Printemps des Vignerons
An email from Graeme
Angus of Domaine les Trois Terres alerted me to this wine festival, a gathering
of twenty or so organic or biodynamic wine growers at Domaine de la Tour
outside Nébian, organised by Céline Beauquel from Clos Romain in Cabrières. The
core of the wine growers came from the Languedoc, but there were also people
from Chablis, Gaillac, and other regions.
And the tasting space was in the enormous cellar at Domaine de la Tour. This is the Languedoc at its most
traditional, with a backdrop of huge foudres, and old implements decorating the cellar walls. I had a great afternoon,
tasting a couple of more familiar estates, and making some new discoveries.
The familiar included:
Domaine les Trois Terres:
2011 Le Saut du Diable, a blend of Grenache
and Carignan- 10.00€. A lovely combination of rich ripe fruit, with a
fresh mineral finish.
2010 la Minérale,
mainly Syrah, from St. Jean de la Blaquière and Cabrières with some Cinsaut and
Grenache, aged in barrel. Firm, sturdy, tight knit, peppery, youthful, with a mineral note on the
finish.
And a new wine, 2012
Cuvée Moderne – 9.00€ Syrah and Grenache
from Cabrières given a short maceration for early drinking. Graeme described this as his retro cuvée. Immediately ripe rounded and spicy with
supple tannins and a sappy quality. And
quite simply a jolly nice drink.
There were some lovely
wines from Clos Romain
Parenthèse 2012 –
10.00 - Lovely fresh fruit, spicy and elegant
2011 Patience – 12.00€
- Firm fruit on the nose, with a combination of concentration and elegance on
the palate
2012 Phidias – 15.00€
- Quite a firm nose, but with fresh ripe black fruit on the palate. Medium weight.
Catherine le Conte des
Floris was pouring three wines:
2012 Arès Blanc –
15.00€ - Dry honey and firm acidity. Medium
weight palate. Notes of fennel and other
herbs. Very intriguing.
2012 Six Rats Noirs – I
completely misheard this and thought she said Syrah Noir – why was she
specifying the colour I wondered. Of
course this is Daniel’s way of conveying that the grape variety is Syrah. Quite solid and dense, with firm fruit and a
certain confit note on the finish. 11.00€
2012 Villefranchien –
16.00€ - Mainly Grenache and just
bottled. Medium colour. A restrained nose. Very elegant fruit. Subtle and understated. Should develop well in bottle.
At the barrel next to Catherine
there was Domaine Jorel from Maury. I
have a vivid memory of visiting Manuel Jorel’s
vineyards on a bright winter’s morning a few years ago. The scenery is
breathtaking and dramatic.
2012 Bande de Gypse –
8.00€ - The soil is mainly gypsum,
calcaire. A blend of seven grape
varieties – here goes: Torbato,
Malvoisie, Macabeu, Carignan Blanc, Grenache Blanc and Gris and Muscat d’Aléxandrie,
with nine months élevage in old wood. The
wine was lightly resinous on the nose, with some intriguing fruit on the
palate. Quite firm with good acidity and
a slightly earthy finish.
2012 Rosé Esquisse
d’Agly from Grenache Gris had good acidity with a rustic note
I really like the2011
Cuvée 2nde – 7.00€ a Côtes Catalanes, from Syrah grown on granite. Firm peppery nose and palate, after a year in
wood. Tight knit with fresh fruit. Good structure and a fresh note on the
finish.
A blend of Syrah, with
some Grenache and Carignan. Deep
colour. Solid dense leathery fruit on nose
and palate. Quite a firm sturdy youthful
tannic palate.
And now for some
unfamiliar. Le Petit Domaine in
Montpeyroux was completely new to me, but as chance would have it, I had a
second opportunity to taste Aurélien Petit’s wines at the Montpeyroux fete a
week later. And very good they were too. See my post about the Montpeyroux fête
Domaine Mamaruta at Leucate in Fitou.
2013 Constellation, Vin de France – 12.00€ - An
intriguing blend of Macabeu, Grenache Gris, and Carignan Blanc. Fermented and aged in oak for seven months. Light
colour. Quite a leesy nose. Notes of fennel. Very good acidity and minerality. And there was fresh youthful Fitou, Cacahuète,
with rich structured fruit.
Les Vignes Rouges makes IGP Cévennes near Alès. The family vines, eight hectares, were taken
out of the cooperative in 2008. There
was a range of reds. Clémence 2012 –
5.80€ - was fresh and perfumed, and aged in vat. It is a blend of 70 % Carignan, made by maceration
carbonique, with equal parts of Syrah and
Grenache. Next came Pimprenelle; then Aphyllante with some rich
fruit and tannin; Noctumbule which was mainly Syrah with perfumed fruit and
supple tannins, and le Temps d’un été, a pure Grenache aged in vat with some ripe
balsamic notes.
Les Sabots d‘Hélène
are in the Corbières at Feuilla. There were
three red wines, Libertoire, Alternapif and Percepteur, a pure Carignan given 24 months ageing in oak,
which was rich dense and sturdy. And
wonderfully characterful.
Domaine des Amiel, not
to be confused with Mas Amiel in Maury. The Amiel family make wine in Montblanc, a
village between Beziers and Pézenas, from 9 hectares. A Coural after a great grandfather, Coural
was his nickname, is a blend of Carignan, Grenache and Syrah, with fresh ripe
easy fruit, for 7.00€ A l’Ouest
temporarily overturned my prejudices about Merlot in the Midi. It was ripe and plumy without being confit, with a refreshing streak of tannin.
And then I allowed
myself a little deviation to Chablis, for Olivier de Moor’s 2012
which had fresh minerality and good flinty acidity. All in all, a good afternoon.
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