THE REAL WINE FAIR
I
had a great day last Monday and headed off to a totally unfamiliar bit of
London, the old docks of the East End and in particular Tobacco Dock for the
Real Wine Fair. The first thing you
see, once you have found the entrance to a rather austere building, is an old
clipper in a dry dock – and the space is great for a large tasting, with
natural light and a high ceiling. So it felt busy, without being overcrowded.
The Real Wine Fair is the brainchild of Doug Wregg of Les Caves de
Pyr̬ne, but the exhibitors included wine growers with other importers. Doug is passionate about real wine РAnd I asked
him what the criteria for the exhibitors are.
‘They are reasonably straightforward:
Growers
should work without chemicals in the vineyards and be as environmentally
sensitive as they can.
Winemaking
should involve indigenous yeasts as far as possible as these yeasts are the
signature of the vineyard and the vintage.
Ideally
there should no additions to the grape juice during the winemaking process
other than a little sulphur.
Within
this range there are some who work entirely without additions and others who
use what is necessary (although in a minimal fashion) to make
a stable and decent tasting. We saw a wide spectrum of styles at the Real
Wine Fair.
What
unites the growers is that although they may have different
approaches they all strive to make wines that respect the environment
and the terroir, wines that taste more "natural" (less extraction,
less oak, less oenological manipulation).’
And there
you have it.
There were wines from Languedoc Roussillon to try, but only
one estate that I have never mentioned in my blog, so no new discoveries.
Lidewej van Wilgen from Mas des Dames had some new vintages. She is particularly pleased with her white
wine in 2012, as she has treated herself to a brand new oak barrel – it must be
a particularly high quality barrel, as it gave her wine a lovely rich rounded
quality, while retaining a fresh balance of acidity. The wine has only just been bottled and
promises well.
Her new rosé
was looking good too, with some fresh herbal notes and hints of the garrigues.
John Bojanowski from Clos du Gravillas was there, with his
delicious wines – see earlier postings for more details.
Carole Andrieu at Clos Fantine was showing two wines, Faugères Tradition and
Valcabrières Blanc,
from Terret Blanc, which were very natural in flavour. The Valcabrières is an extraordinary orange colour, with some
wild flavours, and the Faugères has a
fresh acidity as well as a hint of volatility that I quite often find in a
natural wine. See my earlier
blog.
I was less familiar with the wines of Zélige-Caravent, a Pic St.
Loup estate created by Luc and Marie Michel in the village of Corconne. As well as being very natural, the wines were
not very conventional Pic St. Loup, with Syrah conspicuous by its absence .
2011 Jardin des Simples was pure Cinsaut, with the perfumed
cherry fruit of that variety, with a touch of VA on the finish.
2010 Ellipse was a blend of 40% each of Grenache and Cinsaut,
with 20% Carignan. It was fairly light with ripe cherry fruit,
and no great depth.
2010 Manouches, Vin de France rather than Pic St. Loup, was 80% Aramon with 20% Cinsaut, and tasted
ripe and inky, with quite a dense finish.
Tom Lubbe was pouring his wines from Domaine Matassa, in the
village of Calce. He also makes the
wines of Domaine de Majas, higher up in the Fenouillèdes hills at 500
metres. Those vineyards are not only cooler, but they
also get three times as much rainfall as Calce, which is at a lower altitude.
Domaine de Majas Blanc is a blend of Macabeo, Rolle and
Carignan Blanc. Refreshingly no oak,
with some herbal hints, and a rounded body.
And the red wine from Domaine de Majas is a pure Cabernet
Franc, which lovely ripe cherry fruit and a sappy finish.
As for Domaine de Matassa, Tom was showing two white wines:
Cuvée
Marguerite is a blend of Muscat d’Aléxandrie
and Muscat à petits
grains, with Viognier and Macabeo. A ripe
peachy nose and palate, with some herbal notes and good acidity.
The second white, a Côtes Catalanes Blanc was rounded and
herbal with some concentration and a resinous note from some ageing in
wood.
2011 Côtes
Catalanes red: medium colour; quite firm
and leathery nose and palate, with good depth and a natural edge.
And the other Languedoc estate was Mas de Daumas Gassac –
more on them in due course.
The unexpected excitement of the Real Wine fair was the
group of twelve producers from Georgia – there were orange wines galore and a
host of unfamiliar grape varieties, Georgia apparently has 525 indigenous grape
varieties, so there was an opportunity to taste, not only Rkatsiteli and Saperavi,
but also Chinuri, Kisi, Mtsvane, Tavkvevri and Shavkapito, amongst others. Earthenware jars, qvevri, are used for
fermentation and most of the white wines spend a month or maybe as long as six
months, not just on the skins, but with stalks and pips as well. The flavours are intriguingly different and unusual,
with quite firm tannins, which you do not normally find in white wine. They may be an acquired taste, but were none
the worse for that. Some of the reds
enjoyed a long skin contact too, but their flavours are more conventional or
recognisable, with Saperavi producing some lovely peppery flavours, but
sometimes with quite austere tannins. And I think this is the first time that I have
ever been served wine by a monk at a tasting. He came from the Alaverdi monastery in
Kakheti, one of the principal wine growing regions to the east of Tbilisi.
I also ventured to Santorini for the wines of Hatzidakis,
with another unfamiliar grape variety, Aidani, with some fresh herbal notes. There were some lovely wines from Sicily.
Anna Martens’ wines from Etna were fragrantly mineral and the Marsalas from the estate of Marco de Bartoli, now made
by his son, are always a treat. I finished
the tasting with my good friend, Elisabetta Fagiuoli, from Montenidoli in San
Gimignano. Her Vino Fiore Vernaccia di
San Gimignano was as delicious as ever.
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