Natural wine listing at Terroirs for Observer Food Monthly

NATURAL WINES @ TERROIRS

Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Costadila
Apple-juice hued (the real unfiltered stuff) bone dry with citrus shavings. Very reductive initially; carafing brought out the fruit and focused the minerality.

WHITES

2008 Vin de Table, Gilbourg, Benoit Courault
Apricot colour, bruised apple and ripe william pears. Note of controlled oxidation and earthiness. Glorious tensile acidity uniting primary and second aromas, creating the wine breadth, depth and linear excitement.

2008 Anjou Blanc, Domaine Rene Mosse
Golden-yellow Chenin unveiling straw, waxy fruits, cinnamon-coated fruits and some dried herbs. This wine moves in the glass softening its texture whilst retaining its core earthy, mineral soul.

2009 Vouvray sec Dilettante, Catherine Breton
Summery mirthful Chenin glissading effortlessly across the tongue. Like biting into a fresh quince with a spine of sweet lemon acidity (if you can imagine such a thing)

2006 Riesling Grand cru Vorbourg, Pierre Frick
Frick’s wines, whatever the naysayers think, are brilliant expressions of terroir. This Riesling reminds me of medlars and the smell of apples wrapped in leaves whilst the acidity is precise and strengthens the aromatics and the wild yeasty notes act a kind of exotic seasoning.

2008 Sancerre Blanc Skeveldra, Sebastien Riffault
Wild, tawny gold, mad, not bad, but certainly difficult to know – a lion amongst neutered Sancerres. Biodynamic viticulture with all the treatments, late harvest grapes, yields that are half the accepted average, extended skin contact, natural yeast ferment at ambient temperature, no sulphur, malolactic ferment, lees ageing and maturation in large old barrels and you have a wine that is deep amber. No stone is left unturned, every convention is flouted.  This to me is everything that is magic and unexpected about wine; it moves, it changes, it develops. It is one of the purest expressions of terroir (a counterintuitive notion for those who believe that terroir notes can only be highlighted through clever manipulations in the winery). The silex aromas and flavours underpin the richness and intensity of the wine – this is not skinny Sancerre.

2007 Fiano Don Chisciotte, Il Tufiello
If not peaches and cream, peaches, stones and ginger. Cloudy, unfiltered Fiano possessing the sort of elegance and restraint that one would not expect to find in this region. The vineyards are at high altitude, one can almost sense the mountain breeze cooling the vines. The acidity is crisp and dances lightly amongst the tarragon-inflected fruit and spice tones. A wine of great integrity.

2006 Malvasia Ageno, La Stoppa
Verging on cognac-coloured “white” from Emilia Romagna, a blend of organically grown Malvasia, Ortruga and Trebbiano with thirty days plus maceration on the skins. Aromatic Malvasia smells like peaches warming in the oven (or the window sill) and texturally the wine has some crunch and tannic structure with fleshy fruits offset by exotic spice and pepper notes.

REDS

2009 Minervois Mais Ou est Donc Ornicar, Jean-Baptiste Senat
In 2008 this was a wild wine straining at the least. 09 is more composed and gently expressive, featuring wild blackberry fruits allied to tobacco, tar and pepper. It – and you – want food.

2007 Les Vilains, Domaine des Foulards Rouge
Pale red Carignan from old vines and microscopic yields. The carbonic maceration and gentle extraction cannot entirely disguise the herbal, rustic nature of the beast (or the variety). As with the other Jean-Francois Nicq’s wines this is very drinkable.

2009 L’Echappee Belle, Domaine du Bout du Monde
Grenache is the key variety here soaking up the garrigue infusions of the terroir. Wild strawberries to the fore with pepper, a stick of liquorice and oregano.

2009 Crozes-Hermitage C’est Le Printemps, Dard et Ribo
Purple fruits billowing out of the glass, blackberry essence, mulberries, smoked damsons and the merest suggestion of white pepper. This vital natural wine is for now.

2008 Sierra de Sud, Domaine de Gramenon
Violets, wild roses and blackcurrants with a whiff of black olives and tar. This is a thoroughly lovely, harmonious, natural wine that can only lift your spirits. It is true to the grape, true to the terroir, true to the winemaker and captures the essence of what these wines are all about.

2008 Beaujolais, Château Cambon
Intense Gamay with a granitic grab. Don’t be deceived by the red fruits; there is a driving mineral quality, some smokiness, wild yeast funkiness that raises an ever so ‘umble Beau-jolly to an exalted level.

2008 Cerasuolo di Vittoria Pithos Rosso
Oh so pretty. Think Burgundy or Beaujolais meets northern Rhone. This Frappato/Nero d’Avola from southern Sicily is fermented in amphorae. Sweet violets, freesia and cherryblossom meets raspberry candy canes on the nose then delicate cranberry and raspberry fruit carried along by natural fruit acidity. The Nero d’Avola, bringing up the rear, confers an element of plumminess and some herbs and spice.