Montpellier: Château de Flaugergues & Folia restaurant

Château de Flaugergues was no doubt once set among rolling fields basking in splendid isolation; now, it nestles somewhat incongruously in the Quartier du Millénaire just on the outskirts of the sprawling Montpellier metropolis, next door to the firestation, chain hotels and office buildings. But, as soon as you turn into their palm-tree lined driveway alongside the first plot of vines you see, it feels a bit like “let’s do the time warp again…” Ironically perhaps, this area’s name (= the millennium district) is quite fitting for a noble estate that’s notched up a few hundred years of history. Descendant Etienne de Flaugergues acquired it in 1696 and the family has occupied the place ever since. Current incumbents Brigitte and Henri de Colbert are, I understand, also relatives of Louis XIV's Finance Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert, and their son Pierre is now in charge of vineyards and winery. They've restored/maintained the château, rooms and gardens keeping a period feel although they do actually live here too. They do tours around this lovely old property, including a wine tasting of course, for a small fee; and can host private receptions as well: see flaugergues.com for more info.

The de Colberts have also opened an on-site eatery called Folia, serving “market cuisine”, where I tasted most of Flaugergues’ range with Pierre and a group of other scoffing wine journos back in late March (see my notes below). The chef’s certainly making an effort to grab your attention, although personally found they were perhaps trying a little too hard to be kinda trendy fusion blah, e.g. beef stir-fry in a very lemony sauce (refreshing but what wine with that?) or ling (‘julienne’ in French, a fish I’ve never heard of in English but have come across it before in Med France) with sort-of red fruit crumble! And, call me old-fashioned, I quite like seeing and enjoying the texture of vegetables rather than everything in a puree. But certain combinations and dishes were good, especially the desserts. Set daily menu: €16 for two courses, €19.50 for three. The restaurant’s open Monday to Friday lunchtimes and for group bookings only evenings and weekends: phone (+33) (0)4 99 526 635.

Château de Flaugergues ‘Foliae’ 2010, La Méjanelle (Grenache blanc, Rolle, 12.5% alc.) – aromatic pear with quite exotic peach and pineapple flavours vs zesty/chalky texture, attractive, quite light and easy style. 1 €7

Château de Flaugergues ‘Cuvée Sommelière’ white 2010, Languedoc (Grenache blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne, Viognier, Rolle) – a bit closed up to start, fatter mouth-feel and quite exotic fruit with lees-edged roundness; lacks a touch of acidity, it might open up and blossom. 1 €9

‘Le Vin de l’Oncle Charles’ 2007 (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot) – “as it says on the label,” from his uncle’s vineyard: a bit overly chocolate oaky, nice enough sweet fruit underneath and a bargain at €3.50.

Château de Flaugergues red 2008 (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre) – a tad lean maybe vs some simple berry fruit.

Château de Flaugergues ‘Les Comtes’ red 2008 (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre) – quite subtle I guess, again not showing much. €6

Château de Flaugergues ‘Cuvée Sommelière’ red 2007, Grés de Montpellier (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre; 13.5%) – this one was a little closed up on the nose too – most of these wines were screw-capped, from memory, by the way – but it gets richer and spicier with tight tannins, quite classy in the end. 1-2 €9

‘Cuvée Colbert’ 2006, Grés de Montpellier (Syrah, Mourvèdre, Grenache) – oaky although has fairly lush texture with black cherry and liquorice notes, grainy texture and again quite tightly structured vs bit of oomph. 1 €12

‘Natural wine’

The first ‘natural’ wine fair (NWF) was held in London last month, and I’m certainly not the first person to go on about it or ask the inevitable question: what exactly is ‘natural’ wine? And do we need to define and label it anyway, when there already are systems and rules in place for those winegrowers/makers who want to go that extra kilometre (or ten) and get themselves certified as an organic or biodynamic producer. The NWF catalogue included a ‘Charter of Quality’ giving a few definitions:

“All grapes are, at a minimum, organic. All grapes are hand-harvested. No added yeasts. No added sugar. No rectified acidity. Basically none of the dozens of additives often found in wine, except perhaps a little sulphite (a preservative among other uses) added during fermentation or at bottling*. Some of the wines won’t have anything added at all.”

So, all sounds perfectly fair enough and commendable but nothing more than what many/most organic and all biodynamic producers already adhere to. That * clause about sulphites is perhaps one of the key things here, certainly in terms of ‘controlling’ winemaking (there’s a subtle difference between keeping the upper hand on the process and swamping a wine with technology). “A little” isn’t very specific or scientific for sure; they quantify this by adding: “For us, low sulphite levels means that the grower is ultimately aiming to add little or no SO2 (sulphur dioxide) at all… dependant (sic.) on the year.”

Tom Lubbe of Domaine Matassa in the Roussillon sets a more technical level for this at “less than 20 milligrams per litre total SO2 in bottle,” which is readily measurable in a lab and about one-fifth to one-tenth of what might be in a ‘normal’ wine (and permitted). It's worth adding that all wine contains some sulphites, even if no SO2 is added, as a natural by-product of fermentation etc. Tom also talked about copper based treatments, the traditional ‘natural’ choice for combating e.g. a particular type of mildew, as copper (present in the human organism in minute quantities but toxic at higher levels) can hang around and pollute rivers. “In a well-run organic or biodynamic vineyard (i.e. not using synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, working the soil in the old-fashioned way etc.), you don’t see a build up of copper… or a desert effect…” as a living soil manages to diffuse these solutions. And something else missing from the NWF’s manifesto is sulphur itself, which is also a mainstay of organic viticulture in a ‘natural’ form.

At the end of the day, there were many exciting wines and wineries on tasting at the show, which was obviously the point. Due to lack of time, I stuck to sampling producers from the Languedoc & Roussillon, some I knew and some I didn’t, and wasn’t disappointed. But I also overheard several people who attended comment on certain wines, which were just plain ‘bad’ in the sense of very faulty, which, as Isabelle Legeron MW said - one of the event organisers along with importers Caves de Pyrene, Dynamic Vines, Aubert & Mascoli and Yapp Brothers - is always the danger. “Producing natural wine is like walking on a tight rope without a safety net. Great natural wine producers are brave men and women who dare to go against the grain of the modern wine world…”

Totally ‘natural’ wines, e.g. SO2 free, can easily include all the undesirable stuff too, the stuff that makes wine behave, look, smell or taste odd, unstable or ‘off’; such as wild spoilage yeasts, uninhibited oxidation or excessive acetic bacteria. You could argue whether it really matters if a natural product contains these things that come with nature; but, if left unchecked, it’s about the difference between a wine tasting good, complex, wholesome or even quirky and teetering over the edge into not nice. A common character I’ve noticed on ‘natural’ white wines is a kind of ‘real-cider’ aroma/flavour, which can be attractive if not over the top (i.e. verging on cider vinegar). But I don’t think it suits a red wine. Like balancing those sometimes complex, wild, smoky or almost leather/‘animal’ notes vs a red that smells of farm compost.

Profiles and notes on these sampled estates to follow on my other blog (where you'll find this same post, as it applies to all wines and winemakers of course) over the coming weeks: Matassa, Enfants Sauvages, Vinci, Ferrer-Ribiere, Clos Perdus, Ledogar, Clos Fantine, Les Eminades, Clos Gravillas, d’Aupilhac, Sénat, Alain Chabanon, Daumas Gassac, Mas Bruguiere.

 

‘Natural wine’

The first ‘natural’ wine fair (NWF) was held in London last month, and I’m certainly not the first person to go on about it or ask the inevitable question: what exactly is ‘natural’ wine? And do we need to define and label it anyway, when there already are systems and rules in place for those winegrowers/makers who want to go that extra kilometre (or ten) and get themselves certified as an organic or biodynamic producer. The NWF catalogue included a ‘Charter of Quality’ giving a few definitions:

“All grapes are, at a minimum, organic. All grapes are hand-harvested. No added yeasts. No added sugar. No rectified acidity. Basically none of the dozens of additives often found in wine, except perhaps a little sulphite (a preservative among other uses) added during fermentation or at bottling*. Some of the wines won’t have anything added at all.”

All sounds perfectly fair enough and commendable but nothing more than what many/most organic and all biodynamic producers already adhere to. That * clause about sulphites is perhaps one of the key things here, certainly in terms of ‘controlling’ winemaking (there’s a subtle difference between keeping the upper hand on the process and swamping a wine with technology). “A little” isn’t very specific or scientific for sure; they quantify this by adding: “For us, low sulphite levels means that the grower is ultimately aiming to add little or no SO2 (sulphur dioxide) at all… dependant (sic.) on the year.”

Tom Lubbe of Domaine Matassa in the Roussillon sets a more technical level for this at “less than 20 milligrams per litre total SO2 in bottle,” which is readily measurable in a lab and about one-fifth to one-tenth of what might be in a ‘normal’ wine (and permitted). It's worth adding that all wine contains some sulphites, even if no SO2 is added, as a natural by-product of fermentation etc. Tom also talked about copper based treatments, the traditional ‘natural’ choice for combating e.g. a particular type of mildew, as copper (present in the human organism in minute quantities but toxic at higher levels) can hang around and pollute rivers. “In a well-run organic or biodynamic vineyard (i.e. not using synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, working the soil in the old-fashioned way etc.), you don’t see a build up of copper… or a desert effect…” as a living soil manages to diffuse these solutions. And something else missing from the NWF’s manifesto is sulphur itself, which is also a mainstay of organic viticulture in a ‘natural’ form.

At the end of the day, there were many exciting wines and wineries on tasting at the show, which was obviously the point. Due to lack of time, I stuck to sampling producers from the Languedoc & Roussillon, some I knew and some I didn’t, and wasn’t disappointed. But I also overheard several people who attended comment on certain wines, which were just plain ‘bad’ in the sense of very faulty, which, as Isabelle Legeron MW said - one of the event organisers along with importers Caves de Pyrene, Dynamic Vines, Aubert & Mascoli and Yapp Brothers - is always the danger. “Producing natural wine is like walking on a tight rope without a safety net. Great natural wine producers are brave men and women who dare to go against the grain of the modern wine world…”

Totally ‘natural’ wines, e.g. SO2 free, can easily include all the undesirable stuff too, the stuff that makes wine behave, look, smell or taste odd, unstable or ‘off’; such as wild spoilage yeasts, uninhibited oxidation or excessive acetic bacteria. You could argue whether it really matters if a natural product contains these things that come with nature; but, if left unchecked, it’s about the difference between a wine tasting good, complex, wholesome or even quirky and teetering over the edge into not nice. A common character I’ve noticed on ‘natural’ white wines is a kind of ‘real-cider’ aroma/flavour, which can be attractive if not over the top (i.e. verging on cider vinegar). But I don’t think it suits a red wine. Like balancing those sometimes complex, wild, smoky or almost leather/‘animal’ notes vs a red that smells of farm compost.

See winery A to Z for profiles and notes on these Languedoc & Roussillon estates sampled at the fair: Matassa, Enfants Sauvages, Vinci, Ferrer-Ribiere, Clos Perdus, Ledogar, Clos Fantine, Les Eminades, Clos Gravillas, d’Aupilhac, Sénat, Alain Chabanon, Daumas Gassac, Mas Bruguiere.