vinosseur

So I don’t update as often as I should (whatever that means). So, since I spontaneously write, as it should be, I decided to do a “live” tasting note.. That is, I am writing this as I taste the wine.. This opens me up to some critique perhaps?

Anyway, the goal here is few words, less education, and just to post

I got this wine from Pierre at La Verre Volé (Paris) the last time he was here in Bergen. I decided to crack the bottle tonight cause I felt like it and I thought it would be nice with this (wild soul on a bed of organic capers from the island of Pantelleria, fennel and potatoes..and a few other things):

Here are my quick tasting notes just to make it official:

Appearance: golden yellow – see photo

Nose: Medium intense, youthful and rich nose. When I nose this sort of wine, I feel right away that it is an organic/biodynamic wine with spontaneous fermentation (ok, Pierre gave this to me, so what else could it be?!) There is something about the expression of the wine that signals this for me right away. Hints of lees and yellow fruit, citrus and yellow stone fruit with a mineral lift giving the wine a fresh edge. Hints of alcohol on the nose. Jumps out of the glass at first.. I love wines that are alive!

Palate: A rather rich, dry palate with good acidity and a slightly bitter/mineral finish. Sits well long after swallowing. Again yellow fruit. Yellow berries and ripe citrus fruits. Hints of passion fruit? Nice food wine, not necessarily vin de soif. Well balanced. Well intrigated alcohol overall with just a hint of warmth at the end and at the back of the throat.

After just 15 minutes open the wine is tightening and becoming more citrusy and mineral on the nose and palate. The sweet, very ripe fruit I first nosed is burning off – and that’s good for me

I get sort of a Chenin Blanc feel with the wine even before researching what the hell it was I was drinking..

Ok. doing a bit of reasearch right.. At least I got the terroir correct (Loire). Wrong grape though, Chardonnay.

Be right back, gotta pop that fish in the oven!

Ok, here I am… So, I guessed chenin blanc. not sure why, just felt like it. But, apparently, it’s a whacky Chardonnay.  Oh well.. follow these links if you want to read more about this small bio producer from a small northern appellation in the Loire just outside of Orléans.

Mmmm…ton vin!

EATER

Ok, the wine has been open for half hour now… vin de soif!! Et voilà!

This must be the fastest post I have written…. until next time, drink wine that you like.

Clos de l’Origine – Marc Barriot

Marc Barriot, originally from Bandol, obtained his BTS in Viticulture-Oenology in 1995.  After obtaining his degree, Marc chose to travel the world to  hone in his skills and to gain experience.  He finally settled in Maury in 2004 where he now cultivates 10.5 hectares of vines spread across several communities: Estagel, Montner, Latour, Maury and Caudies.  He discovered slopes with magnificent old vines (min 65 yrs, except for the Syrah).  Marc maintains low yields in the vineyards and he works them with love with his mule.  He has been farming organically and biodynamically since the very beginning.   Most of Marc’s vineyards are certified organic from the 2009 crop. Marc vinifies his whites in tank and old barrels and the grapes are harvested “green” to promote acidity, and subsequently bottled the following year with minimal use of sulfur. Read the rest of this entry »

This wine is from the négociant business of Jean-Louis Chave, considered by many to be the top Hermitage producer.  The Saint-Joseph is called “Offerus” and the Côtes du Rhône “Mon Coeur”.  We are quite lucky in Norway to also receive small quantities of red Crozes-Hermitage thanks to the importer Christopher Moestue who’s an old friend and harvester.  There can be up to 9 suppliers of grapes for the “Offerus”, with each of the wines vinified separately in each grower’s cellar.  The wine is stored in 3-6 year old casks for 12-14 months. Only 50,000 bottles are made.  Oh yeah, and of course this is 100% (mature) Syrah     12.5% Alcohol Read the rest of this entry »

Domaine Cousin-Leduc

By now, you know the story. Biodynamic, plowing with horses, hand harvesting, spontaneous fermentation, long maceration and no SO2. A good friend of Patrick Desplats & Sébastien Dervieux at Domaine Griottes, Olivier follows basically the same methods (or lack of).  Domaine Cousin-Leduc is in Martigné-Briand which lies in the Anjou appellation of The Loire Valley (see map). Although The Loire Valley’s white wines reach a broader audience (think Sancerre), the reds are my favorite.

Date tasted: May 23, 2010 decanted at 1800  (I chose to decant this wine because the last time I tasted it about 6 months ago, initial aromas were dominated by oak and they took a few hours to burn off)

Appearance: Dark cherry red. Not much development showing if any at all.  Clear

Nose: Sponty, floral (light rose pedals), dark plums, blueberry juice with hint of raspberry and other red fruits. Not much development (I have not tasted a younger version of this wine, so there may be some development from that point of view)

Palate: Quite salty (& mineral) on the initial impression followed by under ripe cherries.  Very structured wine withdark fruit and hints of red fruit. Very light and fresh. Hints of leather and oak (just hints) and a slight bitterness on the finish.  Slight green notes (but not under ripe). Medium, ripe and juicy acidity and medium tannins.  Not much development on the palate either.

As we consumed the bottle, the salty, mineral notes stayed with the wine which I considered a positive characteristic of the wine and enjoyed it very much.

I last tasted this wine in November of 2009 and remembered the oak being a bit more dominant (although judicial by most standards). Today I found the oak to be quite well integrated and overall I found the wine to be very refreshing and drinkable.

Champagne Fleury S.A.

The Fleury family used to grow grapes to sell to other Champagne houses.  They stopped doing this in 1929 due to the financial crisis and produced their first vintage that year.  In 1989 they converted to Biodynamic viticulture – the first house in Champagne to do so – the first plot to convert being a small 3ha plot.  They were officially certified in 1992 and they had their first certified biodynamic vintage in 1995.  Today, they own about 15ha and purchase another 12ha of biodynamically farmed grapes. They have an annual production of approx 200,000 bottles. Read the rest of this entry »

Located East of Burgundy approaching Switzerland, the Jura is perhaps more “known” for it’s white wines made with the Chardonnay and Savagnin grapes.  For example, the slightly oxidized, “flor-enhanced” Vin Jaune.  However the “reds” made with the Poulsard grape (as found in this bottle), are perhaps more interesting.. At least to me..

After Pierre Overnoy retired, the Houillon family took over the domain. They have continued in the same manner as Overnoy (from what I understand). That is, as close to natural viticulture as possible and the same goes for the wine making.  No added anything here, not even my least favorite friend, Sulfur Dioxide.  I have tasted both the reds and the whites of Overnoy and I have to say they are amongst my favorite wines… of all time, placing comfortably in my top 9 list (coming soon!) of all time favorites.

For many years, the only wines of the Jura I had tasted had been those of Tissot. Although the wines of Tissot are good, they don’t approach the quality of Overnoy’s wines in my opinion. Tissot’s wines can seem a bit “dirty” by comparison (again, my opinion).

Date tasted:  Sunday February 21, 2010 18:45 (6:45pm) – Decanted

WOW!!!!

and…… 1 hour and 15 minutes later @ 20:00 (8pm)

HUH???

When I first opened this wine – it was exactly as I remembered it and expected it to be. A gorgeous, light red color not unlike what fresh squeezed raspberries or cranberries might look like. In fact, the similarities don’t stop here. The nose was of pure, fresh raspberries and cranberries with delicate spices.  Background aromas of cherries, stems and pits.  It had that typical “sponty” (spontaneous) nose and  was slightly volatile , in that way that we natural wine lovers really appreciate, helping those aromas float up to our noses.  Slight animal and mineral tones also noted on the very back. The same was found on the palate.

This wine was very alive and it was making me jump out of my chair with every smell and with every taste.

BUT, within a little over an hour, my friend and I were looking at each other and asking “huh??”. What the hell happened! The wine was almost completely dead.  I don’t normally decant a wine like this. So why the hell did I do it tonight? Was that the problem? First of all, I will never decant this wine again, just in case. Second, I will continue to drink the wines of Overnoy because they are so incredibly seductive. Finally, in the future I won’t take an hour to drink a bottle of Overnoy again!  Oh, I should mention that I had only brought the wine back with me from France two weeks prior – travel sickness??

Cheers!

Date tasted:  October 8th, 2009 at 23:00

The Philosopher Grower Vincent Gasse lives just outside the main village of Ampuis, in the northern hamlet of Verenay, in the AOC Côte-Rôtie.  From here he conducts his private campaign – to solve the conflict of making truly organic wine off slopes that crumble when you hand work their soil. Read the rest of this entry »

Mas d’Andrum

Date tasted:  September 13th, 17:05 (5:05pm) – 12.5% Alcohol with synthetic cork

The 17 ha Mas d’Andrum estate is located in the Costières de Nîmes AOC, in the South East corner of the Languedoc in France.  The Costières de Nîmes AOC was once considered part of the Languedoc region until 2004 at which time the Costières de Nîmes AOC was attached to the Rhône region since the typicity of the wines was more like the wines of the Rhône.

Mas d’Andrum was established around year 2000 by Stephan and Carolina du Toit of Mont du Toit Wines of the Western Cape in South Africa.  They enlisted the help of the late Bernard Breuer (Weingut Georg Breuer, Rheingau) and Bernd Philippi (Weingut Koehler Ruprecht, Pfalz) to get the project off the ground and it is my understanding that Bernd Philippi still has some involvement.

This is the very first vintage (2004) of the Andrumette and is a blend of Syrah and Grenache in equal shares. The grapes come from vineyards that are up to 50 years old.  The terroir is characterized by big red stones down to a depth of up to 8 meters called “galets”, similar to those found in the Châteauneuf du Pape region. The grapes were harvested at optimum maturity, hand sorted and vinified with the skins  for about 30 days in cement vats where the wine was left for two years.  The wine was bottled in 2006 without filtration. The price is 89 Norwegian Kroner. Keep in mind that taxes alone account for more than half the price of this bottle, so that being considered, this is a rather inexpensive bottle of wine.

Appearance: Clean.  Medium brick red with some browning of the edges in line with it’s  few years of age.  Medium  intensity.

Nose: Clean.  Medium to medium plus intensity.  Mature dark berries with hints of wild cherry.  Mineral and slightly oxidized.  Some rustic animal tones and cocoa emerging.  Very slight hints of olive and spice.   Medium to medium plus complexity.

Palate: Clean. Mature cherries and blackberries. Hints of wild raspberry lift the wine nicely. Medium minus tannins grip on the finish. Hints of spice and oxidation on the back end. Although this wine is quite light, fresh, and easy drinking, it has very good structure with medium complexity and a long, fresh finish.

Decanted and poured back in bottle at 17:20

17:50 (5:50pm)

Nose: Sour cherries really dominating with wild strawberries emerging – they weren’t there before.

Palate: Acidity has kicked up a bit while the tannins have softened..

My overall impression is that this is serious value for the money. In Norway, you have to be very selective when choosing wines that cost less than 100 Norwegian Kroner. You have to be extremely selective at under 90 Norwegian Kroner.  There are very few wines available in Norway at this quality and price level.

The Saering Grand Cru vineyards cover 27 hectares of which 20 are owned by Schlumberger. Varies in height from 260-300 meters. Approximately 40hl/ha yield.

Domaines Schlumberger

Date tasted: Tasted blind (involves tasting and evaluating wines without any knowledge of their identities) on June 14th, 2009 19:00 (7:00pm)

These are my tasting notes exactly as I wrote them the time of the blind tasting:

Appearance: Dark golden yellow.  Some development showing, but not much browning of the edges.  Medium to medium plus intensity.  Clean

Nose: Clean? On the nose, hard to tell if this is a good bottle or not, or over the hill.   Slightly oxidized, with hints of caramelized lemons.  Herbs and hints of petrol and minerals. Really ripe yellow apples, especially the core of the apple. I am guessing Alsace or Germany right off the bat based on the nose. We  are tasting this wine blind, so with the slight oxididative notes, we aren’t sure.

Palate: Dry. Medium to Medium plus acid. Good concentration. Salty hints. Quite developed. Guessing to be at least 10-15 years of age.  Quite a bit of weight. I’m thinking Pinot Blanc because of the hefty weight of the wine on the palate. Many people from this group are thinking it’s a Chardonnay, but the acidity is too high and it is not weighty enough in my opinion.

19:40 (7:40pm):

hints of that saltiness are still there. Smells a bit like blue cheese.

Nobody took this wine (that is nobody managed to guess what it was they were drinking), but many were in the Chardonnay camp. I of course didn’t peg this either. My guess was Alsace or Southern Germany and ultimately guessed Pinot Blanc.

The acidity was quite high, but not as a high as what I would have expected from a Riesling.  Of course, this wine was 26 years old, so the acidity had softened quite a bit, making it a bit harder to peg.  It didn’t help that I guessed this wine to be only 15 years old due to the overall freshness. It also had a bit more weight than a Riesling and hence I landed on Pinot Blanc – a grape that in blind tastings can be confused with the Chardonnay, or at times even Riesling.

I did notice hints of petrol on the nose as I indicated in my tasting notes, but age can play tricks on a wine and even other grapes besides Riesling can gain hints of  what we call “petrol” as they age, especially wines high in minerality.

We should all blind taste as it excercises a part of the brain that we don’t often use and can help us to better understand what is in the glass.  Plus it’s fun!

Cuvée Côt 2007 12% Alcohol – authentic cork

Friday July 31st, 2009 16:45 (4:45pm)

First thing I noticed upon opening this bottle is that of the 4 Clos Roche Blanche cuvée’s, this is the only one with an authentic cork. It was also the only one of the 4 that was vintage 2007; the others were 2008.  I was told, however, that even in the 2008 an authentic cork was used for the Cuvée Côt.

Appearance: Not quite as dark as the Cuvée Pif..  Have I tasted these in the wrong order??  Medium red.  Medium intensity

Nose: Dirt, dark aromas of plums, dark cherries, with hints of reduction. Some mineral nuances.  Medium intense and not as complex as the Cuvée Pif.

Palate: Ripe, dark plums and dark cherries. Hints of raspberry, but only hints. More bitter on the back-end than the Pif. Mild tannins..strange they aren’t more firm. Needs food. The least fruity wine of  the 4 Clos Roche Blanche cuvée’s I’ve tasted. Tannins getting firmer after a few minutes in the glass. Really craving some beef now..Medium to medium full

Saturday August 1st, 14:21 (2:21pm)

Appearance: No change but definitely lighter than the Cuvée Pif

Nose: Still slight hints of reduction.. Red plums and minerals at first. Only medium intensity. Interesting nose – floral

Palate: slight hints of spice and a mild nuttiness. Plums and cherries. Mild, elegant tannins. Acidity is medium to medium plus. Hints of raspberry and a nice long, fresh finish. More fruity than yesterday. Tannins are sticking just a bit and seem to be getting a bit more aggressive and they don’t feel as clean as the Pif.

Sunday August 2nd 20:48 (8:48pm)

Appearance: Same, still lighter than the Pif

Nose: A little less reduction and a bit less expressive than yesterday. Floral.  Today the nose reminds me of the Baga grape (rose pedals). Red plums and mineral and not a very giving wine.. Perhaps this is the wine that needs the most aging of the bunch

Palate: Quite fresh, plums and minerals. Still quite serious and not saying as much to me as the others are. Tannins that are sticking a bit, but the wine is quite fresh anyway. Hints of dark cherries as well. Really long finish that is very tannic. Possibly the longest finish of the bunch?? Wild berries

Monday August 3rd, 2009 23:28 (11:28pm)

Appearance: No change

Nose: Still a bit closed and not very expressive. Floral, wild berries.

Palate: Wild berries, hints of spice and mild yet gripping tannins with a slightly bitter finish. Still the least expressive of the bunch. Yet, mysterious.

Tuesday August 4th, 2009 00:31 (12:31am)

Appearance: No change

Nose: again flowers and wild berries,  but not totally open.

Palate: Wild berries and mild to medium tannins with a bitter aftertaste. Doesn’t seem like this wine will totally open up to me. Slight oxidative notes on the finish

Wednesday August 5th, 2009 17:35 (5:35pm) this wine is at it’s peak today

Appearance: No change

Nose: Flowers and wild berries. A bit more open today??  Mineral and black currant undertones. No reductive aromas.

Palate: Ah..seems a bit more expressive and complex today. Elegant wild berries with medium minus tannins. Good acid and length. The most improved of the group. Fresh berries also on the finish. Very mild bitter tones. Nice

Thursday August 6th, 2009 23:54 (11:54pm)

Appearance: No change

Nose: Mineral with black currants and oxidized notes on the back end. Closed compared to last night.

Palate: Oxidized a bit with black currants and a bitter aftertaste.Tough wine tonight and not enjoying it.

In summary, the Cuvée Côt was the wine that took the most amount of days to open and reach it’s peak. While the other Clos Roche Blanche Cuvée’s reached their peak on Sunday August 2nd, this wine did not fully open and reach it’s peak until Wednesday, August 5th; 3 evenings after the other wines. It was also the wine that once having reached it’s peak, had the shortest “life span” – only 24 hours. The other cuvée’s reached their peak more quickly and stayed open and enjoyable over several days.

Perhaps this wine was not meant to be opened just yet. Even though I love young wines, I felt that this wine would have have been more interesting in 3-5 years.