Roussillon 'French Catalonia' wine book

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24 January 2010

Languedoc: Domaine de la Triballe, Grès de Montpellier

You'll find La Triballe nestling about 15km (10 miles) northeast of Montpellier sandwiched between the Grès de Montpellier and Pic Saint-Loup appellations (or two pieces of bread perhaps). Owners Sabine and Olivier Durand (pic.), who also make a good variety of vin de pays wines and organic grape juice, took over the reins in 1990 and have been applying full-on organics to their 14 ha (35 acres) of vineyards since 1996. I sampled these wines with Sabine in Montpellier at the 2010 edition of Millésime Bio organic fair:

2009 Aphyllanthe white (RolleRoussanne) - honeyed vs gooseberry notes, very lively and floral too; crisp, mineral and oily too with creamier yeast-lees edges and "sweet" rounded fruit too. 87
2009 rosé - nice clean and straight style, zingy and subtle with crisp intensity. 80-83
2008 Coteaux du Languedoc (
CarignanSyrahGrenache) - slightly 'reductive' / cassis nose; youthful lively and crunchy fruit on the palate, turning lusher on the finish. 83-85
2007 En attendant que Coteaux du Languedoc - spicy Syrah-dominated style, the wood's a tad intrusive although it does add attractive rounder texture...
2007 La Capitelle Grès de Montpellier (GrenacheSyrah,
Carignan) - spicy minty aromas with cassis and cherry; firm vs round mouthfeel, tasty chunky vs fruity profile and dry vs "sweet" finish. 89+

34820 Guzargueswww.la-triballe.com.

23 January 2010

Languedoc: Château de Brau, Cabardès


Cabardès AOC is found to the north of Carcassonne and is trying to push a 'west meets east' image, with varying degrees of success. The region is planted with a mix of Mediterranean, Rhone, southwest and Bordeaux varieties; and further afield too with Chardy, Sauvignon, Pinot Noir etc. cropping up more and more. As you approach from further east or south in the Languedoc, the weather can quickly change once you're in or beyond Carcassonne (sometimes rainier or colder in the winter yet hotter in the summer too), as if there actually is some kind of Atlantic-cum-continental karma at play; even though you're still much nearer to the Med here. While Cabardès has (had?) its fair share of rather ordinary wines (nothing unusual about that then), there's a burgeoning band of top estates coming to the fore such as Château de Brau and the others featured below this profile. For more info on Cabardès producers and to get hold of a copy of their handy little wine trail in English (includes a few hotels, restaurants etc. as well), check out www.aoc-cabardes.com.
Back to Brau. This charming, unpretentious and quite sizeable (40 ha/100 acre) estate is owned by Gabriel and Wenny Tari and farmed organically: certified back in 1989 in fact with the youngest Syrah and Pinot being converted. It's split roughly into two big chunks - one around the winery and chateau, the other just off in the distance on rolling slopes at slightly higher altitude - with natural borders formed by the river to the south (a tributary of the Aude) and wilder countryside to the north. Unusually, they have 15 different varieties planted, mostly red including oddities such as Fer Servadou (from the southwest) and Egiodola, a crossing of Fer and Abourriou (que?!). Their Cabardès red blends are particularly impressive, although so is the Pinot Noir (rare to find good examples in the south) and other varietal wines like Cabernet Franc. The property is well signposted from the tricky-to-pronounce village of Villemoustaussou, and individuals or small groups are preferred by appointment.
What I also like about Gabriel and Wenny Tari, apart from nice wines, is their openness in poking fun at established so-called wisdom, or rather the usual clichés rolled out by some growers. This snippet from their brochure gives you a taster and also shows we must be kindred spirits, reflecting a line from the intro blurb on my homepage (an attempt at humour, if you bothered to read it and are a Monty Python fan): "We have not been growing wines since Roman times. We are farmers... modern-day peasants and have been for a long time... we don't have an exceptional terroir, just good land for vineyards of which we've ploughed every inch and which we've revived according to organic principles over the last 20 years" (not my translation by the way). Hats off. 



The following wines were tasted at Millésime Bio, Perpignan January 2008, and/or in situ when I visited in April 08.
2006 Pinot Noir Pure, Vin de Pays d'Oc - touch of toasty chocolate oak leads on to attractive 'sweet and savoury' Pinot fruit, juicy mouth-feel v fresh bite and tannins; with a little air the oak drops revealing more silky Pinot character, surprising considering it's made from young vines too. 89-91
2005 Domaine Majelus Merlot - smoky plum and cassis notes, nice ripe edges with 'tar' and liquorice v grip and fresh acidity. 87+
2006 Cuvée Château Cabardès (Merlot Syrah Cabernet Sauvignon) - nice mix of herbal pepper and ripe smoky fruit, again solid tannins v ripeness and power v lightness of touch. 89-91
2006 Cuvée Exquise Cabardès (Syrah Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon and sometimes Grenache too) - different from above, more berry fruit with light mint tones then liquorice on the palate v dry grip from textured tannins; less charming now perhaps but could blossom. 88+
2005 Le Suc de Brau Cabardès (SyrahCabernet Sauvignon) - more peppery and rustic with light coco oak, black cherry and cassis; powerful chunky and quite concentrated palate v rich smoky liquorice and black fruit layered on its firm solid framework. 90-92
2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Pure - attractive juicy cassis enhanced by smoky prune tones, quite elegant finish actually. 87-89
2006 Cabernet Franc - pretty ripe and spicy v red pepper notes but mostly full and rounded in style, very appealing wine. 87-89
2006 Fer Servadou - a little reduced and funky on the nose but this is concentrated, peppery, rustic and rich; nicely handled tannins and finish too.88-90
2006 Egiodola - a bit stalky and closed on the nose, reveals more in the mouth with lively spicy tart aromatic damson v darker fruit and liquorice; quite concentrated with very grippy tannins and fresh acidity, different for sure! 87+2006 Syrah - less exciting to be honest, although made from young vines so we'll see.
2007 Domaine de Brau Chardonnay-Roussanne (12.5%) - nice peachy v yeast leesy style with a bit of depth and crisp finish. 85+ 



Update 2010. Gosh, was that really two years ago... these new vintages tasted with Gabriel and Wenny at Millésime Bio show in Montpellier:
2008 Chardonnay / Roussanne - quite rich and exotic with peachy and yeast-lees tones; juicy with a touch of weight then crisp bite vs "sweet" fruit and lively finish still. 87
2008 Cabernet Franc / Cabernet Sauvignon - attractive "sweet vs savoury" mix with herby red pepper notes vs richer darker berry and cassis fruit; nice styling and depth on the palate. 87+
2007 Fer Servadou - juicier than previous vintage perhaps with meaty/savoury notes and light wood spice; quite lush vs tarter side with dark fruits and leather on the finish, attractive tannins too. 87+
2009 Pinot Noir - a bit closed up but slowly reveals enticing "sweet/savoury" Pinot style, nice fruit vs grip too; promising. 87-89
2007 Cuvée Exquise Cabardès - a touch of oak on the nose vs maturing herbal berry fruit; chunkier and lush on the palate vs tight firm mouthfeel, ripe vs savoury finish. Yum. 90
2006 Le Suc Cabardès (SyrahCabernet Sauvignon) - spicy wood aromas, moving on to chunky and concentrated mouthfeel; a tad oak-heavy perhaps but has nice oomph, richness and spicy finish. 89



Latest Brau here (report June 2012).

Domaine de Brau, 11620 Villemoustaussou. Tel: 04 68 72 31 92, chateaudebrau@aliceadsl.fr.

22 January 2010

Languedoc: Château Bousquette, Saint-Chinian

Updated Jan 2014: latest vintages etc. can be found in my all singing, all dancing St Chinian special supplement HERE.

A couple of forgotten yet plush reds (re)discovered from the tasting table at Millésime Bio organic wine show (Perpignan Jan 2008). I didn't get around to following up with the producers on their stands or writing them up until now, six months later although none of them is in danger of fading away! So 'ones to watch' perhaps or 'ones to call in on' when next in the area...
2005 Cuvée Pruneyrac Saint-Chinian (Mourvèdre Grenache) - dark fruits and liquorice with pepper and leather tones; fairly dense mouth-feel with firm structured finish; a fairly 'wow' kinda red. 90+?


Update 2010 from Millésime Bio organic fair in Montpellier. Owned and run by Swiss winegrowers Eric and Isabelle Perret since 1996, although the property's 24 ha/60 acres have been organically farmed since 1972 actually; quite progressive in the scheme of things. Bousquette (pic.) lies on the eastern side of the Saint-Chinian appellation about 15 km northwest of Béziers.
2007 "tradition" (Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Carignan) - dried fruity and smoky nose, ripe and liquoricey vs tobacco edges; tasty and soft-ish palate, nice now. 85
2006 Cuvée Pruneyrac (Mourvèdre, Grenache) - a tad reductive or struck-matchy (?) on the nose yet enticingly fruity too; lovely concentrated pruney fruit vs pretty solid tannins and fair oomph on the finish. 88+
2008 L'Absolu (Mourvèdre, Grenache, Carignan) - a dollop of sweet oak overridden by attractive black fruit / olive notes; quite intense and fruity with firm yet rounded framework, closes up on the finish; should be interesting when it softens a little. 87+
2006 Prestige (Syrah, Grenache) - herbal vs liquorice on the nose; rich yet very solid mouthfeel bolstered by delicious depth of maturing fruit and attractive weight, still young though in the end. 90

Route de Cazouls, 34460 Cessenon: www.chateaubousquette.com.

Roussillon: La Borde Vieille, Felluns

Scroll down to "Ah, but the Mexicans were here before them!" in this article: Relentless Roussillon - strange goings-on in Maury...

France: "Relentless Roussillon: strange goings-on in Maury..."

There's nothing new about a high-profile "outsider investment" story round these parts: Calvet-Thunevin's stark statement winery fashioned from blocks of orange Gard stone was the boldest testament to this up until now, and has somewhat altered the view on the way into town (I also noticed, by the way, the logo on the facia now runs "Domaine Thunevin-Calvet": we probably shouldn't read too much into that?!). But the once slightly dull and dour village of Maury has rapidly become the centre of the Roussillon wine universe, maybe even of the Languedoc too. I'm constantly amazed, and pleased I have to say, that the momentum is still going strong; it's getting difficult keeping up with everything that's happening...

Mega-bucks: the Americans are here
Grenache-loving Dave Phinney (pictured) of Napa's Orin Swift fame (the man behind the, I'm told, hugely successful "Prisoner" label, a Zin/Cab/Syrah blendl), is the first to put American $$$ behind an even bigger, and arguably bolder, site just up the hill from the village centre (off the Route de Cucugnan). This huge - relatively for the area - high-tech winery, along with the whole project, is being managed by Englishman Richard Case of Domaine de la Pertuisane. As well as his own wines, Richard already does a couple of special labels for his US importer (Kimberley Jones and David Shiverick in Ohio) and has moved Pertuisane lock, stock and barrels onto the new premises. When I first called in, Richard gleefully pointed out some of the brand new equipment (including something resembling "the machine that goes ping") like a spoilt child in a toy shop.
This very contemporary winery, called Department 66 (the region's French département number = Pyrénées Orientales) was operational for vintage 2009, not a bad year to start I'd say, although the aesthetic finishing touches have recently been put in place. To fill up all these neat shiny vats and scented oak casks, Dave has bought a staggering, for this old-parcelled neck of the woods, 80 hectares (nearly 200 acres) in total dotted around Maury. I'm told much of this fine and well-established, although not very economic, vine-land was destined to be reluctantly ripped up by retiring locals glad to see the viticultural landscape being preserved. So why here and why now? I'll be meeting Dave in the near future hopefully, and tasting some of his 2009 reds no doubt, so will publish an interview and tasting notes then.
You might well question whether these new-build wineries are a sore on the area's beautiful dramatic terrain and if everyone here sees this kind of development as a good thing? Personal taste and any local jealousies aside, Charles Chivilo, mayor of Maury, told me: "Some of the old co-op growers were happy to sell and pleased the vineyards would be looked after... vines are our landscape. The winery was built on a vacant piece of land and there are vineyards behind it. There was only one objection from people who'd planned to build a cellar next to it, but it came to nothing. With the viticulture crisis, we see this kind of investment in Maury as very positive. As long as there's local dialogue and they respect the village traditions and people." Mind you, some hooligan broke into Richard's old cellar a few months ago and emptied much of his 2007 reds onto the floor, so obviously someone out there felt hard done by...

Ah, but the Mexicans were here before them!
On a less ostentatious but no less ambitious scale, the "Mexican thrust" is being headed up by Hugo d'Acosta. "La Borde Vieille" is Hugo's baby, along with a few other Mexican investors, who purchased a 25 ha (60 acre) chunk of vineyards and the cellar, previously Domaine La Colline des Vents, all in one stunning spot near Felluns (beyond Lesquerde southwest of Maury). And there's a second, even more intrepid "Mexican project" taking in a further 50 ha and two village co-ops: I'll come back to that in a minute... The soils around Borde Vieille have "lots of grey schist," as Hugo explained, with some white varieties, Carignan blanc and Macabeu, mixed in with the majority, usual-suspect reds all planted mostly on east-west facing slopes.
"Wine has always been my dream," Hugo told me more about is background. "I went to viticulture school one summer, got a qualification in agriculture then went to study winemaking at Montpellier and Torino. I've worked for 15 years in different wineries in Mexico and started my first vineyard there in 1997." My next question inevitably brought the conversation round to: why, and how, here? "I was looking for a few years in the Corbieres and Roussillon," Hugo continued and, like many who've come to the Maury area, the right thing cropped up at the right time.
So, 2007 was their maiden vintage which was looking a bit closed up when I tried it, although chunky yet quite subtle and promising. I also tasted several different 2008s and 2009s from vat and cask. They make three reds, each one dominated by each of the three main varieties - so c. 60% Carignan or Syrah or Grenache with the remainder being the other two blended according to the vintage. I won't go into detailed notes on all these unfinished wines; but my favourites included a 2008 50/50 Syrah/Carignan, another duet of the latter with 65% Syrah, a 100% Grenache and two single-plot, "oldest vines" varietals: 20 year-old Syrah and 40 to 100 year-old Carignan. And from the challenging-to-taste but radiant 2009 vintage, a north-facing Grenache, two stylish Carignans and a gorgeous Syrah.
Next stop, the former village co-op cellars in Felluns and nearby Assignan, which had both closed down. An extraordinary (ad)venture: Hugo has rallied a dozen Mexican wine producer investor friends plus a few locals, who together purchased both of these old winery buildings along with 50 hectares (125 acres) all around the two villages, which lie on splendid terraces at 250 to 500 metres altitude (850-1700 feet) divided by a patch of hillside woodland. In Felluns, they were fermenting the first reds in square-looking, small-batch plastic "tubs" (1000 litres: the cube shape allows very good skin/juice contact), as "we didn't want to use the old concrete vats this year. The plan is to split them all into two levels to make everything on a smaller scale," and get rid of any geriatric equipment and completely remodel the grape reception zone.
Naturally, I was intrigued about what investing in all of this has cost Hugo and his colleagues. He was commendably frank about it and prepared to give me some approximate figures: €500,000 for the land and buildings and €400K for the new gear, plus €3K per year to run the vineyards and €1K for winemaking and ageing costs. "Over half of the vineyards are already sold... each individual will make their own wine and handle sales themselves," but this is a kind of private co-op venture implying they're pooling their resources too. Everything is picked block by block, so some of the vats I tasted from were already mixed thanks to those traditional "field blends," e.g. an attractive 2009 Grenache / Carignan and a few different promising Syrahs.

Let's not forget the South Africans... and the Swiss
The Cape's Grier family made a move on the area a few years ago now and has vineyards and an understated winery off the main road through St-Paul de Fenouillet, ten minutes west of Maury. Heading back to Maury, located up the hill on the Cucugnan road almost next door to Dept. 66, Swiss-owned Domaine des Enfants is another great-potential "start-up" estate. Marcel Buhler made his third vintage this year (i.e. kicked off in 2007) in his compact cellar, formerly owned by Serge Rousse (of the sadly defunct Domaine Terre Rousse), gleaned from 20 ha (50 acres) split across seven sites (Maury, Caramany, Latour-de-France among others) with alarmingly low final yields of eight hl/ha. "We pick late then really select through (the fruit)," Marcel clarified, "we must've chucked away a quarter of it this year. Everything's very manual as the vineyards are old, so I've got two horses. No herbicides are used and I'm going for organic certification in 2010."
Marcel's background was in Zurich banking; he then studied winegrowing/making at Germany's esteemed Geisenheim university. "I looked (at vineyards) in the Languedoc, in the Montpeyroux and Pic St-Loup areas, and Priorat and elsewhere in Spain... but it was all too expensive. Then I stopped off in the Roussillon and met Jean Pla (proprietor of Le Pichenouille wine shop & restaurant in Maury, vineyard real estate broker and all-round "Godfather of Maury," as someone once said, affectionately)..." At the moment, Domaine des Enfants' wines are mostly sold in Switzerland and Germany, by (e)mail order or at Jean's place above. He, like other newcomers aiming high, has priced the wines at a pretty ambitious level: €18, €36 and €55. My tasting notes of Marcel's 2008 reds are here. More info @ domaine-des-enfants.com.

Small is beautiful too
No less spectacular is the continuing number of mostly French-owned, one/two-man/woman domaine start-ups in the Maury area. Last April's version of the annual Fenouillèdes wine show, which takes place in Tautavel a few kilometres up the road, threw up yet more surprises and several new names showing 2008 wines, their first vintage. Worth mentioning briefly are Domaine Deveza (Estagel), Mas Mudigliza (St-Paul), La Petite Baigneuse (Maury) and Clos Serre Romani (Maury) among others: click on those links to see profiles. Winegrowers at the show confirmed something else I've been noticing more and more: there are now quite a few cracking white wines too, making this region much more than a one trick pony ("hearty reds" are what spring to mind first). Plus a winemaking shift to youthful Vintage-style Maury, but that's another story... No doubt the Fenouillèdes 2010 fair will reveal more new names and newer wines...

Et les Anglais?
Not content with buying up holiday homes and gites, there's a handful of budding British vignerons who've either settled or purchased vineyards here. Katie Jones is no stranger to the area, at least the Fitou/Corbieres region just to the north, as she used to be marketing and export director at the Cave de Mont Tauch co-op. The lure of the land obviously proved too overwhelming for Katie, who's bought a few, more-or-less adjoining old parcels perched up behind Maury on pretty steep, very rocky soil (mostly pure grey/black schist on top), which are a challenge to access even for her old faithful 4x4. She's going to make three or four wines (two reds, one dry white? Watch this space...) including a super-late harvest Grenache gris sweetie picked from a few vines deliberately left until just before Christmas! Once again, I'll be tasting these when they're ready and will knock up a fuller profile (UPDATE: now done so click on this link for notes and more words). And have a look at her blog to keep up with the Jones'. Other English winey goings-on include Justin Howard-Sneyd MW's Domaine of the Bee and the longer established Les Clos Perdus (actually an Anglo-Oz partnership).
Meanwhile, back in Maury village: will the Maison du Terroir, Pascal Borrell's ambitious upmarket restaurant, help pull in the crowds? They're also working with the on-site Tourist Office organising wine routes and tasting suppers, for example: more info @ www.maison-du-terroir.com. And not far away in the Trilla / Bélesta area, Vincent Balansa, whose track record includes working at Le Soula, Gauby and Bizeul among others, is the man behind another new, organic-from-the-start project. He and a consortium of private investors have bought up some great parcels otherwise destined to be ripped up: more details @ biotrilla.blogspot.com, and a profile on this might follow at some point...
So, what does this all mean for lovers of authentic, terroir-oozing Mediterranean wines? In these "doom and gloom" times, the momentum just hasn't stopped in this "New Eldorado" (as the region has been called in the past but still seems appropriate), where newcomer and established winemakers alike are obviously convinced there are plenty more exciting discoveries to be made and shared here. And maybe Maury itself could finally become the wine tourism must-go place it deserves to be.
Profiles on the wineries mentioned above, along with lots of tasting notes on their wines and web details, have now been teleported across from 'old' WineWriting.com: see links in the Roussillon winery A to Z.

All rights © Richard Mark James January 2010

Roussillon: "Strange goings-on in Maury..."


Latest article from French Med Wine: 'Relentless Roussillon: strange goings-on in Maury...' Featuring Department 66 ('the Americans', Dave Phinney pictured from orinswift.com), La Borde Vieille ('the Mexicans'), Les Enfants ('the Swiss'), oh... 'the English' (Jones, Bee, Pertuisane...) and 'French' too (Deveza, Mudigliza, Petite Baigneuse, Serre Romani...).
"There's nothing new about a high-profile 'outsider investment' story round these parts: Calvet-Thunevin's stark statement winery fashioned from blocks of orange Gard stone was the boldest testament to this up until now, and has somewhat altered the view on the way into town..."

18 January 2010

Delmas 2004 Crémant de Limoux

Champagne producers can forward all the "reasons" they like for "having" to charge the money they do - area of production = less wine than world demand type ecomonics is the only convincing one knowing how many grapes some growers there squeeze out of each vine - and they can bang on about unique climate and soils blah blah (an element of equally convincing truth even though bottled-fermented fizz is essentially naturally shaped by the way it's made rather than so-called terroir). But, when you try a "traditional method" sparkling wine from, say, Limoux (western Languedoc) as tasty as this one - Delmas 2004 Crémant de Limoux, aged for 2 years on the yeast-lees giving it nice toastiness and roundness on top of its refreshing tangy side - which at €6.99 presumably gives them a desirable profit margin, you've gotta wonder, no? (It was organically produced too, which might even bump up their costs a little.) I know it's been said before but there's nothing like sipping tangible proof of something to warm you up into a slight rant!

'RED'

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