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Posts Tagged ‘Banyuls’

February’s meeting of Andover Wine Friends was a spectacular lunch at The Harrow Inn, Little Bedwyn.  They put on a great show for 17 of us, while running the front half of the restaurant as usual.  I was seriously off duty – too much good food, company and excellent wines – so there are no detailed notes this month.  However, here are a selection of photos of some of the seven or so courses plus cheese, almost entirely from these islands. And a brief note on some outstanding wines.

The approach in this restaurant is easy to describe – genuinely warm hospitality, outstanding sourcing of ingredients, perfect timing in the kitchen, innovative combinations and a profound love of wine.  What a great combination!  The event started well with Ruinart Blanc de Blanc Champagne, being poured above left. 

And the wines? Some were bought at the Harrow and some came from people’s own collections. To pick out some unfairly:

• the Ruinart is wonderfully balanced and very refined
• Didier Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex, Loire – great, concentrated mineral Sauvignon Blanc … because there is a tradition of drinking this great wine at the Harrow
• a stunningly good, moderately priced Semillon from Australia which the Harrow stocks: Mount Horrocks Semillon, Clare Valley, Australia
• a wonderful white Grenache (not a phrase you can often employ!) from Catalan Spain – Ctonia, Masia Serra
• three Rieslings to compare – Eden Valley, Australia; classic Mosel; Schlumberger Grand Cru from Alsace
• decent Condrieu from Christophe Pichon and Cornas from Domaine de Rochepertuis
• sadly another ‘drink at the Harrow’ tradition here did not come to pass as the 1985 Hermitage from Jaboulet was over the hill – I suppose in this case it just rolled gracefully down the hill
• Spinnifex’s Indigene and Shiraz-Mataro from the Barossa, big fruit numbers but beautifully structured and complex, especially the latter
• there were quite a few others which probably deserved a mention …
• and finally, a brilliantly concentrated and only moderately sweet Banyuls: Coume del Mas Quintessence Banyulus Rouge
• some people found a little space to try two different Grappas

With many thanks to the whole crew at the Harrow – you deserve your success.

Blind tasting line-up – with a few interlopers (shop samples)

Ah, the monthly challenge of blind tasting … can you tell your Chardonnay from your Chenin, your Syrah from your Sangiovese? This month there were a couple of easy numbers, some real surprises and some that were completely off the wall. It all makes for a great evening!

Sancerre 2009, Cuvée G.C.  Jean-Max Roger Phew, an easy start. All eleven of us (I am pleased to report) recognised the old world Sauvignon Blanc and so headed for the Loire.  The grapes in this wine are mostly from the Le Grand Chemarin vineyard in the village of Bué, with stony, clay-limestone based soils.  Moderate gooseberry notes, a good mineral streak, very long … from one of the premier ACs, Sancerre, in a warm year, so lots of body and ripe fruit.  Very good.
	Not so simple.  Allende 2006, Rioja blanco. Lovely colour, dense mid yellow with gold hints.  Most of us thought this was old world – but had forgotten about white Rioja, here 50/50 Malvalsia and Viura grapes.  Very rich, tasted as if it were almost off dry, hugely oaked, fruit somewhere in there.  Good length.
Meursault Premier Cru Les Charmes, Vincent Bouzereau, 2002, which had us all foxed.  A great year, a great producer, very assertive nose, some toffee apple in there, but amazingly fresh on the palate without being obviously acidic.  Perhaps not typical Meursault but impressive. No one I think spotted the Chardonnay from this classic region and village.
	After we had learned what this was I asked after the vintage – which is written in huge letters on the label!  So blind tasting can be blind in more than one sense.  Argilo, Vouvray Sec, Bourillon-Dorléans, 1999.  Very attractive flowers and apple on the nose, lots of development, very good acidity (which was the clue that this is Chenin Blanc), rich and delicious.  Although technically dry, some residual sweetness.
First of an (unplanned pair of wines) made with Pinot Noir. Savigny-les-Beaune Premier Cru, Cuvée A. Girard, Hospices de Beaune 2004. Quite a deep colour for Pinot, not very obviously Pinot nose but that’s what the consensus was (rightly), fine velvety texture.  Some thought it was New World, but in fact it was red Burgundy.  The second Pinot, promoted in the batting order for the sake of comparison, everyone thought was New World and indeed most thought New Zealand, correctly: Felton Road Pinot Noir 2004.  Rich, deep and fresh, a completely different style from the red Burgundy.
	Most thought wine this was Italian – because I had brought it – a drawback of a tasting which was not truly blind.  The further thoughts were either to place it in the North (Piedmont) or the South, which just left the Tuscany of the famous areas.  Cloves and sour cherries and dark plum fruit, in fact Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Boscarelli, 2002 (bottle on the right of the picture on the right). 90% Sangiovese, with some help from Mammolo, Canaiolo and Colorino, a  blend of traditional Tuscan grape varieties, aged in old and large barrels. Very classic.
On the left in the picture above was a complete mystery, after an initial punt on a very warm part of Beaujolais was ruled out.  Spicy, dense fruit, good palate, some complexity but rather short, what could it be?  Most were in the New World, which was a reasonable deduction.  Azamor Petit Verdot, Alentejano, Portugal – an unusual example of the minor blending grape from Bordeaux being given a star role.
	I have only a very weak memory of this wine. But that could be due to palate or just social fatigue – it was wine number nine, or rather number twelve as there were three other shop samples not written up here.  We got the continent right, but no one had the correct grape variety: lots of mint and menthol on the nose, dense red and some black fruit, impressive, say my notes.  In fact it is Ridge 1996, Lytton Springs, California, 78% Zindfandel, then Carignan and Petit Syrah.
OK – this was a lot easier, especially in contrast to Portuguese Petit Verdot!  Most plumbed straightaway from Shiraz and for the Barossa and were right, more or less. Typical densely packed black fruit, pepper, some richness, good refreshing finish.  ?migré, The Colonial Estate, Barossa Valley, 2003, Australia, is a blend of predominantly Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvedre. One final red to go!
	And the last red was a complete mystery!  Initially this wine was not very expressive and then gradually red fruit and some oak began to appear, but what was really noticeable was the high tannin levels.  We thought it was in the Old World, correctly and were offered Italy as a clue – so that’s just down to 500 or so common varieties then.  Let’s cut to the quick: Toar 2005, Masi, Veneto, Italy. It is mainly Corvina (as in Valpolicella) but is cut with Oseleta, which I am happy to admit I have never heard of before. It produces tiny berries for wines of great concentration and must be massively tannic to beef up the normally tame Corvina to this extent. The name Toar refers to the volcanic soil of the region.
The first sweet wine proved to be a star and therefore merits two pictures, one for the  bottle and one for the splendid colour, in real life a mid salmon pink turn towards orange.  ‘Bright copper’ says another commentator.  Domaine des Aubuisières Vouvray, Le Marigny, Sélection de Grains Nobles, 1990 was rich, luscious and balanced, our friend Chenin Blanc again – see the dry Vouvray above.   You can see the texture in the impressive ‘tears’ on the glass, but it is so brilliantly set off by continuing acidity which keeps this 21 year old in healthy mid-life.  A treasure probably best shared with a group of friends!
	And finally – a technically sweet red wine which people tried to place in Italy and finally got to the South of France.  Cirera, Domaine Madeloc, Pierre Gaillard, Banyuls 2005, was not that sweet in fact and slightly spirity, as benefits a Vin Doux Naturels.  Made from Black Grenache, it is surprisingly tannic.  Overall it is certainly robust and no push over. Not sure it would do well with chocolate as per the classic match.

One of the endearing features of tasting wines in situ is discovering the range of wines produced.  Most areas will have a wine style that they do really well, occasionally outstandingly. But alongside those wines will be competent wines, sometimes from local grape varieties, sometimes from the well travelled international brigade.  The Tuscan white Vermentino would be a good example of competence and local interest.  It’s normally not as good as the great reds of Tuscany, there might be better Vermentino in Sardinia, but it still well worth it.

Dinner with friends who have a house in Roussillon was an excellent second best to tasting in situ.   Five wines, four from the locality, give a snapshot of the lively Roussillon wine scene and fill out the picture gained by the visit of Jean Pla from Maury last autumn.  The first two were a fun rosé sparkler and an interesting white, a Maccabeu-Viognier blend – try saying that clearly after a few glasses!   I shan’t write up these two in detail as they will figure in Andover Wine Friends’ summer tasting/party in July … watch this space!

Brief digression – in the picture we have a lively Welsh wine, sourced by star wine restaurant,   The Harrow Inn, as part of  a summer menu. This is Ancre Hill’s Welsh Regional Wine (mainly Madeleine Angevin), initially leafy like Sauvignon Blanc but then quite complex fruit  on the palate and a good finish.  Well worth a try.  If not ‘great’, certainly ‘good plus’ and proof there is life in the British wine scene.

Classy Corbieres

To return to Roussillon, the star wines are undoubtedly red, in both dry and sweet styles.  Typical of the quality and value is this Corbieres, Domaine du Grand Arc, Aux Temps d’histoire 2008, mostly the Carignan grape.  On the nose is deep red fruit with a pleasant layer of oak, then substantial structure on the palate, balance, great depth of ripe fruit with a refreshing and long finish.  It’s a perfect example of what the area does really well and at 12 euro.

Second digression: with the cheese course we tasted the  characteristic wine of the Jura, far away on the Swiss border of France.   Les Coteaux de Val de Marne, Côtes de Jura 2008, is made from the indigenous grape, Savignin.  This bottle was a normal table wine though the wines from semi-dried grapes are perhaps more famous.  With its bright if pale yellow colour and intense apple aroma, this went perfectly with the local cheese, Comté, quite light in weight but with good acidity. I like the home made label.

Finally, to return to Roussillon, and to perhaps its most famous wine, sweet red Banyuls.  If you are setting a challenge for food and wine matching, chocolate and chilli pots are pretty much up there with asparagus or raw artichokes in difficulty. But Maury’s big, sweet, structured red is where to head.  A vin doux naturel, ie with added spirit, gives a heady 17? of alcohol.   You can just see the legs on the glass in the photo with all that extract and alcohol.   This was the vinous climax and after a splendid evening, we left the car at our host’s house and walked home. 

Thanks to Paul (whose rack of lamb with a lemon and nut crust is not to be missed!) and Penny for their splendid hospitality.

Some wines have a defining quality.  The sharp acidity and mineral quality of Chablis or the big bones of Molletieri’s Taurasi have been commented on in recent posts.  The defining character of Roussillon’s wines is sunshine and lots of it.  Tucked up against the Spanish border, this Catalan region is literally sun-drenched, with the most hours of sunshine in France.  And it shows in the bottle and in the glass.

Here’s a typical example of the dense, red fruit, with the purple rim of a young wine.  It’s a product of the hundreds of hours of sunshine and of wine making which mainly tries to preserve the fruit flavours in the finished wine.

Our guide to Roussillon was Jean Pla, negociant, vine and wine consultant, from the village of Maury.  If you want to join the current gold rush into the south (cf Tuscany’s Maremma), he is your man (www.restocave.com).  At the invitation of Paul Gumn, one of our members

who has a house in the area, Jean and his wife,Genevieve, flew from Beziers to lead the tasting for Andover Wine Friends.  On a blustery November night, Jean’s genial nature and good humour, great pictures of Roussillon and excellent wines certainly lifted the spirits.  And as the reds really cry out for food, Paul had also bought regional cheeses and wild boar sausage to go with the wines.

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Jean Pla’s selection of wines showed three great strengths of the Roussillon wine scene: powerful modern reds, innovation, the tradition of world class sweet red wines.

Modern reds

With all that sun and the heritage of Grenache, Carignan and Syrah, it is hardly surprising that Roussillon produces great, big, fruit-led reds.  First, kill your wild boar, roast over a spit for half a day, gather the tribe and crack open some bottles which will stand up to any meaty challenge!  15? is common place on the label but only because of legal reasons for not declaring a higher percentage of alcohol.  But this is not to say that the wines are unbalanced.

Here we have two wines at different quality levels. The Sarrat on the left is a quality wine which costs €12 in France. It’s made of Grenache, Carignan and Syrah, with only the last named spending 6 months in casks – so it’s red fruits all the way, smooth, with enough acidity to make this big wine highly drinkable.  By contrast the L’enfant perdu on the right is a serious customer, €20, with more use of oak ageing. It is initially more restrained on nose but with a dense bouquet with some balsamic notes and then a great intensity of fruit in the mouth.  It would be  great wine for ageing.

Innovation

Jean Pla also introduced his every day wines with which he has had a great success in the Japanese market – how the world of wine has changed! His entry level duo, red and white, are a good value €5 and have cheeky labels!

What’s in the bottle is just as good: predictably gorgeous red fruits in the red with good grip from the acid and tannins.  Made basically

from Grenache, it also has a touch of Syrah and Carignan to help with Grenache’s proneness to exposure to air in the winemaking.  Also shown above is the old vine Grenache – here old vines means 80 year olds!  The wine spends two years in older, large, oak barrels and is a big leap up in seriousness – again a big mouthful of red and black fruit, smooth but with great depth of flavour, satisfying.

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More of a surprise was the white with its good fresh nose, herbs and slightly nutty.  Made from Grenache blanc and gris (ie the white and pink version of the red grape), and grown on the schist rather than limestone/ clay, it was refreshing, with good fruit and plenty of structure to stand up to food.  And with a couple of angelic grape pickers on the label!

Traditional sweet reds

Roussillon’s fame in the past has been for its sweet reds.  Banyuls and Maury are the big names.  These wines are made by adding high strength spirit to a part fermented wine. This stops the fermentation while there is still a ‘natural’ sweetness about the resulting wine, hence the designation, vin doux naturel.  The tasting included three such wines, the first an innovation, being white!  This was the product of the large company, Mas Amiel, perhaps aimed at those who will be surprised by the idea of sweet reds.  The wine was fruity and herby, not too sweet, far too quaffable …

But the stars of the show were the pair of sweet reds, one a recent bottling, the other, like a grande dame, keeping her age a proper secret.     These are the traditional wines of the area and it’s great that they are still being produced, alongside the new trend for big, dry red wines.   Both come from the Domaine des Soulanes in Maury with the 2008 showing a delicious fruity nose and a great combination of red fruit, refreshing acidity and balance in the mouth.  The trick is the relatively simple process: make wine, add alcohol, store in stainless steel for three months, bottle, sell after one year … The kick for the unwary is the 16.5?  of alcohol and all for €11 for a full 75cl bottle.

By contrast the Hors d’Age was something really special.  By law it must be 5 years old but this old hand was in fact the 1992 vintage.   Once it was poured you could see the effect of long term ageing.  The

pictures don’t quite capture the amber to brown colour, quite a shock after the vivid purple/reds of young grenache.  In the glass, there was a symphony of sensations – beautiful oxidized notes of nuts, caramel or toffee, figs, and then underneath all that you could still taste red fruit. And the flavours went on and on.   Here’s to the sunshine of Roussillon.

Postscript: Paul Gumn gave us a bottle of ‘Three Trees’ to taste.   ‘Eating, drinking, dancing’ says the label; or more conventionally, Vin de Pays des Côtes de Catalanes, Domaines de Majas. A powerful and fresh wine made from Grenache Noir and Carignan, with a bit of Cabernet Sauvignon for backbone.  Great drinking, ‘only’ 13.5% alcohol, great with food, easy to drink, didn’t attempt the dancing.