[wine] Other(s) French Reds

Roussillon and Loire Valley to be precises. NYT and WA Post. June 6, 2011 Roussillon, Into the Sunlight By ERIC ASIMOV IT.S not easy being an afterthought, yet that.s exactly what has happened to the tail of the fused French compound region commonly referred to in wine books as Languedoc-Roussillon. Hyphenation, in this case, is unfair. Ordinary usage directs attention to the first-mentioned while virtually amputating the second. But fashion has also diminished regard for Roussillon. The region has always been best known for its vins doux naturels, a misleading term for wines that are sweet because they are fortified, a natural process only by virtue of human intervention. As sweetly captivating as they can be, fortified wines have seen a precipitous drop in demand. Roussillon.s centers for these wines, like Rivesaltes, Banyuls and Maury, sadly serve today mostly as answers to trivia questions. Nonetheless, like its sibling Languedoc, Roussillon is an exciting place, if only for seeing how efforts to adapt to a changing world will turn out. Dynamic winemakers have taken the challenge of this ancient Mediterranean land of rugged, stony hillsides, gnarled vines, fierce wind and relentless sunshine at the jagged foot of France. There, the Pyrenees form a physical and political border with Spain, but culturally and spiritually, Catalonia embraces both sides. Languedoc is perennially termed a region in ferment, yet for all its experimentation and dedication to improving quality, the wines have never really found an identity with American consumers. Producers have veered from wines that express a singular Mediterranean character fragrant of earthy wild herbs, to wines that are powerful, fruit-driven and tailored to appeal to a modern global market. Neither style has caught on, though one, at least, possesses the virtue of distinctiveness. Roussillon begins with a similar lack of identity, and as an added handicap, it is less familiar as a source of dry wines than Languedoc. Yet successful producers from outside the region, like Michel Chapoutier and Pierre Gaillard of the RhôValley, have set up operations there, while ambitious natives to Roussillon are making wines with painstaking attention to detail, hoping for the same sort of lightning-quick recognition that has buoyed Priorat, its Catalan sibling in Spain. It.s not necessarily a far-fetched notion. Dry reds from Roussillon are often said to have more in common with Spanish reds than with French. Both regions have stands of old-vine grenache and carignan, although in Roussillon these grapes are increasingly supplemented by mandated levels of syrah and mourvèe, while in Priorat international grapes like cabernet sauvignon and merlot have made inroads. To get a sense of what Roussillon offers today, the wine panel recently tasted 20 dry reds from the region. For the tasting Florence Fabricant and I were joined by Hristo Zisovski, the beverage director of Ai Fiori, which has an extensive list of wines from Languedoc and Roussillon, and Byron Bates, a sommelier who plans to open a natural wine bar in the East Village this fall. We had mixed feelings about the tasting. Not surprisingly for such a sunny region, many of the wines were powerfully fruity, dense and tannic, sometimes harshly so. Yet very few were jammy or had baked flavors, indicating that the grapes were picked ripe but not overripe. And very few left the impression of sweetness, meaning that the wines were well balanced, even with alcohol levels largely in the range of 14 to 15 percent. Even so, I found few wines with complexity, a feeling the panel shared. Hristo suggested that some of the wines would become more complex with age. Byron felt that the wines had really progressed over the years, and if they weren.t complex, they at least showed nuances. .I.m really excited about the region, though none of the wines were really exciting,. Byron said, neatly summing up a paradox. The wines, purchased in various retail outlets, covered recent vintages from 2006 to 2009, with one 2004. As with Languedoc, Roussillon does not yet have an appellation system that effectively communicates differences in terroir. Of our 20 bottles, we had three Cô du Roussillons, the basic appellation for dry reds, and eight Cô du Roussillon Villages, considered to be a step up because the grapes are generally farmed on slopes rather than the valley floor. We also had eight Vins de Pays (VdP) wines that don.t conform to the appellation rules for one reason or another. In Roussillon, the highest-level VdP wines are termed Cô Catalanes. Our last wine was a Collioure, from around the picturesque port of that name. As it turned out, the Collioure, a 2006 CuvéSerral from Domaine Madeloc, Mr. Gaillard.s Roussillon project, was our hands-down favorite, with its juicy, spicy fruit augmented by flavors of herbs and licorice. It was one of the few in the tasting with any degree of complexity, and it was a reasonable $26. Reasonable? In fact, many of the wines were rather expensive. While eight of our 20 bottles were $20 or under, seven were $45 or more, culminating in the $85 2004 Muntada from Domaine Gauby, our No. 5 bottle, surprisingly fresh with flavors of sour cherry and herbs. Gauby also produced our No. 4 wine, the 2008 Vieilles Vignes for $45, which we liked slightly more than the Muntada. Price may be a problem for the region. Producers say the hard work necessary to improve quality is costly, but how many are willing to pay $85 for a Roussillon? Our best value was a $12 bottle, the 2009 Les Vignes de Bila-Haut from Chapoutier, an excellent deal for an inviting wine. Allowing for our small sample, we did see a correlation between price and quality, with six of our Top 10 bottles costing $45 or more. We also preferred Cô de Roussillon Villages wines over the basic Cô de Roussillon, none of which made our Top 10. I came away feeling hopeful about the region, especially if you like big, robust, lusty reds. I.m also intrigued by the good things I.ve heard about Roussillon.s dry white wines, though I confess I have not had too many of them. And I would be remiss if I did not mention those vins doux naturels. Why not revisit their honey-scented pleasures? I can think of no good reason. Tasting Report Domaine Madeloc Collioure, $26, *** CuvéSerral 2006 Juicy, spicy fruit flavors tempered by aromas of tobacco and licorice. (Langdon-Shiverick, Los Angeles) Clos del Rey Cô du Roussillon, $60, ** ½ Villages 2006 Lush, fruity, herbal, mineral flavors; you can smell the sunshine. (Massanois Imports, Washington) BEST VALUE M. Chapoutier Cô du Roussillon, $12, ** ½ Villages Les Vignes de Bila-Haut 2009 Ripe and inviting, with sweet fruit, earth and menthol flavors. (HB Wine Merchants, New York) Domaine Gauby Cô du Roussillon, $45, ** ½ Villages Vieilles Vignes 2008 Pleasant drinking with rich, ripe fruit and earth flavors and a touch of funk. (Peter Weygandt Selections/Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, Pa.) Domaine Gauby Cô du Roussillon, $85, ** ½ Villages Muntada 2004 Fresh and bracing with flavors of sour cherry and herbs. (Peter Weygandt Selections/Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, Pa.) Domaine Cazes Cô Catalanes VdP, $16, ** Le Chalet 2008 Flavors of bright, high-toned fruit and smoke. (Monsieur Touton, New York) Domaine de L'Edre Cô du Roussillon, $45, ** Villages L'Edre 2006 Bright, fruity and dense, with plenty of power and a little heat. (Hand-Picked Selections, Warranton, Va.) Domaine des Soulanes Cô, $17, ** Catalanes VdP CuvéJean Pull 2009 Dense flavors of spicy fruit. (Peter Weygandt Selections/Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, Pa.) Clos ThalèCô Catalanes VdP, $45, ** Clos du Pêer 2007 Ultra-fruity and powerful, with lots of oak and tannins; tastes ambitious. (Angels Share Wine Imports, New York) Clos del Rey Cô du Roussillon, $45, ** Villages Mas del Rey 2006 Oaky and tannic, with rich, ripe, round and powerful fruit flavors. (Massanois Imports, Washington) My deep, underground revelation about Loire Valley wines By Dave McIntyre, Published: June 7 Wine lovers are always searching for the taste of terroir in their wines, but they rarely taste wines in their terroir. I experienced the latter . literally . in one of the strangest wine tastings I have ever enjoyed. It happened on a cold, damp day late in March last year, near Bourgueil, a small wine town in France.s Loire Valley. I was touring with Ed Addiss and Barbara Selig, the husband-and-wife team that is Wine Traditions, a specialty importer based in Falls Church, and Ben Peach, a friend of theirs who.d abandoned wine retailing in the District for life in France. Addiss had made an appointment with Sandrine Deschamps, half of a husband-and-wife winemaking team, who met us at her winery. But instead of showing us her barrel room and bottling line, Deschamps hopped into her SUV and led us through the winding streets of town and up the hillside to the Grand Mont vineyard, the highest and farthest from the river in the Bourgueil appellation. On foot, we followed her into a tunnel under the vineyard, into an old quarry that had provided much of the stone that built the town of Bourgueil. During World War II, the labyrinth sheltered Resistance fighters; Deschamps pointed out their anti-Nazi graffiti along one wall. About 10 years ago, she explained, a group of vignerons had bought the quarry with the idea of using it to store wine and developing it into a tourist attraction. Some vineyard equipment had been placed in a few alcoves; here and there, vine roots from the vineyard above snaked through the ceiling in their quest for moisture. But mostly the cave showed evidence of its previous incarnation as a mushroom farm. There was fungus everywhere: dripping from the ceiling like stalactites, oozing from the walls and encrusting the stone table on which Deschamps had arranged our tasting, for which there were several glasses and a few bottles of wine. .C.est champignons!. Deschamps said of her table covering. Nobody was tempted to pry some off for shaving onto our evening salads, however. The Loire Valley is known primarily for its white wines: crisp sauvignon blanc or muscadet and luscious chenin blanc. Cabernet franc dominates the region.s reds, though gamay, pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon and malbec make cameo appearances. For years, the reds had a reputation of being underripe and astringent. Warmer vintages over the past decade have made the wines riper but not ponderous, and some importers have crisscrossed the region searching for the most talented producers. At their best, Loire reds are fresh and invigorating, tasting of black cherry spiced with white pepper. They often have a smoky, savory, leathery quality I call .Grandpop.s library.. Chinon is the best-known area, followed by Saumur, Bourgueil and Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil. Unfortunately, Loire reds are underappreciated in our market and therefore underrepresented here. But try to find them. Their medium weight makes them ideal reds for summer, and their robust flavors can stand up to hearty meats in any season. They also appeal to wine explorers: those oenophiles who love delving into the intricacies of why wine tastes like it does. Bourgueil, for instance, is a small appellation, yet it contains three distinct terroirs, as Deschamps explained that day in her mushroomy alcove. (Visits with French winemakers often turn into geology lessons.) Those terroirs are marked by gravelly soil (gravier) near the Loire, clay mixed with flint (argilo-silex) on the slopes around the town, and chalky soil (tuffeau) on the plateau above the town, where we were standing. The wines progress accordingly from the gravier.s soft, supple and young-drinking wines to the tuffeau.s tannic, minerally wines with enough structure to last a decade. Deschamps.s own wine, the La Fontaine aux Fougeres Myosotis 2008, was made from cabernet franc grown organically in the mid-level, argilo-silex, vineyards. It showed clean, spicy fruit flavors and minerality from the flint in the vineyard soil. A few months later, this wine became part of the Wine Traditions portfolio, along with one from another producer, Bruno Dufeu, grown on the Grand Mont vineyard above our heads. True to its terroir, Dufeu.s wine is powerful, structured and age-worthy. As Deschamps led us from the maze of tunnels back into the sunlight, I realized that in a short time I had gained a substantial understanding of a small but enchanting French wine district, one well worth exploring. © The Washington Post Company Loire Valley red wines to try By Dave McIntyre, Published: June 7 Red wines from the Loire Valley show some diversity of grapes, but cabernet franc is the star. Unless otherwise noted, these are exclusively cabernet franc. They are also noteworthy for their lack of new oak. Loire vignerons apparently do not feel compelled to kill forests to make wine. Bravo! Unfortunately, these wines are not widely available in the Washington area; distributors told me that for some reason, they sell better in other markets. Domaine Bruno Dufeu Cuvee Grand Mont 2008 *** Bourgueil, France, $15 Wine Traditions: Available in the District at Cork Market; on the list at Cork Wine Bar and Petits Plats. Available in Virginia at Chain Bridge Cellars (formerly Cecile.s Wine Cellar) in McLean, J. Emerson Fine Wines & Cheese in Richmond. Domaine des Baumard Logis de la Giraudiere 2006 **1 / 2 Anjou, France, $20 This wine played tricks on me. It was nondescript at first . almost reticent . as if it were evaluating me instead of the other way around. But when it realized I wasn.t going to force it to fit a preconceived idea of what a red wine should be, it drew me close with enticing floral notes and a pure, mineral core. It is a blend of cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon. M Touton Selection: Available in the District at Rodman.s, Sherry.s Fine Wine & Spirits, Watergate Wine & Beverage. Available in Maryland at Bay Ridge Wine & Spirits in Annapolis, Wine Harvest and World Gourmet Wine & Beer in Potomac; on the list at La Ferme in Chevy Chase. Manoir de la Tete Rouge Bagatelle 2009 **1 / 2 Saumur, France, $15 Cabernet franc grown organically on chalky tuffeau soils, this wine exhibits all of the Loire hallmarks: dark fruit, savory tannins and a spicy, earthy tobacco note that lingers like a fond memory. Potomac Selections: Available in the District at Cleveland Park Wine and Spirits. Available in Maryland at Calvert Wine & Spirits in Hunt Valley; Mt. Washington Wine Co., Wells Discount Liquors and the Wine Source in Baltimore. On the list at B Bistro, Grand Cru and Helmand Restaurant in Baltimore. Available in Virginia at Arrowine in Arlington Au Domaine in Alexandria, Chain Bridge Cellars in McLean, Ellwood Thompson.s Local Market in Richmond. La Fontaine aux Fougeres Myosotis 2008 **1 / 2 Bourgueil, France, $16 Made from organically grown grapes, this wine is lively with floral, earth and leather flavors. It is nicely balanced and ideal for drinking now, slightly chilled, with burgers or steaks from the grill. Don.t forget the mushroom sauce. Wine Traditions: Available in Virginia at Arrowine and Whole Foods Market in Arlington. Domaine de la Colline 2009 ** Chinon, France, $15 M Touton Selection: Available in the District at AB Liquors, Circle Wine & Liquor, Cleveland Park Wine and Spirits, Rodman.s, Schneider.s of Capitol Hill, Watergate Wine and Beverage; on the list at Bistrot du Coin. Available in Maryland at Bay Ridge Wine & Spirits in Annapolis; Cork & Fork in Bethesda; Franklin.s Restaurant, Brewery and General Store in Hyattsville; Frederick Wine House, Old Farm Liquors and Viniferous in Frederick; Rodman.s in White Flint; Silesia Liquors in Fort Washington. Available in Virginia at various Wegmans locations, Wine Made Simple in Charlottesville; on the list at Zin in Staunton. KEY ***Exceptional .**Excellent.*Very Good -- ------------------------------ * Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * mobile : 651/645-0753 * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 * * james(a)brewingnews.com James.Ellingson(a)StThomas.edu *