Rhône: Ventoux, Clos de Trias & Marrenon

Two Ventoux producers for the price of one in fact, no relation (other than I tasted their wines at the London Wine Fair in a special Grenache-themed room) but it seemed like a good idea to combine them into a duet of Ventoux-tastic-ness. This wine region lies in the Vaucluse département to the east of the River Rhone and Avignon nudging up against that eponymous and somewhat awesome mountain...

Clos de Trias (above, shadowed by you know what: www.closdetrias.com)

Founded in 2007 (although the vines go way back) by Norwegian Even A. Bakke, who spent 14 years in the California wine business, and his French wife, Trias is now 25 ha (62 acres) lying at the foot of Mount Ventoux. I guess the name comes from the geological term Triassic (stifle that yawn please!), which is the era the soils around these parts date from, apparently. Grape-growing here is biodynamic with the philosophy and vineyards in the process of switching over to this way of life for good, man. 2008 was a tricky vintage in the region, which required a fair amount of sorting in the field and winery to pick out the best grapes. 2007 was a more successful year, and their old-vine red sampled here was made from selected 60+ year-old parcels called Champ Paga, L'Aube, Le Jas and Les Grand Terres (sic.), undergoing "a long maceration on the skins" and using "minimal sulphur dioxide."

2008 Clos de Trias (75% Grenache, 15% Syrah, 8% Carignan, 2% Cinsault) - quite soft and 'light' (although still 14% alcohol) with enticing maturing aromas, has a bit of grip still vs nice 'sweet' fruit, developing tobacco/leather edges and a has wild herby side too; drinking well now. €4.50 ex-cellars.

2007 Clos de Trias vieilles vignes (96% Grenache, 4% Syrah; 14.5% alc.) - smoky maturing nose with liquorice vs tobacco edges, extracted firm and punchy palate vs lovely spicy 'sweet/savoury' fruit, big mouthful of flavour. €9.55 ex-cellars.

Marrenon

These guys are actually a 1200-grower strong co-operative set up over 40 years ago; the members' vineyards spread right across the Ventoux and Luberon wine regions with their winery, offices and posh-looking shop based in La Tour d’Aigues in the southeastern corner of the Vaucluse. So they obviously make a big range of wines, although, if this one is pretty typical, they deserve to be investigated further... www.marrenon.com.

2010 Ventoux Classique red (Grenache, Syrah) - vibrant ripe berry fruit, juicy 'sweet' and tasty palate with savoury and tobacco edges, quite elegant actually on the finish; very nice red.

England: Furleigh Estate, Dorset

"I think we need to train these
solar leaf panels a bit higher!"
www.furleighestate.co.uk

Amid an ever increasing amount of talk about English sparkling wines and news of medals being won in international tasting competitions, Furleigh Estate was a new name for me until I tried this bottle of really rather good fizz. Another Champagne look-alike made from the same grapes, grown in sunny Dorset (well, perhaps 2012 was a challenging year as it was elsewhere for English and Welsh winemakers?), in the same traditional bottle-fermented and lees-aged way (their Classic Cuvée is left in bottle slowly ageing on the fine yeast lees for 15 months in fact, before being removed). The vineyards come to 85 rolling acres (34 hectares) across south-facing slopes surrounded by farmland, woods and lakes too in Salway Ash near Bridport, with well over half of that area planted with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier for sparkling wine production. They also make a red wine, a few whites and other sparklers including a rosé. The 2009 Classic Cuvée costs £25 a bottle, which might seem a bit dear but is about the same price as a half-decent Champagne brand; it works out at £2.50 a bottle less though if you buy a case of six, so perhaps not a bad idea for Christmas and New Year quaffing. Vineyard tours and tastings are available too on Fridays and Saturdays: click on their web link underneath the photo to find out more.

Classic Cuvée 2009 (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier; 12% alc.) - lovely fruity nose with complex toasted oat and floral oily notes, this has a very attractive combo of a little richness from those toasty yeasty bready flavours with rounded creamy texture vs crisp and refreshing bite and subtle fine bubbles lingering on the finish. Actually went surprisingly well with quite spicy Chinese and Thai king prawn dishes.

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