Roussillon: Sylvain Respaut, Montner

Grape treading party from facebook.com/DomaineRespaut

Sylvain Respaut describes himself as an "Agly valley apiqueron," which, for those of you who can't find this word in their handy Collins Robert or Larousse dic, is naturally a play on two French words, "apiculteur" and "vigneron" i.e. beekeeper and winegrower combined. Since that's what he does: the honey farm (the Roussillon is also well-known for artisan honey production), called Cara'miel, is found near the village of Caramany in deepest Fenouillèdes country and was started in 2007 "with 200 hives mainly populated with a local bee variety called the 'black bee'." (If they're the same ones I'm thinking of, which I used to get buzzing around my lavender plant on my terrace when I lived in the region, they're enormous... Ed.) Organic farming was introduced in 2009, and Sylvain caught the grape bug in 2011 with the purchase of 4 ha of vines in the Montner area. More about bees, honey and his wines on caramiel.fr or check out his FB page link under the photo.

2011 was the first vintage, so we could see these wines developing more depth and character with time, hopefully, although they're attractive drinking now. Sylvain also makes a white called 'Zumo' from old Grenache gris in addition to the three wines I tasted, which are simply labelled as 'Vin de France' and subjected to, or rather not, 'natural' winemaking such as wild yeast fermentation etc.

2012 Tangerine (Chardonnay) - citrus and orange peel notes, quite crisp and 'mineral' on the palate vs nice peachy fruit.

2011 Plein Les Ceps (Grenache made by 'carbonic maceration') - fairly light and elegant for Grenache, perfumed fruit with a riper more liquorice side, soft and easygoing finish.

2011 Gorgorlou (Grenache and 100 year-old Carignan) - richer and funkier, chunky fruity palate, quite soft; again lacks a bit of depth but it's nice now. 

'Essential Wine Tasting' course Belfast Oct-Nov.

New dates: the next Wine Education Service NI Essential Wine Tasting course is now scheduled on Tuesday evenings from 15 October to 12 November 2013. More info on this five evening course here: wine-education-service.co.uk/introductory - cost £125 for 5 sessions: book here.

Wines of South America tasting - Belfast 3 October

Wine Education Service NI event hosted by RMJ: Wines of South America tutored tasting on Thursday evening 3rd October. "We'll taste and talk about eight premium wines from 'el Sur Grande', focusing mainly on Chile and Argentina - featuring well- and lesser-known grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Carmenere, Malbec, Sauvignon Blanc and Torrontés. But we'll also be venturing into more uncharted waters such as sampling a big Tannat red from Uruguay..." At the Ramada Encore Hotel - St Anne's Square, Belfast. Tickets - £27.50 or Buy 2 for £50. More info and booking here. Pay by Paypal here.

Argentina: Malbec

"Argentina and Malbec apparently go together like, erm, bucket and spade, Chablis and Chardonnay or Cahors and Malbec even, while I'm on the 'M' subject. Let's get the geeky stats stuff out of the way first off: almost one-third of the country's vineyard surface area is planted with Malbec, or 83,684 acres (about 34,000 hectares) to be precise, most of it in the Mendoza region (see winesofargentina.org for more info, where I slyly teleported the photo above from). There are only about 10,000 acres of this variety in Cahors, which claims to be its homeland although probably isn't but has been there for hundreds of years. It's been in Argentina since the mid 19th Century and was obviously a big hit, as they've now cornered the world market by far..."
To read this report on Malbec - plus recent articles on Cabernet, Tempranillo, Torrontés etc. - get the full-size special Argentina varietal supplement (and any of my other recent in-depth features), including all my recommended wines and wineries and the usual frank commentary! CLICK HERE to subscribe by PayPal for only £10 a year (approx $16 or €12) or buy it as a one-off special for £2.50!

Malbec crush, Cahors actually!

More Malbec (and Cabernet) from Argentina HERE and HERE.

Argentina whites: Torrontés report HERE.
More Argie reds here: Cabernet and Tempranillo...

Languedoc: Clos Bagatelle update

A tasty little "Saint-Chinian pronto-post" suddenly seemed appropriate, since I did a wine tasting recently featuring Clos Bagatelle's La Gloire de Mon Père 2000 vintage (selected blend of Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache - £19.95 Terroir Languedoc, UK), which showed very well that certain Languedoc reds can age beautifully. Possibly the star of the evening actually, this wine is drinking deliciously now with all those complex savoury flavours that come with age plus caramelized liquorice and dried fruits; yet there was still a bit of structure and substance behind it (2000 was a good vintage here), the estate's top red I believe. There's a wee profile on owners Christine Deleuze and brother Luc HERE with a few other wines and vintages (spanning 2004 to 2010) tasting-noted.
And more Saint-Chinian wines HERE - 2010 vintage report, or browse my Languedoc winery A to Z on the right...

Cahors: special wine touring report now available

Château du Cayrou

You can get my special Cahors wine touring supplement as a PDF file with pics, featuring all three parts of my Malbec roadtrip (goes to summary of part 1) trilogy published on French Mediterranean Wine earlier this year, plus bonus winery profiles from this exciting region of southwest France. Yours condensed into a neat 17 page mini-mag PDF delivered by email for only £2.50 (less than $4 or €3.50)...

Or subscribe to both my blogs for just £10 (about $15.50 or €13.50) a year and get it free along with any other in-depth specials produced in this format, such as my 18-page Saint Chinian wine touring report. Pick your PayPal button above or below to pay by card or with your own PP account, although you don't need one to do this.

Subscribe:

As soon as Paypal has confirmed receipt of payment, I'll email the special supplement(s) to you pronto! General T&C referring to subscribing and Paypal payments by bank/credit card can be found here.

More Cahors here.

Chablis: special focus report now available

You can now get a handy PDF supplement mini-mag featuring all three parts of my (updated December 2014) Chablis wine touring series (goes to intro to part 3), plus bonus pieces on a Chablis Grand Cru tasting and spotlight on M&S Chablis penned last year. The full-works twenty-page+ Chabbers special in lovely PDF format emailed to you just £3 (about $4.50 or €4.15). Snap it up quick with PayPal - use a card or your own PP account, although you don't need one to do so...

As soon as Paypal confirms receipt of payment, I'll email the PDF file to you pronto! General T&C referring to Paypal payments by bank/credit card, your privacy etc. can be found here.
More on Chablis here.

Roussillon: Domaine de Sabbat, Latour de France

Sylvain Lejeune (pic. taken from www.domainedesabbat.fr) founded his own 10 ha (25 acre) estate in 2008, having worked at several wineries in France from Bordeaux to Burgundy to Provence. The vineyards lie in different spots on very varied terrain - schist, marl and clay-chalk soils - near the brooding villages of Maury, Tautavel and Vingrau across the wildly pretty Agly Valley; Sylvain's winery/cellar and home are in nearby Latour de France though. He claims to follow organic regulations but isn't certified (time yet to put on that straight-jacket), and he makes a red Rivesaltes Grenat VDN style and a rosé too. The 'Spring 1900' label refers to a small plot of senior citizen LLadoner Pelut, a Catalan variety closely related to black Grenache, used for this particular red blend. And let's not forget helping-hand Pilou the dog, aka 'Doudou', who's apparently "priceless when it comes to making decisions..." € prices are online for delivery in France.

2011 white Côtes du Roussillon (mostly Grenache gris, Grenache blanc & Macabeu; fermented and aged in cask for 12 months) - fairly toasty yet has exotic fruit too, rounded nutty palate, quite rich and juicy with creamier side then an elegant 'mineral' touch to finish. €14

2010 red Côtes du Roussillon Villages (80% old-vine Carignan, 20% Syrah; aged in cask for 8 months plus six in tank) - nice dark 'tar' and liquorice vs crunchy berry, fresh and lively mouth-feel with light grip and a little power too. Attractive style drinking now. €12

2010 Printemps 1900 Côtes du Roussillon Villages (2/3 Grenache & LLadoner Pelut, Syrah & Carignan; 12 months in cask + 6 in tank) - more blackberry/cherry, dark and peppery; chunkier lusher and firmer too, concentrated with attractive tannins; closes up on its promising finish. €16

2009 Printemps '1900' - savoury hints with wild herby/floral character vs dried black fruits, a touch more chocolate oak texture, more powerful; still quite firm and tight with similar concentration. Typical 09 perhaps, less obvious. €16

Argentina: Torrontés

A swift blast of Google-ing resulted in the discovery that "... three Torrontés varieties exist in Argentina," says Wikipedia (goes there, for the more curious among you); and these aren't genetically related to the Torrontés you find in Galicia, northwest Spain, as I'd assumed, but are apparently a crossing of Alexandrian Muscat and another variety (Mission or something else depending on which one). Ah ha, so that would account for the refreshing aromatic grapey / citrus peel Muscat-esque styling you often get from these fairly addictive dry whites (if you like that kind of thing); but you also find characters (and higher alcohol too) more akin to Viognier or Gewurztraminer even: more exotic, full-on and sometimes spicy-yellow flowery...
To read this report on Torrontés - plus recent articles on Cabernet, Tempranillo, Malbec etc. (and any of my other in-depth features) - get my full-size special Argentina varietal supplement, including all my recommended wines and wineries and the usual frank commentary! CLICK HERE to subscribe by PayPal for only £10 a year (approx $16 or €12) or buy it as a one-off special for only £2.50!

Tulum Valley, San Juan - from www.fincalasmoras.com

Features on Malbec HERE and Cabernet/Tempranillo HERE...
Some other reds from Argentina HERE.

Roussillon: Domaine des Soulanes update

Fooled you - IT'S HERE actually...

Some of those Soulanes = south-facing hillside
Taken by Vi Erickson