With dinner guests last night we started the meal ( accompanying new season asparagus) with Domaine Mordorée`s wonderful Condrieu 2010…they own a tiny part of land up in the Condrieu aoc, alledgedly resulting in the most micro of production levels, just 600 bottles. Sensationally delicious and the perfect partner , bravo!
Great news… two superb domaines are now on board with the La Madelene portfolio. In Gigondas the Famille Brechet estate of Domaine des Bosquests , their Gigondas is a true thoroughbred; and in Chateauneuf du Pape the critically lauded estate of Grand Veneur ( Parker scores of 98/100 for the Vieilles Vigne 2007) - fascinating estate under the management of Sebastian and Christophe Jaume producing not only huge fruit forward Chateauneuf but also a great line up of “Negoce” wines covering Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Ventoux and their own large estate at Lirac “Clos de Sixte”. There are visits planned this spring to both these venerable estates, should be good.
Yesterday to Chateauneuf for the Spring tastings and afterward a special Masterclass on the terroir of the appellation: how the different soil types (limestone, clay, sand, and galets roulés) manifest themselves in very different styles in the glass. Fascinating session, very erudite explanation of the soil structures from wine geologist George Truc and a stellar line up of wines, all from the 2006 vintage…the stars for me were the Ogier “Eclats Calcaires” ( big structure , angular tannins, very mineral) and the final wine chosen to demonstrate the power of the galets roulés the “Clos Saint Jean” ( huge, round, packed with concentrated fruit, high in alcohol but all well balanced) - lovely complete wine and only the base cuvée of this very fashionable estate.
To the village of Vacqueyras last night to visit yet another great young wine maker Igor Chudzikiewicz of Domaine des Amouriers, a domaine of 30 ha, around half of which is aoc Vacqueyras, the rest Vin de Pays.. Igor is a Montpellier trained oenologue who spent time making wine in South Africa and in Australia before sharing the wine making responsibilities at Amouriers with manager Patrick Gras…tragically Igor`s father Jocelyn was killed in a motor -cycling accident in 1997. A fair indication that his wines cant fail to be interesting is that the domaine is a member of that eclectic band of personality driven artisan wine makers the “Toqués ” ( loosely translating as the “crazies”!), our prior guests will remember that Jean-Paul Versino of Bois de Boursan is part of this group as well as many of my favourite producers. So catching up with, and tasting , with Igor was for me, long overdue. I tasted three red Vacqueyras cuvées , an entry level “Signature” , an old vine, low yield “Les Genestes” and “Truffieres” a special cuvee with some smaller barrel aging - I also tasted their ( second attempt only!) new white Vacqueyras . My favourite: the full on “Les Genestes 2010 vintage”, packed with concentrated red fruits, great structure and balance, with a peppery spicy finish - a really class act this one. The white was no slouch either( a Grenache, Roussanne with a dollop of Viognier blend), perfumed, some glycerine, but good acidity, very fresh.This is certainly a domaine to watch…we will be visiting Igor to taste his wines from next month.
Yesterday to visit a fine artisan producer of Cotes du Rhone Villages Massif d`Uchaux: Chateau d`Hugues where the wine is made by owner Bernard Pradier and his son Bastien. The “Massif “is one of the up and coming CdRV aocs , benefiting from it`s higher altitude and a slightly cooler microclimate. For such a small estate, just 15 ha, Bernard produces a remarkably wide range of wines: various cuvées of reds , whites, rosé, fruit cordials and even a sparkler. I tasted the wines in Bernard`s charming caveau with its walls full of paintings by the man himself and his son. The reds are big, packed with ripe fruit and spice and with alluring garrigue aromas – I especially liked the “Grande Réserve 2007” (G&S ,no oak) and the barrique aged “L`Orée des Collines” with its truffle notes from the dollop of Mourvèdre. The white Péché de Vigne is delightful, oak vanilla and floral and peach from a Roussane/Viognier blend. Biggest surprise was a deep red Vin de Pays the “Vendange des Chefs”, a little animal on the nose; on the palate, rich mouth feel, smooth tannins , peppered black cherry – I think the only example of a 100% Merlot made in the Rhone valley that I’ve tasted and mighty fine it is too, …I snapped up a magnum (The 2012 Hachette guide agrees..lauding this wine of humble appellation but great personality with two stars). We hope to see more of M. Pradier and his wonderful wines ( not to mention very stylish labels painted/designed by Bernard) on our tours later this year.
Many of our past tour customers will know that shipping wine for our guests has been a source of some frustration as vignerons have understandably tended to be reluctant to take on the red tape involved in small export quantities. If you`ve been one of those who have gamely trudged home with a bulging, over weight, suitcase you`ll recall this well! That`s why we are delighted that La Madelene Rhone Wine Holidays has just signed up as a Rhone agent for the Californian based wine shipping specialist: Wineflite. This means that our tour guests can now purchase wine at the domaines we visit, stash the wine in our Vito and we will then look after the entire shipping process until the wine is delivered to your home address between 3-6 weeks later. Wineflite have been in business for more than 3 years and have extensive business already in place with wine stores, tour companies and private individuals in France. They are providing door to door shipping to 15 different countries, the US being their most important destination…the UK is in the pipe line. They offer 100% replacement in case of loss or break in “covering up to $500 per bottle” insurance. We at La Madelene will ensure your wine is securely packaged in purpose made styro packs. The boxes are trucked up to their Paris hub and then air frighted to the US etc.
And whats more its possible to get a 19.6% ( TVA equivalent) discount from our vignerons when using this service as the wine is being shipped outside the EEC…offsetting some of the shipping cost and making shipping even more attractive. We are looking forward to fulfilling plenty of orders this season.
Since Rasteau`s elevation to the Cru peerage in the summer of 2010 I`ve been seeking the right partner for our network in this wonderful appellation.. Today I met and tasted with Escaravailles wine maker and domaine owner Gilles Ferran…these are wines that I`ve long admired and I`m happy to say the domaine will be part of our tour programme this year. The domaine was launched by Gilles`s grand father in 1953 , Gilles took over running the estate in 1999 after gaining oenology qualifications at Montpelier. There are 65ha of vines, with 40 in aoc Rasteau, 7 in Cairanne, the rest in Roaix, Villedieu and Saint Roman. An extensive range , around a dozen different wines in all are produced here, covering all three colours, Vin de France through to special cuvée old vine Rasteau, and even including VDN Rasteau (an unusual VDN blanc is made alongside the more typical ambré). Gille`s former classmate at Montpellier , the now legendary consultant oenologue Philippe Cambie puts in his ten pennny worth. To characterize the style of the reds these are big muscular wines, very pure fruit with a notably sleek mouthfeel/texture ( especially so in the case of the two top varietal wines the “Les Hautes Granges” which is pure Syrah, and the “Héritage” which is pure Grenache). The wines we were tasting were from the excellent 2010 vintage , still way too young still, but showing tremendous potential. The quality of the whites shouldnt go unmentioned…I tasted the 2011 “La Galopine” from the barrel , a gorgeous rich mouthful of Roussanne, Marsanne and a dollop of Viognier. All lovely wines and a very charming host..our guests are going to enjoy visiting Escaravailles for certain, I`m delighted
Yesterday to Domaine de Cristia the Chateauneuf producer in the village of Courtezon just down the road from Janesse. I joined their UK merchant H&H Bancroft for a magnificent tasting. Amazingly Cristia only started estate bottling in 1999 so have just completed their 13th vintage…yet they are producing wines which some of their better known peers must be envious of. The estate comprises 16ha of Chateauneuf , mainly in the north east on a mix of soils,sand, cley , chalk , stones - there is another 9ha of Cotes du Rhone adjacant to Beaucastel`s Coudelet on the other side of the A7. The two principle family members driving the property forward are Baptiste Grangeon, the winemaker, and his sister Dominique , who seems to manage everything else and who hosted our tasting session. Dominique explained that much of the groundwork for Cristia`s current success is down to the hard work of her father who completely overhauled the vineyards, employing organic viticulture, allowing his children to take over first class assets when the winery launched at the end of the 90`s. The estate was fully certified as organic from 2008.
Tasting: We started with the 2010 Cotes du Rhone, “Vielles Vignes”, 100% Grenache, 50% in cuve, the rest in wood, 12 months aging, a humble aoc, very modest price (€9) but a wine showing the power and balance of the vintage -packed with juicy black fruits, herbal garrigue notes and little liqorice. A class act, reminded me of that other CduR which boxes out of its class Terre d `Argile made by their neighbours at Janesse. Next up was a comparison of the 2009 vs. 2010 vintages ( cask samples) for the classic CDP, the Renaissance and the Vieilles Vignes. The differences between the the two special cuvées and the basic? Both are from older vines, some circa 100 years, Renaissance gets 25% new oak, but key is cepage: the latter is 60% Grenache/30% Mourvedre/10% Syrah wheras VV is 100% Grenache and the tradition is 80% Grenache. The overall house style is one of polished power - the wines are huge in every dimension ( alcohol no doubt well exceeding the 15% stated) but tannins in both these vintages are ripe and the wines are approachable now though I would expect to see more integration of the oak on the Renaissance in a few years. The Vieilles Vignes 2009 ( only 4,000 bottles made) in particular struck me a real gem of a wine, one of the very best I have tasted from the vintage - deep ruby, on the nose already very open, sweet dark red fruits and spice, on the palate more super intense plum flavours combine with roasted expressso, liqorice, manages to retain balance and some freshness inspite of awesome weight. Differences between the vintages? : Though the 2009`s already ahead in appeal based on a little bottle aging there is no doubt that the 2010 vintage in CDP, based on the evidence at Cristia, is going to be a stonker - the power , the fruit and the structure are all there as per the 2009`s but if anything there is just a wee bit more acidity and freshness to cope with all that richness - in short potentially a nose ahead in terms of overall balance. We finished the tasting with two whites, the tradition ( very classic, light, mineral) and the Vielles Vignes , the latter 100% Grenache, deeply coloured , rich, viscous and quite delicious) but sadly Dominique explained that the white Grenache grapes from which it is made are giving over to reds ( commercial decision) so the 2010 will be the last vintage of this delightful wine.
Like her friend Laurance Feraud at Pegau Dominique also runs a “negoce” business…under the name “Cristia Selections”, they trade wines from Gigondas, Vacueyras, Rasteau, Beaumes de Venise and Cairanne.
And best of all…Cristia will be on our vigneron network for 2012 so our guests will be able to taste for themseves just how fine these wines are.
Our delightful - and super generous - wine tour client Benny Diaz who stayed here in the summer has just sent us a consignment of goodies to take the La Madelene kitchen in a slightly different direction this month - we have the all important Conchita “Mojo Criollo” marinade brand, some Frijoles Negres ( black beans), brown rice and a Cuban cook book to guide our way. Cant wait to get started…and what lovely guests, all arising from a dinner time chat revealing our appalling ignorance of Cuban fare.
James Molesworth of the Wine Spectator has been busy…in the November 30 issue, a special Rhone issue, he presents his verdict on the 2009 vintage. Overall he found the vintage “excellent…back on track…very consistent…” though he ends by rating the vintage a shade behind the great 2005`s and 2007`s.
Amongst the vignerons that we work with here are some of the wines that made the 90+cut from the many hundreds of bottles tasted :
L`Ameillaud Cairanne -90;St.Cosme Gigondas La Poste -95; Janesse CDP Veille Vignes -95; Mourchon Seguret Syrah family reserve -92; Roger Sabon CDP Prestige -94; Beaurenard CDP “Boisrenard” -96; Beaucastel CDP Vielle Vignes white-95; Cuvée Vatican CDP Reserve Sixtine - 91; Domaine Goubert @ Gigondas Favoris white -90; Grand Tinel CDP Alexis Establet -90; Chateau La Nerthe CDP white -92; Domaine de la Solitude CDP tradition white -91; Domaine Mordoree CDP Rein de Bois -93. Congratulations to all these and any i`ve left out…
For the full listing see: