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Gusbourne Estate, Kent

Languedoc: Fitou

Fitou (pronounced something like 'fee-too'), possibly the Languedoc's most schizophrenic wine region, has a coastal bit around the town of Fitou and a hilly bit inland around Tuchan and neighbouring villages, which are inconveniently buffered by a fat wedge of the Corbières appellation in between (something to do with history, local politics and this co-op winery that occupies much of the latter territory, allegedly). So, two rather different areas in terms of microclimate and terrain; and, generally speaking, the best wines probably come from the wineries and estates lying inland (but not exclusively) on these higher wilder wine-lands. Fitou is for red only, and you'll find all the usual-suspect grape varieties here with a fair bit of old Carignan still being used side by side with plenty of new plantings of Syrah. And not forgetting lovely Grenache of course.
Touring around this pretty neck of the woods, you could start in Fitou village, which is nicer than the first impression you get just off the dangerously busy main Narbonne to Perpignan road, as you climb up the hill to a more peaceful backdrop. Tuchan and around (Villeneuve, Paziols...) is very much Caves de Mont Tauch country, an amalgamated mega co-op that's become the biggest player and well known in export markets for being reasonably innovative. The Mont Tauch mini-mountain overlooking their silvery winery and surrounding landscape is dramatic in a raw and primeval kinda way; for the best view, approach from the south on the winding road from Roussillon country over the other side...
I've covered a few Fitou estates and wineries on this blog before - here are links with words and recommendations of some of the more interesting reds, and more links below too alongside the relevant winery:
Domaine les Enfants Sauvages (cellar/home in Fitou though their vineyards aren't...)
"Cellar Reserve" Fitou, Château de Montmal and Cave Mont Tauch (all CMT)
Domaine Jones and Domaine Maria Fita.
The wines tasting-noted and tipped here, spanning the 2008 to 2011 vintages, were on the table at this year's epic "Millésimes en Languedoc" week about three months ago. Has to be said it was quite hard work filtering out the best ones to recommend, with a lot of hard tannic and/or clunky oaky wines; and I wasn't the only one who thought this. Anyway, here she blows:


2008

Domaine Grand Guilhem - maturing prune and plum fruit, quite light and crunchy with dark berry vs smoky meaty notes, pretty firm but the tannins are digestible; drink now. Previous DGG here.

Château Lérys - quite rustic and 'inky', fairly rich on the palate though with earthy liquorice fruit vs extracted tannins and a bit of weight. Previous Domaine Lerys.

2009

Vignerons de Cascastel 'F' - spicy berry fruit layered with a fair bit of vanilla oak adding sweeter texture and flavour, pretty firm tannins but softens up on the finish with weight and dark fruit.

Cave Mont Tauch Hautes de Paziols - aromatic black cherry, ripe vs firm backdrop, lacks a bit of character but it's not overblown at least like many here.

Château Abelanet vieilles vignes (old vines) - again a tad extracted and firm vs subtle grainy oak and has substance too, rounder sweet berry finish.

Domaine Bertrand-Bergé Ancestrale - nice perfumed black cherry and blueberry fruit, minty wild floral thing going on too with subtle concentration and solid but not too tannins. Very good. Previous Domaine Bertrand-Bergé.

Château de Nouvelles - perfumed spicy floral black cherry, fruitier softer wine with ripe berry and touch of savoury development, light grip and elegant length. Also one of the better ones.

Château Wiala Sélection - smoky earthy savoury notes vs dark fruit, a bit rustic perhaps but has some substance and attractive coating of softening tannins, tobacco vs liquorice tones on finish.

2010

Domaine de la Grange Via Fonteius - chunky fruity style with minty berry / cherry flavours, firm yet rounder tannins underlined by ripe fruit. Good.

Château de Nouvelles Gabrielle - touches of coconut oak and attractive minty black cherry, pretty solid mouth-feel yet has a lighter touch too and nice grainy texture.

Château Champ des Soeurs Bel Amant - floral minty cherry and cassis, ripe vs dry tannins, fairly elegant finish. Good.

Château Champ des Soeurs La Tina - coco vanilla oak but not too over the top, has fair grip vs sweeter cherry and liquorice fruit then rounds out a little.

Domaine de Mandraou - slightly rustic perhaps with leather and tobacco notes vs pruney liquorice, solid tannins vs some concentration too.

Domaine de la Rochelierre Privilege - 'modern' style with lively blackberry vs a touch of coconut, nice softer palate vs a bit of oomph and grip.

Domaine les Mille Vignes Atsuko - upfront spicy black cherry and minty garrigue aromas (that slightly elusive wild earthy herb/flower thing), a little punch and grip vs ripe dark fruit; probably very Syrah but good with it.
François Lurton cuvée des Ardoises - smoky rustic edges vs raisiny berry and black cherry, again has appealing dry vs softer mouth-feel with 'sweet' perfumed vs earthy fruit.

2011 (probably unfinished samples)


Château de Nouvelles - enticing ripe dark fruit, spicy blackberry/cherry and liquorice, fairly soft tannins vs nice grip and depth. Promising.
Mont Tauch - chunky and quite extracted with vibrant fruit, ripe blueberry and black cherry, again nice textured tannins.
Château Champ des Soeurs La Tina - chocolate oak coating vs ripe and rounded, bit closed up and firm yet has good depth of fruit.

Italian reds: Sicily, Barbaresco, Amarone...

The first Sicilian red recommended here is made entirely from an obscure indigenous variety called Nerello Mascalese from vines grown in the Agrigento area in the southwest of the island. The second is another co-op winery red moulded from the better-known Nero d'Avola grape (I wouldn't have said that a few years ago but I've noticed more and more Nero d'Av wines around, which is nice) sourced from southern Sicily. Finally, the dearest one, also from the south and 100% Nero d'Avola, is a bit of a Mediterranean treat although still quite good value for the quality at £12; I'd much rather drink this than a 'cheap' Barolo at the same price.
Talking of which, or next door at least, Marks & Spencer sell a Barbaresco for £12 as well, which I found a tad austere though still pretty typical Nebbiolo in style I guess. The Barby I've included here - 100% Nebbiolo too as they all are - is more than twice the price unfortunately but is in a different class; shame that you have to pay so much to get something very good from the Piemonte region. And travelling east to the other side of the north, if you get my drift, we have a rather yummy Amarone from Valpolicella. It's fairly expensive as well, as they naturally tend to be, and not everybody's cup of red tea, being typically full-on and towards head-banging in style, so save it for a special and very hearty meal (wild boar stew perhaps?! Matured hard cheeses certainly).

2009 Nerello Mascalese Cantina del Coppiere, Sicily (13% alcohol) - 'sweet' floral fruit with wild lavender edges, tasty 'sweet/savoury' palate with ripe maturing fruit vs a touch of grip. Nice Med style. M&S £5.99

2009 Baglio Rosso Nero d'Avola Cantina Sociale Viticultori Associati, Sicily (13%) - similar profile to above, perhaps more intense and lusher with lovely sweet fruit and wild herb undertones, again attractive soft and easy mouth-feel vs structured too. Good stuff. M&S £7.99

2007 Nero d'Avola di Sicilia Casa Girelli (13%) - rich and seductive nose with savoury and almost tar-like notes, ripe dark fruit for sure; concentrated gamey and savoury palate with lush structured underbelly, very long finish. Delicious wine. M&S £11.99

2007 Barbaresco Cascina Morassino, Piedmont (14.5%) - has all that enticing firm and fresh character you'd expect from Nebbiolo vs much richer and darker than the 'cheaper' one, meaty powerful finish; classy wine. M&S £27

2008 Villalta Amarone della Valpolicella Speri, Veneto (mostly Corvina and Rondinella plus Molinara and others; 15%) - perfumed dried cherry notes with meaty 'tar' edges, powerful and firm mouth-feel vs nice and lush vs dry texture, big stylish finish. M&S £25

Lots more from Sicily and other Italian wines here.

Roussillon: Domaine Cazes update, Rivesaltes

Lionel Lavail and Emmanuel Cazes

Click here to read what I've said about Cazes and their wines on various occasions over the past six years. The most recent catch-up session with Emmanuel Cazes (vineyard manager & winemaker) and Lionel Lavail (sales director) was at Millésime Bio organic wine show earlier this year, where I had the chance to try some of their 2010 and 2011 vintages. These were my favourite two for entirely different reasons...

Canon du Maréchal 2011 Muscat/Viognier - grapey aromas with exotic touches, apricot vs orange notes; crisp and 'mineral' with light bitter twist, nice and easy style. €6.60 cellar door.
2010 Ego Côtes du Roussillon Villages (still roughly the same Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre blend) – attractive dark fruit with savoury edges and towards chocolate notes/texture although it's quite subtle, nice ripe mouthful offset by herby edges, grippy vs rounded mouth-feel. Good stuff, possibly better than previous vintages. €10 cellar door (comparatively much better value than the above).

LATEST vintage VDN released by Cazes tasted here: Rivesaltes ambré 2000 (February 2014).

More @ www.cazes-rivesaltes.com.

Roussillon: Domaine de l'Ausseil update, Latour de France

Latour de France watching over old Grenache gris vines
Domaine de L'Ausseil

Previous wines and words on Domaine de l'Ausseil can be found here (April 2007 and April 2009). Owner/grower/winemaker Jacques de Chancel was, as sure as flowering follows budding, at the 2012 vintage version of Millésime Bio wine fair (held in Montpellier earlier this year) with the latest vintages gleaned from about 10 organic ha (25 acres) of mostly old vines scattered around the handsome timeless village of Latour de France (photo). Among other things, Jacques told me that, in addition to organic-only treatments in their vineyards, he's also focusing on using "very little - less than 10 milligrams per litre - or no SO2" (sulphites in winemaking: without wanting to get too chemical, 10mg/l is roughly 10% or less of what could be in a 'regular' bottle, depending on the wine/winemaker). €uro prices below are cellar door (in France obviously) to give you an indication: more info @ www.lausseil.com.

2011 P'tit Piaf white - very Muscaty with orange peel vs floral grapey notes, ripe and rounded vs crisp and juicy. Nice easy style. €6.50
2011 P'tit Piaf rosé (Mourvèdre, Grenache, Syrah) - zingy 'mineral' touches with yeast-lees undertones, crisp dry finish. Nice style again. €6.50
2010 Papillon (Grenache gris/blanc, Macabeu, Muscat) - rich nose with complex 'volatile' edges, lovely spicy vs honeyed palate with lush and lees-y vs intense 'mineral' finish. Very good dry white. €13
2008 La Capitelle Côtes du Roussillon Villages Latour de France (Carignan, Syrah, Grenache) – lush vs savoury style red, again has that intriguing wilder side and lovely concentrated fruit; developing quite fast but it's still very good. €9.50

2007 Les Trois Pierres Côtes du Roussillon Villages Latour de France – reductive/herby vs ripe and aromatic Syrah dominant profile (?), meaty and concentrated with chunky tannins, developing complex flavours with powerful finish. Lovely red. €14

2011 Prise de Bec red (Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre) – lively black cherry/berry and cassis to start, soft vs dry texture, attractive quaffer finishing with peppery liquorice notes.

2011 Du Vent dans les Plumes(Carignan based) – quite rustic / bretty even (?) and spicy, although the former works here thanks to its rich vs crunchy mix of flavours and textures; concentrated too with thick yet supple tannins. Very good actually despite that initial nose.

Port: Niepoort 'masterclass'

"Dirk Niepoort (pic. second from right) hosted what turned out to be a dream tasting back in late May in London, where we were treated to three flights of his Garrafeira, Colheita and Vintage Ports spanning almost a century; from a couple of youthful 2009s back to an incredible 1912. Needless to say the latter has fared better than that other slightly better-known 100 year-old vessel, as it carries on sailing majestically across oceans of time..."

Click here to read the full report (goes to my 'Portugal page').

Rhône: Domaine Jean David, Séguret

I met Jean at the lunch table at Millésime Bio organic wine fair in Montpellier earlier this year, where he had a bottle of one of his commanding 2010 reds open for sampling with the nosh (organic of course). This cuvée is a touch different from the norm around these wild and spectacular parts (and in their range too), as it's made predominantly from old Carignan (47%) followed by the staple Grenache (31), Mourvèdre (11) and splashes of Syrah (8) and Counoise (3). The blend is done this way as it's sourced from a particular plot among 16 ha (40 acres) overall, where these vine varieties are all mixed up together roughly in these proportions; hence this wine's made in ye olde "field blend" style. Jean and Martine David are fair old-timers when it comes to organics, as they've been doing it in their vineyards since 1989. Respek. Séguret is one of those lovely old-as-time villages stuck on a hill and a stand-alone Côtes du Rhône Villages appellation lying somewhere between Gigondas and Rasteau in the shadow of the brooding Dentelles de Montmirail hills. They make six other wines, which I look forward to trying sometime somewhere.

More @ www.domaine-jean-david.com where, for a nice change, they say, accurately, they don't use synthetic chemicals etc. Unlike some organic growers who conveniently make generalizations about not using any chemicals, as if explaining the details doesn't matter. My point being many consumers are a bit confused and believe organic means no chemicals, which clearly isn't the case (sulphur, sulphur dioxide, copper based treatments...). These are considered 'natural', which, well, they are, and are sanctioned and difficult to do without (although some are trying with varying results...). Sorry to be pedantic but worth repeating my little rant just to clarify!

2010 Cuvée Beau Nez Séguret (14.5%) - chunky vs aromatic style, powerful with lush dark fruit, firm and punchy finish with meaty savoury notes too. Needs a few months to open up but it's good stuff.

More Côtes du Rhône Séguret profiles and wines to follow (Domaine de Mourchon...)

Rhône: Palai Mignon, Tavel & Lirac

www.vin-tavel.com

The compact neighbouring wine regions of Tavel and Lirac, known for their chunky rosés and reds based on Grenache, are classed under the Rhône Valley, which they are in lying just to the northwest of Avignon; although the village of Tavel, where this wee winery is found is actually in the Gard département in the Languedoc. A not particularly confusing fact though, nor terribly interesting and who gives a damn anyway, you may be tempted to add. The curiously named Palai Mignon (cute palace?) belongs to winegrower/maker Cyril Amido and comes to a slender three ha (7.5 acres) farmed organically - he set up this label in 2005 (having worked for the local co-op for years) and has been certified organic since the 2011 vintage. I couldn't find a website or blog but his email is cyril.amido@orange.fr, if you ever wanted to call in and taste sometime or find out where he sells his wines (outside of France), which are worth tracking down imho. I sampled these two tasty little numbers at Millésime Bio wine show in Montpellier earlier this year:


2011 Tavel (mostly Grenache + Syrah, Clairette, Carignan) - rich colour and rounded full-bodied style rosé, nice lees edges and a touch of 'mineral' character somehow, although this isn't especially acidic with its fruity oily texture. Different, good with food I'd imagine.

2011 Lirac 'Caprice' (mostly Grenache + Syrah, Mourvèdre) - aromatic perfumed and spicy liquorice fruit, ripe and juicy palate with attractive tannins and 'sweet' fruit, quite elegant actually with subtle grip and weight to finish. Very good.