"Order my book on the Roussillon wine region (colour paperback) DIRECT FROM ME SAVING £4/€4 (UK & EU only), or Kindle eBook on Amazon UK. Available in the USA from Barnes & Noble in hardcover, paperback or eBook; or Amazon.com. For other countries, tap here." Richard Mark James

04 June 2013

Languedoc: Terre des Chardons, Costières de Nîmes

This vaguely inquisitive scribe first came across owner, grower and winemaker Jérôme Chardon - who's been doing organics in the field (they have olive and fruit trees and grow veg too) for no less than 25 years and using the biodynamic way since 2002 - and his sumptuous sunny wines back in the summer of 2010. We were at a tasting and presentation of medal-winning organic wines (and yogurts, jams etc. actually), as Jérôme's 2009 Bien Luné red was one of the Trophy winners. More about that with my note on this wine here: Signature Bio: organic wine competition winners.

From terredeschardons.fr
I caught up with him and tasted the 2011 vintage of this lovely wine and others earlier this year at Millésime Bio wine show in Montpellier; I guess its name, Bien Luné, is a bit of a biodynamic pun as it means "in a good mood" although literally could also be "well moon-ed"! You'll find Jérôme's vines in Bellegarde lying between Nîmes and Arles (near the 'border' between the Languedoc and Provence, i.e the bottom of the River Rhone as it heads out merrily into the Med), which are part of Domaine Sainte-Marie des Costières. More info (including stockists and how to get there) @ www.terredeschardons.fr. Reasonable prices too: the € ones quoted below are cellar door.

2010 Clairette de Bellegarde - yeast-lees and toasted notes layered with very floral vs honeyed and exotic fruit, crisp 'mineral' bite with a nice bitter twist; interesting dry white style, even if a little 'out of kilter' in the end maybe. €9
2011 Bien Luné (Syrah, Grenache 50-50) - delicious dark ripe black cherry and liquorice with peppery edges, concentrated and full-on countered by attractive 'fresh' tannins, dark lush fruit and nice bite on the finish. Yum. €8.50
2011 Marginal (Syrah 80%, Grenache) - similar profile but more intense with violets, dark berries and chocolate; again has silky tannins and tasty long finish. Double yum. €10
2011 Le Chardon Marie (mostly Syrah from selected plots) - lively violet cassis and black cherry/berry, peppery too and concentrated with fine tasty finish, lovely textured tannins again with tighter palate vs a bit of oomph. €19

03 June 2013

Cider: Duché de Longueville 'Gros Oeillet', Normandy

Another post in my occasional series on quality ciders that have crossed my apple-strewn path (see link at the bottom for more), which brings us to the curious Gros Oeillet variety mentioned in the title that I'm told makes up at least 90% of this "naturally sparkling craft cider." Funny enough, this means either 'big eyelet' in French, as in curtain rings, or 'large carnation', as in oversized buttonhole filler. Must be the shape of it I guess. Still, not quite as amusing a name as a Devon cider apple variety called 'Slack my Girdle' apparently! Bet you're glad you know that now. Back to this rather tasty cider actually, for those who like a lovely really pure appley taste, nice fresh bite (but avoiding that sometimes rather harsh acidity you can get in apples) and delicate fizz (rather than injected burpy CO2), which comes from natural second fermentation (similar to real ale or Champagne I'd imagine). It's fairly dry and light too, although certainly not tart with its sweet apple character and not overly strong at 4.5% abv. This bottle was sampled with a lentil and prawn dopiaza curry actually and went pretty well with the spice and sweet/sour flavours in the sauce; I hadn't really thought about drinking cider with curry before but might do from now on. I'd think it would work well with a nice tangy mature cheddar or similar cheese with a bit of real flavour.
Costs £2.19 for 50cl at Sainsbury's, and £1.75 on promotion from 12 June to 2 July and 24 July to 2 August during their 'Vintage Cider Festival'.

Previous posts on cider: Aspall, Suffolk and McCann's, Co. Armagh

'RED'

'Red is for wine, blood, revolution, colour... Time-warped slices of mystery, history, fantasy, crime, art, cinema and love...' Buy the e-book or paperback novel on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com. Click here to view the RED blog!

Send an email

Name

Email *

Message *

Header image: Château de Flandry, Limoux, Languedoc. Background: Vineyard near Terrats in Les Aspres, Roussillon.