Clos du Caillou Cotes du Rhone Bouquet des Garrigues 2008 was a stunning surprise to guests at The Vine wine dinner at Mosaique in the end of April. Fabulous and fantastic value, above all it combines surprising elegance, finesse and complexity for a Cotes du Rhone and yet is more restrained, much less ‘sweet’ and soft than previous vintages. What’s going on?
Winemaker Bruno Gaspard and owner Sylvie Vacheron at the Decouvertes, March 2011
Having attended an ‘Off’ the previous night at the fabulous Chateau de Beauregard, at which i brought my total wines tasted for the first 3 days up to 600, day 4 started with me feeling jaded.
the setting for the toques des dentelles tasting at chateau de beauregard
After 2 days in the Northern Rhone, I was glad to be back on home turf withall 3 of today’s tastings sited within 10 minutes of my home base. 170 wines tasted today…
I headed to Gigondas first and had tasted 60 2010 samples before 10am. Wow! was my immediate response to this vintage.
60 Gigondas 2010s
In Mauves, in the heart of St Joseph, I tasted 60 wines from Cornas, StPeray and St Joseph. Standouts included Coursodon’s killer 2009s, with intensely rich fruit to the fore, opulent yet floral and perfumed, too, with terrific persistence and texture; Jerome was showing Silice, L’Olivaie and La Sensonne but not Paradis St Pierre (perhaps something to do with a RP score of 95-97?!).
Jerome Coursodon
Hermitage, St Joseph, Cornas, St Peray and Crozes-Hermitage, these tastings took place in 3 venues, each about 15 minutes drive fromeach other, which was a bit unfriendly, especially when trying to tasteover 150 wines.
It’s about 100 minutes up the A7 autoroute from my base in Vacqueyras tothe atmospheric steep hillside vineyards rising over Ampuis. By 10am, I was into Cote Rotie and tasted 120 before lunch. Mostly it was 2009 on show, with a few 2008s.
Entry
A few other thoughts, and great wines tasted.
If this is the future of ‘bio’ wine, then good. Once upon a time, indeed until quite recently, ‘bio’ seemed to be the preserve of those who used the phrase as marketing without necessarily understanding how to make good wine. Much ‘bio’ wine appeared thin and weak, made from un-ripe grapes, was volatile, oxidised etc. ‘Vins naturels’ often, not always, suffer, ironically, from tasting more or less the same and thus hide or deny their ‘terroir’ or identity of place.
The Vine sent a message to all our producers to tell them that we, staff members, families and friends, and our customers so far as we know, are fine, if shocked and saddened by the earthquake and its results…
I am touched by how many messages of support and concern we have had, not only from our suppliers but pretty much everyone I have met while travelling in europe, including the local butcher, baker, fruit and veg shop, other shopkeepers, hotel and restaurant workers, so many people.
In particular, some messages:
Agnes Henry of Domaine de La Tour du Bon, Bandol:
Hello
I’ve been riveted to the news on television and radio. Nature has hit seriously hard. The japanese show a calm which inspires our admiration. We are not made of much, what a lesson… I wish you all the courage and strength to face the challenges.
See you soon, agnes
Jean-Paul Versinon of Domaine Bois de Boursan:
We all stand with you, our Japanese friends, the Japanese population, we wish you much courage and hope that you can recover quickly. We look forward to seeing you very soon. We embrace you strongly.
Jean-Paul Versino and his family
Thierry Faravel of Domaine La Bouissiere:
I’d like to say a few words of support at this very difficult moment. We think alot about you and knowing nature as we do, we are sure you will overcome the current difficulties – we hope inspired a little by our wines – and we look forward to coming to visit you and seeing you here very soon. To your health!
Corinna Faravel of Domaine La Martinelle:
We have been following very closely what has been going on in Japan over the last week, we have been tremendously shocked; we admire your courage, the only thing we can say is that we encourage to do your best and that everything will come back to normal soon and we hope to come and see you and hope to see you here very soon.
Thierry and Corina Faravel
Clos Perdus
Hugo Stewart was there to present Clos Perdus wines. He confirmed that they’re making Le Rouge and Le Blanc again in 2010. Looking forward.
Their 2008 was excellent and great value. Tasted L’Extreme Blanc 2007, a Grenache Gris based wine. I’ve always found this impressive but slightly angular – and expensive. Brilliant wine but not as lovable as I’d like it to be. Then on to the reds, which were very lovable.
Bertrand and Claudie Cortellini were showing their wines here.
I tasted the lovely entry level Cotes du Rhone, Feuille de Garance 2010, to be bottled in March. Fresh, fruity, pure, it’s a pleasure wine. Kind of similar to Espiers but lighter-toned, more red fruit and fresh herbs.
