Languedoc: Minervois, red white rosé 2010 and 2011

It was perhaps reassuring to see some familiar names cropping up among my favourites at this year's Minervois tasting and over lunch afterwards, such as Château La Grave, Sainte Eulalie, Borie de Maurel, Domaine Cavaillès and Gérard Bertrand. These sprawling and mostly picturesque wine-lands stretch from St-Chinian country to the east across to Carcassonne in the west and towards Narbonne to the south, signed and sealed by the Canal du Midi flowing along its substantial bottom (roughly speaking) on its ambling way out into the Mediterranean.
To find your way around this vast wine region more easily, pockets of quality are found here and there around Minerve or St. Jean de Minervois, for example, or in the Montagne Noire foothills in villages like Trausse-Minervois and Caunes-Minervois, and around La Livinière. However, I didn't include many from the latter trendy sub-appellation this time, especially 2009s, as I just found too many of these reds were over-extracted or swamped in new oak (helps justify those high prices perhaps!). Generally, the reds (and rosés) featured here major on Syrah with Grenache, Carignan and occasionally some of the other Languedoc varieties (I chucked away the tech sheets, as my bag was just too heavy...). Whites tend to be based on Grenache blanc and/or varieties such as Roussanne, Marsanne or Muscat even.
I sat next to Michel Escande from Borie de Maurel at lunchtime and had a good chat with him about his philosophy, wines, food (his substantial rosé went well with blue cheese even actually) etc. Which was great, as I've known and liked their wines for some time (wife Sylvie and son Gabriel are very much involved in the vineyard and winery too, by the way) - see this mini-profile for a snippet about them (there is more lurking around, just can't seem to find the notes on the blog...) - but haven't yet been there or hadn't met the personality behind the bottles until now. This amicable down-to-earth kinda guy has a playful sense of humour and believes in keeping things as simple and natural as possible, putting in a lot of work in the field and cellar to make it all happen. These Minervois wines were sampled and savoured a couple of months ago on the annual "Millésimes in the Languedoc" bash...

"The windmill" from boriedemaurel.fr

Rosé - 2011

Vignobles de Pouzols Mailhac Florilège - nice zingy zesty underbelly vs gentle red fruits and perfumed roses, lively juicy finish.

Château Villerambert Moureau - nice 'tight' Provence style, lighter and zestier vs aromatic fruit and crisp bite.

Château La Grave Expression - quite delicate and zesty with lees tones, crisp palate with crunchy red fruits then rounder oilier finish.

Château Sainte Eulalie Printemps d'Eulalie - bit tight and closed up but I like that elegant crisp style.
Borie de Maurel - chunky full-bodied style, rounded and fruity, quite powerful 14% alc. vs nice 'winey' texture then a touch of freshness on the finish; a foodie rosé, good with different cheeses.

White - 2011

Tour Saint Martin - not bad, lightly chalky vs bit of zest and aromatic floral fruit.

Le Clos des Suds Elegie - touches of vanilla and coconut but not overdone, hints of banana with fennel edges, lightly creamy vs bit of freshness too. Good in the end.

Château Villerambert Julien - aromatic with peachy apricot notes, quite concentrated and full vs crisp and steely, leesy creamy texture then mineral bite. Very good.

Château La Grave Expression - lovely complex nose, pungent celery vs oily exotic characters, crisp 'chalky' palate with very fresh long finish. Delicious.

Borie de Maurel La Belle Aude - closed up to start with, subtle yeast lees intensity and concentration reveal themselves, crisp and tight, should round out a little. Good.

Alliance Minervois La Capricieuse - aromatic grapey nose with citrus peel in a Muscat-y style, zesty 'chalky' palate with lingering floral notes. A bit different.

Red - 2010

Château du Donjon Grande Tradition - nice dark spicy fruit, vibrant and tasty with a little grip vs roundness. Straightforward but good with it.

Vignobles Bonfils / Château Millegrand Aurore - quite dense and closed up, hints of black plum with savoury edges, again grippy vs quite rich and rounded. Good.
Borie de Maurel Sylla - 'reductive' nose (was an unfinished vat sample) but has concentrated dark berry and plum fruit, attractive savoury vs sweet profile, firm vs rounded texture. Promising assuming that pong goes away.

Château Mignan Pech Quisou - the tannins are pretty full-on, but it has good depth of fruit and substance, spicy vs sweet blackberry fruit, grip vs rounded mouth-feel. Good.

Domaine des Tourels Les Terres Rouges - quite dense and extracted vs underlying attractive spicy/minty black cherry fruit, fairly lush and concentrated vs that dry grip. Should be good after a few months in bottle.

Château Sainte Eulalie Plaisir d'Eulalie - ripe yet savoury dark fruit, nice fruity spicy chunky style with a little grip vs lingering black fruits. Attractive now.

Anne Gros et Jean Paul Tollot Les Fontanilles - touches of coco oak but nicely done adding dry grainy vs rounded texture, subtle black fruit finish and  good weight.

Domaine Cavaillès Cuvée Jeannot - enticing vibrant black cherry and cassis aromas, lightly minty too and savoury edges; fairly firm tannin but has enough fruit and weight to balance it out.

Domaine Cavaillès - purer fruit character and spicy too, black cherry/berry flavours layered with attractive grip and texture, lingering spicy fruit and oomph. Good stuff.

Domaine Saint Jacques d'Albas - quite straightforward with nice chunky mouth-feel and spicy fruit, a bit short but with attractive dry/rounded texture.

2011 (mostly unfinished wines)

Château Villegly Moureau - upfront lively black cherry fruit vs chunky tannins although reasonably soft already, ripe vs dry finish.

Château La Villatade Noma - similar fruit and style, grippier though and more closed up, could be good further down the line.

Château La Villatade Sanguine - chunkier still yet has more depth of fruit, a bit firm and closed up at the moment but has appealing spicy berry fruit underneath. Good.

Château de Sérame Réserve - again quite dense and grippy vs attractive upfront dark vs spicy fruit, reasonable substance and a tad of character too. Pretty good.

MINERVOIS LA LIVINIERE

2010


Gérard Bertrand Château Laville Bertrou - enticing upfront blackberry/cherry aromas with subtle coconut oak notes and grainy texture, firm vs rounded palate, coco choc texture underpinned by lively spicy fruit. Good.
Borie de Maurel La Féline - closed up but its attractive black cherry and spice character comes through, dark meaty palate with concentrated vs grippy mix, tight long finish yet a rounder side too. Needs time but will be very good.


2009


Alliance Minervois Grand Terroir - appealing upfront Syrah fruit style, herby minty black cherry, quite soft and tasty now yet has a bit of grip and length.
Gérard Bertrand Le Viala - complex herby minty tones vs richer black cherry liquorice and black pepper; grippy and concentrated mouth-feel vs rounder 'sweeter' texture to finish, powerful and long. Promising.
Château Sainte Eulalie La Cantilène - subtle grainy coconut oaky vs spicy berry fruit, more elegant less heavy handed style. Good.
Oustal de Cazes - light grainy coco touches and texture vs subtle concentration and ripe dark berry vs savoury development; well made with bit of character too, better and perhaps less Bordeaux / more interesting than previously!


Other recent bits and pieces on Minervois:
La Rouviole Feb 2012
Muscat & Minervois June 2011 (a Muscat and cheese post from this year's trip will follow at some point soon...)
Domaine Sénat Sept 2011
Clos du Gravillas Aug 2011, update to follow.


See the South of France on a cruise: click here for more information on Mediterranean cruises!

Roussillon: Domaine Carle-Courty, Millas

Véronique and Frédéric Carle set up shop, vines and cellar in 1995, leaving their legal and accounting careers happily behind them (still, must be handy experience for getting to grips with local wine politics, admin and economics!), up on the slopes of the Força Réal hill overlooking Millas and other surrounding villages (over 500 metres altitude or about 1550 feet). Twelve out of 15 grape-producing (rather than cats...) hectares (they've been planting more Grenache 'black' and 'grey', as they say in French) have been organic since 2002. Força Réal is a stunning spot and great vantage point to take in the lie of the land of parcelled vineyards, olive groves, wild woodland and rocky outcrops around here. There's a signposted route off the Estagel road leading up to one of those view and info points; and a couple of other estates worth checking out up here too: Domaine Força-Réal and Domaine Boucabeille (profile and wine notes to follow).

2009 Camps Bernats Côtes du Roussillon white (Roussanne, Macabeu, Grenache gris) - quite toasty vs nicely oily and rich, attractive peachy fruit too with creamy and nutty finish. Good stuff, mature now.

2011 Arbosseres rosé (mostly Syrah + Grenache) - full-on colour and red fruity style, quite rich and rounded vs crisp finish. Nice foodie rosé.

2009 Cuvée Marion Côtes du Roussillon red (Syrah, Grenache, Carignan, Mourvèdre) - enticing dark fruit tinged with subtle oak, punchy and grippy mouth-feel vs lush and ripe, concentrated too. Very good.

2008 Cuvée Quentin Côtes du Roussillon Villages (more Syrah, Grenache, Carignan, Mourvèdre) - richer smokier and a tad toastier, concentrated and powerful with solid firm backdrop, closes up on the long finish. Fairly wow.


Photo copied from www.sud-de-france.com, as they don't appear to have their own site yet; but you can email them on domaine.carlecourty@orange.fr if you wanted to call in and taste or find out where to get their wines. These four were tasted at this year's Millésime Bio wine show in Montpellier, where I talked to Frédéric.

Languedoc: Gérard Bertrand update, La Clape

These two tasty Gérard Bertrand 2010 reds, from his estate winery up in the wild-scented La Clape wine-lands a stone's throw from Narbonne Plage (if you have a strong arm at least), were tasting-noted and ticked by yours truly in the Languedoc a few weeks ago...
L'Hospitalitas (mostly Mourvèdre and Syrah I think) - enticing garrigue aromas, those elusive wacky sunburned wild herb characters, combined with dark cherry, cassis and liquorice; has a touch of toasty chocolate oak too adding 'sweeter' texture (rather than swamping it) to its firm and long finish. Promising, very good.
Art de Vivre (Syrah Mourvèdre Grenache) - similar profile, shows less depth of fruit perhaps and is less rounded, although it was a bit closed up; still has that lovely wild aromatic Clape thing going on though. Good+

Previous GB wines, profiles and comments:

gerard bertrand grand vin with more links to more pages (including reviews of older vintages of the first red here).
Latest news gleaned from www.vitisphere.com: he's now set up a US import company with distribution handled by Southern Wine & Spirits, Glazer’s, Young’s Market and M.S. Walker.

Other recent stuff on La Clape:

chateau capitoul
chateau rouquette sur mer
chateau de la negly
la clape report 2011

Southwest: Château Lacapelle Cabanac, Cahors

Updated Jan 2013 (see below).

Okay, so Cahors isn't terribly Mediterranean (nor is the Rhone Valley, actually, but I have to put them on one blog or the other and at least there they have grape varieties in common with the rest of the Med-side south) and is distinctly "southwest" (varieties / climate indicative of or indigenous to the Bordeaux region and down/inland from that Atlantic-side corner of France). But I was preempting a just-been-made decision to broaden this blog's scope to a wider southern chunk of France (and eventually France overall possibly) by including this new winery profile on this site.

Anyway, after that essentially irrelevant intro paragraph, I rather like Cahors and its Malbec based red wines; and I came across Château Lacapelle-Cabanac at this year's Millésime Bio organic wine show going back a few months. Owner-growers Philippe Vérax and Thierry Simon have been doing it organically since 2005, and their handsome 20 ha (50 acre) property is found in a microscopic village that shares the same name to the west of Cahors town. Their address is simply "le Château, Lacapelle-Cabanac..." Like that, shouldn't be too hard to find then. Their vineyards are planted on this area's distinctive chalky scrubland at 300 metres altitude (nearly 1000 feet), where there's also a bit of Merlot. More @ www.lacapelle-cabanac.com, where you'll find distributors in Europe, North America and Australia even.

2010 Tradition Cahors (80-20 Malbec-Merlot) - a touch reduced/baked on the nose, 'inky' and concentrated with meaty vs dark fruit combo, nice rounded tannins with rich vs crunchy vs peppery finish. Good in the end. €6.45 cellar door.
2007 Prestige Cahors (90-10 Malbec-Merlot, 14-18 months oak ageing) - toasty coconut notes and grainy texture, more concentrated though with grippy still structured mouth-feel vs developing savoury edges. Good+ €8.85.
2007 'Malbec XL' Cahors (100% Malbec, 2 years in oak) - showing lots of smoky bacon oak, rich extracted and concentrated palate; still surprisingly young and closed up, good but is that oak ever going to fully melt in? €13

UPDATE
I caught up with Philippe on a late autumn 2012 wine touring trip around the heart of Malbec country itself, at the 'Cahors Malbec Lounge', a groovy wine bar cum office for the producers' association in the town centre... Follow these links for tasters of my three-part report:
Cahors: Malbec roadtrip part 1 Château Les Croisille - Château Combel La Serre - Château Tour de Miraval.
Cahors: Malbec roadtrip part 2 Châteaux du Cayrou, Famaey, Métairie Grande du Théron, Latuc.
Cahors: Malbec roadtrip part 3 - Châteaux Haute-Serre, La Caminade, Armandière...
Anyway, I (re)sampled these vintages of his three reds:
2011 Cahors (12.5%) - aromatic and crunchy red fruits, fresh and firm palate with nice elegant fruit, lighter style this vintage.
2007 Prestige - coconut overtones, rich and extracted, concentrated though with powerful grippy mouth-feel layered with maturing dark vs herby fruit; the oak has melted in a little, long firm finish.
2009 Malbec XL - dense dark colour, pretty coconut oaky vs rich ripe plum fruit with spicy herb edges, powerful and extracted with gripping structured palate, young and not very revealing; too much new oak though, he does like to extract! Try it again in a year or two... €14

Cahors: special wine touring report now available

You can get my special Cahors wine touring supplement as a PDF file, featuring all three parts of my Malbec roadtrip trilogy posted on French Mediterranean Wine earlier this year, plus bonus winery profiles from this exciting region of southwest France (and any of my other recent in-depth features produced in this format). Yours condensed into a neat 17 page mini-mag PDF delivered by email, when you subscribe to my blogs for just £10 (about $16 or €12) a year - these reports are not available to non-subscribers. Click on the title link above to find that PayPal button!

Sud de France Festival London

... Has blasted off. Check out this link for all Languedoc-Roussillon wine & food events taking place until the end of the month:
festival-suddefrance.com/London

Languedoc: Cabardès

First off, you'll find what I attempted to say about Cabardès last year immediately below, more or less, as that original post disappeared into the lost land of curious Blogger memory blackouts (not repeated since it has to be said). So, I've dug up these notes again and, just for the thrill of it, decided to pitch them against this year's incisive ramblings on Cabardès gleaned from a trip to the Languedoc just a few weeks ago (notes and thoughts from that one are below below). "Confused? You will be..."
"...Cabardès' trademark is a slightly wacky mix of Mediterranean, Rhone and Southwest grape varieties, which has a certain logic being out there in the wild west of the Languedoc... These weren't all the reds on tasting, as I’ve excluded quite a few 2008s that just weren’t that good: I suspect it’s a bit of a lean & mean vintage in the area and certainly not one to push the oak and/or extraction, as many winemakers did. From what I’ve tried so far of the 2009s and 2010s (the latter mostly unfinished samples on that occasion) though, things are looking much better in Cabardès country..." Discover it on a map and in situ lying discreetly to the north of Carcassonne, by the way.

Syrah budding from flickr.com/photos/mroconnell
aka Ryan @ ovineyards.com

Château de Jouclary tradition 2008 – enticing herbal minty vs maturing savoury aromas, leafy edges vs sweeter side, elegant and quite tasty now.
Château de Jouclary tradition 2010 – leafy tones vs darker plummy side, quite grippy yet has vibrant fruit, closes up on the finish but looks promising.

Domaine O’Vineyards Proprietor’s Reserve 2008 (40% Merlot 40% Syrah  20% Cabernet Sauvignon) – lots of choc and vanilla, grainy texture and tannins, some nice fruit vs leafy/cedary edges but it’s a bit swamped in oak; maybe its true nature will emerge, as it's quite good, but the winemaking seems a touch 'pushed'.
O’Vineyards Trah Lah Lah 2008 (2/3 Merlot 1/3 Cabernet) - again quite vanilla-y although also has appealing maturing berry fruit with savoury edges, attractive soft tannins too.
O’Vineyards Proprietor’s Reserve 2006 (as above) - better, enticing savoury notes with dark vs cedary fruit and complex herbal berry flavours, still quite firmly structured with that oak nicely melted in. Very good.

Château de Pennautier Terroirs d’Altitude 2008 – cedary/leafy vs nice cassis and cherry fruit, lightly creamy edges vs currant and cassis, quite firm and fresh but it works.
Château de Pennautier 2009 - smokier ripe side vs leafy edges, quite lush and tasty with full-on tannins, a tad extracted but that smoky vs tangy fruit does linger along with fair oomph. Good.

Château de Pennautier 2010 – quite closed up, more concentrated with vibrant blackberry/cherry, big mouthful of tannins vs sweet fruit, dark vs tangier side, should be very good.

Château de Pennautier L’Esprit Grand Vin 2008 – showing more cedary oak vs richer and more intense profile, cassis and light liquorice, spicy and punchy with firmer tighter mouth-feel, closes up with solid dry finish. Very good.

Château de Caumette Hauts-Lorgeril Collection d’Altitude 2008 – a bit richer and meatier than their “Mont Peyroux” 2008, fair concentration with solid tannins but this time rounder, tight and fresh with lusher fruit. Good.

Château de Caumette Guillaume de J… 2008 – minty herby cassis and black cherry, maturing edges; much richer and sweeter on the palate, power vs grip vs nice fruit. Good stuff.

Vignerons du Triangle d’Or Amethyste 2008 – cedary/leafy nose vs plum and blackcurrant, fruity vs chunky mouth-feel, quite nice although straightforward.

Domaine de Cazaban-Mengus Demoiselle Claire 2009 – leafy vs smoky, chunky fruity and initially impressive, tightens up; maybe lacks a little substance in the end.

Domaine de Cazaban-Mengus Les Petites Rangées 2009 – similar nose, more intricate perhaps, richer palate with attractive ripe vs smoky and plummy cassis fruit, firm but round tannins, tight dry finish with underlying sweeter/punchy side.

Domaine de Cazaban-Mengus Domaine de Cazaban 2009 – richer still, more oak but it's nicely lush and smoky, concentrated with spicy tobacco and savoury edges vs chunky tannins and sweet fruit, power and length. Lovely.

Domaine de Cazaban-Mengus 2010 – not giving much away, has that 'sweet vs savoury' thing with big yet rounded tannins, power and tight firm finish. Again very good.

Mas Ventenac 2010 – minty and cassis/cherry, quite solid and rich with firm vs rounded finish, tannins are still a bit hard but again has nice vibrant fruit.

Moving swiftly back to 2012 and the most recent/older vintages scrutinized plus a few Cabardès wine folk encountered over tasting and lunch (late April): Wenny Tari of Château de Brau, Anne Marandon-Maurel of Château Salitis and Ryan O'Connell from Domaine O'Vineyards...
Interesting to note perhaps, following on from what I said above about those 2008s, that there weren't any from this vintage on the Cab tasting table this time. Meaning: all sold or producers weren't chuffed enough to put them on show? Nothing wrong with a little idle speculation at least. But the 09s and 10s (now bottled) sampled here do confirm what I felt last year (although the tannins on some 09s also now seem rather dry, across the region). I was among those who praised 2008 initially, in general, as two or three years ago the wines were looking OK. Now I've changed my mind a little - again generally as there are some good 08 wines out there of course, as featured above and elsewhere on this blog - despite people constantly defending the vintage applying the obsessive tag of "freshness" to the wines, translating literally (fraicheur, trendy word nowadays referring to more elegant reds). Well, fine: nobody likes overly heavy or un-elegant reds, but I'm not sure we should be looking in the Languedoc ad nauseum for "fresh" light red wines? Especially if that really means unripe, lean and charmless... Anyway, these Cabardès reds, rosés and whites range from nice to very good+ :

Rosé - all 2011

Lorgeril/Château de Pennautier - nice enough rosé, lacks a bit of zing maybe.

Sesquières - better, quirky red pepper type aromas (Cabernet Franc?) moving on to a creamier palate vs crisp red fruits and fresh bite. Good.

Château Jouclary - clean crisp and tighter in the 'Provence' style, showing nice bite and zing.
Château de Brau (Syrah, Cabernet Franc) - 'winey' (sounds meaningless in English when talking about wine, but the French do refer to fuller fruitier rosé styles as vineux) oily and rounded with ripe red fruits vs fresher crisper finish. Good although already turning a bit old?

White - 2011

Château Salitis Viognier - odd almost 'botrytised' character, ripe and aromatic with exotic vs green fruit flavours, tasty enough in the end especially with food.

Red

2007

Château de Brau Le Suc - red pepper hints vs smoky maturing notes, coconut grain texture vs red/black fruits, quite firm still yet developing savoury flavours, attractive bitter twist vs plummy fruit.

Cave La Malepère Révolution - rather oak soaked but there's some attractive chunky fruit underneath.
O’Vineyards Stranger (Merlot) - resiny oaky nose with lush plummy fruit, a bit too much vanilla although has attractive savoury development too, grainy vs sweet textured; kinda ripe Pomerol style, although I'd prefer less oak.

2009

Château du Donjon L'Autre - sweet cherry and liquorice, grippy vs ripe mouth-feel, attractive style.

Château de Pennautier Terroirs d'Altitude - lush and smoky start with fair depth, tannins are a little bitter although it has good fruit.
Château Jouclary Guillaume de Jouclary - cedary oak touches vs nice ripe dark cherry and cassis, lush vs grippy palate, structured and powerful finish. Very good.

Château Jouclary Les Amandiers - more closed up, concentrated with grainy texture showing red pepper vs darker fruit, again extracted but not too much, long and tasty in the end. Very good.

Sesquières cuvée du chene - quirky mix of sweet fruit and herby red pepper, maturing oily palate with liquorice vs firmer and fresher side. Good.
Château de Brau Cuvée Exquise - rustic and 'soupy' vs crunchier fruit too, grippy and concentrated, quite rustic but has good depth.

2010

Foncalieu - Château Saint Agel - modern fruity / oaky combo, not bad depth in the end.

Château de Pennautier - quite rich and smoky, solid and grippy vs attractive ripe fruit, closes up on a structured finish; promising.

Château de Brau - pretty grippy and tight on the palate, structured and concentrated with nice fruit underneath. Good.

Sesquières cuvée Prestige - again offers that mix of red peppery and dark cherry fruit, firm and extracted mouth-feel yet rounded and ripe underneath. Good.
Château Salitis Equinoxe (Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Grenache) - attractive lush fruity style with good depth and grip, tasty finish with dark smoky flavours. €8.50 cellar door.
Château Salitis Cuvée des Dieux (Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Grenache) - enticing ripe dark fruit, concentrated vs grippy vs rounded, smoky tobacco edges vs black plum fruit. Good stuff. €9.50

Finally, more in-depth profiles on a few leading Cabardès wineries (some of them featured above) with notes on previous vintages can be found here:

domaine de cabrol

Château de Brau

Domaine Escourrou/La Régalona

Château Pennautier/Lorgeril

Profile on O'Vineyards will follow soon-ish (honest)...

Rhone: Domaine Coteaux des Travers, Rasteau

And not forgetting Cairanne too: they grow four ha (10 acres) of vines in that neighbouring village sub-appellation to Rasteau and ten in the perhaps now better-known latter (if you see what I mean), where they make regular reds and fortified Vin Doux Naturel reds both centered on sumptuous Grenache. The team here is headed up by Robert Charavin, whose family wine roots go back to the Revolution I'm told. They recently turned fully organic in 2010, the first "official" vintage tasting-noted below at this year's Millésime Bio wine show held in Montpellier, and have since set off down the more mystic path towards biodynamism. Two of these reds (not sure which two...) cost €10.80 a bottle cellar door; and this estate is well represented in North America, the UK and Ireland: see www.coteaux-des-travers.com for distributors and some nice photos as below.

2010 Cuvée Marine white Côtes du Rhône (Marsanne, Roussanne, Grenache blanc, Viognier) - nice oily honeyed nose and palate vs juicy fruit, quite soft and exotic vs light 'mineral' bite. Good stuff.

2010 Cairanne Côtes du Rhône Villages (Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah) - peppery vs liquorice aromas/flavours, again it's quite soft on the palate vs punchy spicy finish; a touch baked perhaps but has nice Grenache style.

2010 Rasteau Réserve (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre) - spicy peppery nose, richer liquorice-tinged Grenache fruit in the mouth and more structured too vs nicely rounded tannins; firm vs peppery vs concentrated finish. Lovely hearty red typical of what you'd want from this area.
2010 Rasteau Prestige (Grenache, Syrah: older vines, fermented in large cone-shaped wooden vats) - tighter and more structured, peppery and punchy mouth-feel then closes up on the finish; needs a couple of years to come out of its shell. Should be very good though.

Languedoc: Limoux sparkling wines

It wouldn't be the first time I've knocked together a few enthusiastic words about Limoux fizz on this blog and what great value for money these wines often are. This increasingly dynamic region, and relatively "cool-climate" for the Languedoc - lying mostly on rolling hilly land stretching out to the south of Carcassonne around the eponymous market town - boasts hundreds of years of history of making quality sparkling wines. Not that I usually give a damn about how long somebody's been doing something per se - if what they're doing is good anyway - but a little "tradition" probably helps in this case.
The first two Limoux styles featured below are essentially created in the same way using the so-called traditional method (same as Champagne with a second fermentation in bottle), although different grape varieties, or proportions of, make up the base blends for each style; and the 'rules' on ageing differ slightly too. Crémant is made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir (especially for rosé), Chenin blanc and/or Mauzac with at least 12 months bottle-ageing on its yeast-lees sediment. Blanquette is built mostly, or sometimes entirely, from Mauzac supplemented by Chenin and/or Chardonnay. There is another 'older' style called Blanquette Méthode Ancestrale, which is 100% Mauzac and the result of a bottle-fermentation that stops leaving some residual sugar and lower alcohol of 6-7%. I tried these tempting bottles on a tasting trip to the Languedoc last month.

Crémant de Limoux

White

2008 Château Rives Blanques Blanc de Blancs - delicately toasty and honeyed with almond and yeasty edges, crisp and stylish with attractive nutty and bready flavours, long refreshing finish. Very good.

2008 Taudou - less expressive nose, quite yeasty vs honeyed although crisp and steely too; a touch too much of that toasted yeast character although it has substance and is still nice!

2008 Alain Cavailles/Le Moulin d'Alon 'Résilience' - subtle nutty bready flavours with 'straw' and honey undertones, crisp mineral bite vs 'sweeter' toasty creamy side, good length and style.

2008 Domaine Delmas Cuvée Audace - richer nose with more 'fino'/nutty character too, lovely crisp steely bite vs yeasty and toasty. Very good.

2009 Georges et Roger Antech Cuvée Héritage - fairly fine with elegant nutty yeasty intensity, a tad closed up although has intricate flavours and crisp length.

2010 Domaine J Laurens Clos des Demoiselles - 'winier' and fuller with toasted oat notes, crisp and fresh finish. Lovely.

2006 Domaine de Martinolles - toasty complex nose, enticing rich developed character showing oaty nutty flavours vs steely and fine mouth-feel. Tasty stuff.
2007 Toques et Clochers Sieur d'Arques - delicious sparkling wine offering toasty complex full-bodied flavours vs tight fine and crisp on its long finish. Who needs expensive Champagne? This limited edition fizz is €15 cellar door, making it one of Limoux's dearest although among the best too.

Rosé

2009 Antech Cuvée Emotion - elegant red fruits and rose petal vs bready and nutty, tight and crisp finish. Good stuff.

2009 Alain Cavailles/Le Moulin d'Alon 'Micromégas' - rich and 'winey', not very pink but who cares; honeyed and fairly toasty cakey vs fresher finish and bite. More good stuff.

Domaine de Martinolles - delicate vs oily red fruits with nutty yeasty and crisp palate, again lovely fine steely finish vs gently toasty character. These guys know what they're doing.
Profile on Martinolles with older vintages HERE.

Domaine J Laurens La Rose No. 7 - sounds like a lipstick maybe, but this quite delicate tight and steely fizz also has subtle rose water and red fruit tones; mouth-watering refreshing style with nice lingering flavours. Very good.
Sieur d'Arques Première Bulle rosé - delightfully refreshing light and delicate pink fizz. Quite expensive though at €12.

Blanquette de Limoux

2009 Joseph Salasar Carte Blanche - toasty earthy winey with attractive honeyed straw character, richer yeasty palate vs crisp bite and length. Very good.

2009 Château Rives Blanques - aromatic grapey winey nose, rounded vs steely palate, nicely crisp and long; a bit different too.
2009 Alain Cavailles Etincelle Originelle - earthy vs appley nose, yeasty and lightly toasty flavours, crisp vs honeyed, quite intense and refined.
2009 Alain Cavailles Résilience - similar style, finer and nuttier perhaps, again crisp refreshing vs honeyed mouth-feel, elegant length.
2009 Domaine Robert Carte Noire - floral and almond aromas, light crisp and refreshing palate vs yeastier biscuit flavours, long and fresh. Good stuff.
2010 Nicolas Therez Instant d'Arome Peche - fruitier and grappier vs apple and pear notes, crisp and steely with light refreshing finish.
2010 Sieur d'Arques Première Bulle - clean crisp and appley with yeasty undertones, quite delicate and tart, nice palate cleanser with crisp length. Good. €10
2010 Robert Carte Ivoire - juicy honeyed hints vs appley and crisp backdrop, nice lightly toasty yeasty richness vs dry and steely, fresh and long. Fair class.
Profile on Robert / Domaine de Fourn with older vintages HERE.
2010 Taudou - more honeyed and fuller style, oat cakey flavours vs appley crisp and clean bite, delicious fizz actually.
Domaine Delmas Tradition NV - subtle honeyed grapey tones vs appley bite, attractive yeasty depth and oat biscuit flavours, crisp long vs richer finish. More good stuff.
Antech Brut Nature - appley and lightly yeasty, intense crisp and dry vs rounder honeyed biscuity side, long and refreshing; needs food as it's pretty dry on its own. Very good though if you like 'nature' styles (no added dosage = sweetening).

Blanquette Ancestrale

Sieur d'Arques Coeur de Bulle (6% alc., 80 g/l residual sugar) - refreshing and light although quite sweet: best with a fruit dessert actually. €7.60
Antech Ancestrale - grapey and earthy, sweet vs crisper side, pleasant Moscato d'Asti alternative.

Lots more Limoux fizz here (report from last year's "Millésimes en Languedoc", April 2011. See also Limoux winery profiles in the Languedoc A to Z on the right...

Roussillon: Château de l'Ou update

Click on this highlighted link to view my earlier profile of Château de l'Ou (2008) plus a few previous vintages tasting-noted.

The Bourrier family's vineyards have happily expanded taking in a couple of plots up near Caudiès and St. Paul in the Fenouillèdes zone, which is found northwest of their Montescot base in the central Roussillon, as Séverine B updated me at this year's Millésime Bio wine fair held in Montpellier. This brings their total surface area to 32 organically farmed hectares (= 80 acres no less); organic since the late 90s in fact. They've launched the 2010s of some top new varietal wines and now have a website too, where I copied the rocky photo from: www.chateau-de-lou.fr.

2011 Côtes du Roussillon white (mostly Grenache blanc + Roussanne) – yeast-lees notes add a little intensity vs roundness to its attractive profile, has nice crisp finish too. €8.50 cellar door.

2010 Infiniment white (Chardonnay) – toasty edges with lees notes vs juicy fruity, quite rich mouth-feel vs refreshing bite too. Good but dear at €16.50.

2009 Côtes du Roussillon red (Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre) – fruity and spicy with black cherry, liquorice and pepper vs hints of background oak and light grip on the palate; attractive mix of nice and easy vs a bit more serious as well. €8.50

2010 Infiniment red (Syrah, 14.5% alc) – lush and chocolatey although not too much oak, structured concentrated and powerful vs lovely ripe fruit and balance. Very good. €16.50

Languedoc: Terrasses du Larzac and Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert

Mas des Brousses, Puéchabon
From masdesbrousses.fr

Toasted as the darling of a clutch of new Languedoc village subzones, Terrasses du Larzac was officially created in 2005 although the name has been used for much longer than that. The appellation's northern and eastern borders, flanked by the raw landscape painted by the Causse du Larzac, are shaped by a variety of ranges, foothills, natural terraces, sheer cliffs and scrubland that form the bottom end of the Massif Central mountains. The Hérault River runs silently and roughly through the middle of it, and the terrain then dramatically climbs from here heading northwards (take the A75 motorway towards Millau sometime and be wowed by the view).
However, despite all this terrace talk, vines are planted at from below 50 metres above sea level to over 300 (165 to nearly 1000 feet); so to pretend this is all some kind of unique and homogeneous "high-altitude" appellation is a bit of a nonsense. It also takes in over 30 villages (though there probably aren't vineyards planted around all of them) spanning a pretty sizeable area, including the following perhaps best-known ones: Aniane, Gignac, Jonquières, Montpeyroux, Puéchabon, Saint-André-de-Sangonis, Saint-Félix-de-Lodez, Saint-Jean-de-Fos, Saint-Jean-de-la-Blaquière and Saint-Saturnin-de-Lucian. In addition, certain of these places have created their own village sub-sub-zone (well, the winemakers there I mean obviously), e.g. Montpeyroux and Saint-Saturnin (see some of the winery links below).

See where I'm heading with this quasi rant? Well, I understand the logic of trying to parcel up the enormous Languedoc wine-lands to highlight the best areas, producers and wines. And agree in principle, as long as you make it mean something by creating distinctive statement wines from a relatively small area, and get the message across successfully to wine lovers looking for hot new bottles to try (the tricky bit in a world awash with names of wine regions nobody's heard of or really cares about at the end of the day). But, having sampled my way through a table full of reds from several vintages from Larzac in the Languedoc at their recent "Millésimes en Languedoc" showcase week, I found myself a little disappointed compared to what I tried there two years before (I didn't feature this area's wines last time: see blog archive April-May 2011) and in situ or elsewhere on other occasions.

I ended up excluding quite a few wines out of the total tasted, as they just weren't exciting enough to include or, worse, weren't very good. Admittedly, as is always the case / problem with this sort of event and line-up where it's up to the wineries to submit samples, a few top names were conspicuous by their absence, as I've commented on before. However, certain familiar estates did stand out nicely, such as Mas des Brousses, Mas des Chimeres or Clos du Serre; as well as not so familiar (to me at least), Domaine des Cres Ricards for instance.
I also see Gérard Bertrand, one of the Languedoc's biggest privately owned wineries and vineyard owners and a name some winegrowers like to dislike (although they wouldn't say so publicly of course), has landed in the Larzac zone with his purchase of La Sauvageonne, and its excellent track record over the past few years, up in Saint-Jean-de-la-Blaquière, which is a remote hilly village definitely on the higher side with its remarkable elevated and very stoney terraces.
Over to the wines then: here's my top 20 TDL reds. Some of the 2010s weren't finished samples, but it's looking very promising as a vintage in this area and overall in the Languedoc. Generally, Syrah, Grenache and/or Mourvèdre are the main varieties used here, although certain producers feature old Carignan or Cinsualt in the blend too.

2008 Domaine de Brunet Mas Brunet Prestige - quite forward with ripe liquorice, scented garrigue and spicy Grenache style; good palate and balance with a bit of bite and freshness vs 'sweet' fruit and rounder mouth-feel. Nice now.

2009

Mas de la Seranne Antonin et Louis - perfumed floral nose with spicy liquorice and black fruits, touch of oak but not too much, grippy vs textured with light oak grain, powerful finish layered with 'sweet' fruit.

Les Conquetes Les Innocents - quite rich and lush with herby edges, 'sweet' liquorice and black fruits, drinking quite well now with underlying oomph vs rounded palate vs attractive ripe fruit.

Quinquarlet / Familongue L'Esprit de la Bastide aux Oliviers - very ripe smoky and 'resiny' with savoury edges, chunky tannins vs dark and spicy fruit, dry finish with a bitter twist.
More Familongue here.

La Traversée - this is Gavin Grisfield's new venture, former winemaker at La Sauvageonne. Shows enticing ripe dark fruit vs touch of coco oak, toasted chocolate tannins but it's concentrated, well-made and attractive (although a shade expensive at €30!).

Mas des Brousses Mataro (= Mourvèdre) - lovely scented black fruits and wild herbs, lush savoury vs sweet palate with a touch of oak grain vs rounded texture, liquorice spice and power to finish. Very good stuff.
Domaine Alexandrin Alex - perfumed ripe nose and palate, hints of vanilla oak with 'sweet' textured vs grippy mouth-feel, quite concentrated and punchy.

Quinquarlet 3 Naissances - dark plummy 'soy' vs herby notes, smoky and quite rich vs firm and dry, closes up a bit but should be good.

Les Chemins de Carabote Les Pierres qui chantent - perfumed garrigue and blackberry/cassis notes, nice mouthful of ripe vs spicy fruit, lush powerful and firm yet quite silky too somehow. Very good wine.

Plan de l'Homme Habilis - rich dark 'tar' tinged nose, lush palate with savoury edges, has fair grip yet rounded tannins, good fruit and depth.

Mas des Chimeres Caminarem - rustic ripe and peppery, lush fruit and tannin combo, a bit 'bretty' (rustic) perhaps but is concentrated and has tasty savoury/sweet profile.

Mas des Chimeres Nuitgrave - more savoury and developed, again showing nice dark fruit with those rustic edges; similar mouth-feel to above, tighter and less obvious perhaps although is drinking well at the same time.

2010

Domaine des Cres Ricards Stécia - dark and smoky with a touch of sweet oak, concentrated and tasty, touches of oak grain vs rounded tannins, closes up with firm vs supple finish, nice depth and style. Very good.

Domaine des Cres Ricards Oenothera - smokier and richer perhaps, quite tight on the finish, chunky vs lush mouth-feel, nice balance and class.

Mas des Quernes Villa Romaine - pretty oaky start vs concentrated and lush palate, spicy with dry vs rounded vs grainy tannins, needs time to open up but should be good.

Le Clos du Serre Les Maros - a little closed up, firm concentrated and punchy with dark chocolate tannins vs a lot of depth too, slightly at sorts at the mo but it´s promising.
Previous vintages and profile on Clos du Serre HERE.

Mas des Brousses - quite firm and closed up, showing grainy oak vs lush and concentrated underneath; difficult to tell but there´s definitely something there with attractive sweet/savoury finish.

Quinquarlet la Bastide aux Oliviers - quite juicy fruity vs firm and tight, not very revealing although has good depth of fruit.

Gérard Bertrand La Sauvageonne Pica Broca - spicy herby black cherry notes, good concentration vs solid yet rounded, powerful finish with lingering sweet liquorice and spice, nice length and style.
Sauvageonne under previous management.

MORE LARZAC WINERY PROFILES (and surrounding area):
domaine la croix chaptal  domaine alain chabanon  domaines paul mas
languedoc tasting reports 2009-2008 vintages
domaine d'aupilhac  mas conscience  domaine coston
mas de daumas gassac  mas de l'ecriture  domaine virgile joly
domaine de malavieille  domaine saint andrieu

Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert © OT SGVH

On a more cultural and historical note, if you're thinking of doing a little wine touring in this area, make sure you find time to have a stroll around the Mediaeval hilltop village of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert. With its magnificent Romanesque abbey (photo), sloping narrow cobbled (and car free) streets and awesome cliff-face backdrop, it's not far from some of the wine villages and estates mentioned above. Great drive too along the twisty Hérault river gorges, as you wind your way up there. Probably best avoided in the summer though, as it soon gets crowded with tourists. By the way, its name does indeed come from a certain noble warmonger Guilhem, who found his perfect isolated retreat here to study as a monk and founded the monastery in 804, which was rebuilt in the 11th Century on the same site. More @ saintguilhem-valleeherault.fr.