Languedoc wines speak the same language

Here's the original version of my story published on Decanter.com 14/12/2004.

The Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins du Languedoc (CIVL) has revealed plans to promote all the different appellations (AOC) under the one umbrella of ‘Languedoc’, and to work together with other producers to push the idea of ‘South of France’ in export markets. At the AGM held on 3rd December, the CIVL announced details of their marketing strategy for 2005 supported by a budget of €4 million, including a 30% increase in expenditure earmarked for export promotions and advertising. The boldest move is the willingness of the three largest regional associations – the CIVL, the Conseil Interprofessionnel Vins du Roussillon (CIVR) and Vins de Pays d’Oc growers – to pool their ideas and resources. The combined pot for export campaigns comes to €2.7 million. This new found cooperation takes in the ‘Printemps du Languedoc et du Roussillon’ tasting in London on 15th February, mini-fairs in Toronto and Vancouver in May and a joint stand at Germany’s Prowein exhibition.

The “common geographical ground focusing on the south of France” should communicate the diversity of the region’s wines better to the consumer. “The idea is simple,” Rémy Wuatelet, Marketing Director of the CIVL explained. “With intense international competition, we need to offer a complementary range that suits the market and consumer – still wines, varietals, sparkling and sweet – for a winning formula.” Individual Languedoc AOCs include traditional red blends such as Fitou and Corbières; the ‘cru’ subregions of Minervois la Livinière and Pic Saint Loup; dry whites Picpoul de Pinet and Clairette, Limoux sparkling wines and a variety of fortified Muscats. These will be marketed alongside Vins de Pays ‘cépages’ such as Syrah, Chardonnay and Grenache, and Côtes du Roussillon wines.

Michel Laroche, who already labels his varietal wines ‘South of France’, agrees working together “is fundamental; there’s too much complexity and we need to simplify things. South of France is more abstract yet means more.” Putting Languedoc in the spotlight also fits in with plans to launch an inter-regional AOC, which are awaiting approval from the INAO. The ad campaign in English centres on the Languedoc cross logo, which appears on specially embossed bottles, and the catchphrase ‘Fine French Mediterranean wines’. In addition, a ‘destinations’ theme links wine routes to tourism. Exports of Languedoc-Roussillon wines for the first eight months of 2004 were down 7% in volume and 3% in value. However, Canada, Japan and the US show positive trends outperforming all other countries, albeit from a smaller base.

Fête des Vignes, Montpellier 2004

Discover 18 worthwhile wines tasted at the first "Fête des Vignes de Montpellier Agglomération" (that's like the 'Greater Montpellier' area). While in town on a gloriously sunny, early December afternoon, I stumbled across this local fair ("for local people") in the elegant imperial Place de la Comédie. The wine capital of the South is literally surrounded by vines (although it probably shouldn't be given the location of certain vineyards) - all of the growers mentioned here are on the Montpellier wine route. This is Coteaux du Languedoc country taking in individual areas such as Grés de Montpellier and Pic Saint-Loup, as well as attractive vins de pays varietals too. Plus a few dry and sweet guest Muscats thrown in...

Domaine de Piquet, Confidence NV sparkling wine - Quite fine nose displaying light toasty notes, crisp v milky palate finishing with subtle yeasty touches. A surprise. 87

Domaine de Causse
2001 Cabernet/Merlot, vin de pays d'Oc - Lovely cassis fruit with rustic notes, tangy leafy edges too but it's ripe and rounded with a bit of bite and good length. 89
2003 Muscat, vin de pays d'Oc (Muscat à Petits Grains) - Aromatic dry and fruity, fairly fleshy style yet elegant and grapey, showing good depth of fruit.85+

Domaine de Rieucoulon
2003 Carignan rosé, vin de pays Collines de la Moure - Crisp dry and tight in the mouth set against nice elegant fruit and style. 85
2003 Merlot, vin de pays d'Oc - Impressive depth of plummy fruit tinged with leafy notes, quite weighty and concentrated within a firm framework. €5 87

Domaine de Terre Megere, 2001 'Clapas' Grés de Montpellier (Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre) - A touch 'reductive' on the nose (ever so slightly vegetal) but this disappears into the smoky plummy whole, with lightly herbal edges; richer riper palate, very firm and stonky finish. 87+

Château de Fourques, 2001 Coteaux du Languedoc (Syrah, Grenache, Cinsault) - Minty blackcurrant and cherry aromas, nice tangy fruit, firm tannins but ripe and textured. 85+

Château de Flaugergues, 2002 Cuvée Sommelière Grés de Montpellier (Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre) - Firm tannins and tight structure with long finish; not revealing much at the moment so difficult to say. €9 87

Latest wines and profile here (June 2011).

Le Chemin des Rêves, La Première Cuvée (Syrah, Carignan, Grenache) - Benoît Viot made this as vin de table because he felt like it: Soft fruity cherry notes showing elegant depth, fairly light yet quite long and attractive with it. 84+

Vignobles Baron de la Liquisse
2000 Lion d'Azur Grés de Montpellier (95% Syrah) - Herbal peppery nose leads to delicious black fruit palate, ripe v firm texture with subtle concentration and length. 92
2003 Rosé d'Aurore, Coteaux du Languedoc (Syrah, Grenache, Cinsault) - Attractive style showing elegance yet weight too, lively raspberry fruit then oilier texture on the finish. Drink with grilled red mullet. 85+
2002 Tradition 'Terroir de Verargues', Coteaux du Languedoc (Syrah, Carignan, Grenache) - Soft ripe and smoky with plenty of liquorice and 'sweet' red fruits, supple tannin mouth-feel and lovely mature fruit to finish. 88+

Château de Stony
2002 Lumière d'Automne, vin de pays d'Oc (Muscat à Petits Grains, 14%) - Made with over-ripe grapes in oak casks. Coconut oak notes mingle with quite rich sweetness (50 grams/litre residual sugar), fairly toasty/spicy but underneath it's concentrated, fruity and nicely textured. Unusual, needs time. €13 for 50cl 90
2003 Muscat de Frontignan, Cuvée Sélection de Vendanges (Muscat à Petits Grains, 15%) - Vin Doux Naturel fortified to 15% leaving natural sweetness. Starts with a fair kick of alcohol, but this also has delicious Muscat fruit intensity and sweetness balancing it out. €7.80 89
2003 Muscat Sec, vin de pays d'Oc (Muscat à Petits Grains, 13%) - Perfumed grapey aromas lead to crisp bite on the palate, yet it's soft and elegant too with very dry finish. €4.60 87
Latest Stony here (March 09).

La Magdelaine d'Exindre, 2003 Muscat de Mireval 'Vent d'Anges' (Muscat à Petits Grains, 15%) - Classic style Vin Doux Naturel fortified Muscat with delicious grapey orangey fruit, intense yet elegant sweetness, pretty full-on finish. €10.20 87+

Domaine Desvabre
2003 Pic Saint-Loup Fût de Chêne (Syrah, Grenache) - Spicier and toastier than the 'tradition' below with coconut vanilla edges, quite concentrated and tight with rounded tannins; more 'modern' style but good with it. 89
2003 Pic Saint-Loup Tradition (Syrah, Grenache) - Nice smoky rustic fruit, soft mouth-feel with a touch of dry grip too, finishing with elegance and power combined. 89

"Bandol harvest finishes early..."

This news story first appeared on Decanter.com in shortened form on 14th October 2004:
The costumed tradition of les Vendanges du Rond-Point des Mourvèdres – harvesting of 225 Mourvèdre vines planted on the roundabout near motorway exit La Cadière-Le Castellet north of the town of Bandol – took place on Thursday 7th October in temperatures of over 25°C, despite threats of rain issued by weather forecasters. The event usually symbolises the vintage in full swing but this year marked the finishing touches, and summed up the positive mood surrounding this year’s crop.
Michel Bronzo, owner of La Bastide Blanche and President of the Bandol Association, described 2004 as “following in the footsteps of 2000 and 2001, both great years for Bandol, after the difficult 2002 vintage and exceptionally hot 2003.” Nevertheless, he estimates production is 10-15% down on last year. Summer 2004 experienced more even temperatures, consistent sunshine and a little rain in August and September, followed by a drying Mistral. But, according to most growers, not enough rain to avoid near drought conditions. Bandol escaped the storms seen elsewhere in France, and the fine weather continued through September until the last grapes were picked in the first week October.
Eric de Saint-Victor of Château de Pibarnon, who finished picking their last parcels at the end of September, commented: “we already had excellent sugar and polyphenol levels, it would’ve been a pity to wait any longer… it could be a great vintage.” Freddy Estienne from Domaine de la Laidière was also enthusiastic: “we completed the harvest on Saturday 2nd October, it’s never been that early here.” He predicts 35-40 hectolitres per hectare (hl/ha) overall including whites and rosés. Yields for Mourvèdre for red wines will be nearer 25-30 hl/ha, also confirmed by Domaine de la Tour du Bon and Domaine de la Vivonne. Reynald Delille of Domaine Terrebrune in the commune of Ollioules ventured a cautious “very good” for the vintage, with average volumes of 35 hl/ha.


The ceremonial picking and pressing of grapes were followed by a tasting at the roadside (fortunately, the cops had partly blocked it off knowing what Med French drivers can be like...): I've highlighted a dozen favourites, a mix of young and older Bandol reds and rosés, on this page.
And either side of this event, I toured around several estates for some research I was doing on the Mourvèdre variety (links to article written for Wine Business, USA): Pibarnon, Laidière, Terrebrune, Vivonne, Tour du Bon, Bastide Blanche, Lafran-Veyrolles, Gros'Noré, Tempier, Ott and Sainte Anne. So overall, you'll find 150+ recommendations and reviews on this page including a few excellent older vintages...

Vinisud 2004: Minervois La Livinière / Pic Saint-Loup focus

Minervois-La Livinière was apparently recognised as a 'cru' village area within the Minervois appellation long before gaining official status in 1999, and, judging by the number of 90+ scores I've given to wines tasted at this year's Vinisud show, many of the wines prove the point. The appellation snuggles at the foot of the Montagne Noire hills around the village of La Livinière (and other neighbouring ones) roughly between Béziers and Carcassonne, and is for reds only. Once again Syrah (perhaps sometimes too much of it...), Grenache, Carignan, Cinsault and Mourvèdre are the main varieties, ranging from Clos des Roques majoring on 60 year old Carignan to Château Anger's super 100% Syrah wine La Chapelle de Calamiac. I'm not sure what Domaine de la Combe Blanche and Château la Croix Martelle - which is owned by Burgundian house Boisset and is experimenting with bio-dynamism - are up to with Pinot Noir, but their Minervois wines speak for themselves. Tasting notes / reviews on these producers' wines might follow, when I dig out that clunky old database copied from the original original WineWriting.com...

Pic Saint Loup is a subregion of the Coteaux du Languedoc appellation nestling on the garrigue (wild scrubland) about 20 km north of Montpellier. It's a good example of wines based on a distinctive 'terroir', I suppose, although it's the micro-climate and valley terrain (sandwiched between PSL itself and the Hortus cliff-face on the other side) here rather than soil that's particularly important), even if inevitably the winemaking styles vary from grower to grower (doh!). The Pic St-Loup name is only used for reds and rosés, and the grape varieties are Syrah, Grenache, Carignan, Cinsault and Mourvèdre, with Syrah tending to dominate the best barrique-aged cuvées. Noticeably, there were a lot of young enthusiastic faces representing the Pic producers at the show. I think it's an exciting area to watch, although I did only taste wines from half a dozen properties and the prices are already quite high. They were: Domaines Haut-Lirou (one of the largest at 40 hectares), Mirabel (a mere 3 ha making 550 cases), Saint Daumary (started in 1999), Château l’Euzière, de Lavabre and Château Valcyre-Gaffinel. Three wines from another relatively youthful estate (1980) are also included - Domaine Faurmarie, which is actually located next door to Pic in a yet another new subzone of the CdL called Grés de Montpellier. Ditto regarding their wines... watch this space...

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."