Rencontres du genre deux cheveaux...

alors, pas certain qui était le plus en difficulté, mais j'ai reçu la photo. tavel.

a particularly special tasting in Tavel

this is a reposting with some spell checking of last evening's post. the mistral is howling and the sky is a glorious blue. sorry about ipad's version of how to spell some things, i hope i have corrected it all.


we headed south this morning on the a6 and got to watch about 400km of jammed northbound traffic. ah, the route de soleil at this time of year; i hope it will be better going northward next week when we are going that direction, otherwise we take the 6 hour rural route to nuit st george. our original plan had been to visit the southern parts of burgundy and make some stops in the northern rhone, but we had an appointment in tavel at 1600 that was not to be missed. we arrived at domaine du moulin in st laurent des arbres (our base for all of our trips, kudos to antoinette and otto, our exceptional hosts), unpacked, and hit the road. the original plan had been to taste in tale tomorrow, but when offered 30 out with harvest impending one takes it. there was a specific vigneron we wanted to visit based upon the french wine society meeting last month. we tasted several wines from tale today, but i only am going to write about one very special producer and his wines.

we in les etats unis do not appreciate rose wines. tavel is exclusively rose wine. the wines spend a significant period of maceration before being run off, pressed, and blended. this gives a nice extraction of color and an impressive "backbone" of the fruits used. tavel is not about how "pale" can a rose be made, and it is fermented dry unlike the "blush" wines made in the states. this is serious wine. the design is for it to be drunk young, but one of the wines today was specifically designed as a "vin gastronomique," and has the potential to age and evolve; unfortunately, this specific cuvee is not imported into the states.

tonight's feature is hateau de Trinquevedel and its owner, winemaker, and 4th generation producer, Guillaume Demoulin. we had the opportunity to tour the vineyards and his impressive family chateau with him. the property was built by his great grandfather Eugene in the 1930's and he inherited it beginning in 2006. the tasting was four wines. his tavel is macerated and fermented in old cement tanks. maceration is 12 to 48 hours.

we began with 2008 Trinquevedel. the year was difficult because of the weather, but good work was done in the cellar. the wine had good color, a nose of red fruits, and nice mineraltiy, and it finessed distinctly with strawberries; there was a hint of hotness at the end. this was a nice wine from a tough year, and it set the stage for wonderful wines to follow.

next was 2009 Trinquevedel. the year was outstanding, and the work in the cellar was great too. this wine's color is bright pink. it has a much more prominent red fruit nose with spicy red cherries, red raspberries, and a hint of strawberry. the acid, mineral, and fruit balance perfectly. the finish is cherry and raspberry. i thought this wine was outstanding.

following this we had Les Vignes d'Eugene 2008. this is a rose that is built to age. it is produced only from selected vines and is not imported into the states. this wine had a hint of orange to its color, probably from the oxidative nature of the grenache and clairette. the wine's nose was complex, with dried red fruits and spice, the balance was perfect, and it finished with raspberries. there was a hint of toffee to this wine. i know of two bottles coming to the united states.

the last wine was guilaume's 2009 Cotes du Rhone; next year this should become AOC Lirac, the bulk of the wine is his grenache grown in lirac and he will have his mouvedre to blend from there soon. this is a fresh and fruity red to drink now. it is a very nice wine which i suspect will become more serious once it can be labeled from the AOC Lirac. this wine had a really difficult act to follow given the roses we had just tasted; we are drinking it now and finding a potential and complexity in it we did not appreciate initially. getting to revisit this wine tonight shows me that it hits the target as a wine to drink now with summer food in warm weather. it perfectly matches its intended target.

this was an absolutely spectacular visit and tasting. this is a true family enterprise now in its 4th generation. the wines are excellent and express the nature of the people who produce them. these are special wines, they show the character of the soil and the soul from which they come. kermit lynch is the usa importer. i would love to see these wines on the shelves in pennslvnaia next spring (2010 is going to be a good year). jill says, "you can't get these wines in pennsylvania, and there is a problem with that." i agree, this is serious rose, a real wine.

i strongly recommend this wine. if the opportunity to visit the property presents itself, i would say it is a must do. everything about Trinquevedel is special and unique.

www.chateau-trinquevedel.fr
Posted by matt at 12:47 PM 0 comments Links to this post

TAVEL

tonight's post is without pictures. we have an internet connectivity problem and i cannot figure out how to get the photos from my pc to the ipad, and the download would chew up my entire data plan that said, it was a great day with special wines. i will put the photos and original text of the post up when i get connected.

we headed south this morning on the a6 and got to watch about 400km of jammed northbound traffic. ah, the route de soleil at this time of year; i hope it will be better going northward next week when we are going that direction, otherwise we take the 6 hour rural route to nuit st george. our original plan had been to visit the southern parts of burgundy and make some stops in the northern rhone, but we had an appointment in tavel at 1600 that was not to be missed. we arrived at domaine du moulin in st laurent des arbors (our base for all of our trips, kudos to antoinette and otto, our exceptional hosts), unpacked, and hit the road. the original plan had been to taste in tale tomorrow, but when offered 30 out with harvest impending one takes it. there was a specific vigneron we wanted to visit based upon the french wine society meeting last month. we tasted several wines from tale today, but i only am going to write about one very special producer and his wines.

we in les etats unis do not appreciate rose wines. tavel is exclusively rose wine. the wines spend a significant period of maceration before being run off, pressed, and blended. this gives a nice extraction of color and an impressive "backbone" of the fruits used. tavel is not about how "pale" can a rose be made, and it is fermented dry unlike the "blush" wines made in the states. this is serious wine. the design is for it to be drunk young, but one of the wines today was specifically designed as a "vin gastronomique," and has the potential to age and evolve; unfortunately, this specific cuvee is not imported into the states.

tonight's feature is chateau de trinquevedel and its owner, winemaker, and 4th generation producer, guillaume demoulin. we had the opportunity to tour the vineyards and his impressive family chateau with him. the property was built by his great grandfather eugene in the 1930's and he inherited it beginning in 2006. the tasting was four wines. his tavel is maceratined and fermented in old cement tanks. maceration is 12 to 48 hours.

we began with 2008 Trinquevedel. the year was difficult because of the weather, but good work was done in the cellar. the wine had good color, a nose of red fruits, and nice mineraltiy, and it finessed distinctly with strawberries; there was a hint of hotness at the end. this was a nice wine from a tough year, and it set the stage for wonderful wines to follow.

next was 2009 Trinquevedel. the year was outstanding, and the work in the cellar was great too. this wine's color is bright pink. it has a much more prominent red fruit nose with spicy red cherries, red raspberries, and a hint of strawberry. the acid, mineral, and fruit balance perfectly. the finish is cherry and raspberry. i thought this wine was outstanding.

following this we had Les Vignes d'Eugene 2008. this is a rose that is built to age. it is produced only from selected vines and is not imported into the states. this wine had a hint of orange to its color, probably from the oxidative nature of the grenache and clairette. the wine's nose was complex, with dried red fruits and spice, the balance was perfect, and it finished with raspberries. there was a hint of toffee to this wine. i know of two bottles coming to the united states.

the last wine was guilaume's 2009 Cotes du Rhone; next year this should become AOC Lirac, the bulk of the wine is his grenache grown in lirac and he will have his mouvedre to blend from there soon. this is a fresh and fruity red to drink now. it is a very nice wine which i suspect will become more serious once it can be labeled from the AOC Lirac. this wine had a really difficult act to follow given the roses we had just tasted; we are drinking it now and finding a potential and complexity in it we did not appreciate initially. getting to revisit this wine tonight shows me that it hits the target as a wine to drink now with summer food in warm weather. it perfectly matches its intended target.

this was an absolutely spectacular visit and tasting. this is a true family enterprise now in its 4th generation. the wines are excellent and express the nature of the people who produce them. these are special wines, they show the character of the soil and the soul from which they come. kermit lynch is the usa importer. i would love to see these wines on the shelves in pennslvnaia next spring (2010 is going to be a good year). jill says, "you can't get these wines in pennsylvania, and there is a problem with that." i agree, this is serious rose, a real wine.

www.chateau-trinquevedel.fr

pinot noir in gevrey chambertin

pinot noir in gevrey chambertin

a walk through gevrey chambertin

to be fair, it was sunday afternoon and not everyone was open. jill was recovering from open skies, and i needed to take some pictures. 2 gigs of photos later i have some great shots and did some even better tastings. as i write this we are working on a phillippe leclerc 1998 chambolle musigny "les babillaires." this was one of the numerous wines i had when i visted them; they appeared to be in the middle of a private tasting but accommodated me, particularly after i pointed out this would be my fourth tasting with them. the result was an over the top grouping of wines which i absolutely would recommend and only wish i could put a case of each in my cellar.

i am including photos of the soil and the status of the grapes for the folks who care.

this began with 2007 chambolle musigny les babillaires. nice young wine which i think will mature wonderfully. our second visit to gc was that year. the second wine was the one i am drinking now, chambolle musigny les babillaires 1998. this is a wonderful and delicate ruby wine with a nose of red cherries, a taste of ripe cherry and a hint of pepper, and a perfectly balanced finish. this is a great wine which i think shows the gentle and subtle nature of the aoc.

this was followed by 2007 gevrey chambertin "en champs." this is a nice wine and i would drink it starting in a couple of years. it opens the "flood gates" relative to the finishing wines.

the next to last wine was the 1er cru la combeaux moines. this was a big wine and still quite young. it will be wonderful in about a decade; i wish i could take a couple of cases home. we tasted this vineyard in 2007 and 2008 during our visits, as well as some older offerings. it is a well made and special wine.

the wine i bought to pack and take home was 2003 1er cru les cazetiers. although monsieur said it was ready to drink now, i found its beginings excellent but the tannins were still a bit strong for me. this bottle will get about 5 years in the cellar and then i think it will be perfect.

i find this stop to be a wonderful pause before we move south. tomorrow's agenda has some white options (not all chard's) and a progression from syrah based reds to what i think is the ultimate rose wine from tavel. stay tuned.

open skies, the a6, and chablis, then...

so, open skies out of newark was ok. it really was not their fault that tsa took apart my entire camera case and made me go through the machines three times. i really do not understand why the woman had to take apart my camera bodies and got finger prints on the mirrors, or why her supervisor refused to allow me to prevent her from trashing my nikon cameras. that is not the fault of open skies and at least i made the flight after all of the hassle. i saw no signs that all camera equipment had to be disassembled and place in basins, and it really does not explain why she had to take apart camera bodies...

that said, we decided to go to chablis on our way to gevrey chambertin. ok, there are x grand cru vineyards around the village. it was market day and a hoot. we got a croton of chevre from a wonderful lady and based it on which of the "varieties" she recommended. white wine, pale, fruity nose of green apples, steely minerality and well balanced acid. i like chard and this takes it to an entirely different level. but the higher level came when we got to gevrey chambertin. as i write this i am pushing a 40 hour day and i had an afternoon of tastings to almost end all (kelly m's french wine society morning remains the best ever).

the internet here is slow to upload photos, the next post will be the highlight of my afternoon walking gevrey chambertin. and, dinner will be at chez guy.

a tale of two 2005's (vacqueyras)

It has been a bit since I put up a post but get ready for a couple of weeks of action. I anticipate blogging the wines we taste beginning in about 48 hours- live with fresh photos. I have some items to post from the French Wine Society meeting as well; so much exceptional wine and so little time.

Tonight's post is a long time coming, it approaches a year. Thanks to time, andPaul and Quenby, I have another wine to put up as well.

The story on the lead wine is that last year we had lunch at les Florets in Gigondas and on a lark ordered a bottle of very old Domaine la Garrigue la Cantarelle with the meal. It was outstanding; still fresh after 15 years. We went back for dinner and to spend the night and ordered the 2005 la Cantarelle. This was a dark wine. The nose was full of red fruits and herbs, the acid and mineral were well balanced, and it finished with a hint of smoked cherries. We asked about the importer and were given a name and offered a bottle with "the importer's label," but assured it was the same wine. On inspection, the percent alcohol on the French label was 16%; on the importer's label it was 15%. The producer assured me these were the same wine. I brought some back and obtained imported bottles, they certainly seem to be the same in spite of this difference in labeling. This is an absolutely stunning wine and I intend to parse out my remaining case and a half over the next decade. The 2007 and 2006 are not yet listed as available, plenty of each will make their way into the cellar as this is a wine for time or for the present.

La Cantarelle can be obtained by special request from local retailers. Domaine la Garrigue makes several other wines, all of which are very good. These all fall within the price points intended in this blog.

The wine I am contrasting to la Cantarelle is Domaine les Amouriers les Genestes 2005. Again, this is a wonderful dark young wine. The nose is full of red fruits and the garrigue. The acidity and minerality are well balanced and it finishes with smoky cherries and meats. This wine has a higher amount of syrah and there was a bit of time for the reductive aromas to "blow off" before it entirely revealed itself. Again, this was the 2005 and I have been unable to locate more recent vintages. The producer makes other cuvees.

In addition to lunch at les Florets, I eagerly anticipate visiting these producers with the hope of tasting more recent vintages. Both of these are exceptional wines and can be drunk now or put down to age and consumed over time.

French Wine Society, World in Red, White, and Pink

For me, this session was the highlight of the conference. I am going to break it into 2 separate postings. This started at 0830 with 11 wonderful rose wines from Tavel. Kelly McAuliffe was the presenter and did an absolutely spectacular job. He is a dynamic speaker who gave a focused and imminently cogent discourse on Tavel and Chateauneuf du Pape. He is based outside of Avignon and his passion for the region is apparent.

Tavel. This AOC is the rose wine of kings, or at least a certain Louis. The AOC only is allowed to produce rose. This is a rose de saignee, and skin contact ranges from 24 to 48 hours. The principle grape is Grenache, with a minimum of 15% Cinsault. Seven other varieties are permitted and no single variety can comprise more than 60% of the completed blend. There are 3 primary soil types: galets, crushed limestone, and sand. A fourth soil type is "terre blanc," which represents only a small area. There are approximately 45 producers and the cooperative. The wine is pink, lightness of color is not a goal. The aromas are red fruits (cherries and raspberries), minerals, spice, and roasted almonds. The acid and mineral are well balanced. The wines can age although most are consumed young.

The first flight of this tasting was chosen from the cooperative, Les Vignerons de Tavel, and was intended to highlight the effects of the soil types. The three wines were: Cuvee Tableau, 2009; les Lauzeraies, 2009; and Cuvee Royale, 2009. The aromatics of each wine reflected the soils and were quite different. les Lauzeraies was the most impressively aromatic with a wonderful mineral balance (grown on crushed limestone). Cuvee Royale, grown on galets, was my favorite as it had just enough of everything but not too much of a single feature.

The second flight was intended to illustrate the effects of variation in blend on the nature of the final wine. It also consisted of 3 wines; Domaine Moulin de la Viguerie 2009, Chateau d'Aqueria 2009, and Domaine Palai Mignon 2009 (this wine is not imported into the United States). In summary, the Domaine Moulin is 50% Grenache and 30% Cinsault- it is darker, fruity, balanced and fresh. The Chateau d'Aqueria has a higher percentage of white grapes thus is lighter in color; the predominant white grape is Clairette. The grapes are grown on a variety of soils and the wine is paler, floral, and well balanced. The final wine, Domaine Palai Mignon, is 65% grenache and is fruit forward with a nicely balanced acid.

Flight number three was again three wines, and was intended to illustrate "modern trends" versus traditional styles. Having visited one of these producers in 2008, this flight was particularly illustrative to us. Domaine Maby, Cuvee Prima Donna 2009: this is 70% grenache and 30% cinsault, and is fermented with a non-indigenous yeast which adds a banana like aroma. Of the Maby offerings we had in 2008 the one we least enjoyed was Prima Donna, maybe it was the bananas? The second wine was Chateau de Manissy, 2009. This wine spent some time in oak and has a spicy hint to it. It is quite nice. The final wine was Domaine de la Mordoree 2009 and this was our favorite of the flight; it is a traditional style and has a hint of tannin. We particullay were impressed by Mordoree as we have had and enjoyed multiple other wine styles and AOC's from this producer.

The final flight was two wines from Chateau de Trinquevedel, 2009 and 1989. This truly proved Tavel can age. The aromatics in the older wine were different and subtle, and the balance remained intact 21 years later.

The key thing to understand is that rose wines are not just a byproduct of red wine production. The timing of skin contact and the maintenance of appropriate balance in the wine is a true art. It is time we in the United States go beyond the concept of rose wine as kind of fruity sugar water called white zinfandel or merlot and recognize that these are dry and complex wines. Unfortunately, we live in a "wine challenged" state, I have not seen a single Tavel available this year in our stores (the closest was a rose Cote du Ventoux which sold out quickly). These are spectacular wines and Tavel will be one of our very early stops when we arrive in St Laurent des Arbres in 3 weeks- just no Prima Donna.

Kelly McAuiliffe is a spectacular speaker. He has an extensive backgound in wine and, we hope, will be available to guide us for a day or two in the near future. I viewed this as an ideal presentation, and the second half on Chateauneuf du Pape was even better! Great work.

French Wine Society Blind Tasting

1. Ch. Talbot Caillous Blanc 07
2. Domaine Alain Normand Macon La Roche Vineuse 08
3. Domaine Des Bertaiers Pouilly Fume 08
4. Jean Luc Colombo CDRV-Cairanne 05
5. Potel-Aviron Moulin-a-Vent Vielles Vignes 08

This was an incredibly difficult exercise. If my notes were correct, I got 3 out of 5 regions and varietals correct, and Jill did the same only for different wines. These were, in retrospect, entirely typical wines for the regions and varietals. I guess we need to do more homework.

My plan is to do relatively individual posts on each of the sessions from the meetings, there is a lot more to follow. I will include a number of photos from the meeting and from our travels.