Les Baux de Provence

Les Baux de Provence

An obscure wine sub-region centred on this historic village in the Alpilles hills between Avignon and Arles, the appellation encompasses only 12 growers spread over a mere 320-340 hectares. The Baux valley boasts beautiful wild countryside (and coach-loads of tourists), several rich individual reds and full dry rosés. Here Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon harmoniously collide alongside Grenache and Mourvèdre...
At the end of May 2003, I was invited to be a taster on one of three juries at an annual competition, the Prix Noël Michelin. Here I joined French wine journalists, sommeliers and winemakers and was confronted by a rather strange scoring system, linguistically poetic and at the same time mathematically complex (how French). I was on the red panel, and the results said interesting things about national palates. I didn’t score the winner, Domaine de la Vallongue, particularly well using a silly system that allocates over half the marks to appearance and nose. However, my favourite (unfortunately the identity of this and the other 10 wines tasted blind were never revealed to me) did also feature strongly in most of the panel’s top 3. So I’ve reverted to the usual method and scoring system for my tasting notes - click on the Cité des Baux shot - which shed a degree of new light on the wines.
Over lunch following the competition, we also tried several different wines including older vintages. The best reds do age well and may justify the high prices les Baux commands, but others need to work harder to convince at this price level. Nevertheless, overall they have something very interesting here. The white wines are currently classified as Appellation Contrôlée Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence, and the growers talked about moves to lobby for AC Baux status for them. When I'd first heard about this, I thought it a cynical attempt to flesh out the prices of the generally average AC whites; or at the very least a dilution of their terroir (it seems best expressed by the reds). However, the producers want to base it, if it happens, on the Marsanne and Roussanne varieties - not permitted for AC wines at the moment - and Sémillon. Tasting some of the complex, barrel-fermented Vins de Pays made from these grapes confirms their potential, and a worthy improvement on Grenache Blanc, Rolle and Clairette blends.
The majority of estates in les Baux are farmed organically, and one, Château Romanin by biodynamic principles (see my article on Château Falfas for details on this). Others tasted and worth visiting are Mas de la Dame, Olivier d’Auge, Domaine de Lauzières, Jean-André Charial, Mas Sainte-Berthe, Château d’Estoublon, Château Dalmeran, Domaine Hauvette, Mas de Gourgonnier, Domaine de Terres Blanches and Domaine de la Vallongue.

Tasting notes etc. coming soon...

Bordeaux: Pomerol "invasion of MW students"

Part 1 - Vieux Château Certan

Part 2 - Châteaux Le Pin and Gazin
Click here to read it...

Bordeaux feature Off Licence News

Bordeaux feature - this piece appeared in the 20th September 2002 edition of Off Licence News: CLICK HERE (towards bottom of the page)...

Château Falfas: "biodynamic in Bordeaux"

"This fetching, subtly grand yet unpretentious and workmanlike property is owned by John and Véronique Cochran and is located near Bayon in the Côtes de Bourg appellation to the northeast of Bordeaux on the Right Bank. This area isn’t known for great quality and hence its wines don’t command high prices, but that doesn’t do justice to certain individual estates which are reaching to applaud-worthy heights. Château Falfas is one of them and also unique in Bordeaux, as it's been run on biodynamic principles since 1988, thus joining such illustrious names as Zind-Humbrecht in Alsace, Huet in Vouvray and Chapoutier in the Rhône..."

Read it HERE.

"Bordeaux travel, in brief..."

"I feel like a Château-tourist celebrity-spotting as the grand and famous village names stroll serenely by through the coach window: Margaux, Saint-Julien, Pauillac, Saint-Estèphe... If you’re into wine and in particular Bordeaux red wine, a drive up the D2 road northwest of the city along the Gironde estuary offers a taste of the style, elegance and opulence..."

Read it HERE.

Wine jargon: "reductive/reduced"

Reductive/reduced

Lazily, I've pinched this paragraph from an article by Paul White on screwcaps (I might re-publish it as a guest post) that neatly sums this up without too much science:

"Reduction is essentially the mirror image of ‘oxidation.’ Both alter the purest expression of fruit. And just as with brettanomyces, a tiny bit can add complexity, while too much will permanently destroy a wine’s aromas and flavours. Unfortunately both can easily tip over into unacceptably ruinous levels. So as oxidation increasingly redresses wine with an unfresh, caramel-like sherry character, reduction continually forces more negative sulphurous characters into wine reminiscent of struck flint, burned match, rubber, cabbage or rotten eggs. The reductive process revolves around a sulphur compound called hydrogen sulphide (H2S) which is formed in the absence of oxygen by yeast during fermentation. Unchecked by oxygen, H2S tends to hang around, tenaciously, stinking things up. This is not to be confused with ‘free’ sulphur dioxide (SO2) that winemakers use to sterilize and preserve wine, which dissipates more readily."

Wine jargon: "terroir"

Terroir (tair with guttural rr + woir)

Earth, wind and fire or terroir?

When visiting French wine growers in particular, you’re likely to be suffocated by the T word: terroir (although I've recently noticed lots of discussion about terroir-ism in the US too - see below). This word is often bandied about ad nauseum, sometimes for the wrong reasons or without real meaning. So here's an attempt to summarise all the arguments on the subject that have come my way.
Terroir is basically untranslatable into English, in one word, but has physical, cultural and philosophical connotations. The concept combines specific site – its soil and structure, topography (slope/flat, altitude, exposure etc.), water holding/drainage, local climate, suitability to the variety planted and hence how it grows & ripens – with the way the grower thinks, works and thus interacts with the land (nuances of the English words terrain and territory) to maximise grape quality. All of this should be enhanced, rather than dominated by the winemaker (who may or may not be the same person) to convey a unique ‘sense of place’ or typicité to the actual flavour and consistent character of the wine.
Traditionally, terroir is at the root of appellation or geographical origin. In reality, there's perhaps some truth to this but scale is very important in my opinion. There can not be one distinct terroir for a wine region the size of Margaux, Napa Valley or Coonawarra, just as there isn't one soil type or microclimate or grape variety. Sometimes you'll even hear a grower talking about different terroirs within their vineyard. It’s also worth adding that there’s a lack of scientific proof conclusively linking soil types and how a wine actually tastes, e.g. 'chalky' or 'mineral' (a tasting term I often use!).
However, there's no doubt soil properties influence vine growth and ripening of grapes, and thus quality and flavour profile.
Unfortunately, the term terroir is often used unhelpfully to mean just soil: read the average back-label, if there is one, of an AOC wine sold in France. "Clay limestone schist pebbles blah blah," as if we're all geologists. Or terroir can be abused by those dismissing faults in their wine, from poor vineyard or cellar practices, as typical characteristics. Then again, taking 'brett' as an example (brettanomyces), a wild yeast that can cause funky farmyard aromas: you could argue it's part of the natural terroir! On the other hand, it's no excuse for dirty barrels where it thrives and knackered wine...
At the end of the day, it's a terrific marketing device too: earth, wind & fire, man and all that jazz. While all of this is important to the minority of wine folk interested in this kind of hand-crafted, 'taste-of-place' wine (or the ones who can afford it); we shouldn't forget that many people understandably just think it's gibberish and switch off. Instead they'll buy the uncomplicated usual: and there's nothing wrong with big brands (well, not all of them) that taste nice and are fuelling a wine drinking revolution. There's a time and place for both of them.
Richard M James

Quoting from a newsletter published by Appellation America:

"It is only April and there is a vibrant bud break of verbiage about you-know-what.  Already it is clear that this year will produce a bumper crop of terroir talk.

What is terroir?  Have we got it?  How to describe it?  How to protect it? How should we promote it?  Several of the Appellation America crew braved their way through the four day terroir talk survival course up at UC Davis last week. Even for a committed terroirist like Alan Goldfarb, the terroir talk got pretty tedious. Alan’s frazzled nerves are palpable in the story he filed…perhaps too much talk, not enough wine. Well, maybe the boys had a little wine too… just to sharpen their talking skills.

Dan Berger, our Sonoma regional editor, also made a major contribution to the terroir chronicles with his piece in the current issue of California Grapevine. Dan’s rendering of the “why we need to find and protect terroir” question hits the nail right on the head: Terroir is (one of the) key defining elements of regionality in wine; Regionality is the map of diversity. Diversity generates interest and enriches the wine culture. Enriching the wine culture grows the market. Finding terroir is a process, and in the case of most North American winegrowing venues it will necessarily be a protracted process. But Talking Terroir is only one side of the coin; the other, more important, side is Tasting Terroir. Tasting Terroir is what our Appellation Discovery Program is all about. Identifying the taste-of-place is our way of “grounding” all that terroir talk.  Whether you are a wine writer or winemaker, there’s a place for you in our Appellation Discovery process.  Discovery panels of winemakers and wine writers are being formed right across the country. To participate in a Discovery session, contact one of our regional editors or me, Adam Dial on a.dial@appellationamerica.com."

Malcolm Gluck, creator of the Superplonk UK wine guides and website, once argued that "wine is an expression of locality but that locality, that expression is to my mind less about local soil and more about local soul," in his book 'Brave New World' (Mitchell Beazley). He continues: "...wine is made. It cannot simply be grown, no more than letters can arrange themselves without effort and create coherent sentences, thoughts, declarations... Each and every wine, however noble, however vastly overpriced, however humble or rustic, is an expression of those human endeavours called winemaking and grape growing... But there are those that insist on that mystical something called terroir... Yet the biggest elements of terroir are overwhelmingly human..."

September 2009. I just spotted this on the home page of Eric Solomon's website, head of the well-respected and impeccably portfolio-ed European Cellars wine import company in the US: "Place over Process." Very neat, terroir in three simple words!

November 09. I keep coming across the term "wine-lands" in all vinous things South African, as in "tour the Cape wine-lands... blah blah." Beginning to use the word myself, I like the sound of it. Terroir without the Gallic tongue twister. Nice.

Further thoughts, "definitions", rants and examples as and when I dig them up...

Traductions viti-vinicoles / Wine translations

Traductions viti-vinicoles fidèles et rapides

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Product sheets, web pages, back labels, sales brochures, tasting notes, company history, restaurant wine lists & menus... Contact me to discuss your requirements and rates.

RICHARD WHO?

What on earth is a "wine writer" or "wine blogger" anyway, or indeed why, you might well ask? Oh, with a hint of sumptuous wine travel and eating thrown in too… "writing" that is. Funny thing to do I suppose but somebody's got to do it, especially as there are more and more of you "wine enthusiasts" out there... Previously, I lived in deepest south of France, and Spain for eight years and now I'm in the north of Ireland, as you do. The time I spent in wild Mediterranean country was largely devoted to slowly exploring the diverse wine regions of Roussillon, Languedoc, Provence and Catalonia (with occasional stints on the beach of course). Hence the in-depth bulk of material you'll find on this blog/site focusing on wine people and other stuff in those areas.

Apart from thinking up, composing, publishing and trying to make my other blog/site WineWriting.com/ WineWriting.blogspot suitably famous, stimulating although time-consuming and so far not very profitable (potential advertisers please see blurb on the right hand column) ventures kick-started in 2002 and 2009 respectively, I write, or rather have written freelance for a variety of publications and media:

www.winetravelguides.com, Decanter, Time Out South of France guide (2004-2009 editions), www.winetourisminfrance.com, Off Licence News (UK drinks retailing fortnightly 1998-2007), Harpers (wine business and on-trade title 2002-2007), Wine Business Monthly (USA 2006), Redhot (in-flight magazine Virgin Express 2005), French Property News (2004), City Life Manchester (1998-2003), Wine magazine (UK 2002-04), Refresh magazine (2003), Class magazine (2002), Restaurant magazine and sister website therestaurantgame.com (2000-01), Virgin.net (2000-01), everywine.co.uk (2001), ICE magazine (2001), Home magazine (1999-00), Attitude magazine (1999) and Wine & Spirit International (1998-99).

I’m also a member of the Circle of Wine Writers and the Society of Authors. I'm still working on that great idea for a populist wine best seller that people will actually want to read and isn't yet another already-out-of-date guide, "branded" rehash or celeb ego trip (jealous, moi?)... let alone finding a publisher for it! In the meantime, I did venture "sideways" a few years ago into fiction (now out of print but a "new" e-edition has since resurfaced on Amazon). Now there's a thought: a European-set, Hollywood-esque wine film noir... Oh, I'm working on self-publishing a Roussillon/"French Catalonia" kinda e-book too (watch this space then).

Wearing my Wine Education Service hat when I lived in Manchester (England), I ran popular wine courses from 1998-2002 and I'm currently planning to do the same in the Belfast area (another space to watch then: more info here). Before that, I did occasional tutored tastings, consumer shows and market research for generic bodies such as Wines of South Africa and German Wines. Delving further into the past before becoming 'self-employed', I worked for a wine importer and producer for nearly ten years latterly as marketing manager.

As regards "professional" qualifications, I bagged the WSET Diploma back in the mists of time in 1989/90. And more recently, I passed the Master of Wine exams (tasting & theory papers) between 2002-2004; but seem to have lost interest in doing yet another boring formulaic dissertation about "methodology" (probably something to do with sour grapes and lack of funds)! But hey, never say never... What else might vaguely interest you: I spent four eventful years at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, and escaped with a Master of Arts in French and German in 1987. The rest is, as they say, history and probably a touch dull. By the way, I also do wine translations and other editorial work: to find out more, send me an email!

Thought for the moment: with fine wine, less is more. I wish I could afford it...

Richard M James

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Richard Mark James