Tasting at Rives Blanques
A summer party always provides the excuse to go and see our
friends Caryl and Jan Panman at Chäteau
Rives-Blanques and to stock up on Blanquette de Limoux. We were pretty sure we wanted Blanquette
rather than Crémant, but Caryl insisted that we should taste both before
loading up the car. And a fascinating
comparison it was too.
2011 Blanquette de Limoux.
10.50€
It was very Blanquette, with that distinctive slightly
bitter flavour of Mauzac. The nose was
quite rich with some honeyed notes and the palate provided a mouthful of flavour,
some rich fruit and firm acidity. It was
packed with character and flavour, showing just how good Blanquette can
be. .
2010 Crémant de Limoux. – 11.00€
This spends longer on the lees and is essentially Chardonnay
with Chenin, without any Mauzac and is altogether more demure. The nose is soft and creamy and the palate
rounded and subtle. 2010 was a very
good vintage, while 2011 was difficult, but the sparkling wine grapes were
picked before the rain. And 2012 was a textbook
vintage, with the weather behaving just as it should.
2010 Crémant de Limoux rosé – 12.00€
Might as well try all three, Caryl suggested. This contains just 4% Pinot Noir, making for
a delicate pretty pale pink colour. The
nose is nicely rounded and ripe, with some hints of raspberry, and even more so
on the palate. It is more powerful than
a white Crémant, with richer fruit, and yet an underlying elegance. Another lovely glass of wine. But we stuck with our first choice of
Blanquette.
Now, how about trying some Chenin? Jan suggeste.
We could do a vertical tasting of Dedicace. That
was an irresistible suggestion as I love vertical tastings, and Caryl and Jan
were dead chuffed as their 2012 had just been classified as a Grande Réussite by Revue des Vins
de France. We tasted from old to young,
beginning with:
2008 Dédicace. It was all fermented in oak, usually 5 – 10%
new, and kept in barrel for about seven months.
Chenin is very sensitive to oak, so they start tasting the wine in
January to see how it is developing. There
is no malo-lactic fermentation. They
have also experimented with Chenin in just stainless steel vats and loved the
wine that they made that way in 2011,
but without oak, it is not Limoux, and so was demoted to vins de pays. Stupid really. Chenin is always the last grape to be picked,
usually during the second half of September, into early October. The
yield is around 45 hl/ha. 2008 enjoyed a long flowering, with regular
rainfall from March to June, and fine weather at the harvest.
This 2008 has a touch of oak on the nose, as well as some honey,
making a lovely mouthful of flavour, with good acidity and a dry finish. Quite
rich, maturing fruit, with lovely texture.
2009
Fermented in oak, followed by seven months élevage. 8% new oak barrels. A cool start to the year with 300 mms rain
between January and April. The yield was
low as there was a lack of water in August, but the weather was good at
the harvest.
Light golden
colour. Oak nicely integrated on
the nose. Quite a firm palate, rounded
with dry honey. Long and textured with
good acidity.
2010 – 11.25€ The
current vintage on sale
Quite a delicate nose; dry youthful dry honey; tight knit
with a firm grip. Good depth and length.
2011 – A difficult year.
Dry youthful honey, and the oak still quite apparent. Almost a hint of grapefruit on the
palate. Very good acidity. Fresh
and pithy. Some honey to develop, but
lighter in body than the others.
Jan remembered how they were ready for a perfect vintage and
then on 3rd September 100 mm of rain fell in just one day. The grape initially looked healthy and then
after about ten days they suddenly realised that the rot was about to hit – so
they quickly machined harvest and most of the Chenin went into their vin de
pays. Altogether it was a challenging
year, with a capricious spring. A warm
April made for early flowering which was followed by a cool summer, so everything
slowed down.
2012
We were lucky; the wine had come out of barrel the previous
day, and was due to be fined the next day, so a window of opportunity for a
taste. It will be bottled in June. And I could quite see why Revue des Vins de
France rated it so highly. It was rich and honeyed, fresh and youthful, with
lots of intriguing nuances. Very long
with very good texture, good acidity and
a hint of oak, It needs a year or so in
bottle before showing at its best, and at this stage promises very well.
In short a great tasting. And why the name Dédicace? Quite simply each vintage is dedicated to someone
who has helped them in some way. Le Bon
Voisin in 2009 was their neighbour James Kinglake at Domaine Bégude, who came to the
rescue with a piece of machinery at a critical moment. George
Pauli in 2010 was their consultant in the early days and 2011 is for the
Vinifilles, the group of women winemakers, of whom Caryl is an enthusiastic
member.
Comments