Wednesday 14 April 2010

2007 Reds, Corks and Wine Boxes

The more serious 2007 reds have been emerging from producers cellars over the past year. I’ve tasted several in the last couple of weeks from some favourite domains - Mas Jullien (Jonquières), Aupilhac Montpeyroux, Ollier Taillefer Grand Reserve (Fos in Faugères), Mas Gabriel, Clos de Lièvre (Caux) and Treloar Three Peaks (Trouillas, Roussillon). They all make attractive drinking now; the tannins seem softer with the fruit more the red rather than purple end of the spectrum. They're certainly ripe, balanced, not short of concentration and, by Mediterranean standards, elegant. Recommended as a restaurant young wine choice.

The 2007 growing season was somewhat cool and the results are not unlike the 2002s, also a cool year although one that suffered harvest downpours to the east of the region.

Corks
I'm not going to even begin discussing the merits of various wine closures. Whatever the problems with tradition corks and corked wine, nothing beats the look of them. So what to do with all those pulled corks and, in the Languedoc, increasingly rare wooden wine cases?

Here are some ideas.

A sculpture with corks, part of a wine box
and a vine leaf


Or a bedside shelf with a wine box


Maybe some bathroom shelves


Perhaps a door fly screen



Or simply box in some pipes

1 comment:

  1. Do you know, Graham, I am always thinking about possible uses for corks and wodden wine cases, and you've come up with some good suggestions there. I must have thrown away literally thousands of corks over the last few years and wish I had kept them. I could have built a new house with them!

    My favourite use for the wooden boxes is to remove the end panels (the bit with the estate name on) and use them as place mats. I now have a full set of Trévallon place mats!

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