Languedoc: Domaine Turner Pageot, Gabian

Frenchman Emmanuel Pageot and Australian Karen Turner almost strike you as an uber-qualified and experienced couple, with an impressive international wine world background between them. Karen studied winemaking at Adelaide Uni, and Emmanuel's CV takes in France's Université du Vin, sommelier training, UK trade qualifications and learning the biodynamic way from certain distinguished mentors; and, before doing their own thing, they both worked for some well-known names in Aus, UK, elsewhere in France, South Africa, Italy and Portugal.

Spain: Loxarel - Catalunya

Based at their Can Mayol estate near Vilobí del Penedès in the hills just to the north of Vilafranca (about 40-50 km west of Barcelona), the Mitjans family produces, following organic and biodynamic techniques, an interesting mix of 'local vs international' whites and reds, in addition to a variety of different rosés. From classic Catalan rosat (even if containing a large splash of Pinot) to an "extreme" style made from high-altitude late-picked Merlot; and a quirky barrel-fermented one from Xarel.lo vermell, a virtually extinct red-skinned version of this indigenous variety, which I wasn't that keen on though. And let's not forget the great range of traditional method sparklers (I won't call them Cava, as they've dropped that term...), most of them made in the Brut Nature style, i.e. no dosage added (= unsweetened). Check out their wild '109' at the bottom; hard to find fizz with much more flavour and complexity, except Bolly RD perhaps! € prices quoted are cellar door/online: click on the web link below the photo for more info.

Goat pruning method - from loxarel.com

2012 Xarel.lo (fermented in amphorae, 13% abv) - nutty 'mineral' nose, crisp and steely palate with light yeast-lees and pear notes, intense mineral bite vs lightly oily texture and bruised pear fruit; elegant and long. €12

2012 Petit Arnau rosat (Pinot noir, Merlot; 13% abv) - lively cherry fruit, full and creamy mouth-feel with fair weight vs crisp dry and tight with attractive raspberry and cranberry fruit. Nice dry rosé style. €6.40

2011 Gal Gran Arnau rosat (Merlot, 14.5% abv) - described as "extreme rosé", this has earthy, smoky even, raspberry and black cherry fruit, ripe vs crisp with a touch of grip on the palate, big mouthful; unusual! €12.50
2011 Eos Syrah (from a single vineyard in the upper Penedès at 600 metres altitude farmed organically, eight months in new Hungarian oak 500 litre barrels; 14.5% abv) - pure spicy/floral black cherry Syrah style, nice sweet fruit vs grippy texture, fairly intense finish; attractive "modern" red. €10.70
2008 '790' Reserva (single estate Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% abv) - maturing savoury 'oily' notes vs peppery cassis with cedary edges; quite smooth palate with enticing 'sweet/savoury' finish vs still a little firmness too; developed a bit of complexity as well. €13.80

2008 Cava Reserva Vintage Brut Nature (now labelled as D.O Penedès, old-vine Xarel.lo & Chardonnay; 12% abv) - light bready oat cake notes, crisp and dry mouth-feel vs rich and classy, long fresh finish with subtle toasted flavours. Very nice fizz, great value at €7.40.
2002 'Cent Nou' Gran Reserva Brut Nature (95% old-vine Xarel.lo: 'new' sparkling D.O Penedès style which isn't disgorged, i.e. fine lees sediment left in the bottle. Cent Nou = 109 in Catalan, as in 109 months bottle-ageing on the yeast lees!) Full-on rich nose, oat biscuit and chocolate with more exotic fruit too (dried apricot!) vs very yeasty, freshly baked bread notes; very intense flavour with nutty toasty finish vs lean mineral bite. Wow, not tried anything like that before! €64

Plenty more from Spain, Catalunya and Cava HERE.

Roussillon: Coume del Mas update

Further to the latest blurb on partner vineyard Mas Christine below (or click there), I've been following Philippe Gard's Coume del Mas estate for a few years now: click on that bold link for previous words and lots of wines reviewed on trips to the winery from 2007 to 2010. Winegrowing-making associate and resident Englishman Andy Cook was on hand earlier this year for a pan-European group tasting (yours truly plus winos from Poland, Germany, Denmark, Norway) of their, at the time, rather closed-up 2011s (this vintage is tighter and more elegant than 2010 or 2009), and a few older ones.

Roussillon: Mas Christine update

There's some background and previous vintages HERE on/of Mas Christine, serenely overlooking the seaside town of Argelès-sur-mer, and the (ad)venture called Tramontane Wines set up by Philippe Gard, owner of highly-rated Roussillon estate winery Coume del Mas (also updated), resident English winemaker Andy Cook and other partners, who leased this pretty, originally early 19th Century vineyard in 2006 and have since created a new range of wines.

Sud de France Festival London 31 August

Or "Languedoc‐Roussillon Joie de Vivre in the heart of London (on the Southbank)..." as their PR blurb says; sounds tempting, non? All you need to know here: festival-suddefrance.com with updates on Facebook SuddeFranceFestivalUK and Twitter @Suddefranceuk / #suddefrance.

A few people showing their south of France wines and food include Bemywine, Hourlier, Majestic, Roberson, Sanglier, Borough Wines, Château Cabezac, Gerard Bertrand, Laurent Miquel, Paul Mas, Elliots, Le Marché du Quartier, RAW, Saveur du Sud and Summer Fruit...

France: Alsace - Domaine Martin Schaetzel

The Martin Schaetzel wine estate spreads over 20 hectares (50 acres) of vineyards in the Ammerschwihr area, including several highly rated Grand Cru sites, and has been certified organic since 1998 as well as Demeter, the fearsome biodynamic controlling body. Their Kaefferkopf vineyard lies on a hillside to the south and west of the village made up of "granite, chalk and sandstone..." from the top down roughly. Eichberg ("oak mountain") and Pfersigberg ("peach tree mountain") are found to the southwest of Colmar and both enjoy a well-exposed warm microclimate. The family head is Jean Schaetzel these days, with his righthand man winery and export manager Michel Vié.

From www.martin-schaetzel.com

2011 Riesling Kaefferkopf Grand Cru - apple and almond notes, turning quite rich and limey on the palate vs creamy rounded character, very crisp and mineral though with linear bite on the finish vs that oily textured/flavoured backdrop. Different. €16 cellar door.

2011 Riesling Eichberg Grand Cru - ripe lime fruit with exotic peachy edges, again crisp and mineral mouth-feel with very long piercing bite vs lightly oily and nutty side too; tight dry finish, needs time. Wow. €16

2011 Pinot Gris Eichberg Grand Cru - juicy honeyed fruit with spicy notes, pretty full-on powerful style with oily nutty texture/flavours vs underlying crisp bite too. Definitely a foodie (Chinese, Thai, Indian even...). €15.50

2010 Gewurztraminer Kaefferkopf "Catherine" - classic lychee aromas with pineapple, honey and dried fruits too; even more lychee on the palate, powerful yet with mineral bite, still very perfumed vs enticing maturing oily side. Good stuff. €19

2011 Gewurztraminer Pfersigberg Grand Cru - relatively subdued nose vs explosion of fresh lychee and kiwi on the palate, quite big ripe and punchy, less dry perhaps than the above, pretty powerful flavour and weight vs attractive bitter twist. €16

2008 Pinot Gris vendanges tardives (late picked) - complex developing nose, honeyed and 'musky'; sweet dried fruits on the palate vs lively acidity, tight and very long finish, still tasting young with a few years ahead of it yet.

Oodles more on Alsace HERE (goes to archive page).