit; needs a little time to open up. 89+

2003 Vent d'Ouest (mostly Cabernet Sauvignon) - nice herbal cassis and mint aromas with peppery undertones; dense palate, grippy v lush, 'sweet' v bitter twist; still pretty chunky and concentrated. 90+

2003 La Dérive (Cabernets, Syrah, Grenache) - smoky and liquoricey, again dense and extracted but it works, rich fruit v very firm tannins then savoury tang on the finish; wow, still youthful really. 92+

11600 Aragon. Tel: 04 68 77 19 06, cc@domainedecabrol.fr, domainedecabrol.fr.


Latest on Cabardès here (report June 2012).

International Grenache Day

It's today folks. My other blog, by its very French Mediterranean nature, is crammed full of Grenache based wines and talk. Just follow that link and skim through the latest posts to find several very recommendable wines made from one of my favourite red varieties: e.g. Galatée Cotes du Roussillon Villages by Piquemal, “Mais où est donc Ornicar” Minervois by Sénat, L’Extreme from the Côtes Catalanes by Les Clos Perdus and so on... Plus wine tasting & touring features such as "Banyuls & Maury, sweet seductive Roussillon," with the spotlight firmly on those delicious Port-style fortified reds made from, you guessed it, mega Grenache.

There are also a few Grenache-themed pieces on this blog: such as "Australia: Grenache" penned with enthusiasm back in June and quite a bit of Spanish wine blogging/reviewing, such as Borsao's seductive Tres Picos from Campo de Borja region in this post; or 2009 San Valentín Garnacha by Torres dug up at the recent Belfast Wine Festival.

So, go forth and purchase, taste, enjoy, talk about and share a tasty warming red carved from purest red Grenache. Unless you fancy a full-bodied white made from white Grenache or rosé from "grey" Grenache, that is...

More info: internationalgrenacheday.wordpress.com