Wine, wine and more wine at Terroirs

“Gourmandism is an impassioned, considered, and habitual preference for whatever pleases the taste. It is the enemy of overindulgence; any man who eats too much or grows drunk risks being expelled from the army of disciples.”
Jean-Antheleme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826)
‘The Physiology of Taste’ (1825)

I am now a firm advocate of the dictum that more is less, particularly when it comes to tasting and drinking wine. The knowledge that another, potentially better wine is available to be opened creates expectations that dull our palates; when we actively have to engage with the wine and its foibles we can form a meaningful relationship with it. Cork pulling is the equivalent of empty sex and the three quarters full bottles looked like melancholy one night stands. Sex without love is an empty experience. But as empty experiences go it’s one of the best.

The whirligig of wine brings its revenges. Bottles were whizzing back and forth and round and round in the end in my addled state I was never quite certain what was in my glass. Looking back through the haze I have managed to fillet some highlights.

Saint-Aubin Le Ban, Domaine Catherine & Dominique Derain
Biodynamic. All the fruit is hand-picked and the Derains destem 90% of their red grapes before fermentation, which occurs in wooden vats. After fermentation the wine is aged in old oak casks for 12-18 months. The couple never use SO2 during the winemaking process. The slope has an eastern exposure and the soil is lime-clay with brown gravel. This is a model Cote de Beaune wine expressing red flowers (roses, cherry-blossom) and then in the mouth cascades of stone fruit supported by lively, lacy acidity. A gem.

Bourgogne Rouge “Auguste”, Clos des Vignes du Maynes
This domaine is laboriously restoring vineyards on a mountain that were cultivated 1,100 years years ago. This is the Pinot Fin and under this dorsal is a mouth with the bite of a Great White (or, in this case, a Great Red).  I haven’t tasted a Pinot Noir of this mineral intensity for a very long time. It is difficult to describe – liquidised rocks, perhaps? – cloudy cherry-red colour a natural Griotte cherries, wild strawberries, menthol, saffron plus a fizzing bright yeasty quality. Wow – this makes 95% Burgundy taste flabby. So pure – the terroir of the monastery.

Macon-Cruzille Rouge “Manganite”, Clos des Vignes du Maynes
Monster crunch mark 2. Manganite is a greyish soil with a high metallic and crystalline content that militates into the flavour of the wine. Stonefruit, earth, iron filings Gamay proves that when the vines are old and the soil is poor can make bloody good wines as Bill Baker used to say. Redolent of mango and musk, as well as cooked cherries and delightfully juggles notes of sandalwood and an aromatic array of red berries (wild cherries) this Macon is for grown-ups. It is sappy and stony and the acidity is nicely coiled like a cobra about to strike.

Macon-Cruzille Blanc “Les Chassagnes”, Clos des Vignes du Maynes
Forget what you think you know about Macon. Somewhere someone is flogging AOC Macon for 4.99. Another new wine from Julien Guillot, an effort of such high seriousness that it makes many Cote d’Or classics taste like complaisant bimboids and bimbettes.

Fermentation is in barrels with wild yeast. The wine is left on the lees and aged eleven months, without chapitalization or the addition of artificial yeast. Its striking appearance may be described as a lovely pale gold. Initially, the nose releases aromas of exotic fruit and white flowers (acacia). Once it has opened up, the bouquet evolves and notes of citrus fruit and pineapple may be distinguished along with pollen, truffle and grilled almond. Pure tension and grappling acidity allied to a coruscating minerality (that word, again) as if flints or crystals were being repeatedly struck.

Bourgogne Blanc La Combe, Domaine Catherine & Dominique Derain
With its aromas of white flowers, custard apple, lemon curd, buttermilk and citrus, at once ample, generous and mineral, this Puligny-manqué has a brilliant curve of acidity and embraces so many contradictory notes with its tender quality allied to remarkable driving purity. You look for the oak, you look for the tartness – they are absent– what remains is the wine pure and not so simple, absolutely natural, everything in its place…

Mas de Daumas Gassac Rouge, Vin de Pays de l’Herault
Tasting this was like welcoming an old friend back into the fold.  Dark ruby with purple tints, fragrant and assertive Cabernet nose of blackcurrants and blackberries dusted with subtle garrigue notes of dried herbs (bay, thyme) and fresh ground coffee. Long finish with fine-grained tannins, silky and spicy.

Souteronne, Domaine Romaneaux-Destezet, Vin de Pays de l’Ardeche
The Souteronne is made from old Gamay grapes which are from 60 to 80 years old vines planted high up the slopes.  The winemaking involves a long maceration at low temperature, without destemming the grapes and the juice is matured on the fine lees, in second-hand oak casks. It is then bottled without filtration. The SO2 is less than 25mg/l when bottled. The depth of colour of this wine is sensational and the nose billows out of the glass to reveal fresh red and dark fruits. The palate is something else - this is a truly superb Gamay with a lovely mineral edge as if granite had melted seamlessly into a wine.  The 09 is a somewhat richer vintage than the 11.2% 08 (although whether one believes the precise 12.34% on the label… If ever a wine was invented for blood sausage (and vice versa) this is it.

Vin de Pays des Pyrenees-Orientales, Roc des Anges “Iglesia Vella”
Iglesia Vella is Catalan for ‘Old Church’.  Because this wine is made both from grapes planted in a parcel of 80-yr old Grenache Gris, and also some from grapes from Grenache Gris vines growing scattered amongst the ancient 80-yr old Carignan vines one parcel of which is just metres away from the old church

The vines are grown on the slopes of the Força Real mountain.  The vineyard has a topsoil of very old schists (570 million years), derived from compacted clay. The bedrock is less than one metre deep, and it is also very flaky, allowing excellent root penetration.  These conditions gives the vines a chance to have a ‘second wind’, in June as this month brings drought and warm weather.

The average yield is naturally low (17hl/ha) a simple reflection of an old vineyard on poor soils in a dry climate.  The soils, superficial and well-drained, encourage deep root penetration into the schist.  The soils are so dry, and the climate so warm that white scorpions can be found in some parcels of the vineyard.

Organic viticulture (the domaine is in conversion to biodynamic) with minimal interventions (no malo, no filtration, no fining and only a little sulphur). The wine is aged in thrice-used 500-litre oak barrels for nine months.  Ig Vel is not a wine that will reveal all at first nose and sip. It is profound yet shy, slowly unveiling gentle herb-edged fruit and warm smoky minerality. It is remarkably fresh though and the pink grapefruit citrus notes are very pleasing. The Roussillon, and in particular its old Grenache Gris bush vines, is yielding white wines with fantastic balance and great complexity. (See previous reviews for Matassa Blanc and Olivier Pithon’s Cuvee Lais).

Dolcetto d’Alba, Luc Roagna
We are devotees of Luca’s beautiful gum-pleasuring Barbarescos. Here is a grower whose wines are a reflection of his passion for finding the expression of the terroir. He is not seeking power or extract. I have mentioned previously that Dolcetto is a grape that sounds better than it tastes and its inherent (challenging) astringency can produce charmless wines. Luca’s, version does not disappoint. Made from vines in Paje and Faset it undergoes a lengthy maceration in oak lasting 30 days. Laced with menthol, sweet spices, dark plums and cherries this is a Dolcetto with attractive perfume but it is also serious and ageworthy.