Vendange 2011

I spent my first day grape picking this year at Régis and Christine Pichon's Domaine Ribiera in my village Aspiran. 7 am start yes, but at least there was no commute involved. To my surprise it was going to be Grenache and the 22nd August was believed to be the earliest recorded day for a Grenache harvest the village had know. That said, the objective was to make a fresh and expressive wine for drinking young which is not too rich and not too alcoholic. To achieve this the Grenache was being picked "early" and the instructions were to discard all unripe bunches that, by my estimation, amounted to 30% of the crop. Once it starts to ripen Grenache apparently ripens quickly so waiting until those 30% of bunches were ripe would mean 70% were overripe.

It occurred to me that passing through the vineyard a second time at a later date was an option, but as the photo shows, healthy leaf growth makes it near impossible to see and assess the ripeness of an individual bunch without actually cutting it away from the vine. The discarded bunches will return their goodness to the soil and vines so no waste, just loss. I calculated the resulting yield was around 30 hl/ha - the ideal spring flowering conditions have ensured a good crop.

The team were clearly experienced locals with the classy smooth action of hairdressers and speed of champion sheep shearers. 6 hours of picking had just one pause café when I managed to snatch this picture of the team (Christine had popped back to the cave).

No doubt I was expected to make my apologies but kept going and even helped with the destemming of the last batch before a very late lunch. Here the destemmed grapes will be pumped directly from the base of the machine into the cuve, a system that minimises exposure of the juice to the air.


Next up will be the Carignan blanc at Mas Gabriel. As white wine needs to be pressed immediately in one batch the picker's duties will be limited to the size of the press - a lighter interlude is in prospect.

Vinotaure (a Bio Wine fair)

Vinotaure 2011 is a Salon des vins Bio et naturels organised by Epicuvin, who describe themselves as a club of wine and gastronomy lovers from Montpellier. Overall this was a slightly disappointing showcase for Bio wines. Several producers offered poor value and there were also too many underwhelming wines, an observation magnified by a few notable exceptions. That said, "regular" wine shows in France are just as variable, but if you're going to have a Bio/Natural Wine event they need to excel and differentiate themselves in the glass as well as on paper.

The event took place at a rather soulless resort complex the Résidence Domaine du Golf near Fabrègues east of Montpellier. A navigation check on Google Streetview reveals a scene of bulldozed terrain - that's how new this regimented village is. Fear not though, the spacious tasting hall turned out to be near ideal.

There were 17 producers billed, including 10 from the Languedoc and Roussillon. About the right number although the majority were showing five or more wines. It was also worryingly quiet on the Saturday and several producers understandably vacated their pitch for a early and long lunch. A few didn't even turn up, at least for the morning.

There were no new "discoveries" to report at producer level, but there were some interesting individual wines.

I enthused about the 2008 red from La Réserve d'O back in April. Equally impressive is the white (2009?) lovely balance, fresh, clean yet complex with hints of white flowers, fennel and preserved lemon. Unusual blend of Chenin, Grenache and Roussane grown at 400m above Arboras in the Terrasses du Larzac. Sanssoo is a play on Cinsault (but also has some Syrah) and never sees sulphur so is natural wine by any definition (La Réserve d'O is also biodynamic). Harmonious ripe red fruits and unusually fresh raspberries - a flavour and berry rare in the Languedoc. Along with Mas Gabriel they were the star attendees with wines I'd be happy to, and do, buy.

Mas Delmas is at Salses-le-Château just north of Perpignan. I found the whites more successful and the Marie Delmas Muscat Sec, a blend of Muscat de Petits Grains and often derided Alexadria, the most interesting. It combined aromatic grapeyness with a backbone of earthiness and grapefruit peel. Their reds disappointed - jammy sums them up.

Domaine Mămăruta just north of Fitou is relatively near Mas Delmas. A white from 70% Macabeu and 30% Carignan Blanc showed best - a nice balanced seafood wine with a pleasant acidic bite. Otherwise an oaked nutty Muscat was a bit too offbeat and another white just apples.

Stella-Nova at Caux (Pézenas) takes low sulphur seriously and their white Les Pléiades 2009 from mainly Grenache Blanc and Clairette was a fine effort - delicate yeasty eldeflower. The red Mira Ceti is zero sulphur and I just noted cider.

Mas Zenitude is sited in the hallowed Montpeyroux/St Jean de Fos patch of the Terrasses du Larzac. Audace 2009 is admirably pure Cinsault. Fresh, not heady, nice mouth feel and quite tasty. Vent d'Anges 2009 is a well made carignan - ripe, soft fruit with some classy smoke and tapenade. Only problem is the RPQ (15€ and 20€ respectively).

Domaine Turner Pageot at Gabian is just to the south of Faugères. I found their whites different and a very personal style. For example La Rupture 2009 is an oaked Sauvignon Blanc with plenty going on - coriander seeds, preserved lemon, resins and cats. I returned later to try the reds and left with an impression of fruit driven wines with an oak backbone.

In the 1990 I was an admirer of Domaine Henry (Saint Georges d'Orques) who were on an early wave of the region's rising stars. The reds were always an oaked style and my personal taste has moved on. Nevertheless, I was shocked at how inaccessably woody they were. In their defence they are food wines that need ageing, but cheap they are not. The wines also seemed totally out of character if one of the objectives of organic practices is to allow terroir to express itself.

I didn't taste Abbaye de Valmagne having drunk quite a few in the recent past and always finding them a bit overworked and short on character.

One out of region wine demanded a mention. Domaine du Picatier is a Côte Roannaise by the upper reaches of the Loire. They make a nice fresh Chardonnay, easy drinking Gamays and a delicious, balanced gourmandaise Pinot Noir 2009 Auver-Nat-Noir.

Bordeaux getting worried?

Today's Midi Libre, a regional daily covering the Languedoc and Aveyron, had a snippet about a court case involving Château Taillefer in Pomerol challenging one of the leading lights of Faugères, Domaine Ollier-Taillefer, over their use their name. After a year and a half the tribunal at Bordeaux is reported to have ruled in favour of the family from Fos.

Considering Ollier-Taillefer has been the name for the Domaine and bottle labels for over 10 years its curious why this challenge has been so long in coming. Perhaps the continuing rise of Languedoc independents is starting to be seen as a threat that justifies court action. The tide is turning?

Too hot for reds?

As inside temperatures, even in the evenings, edge above 25 deg. (77 °F) plus then common wisdom dictates a regime of rosé or dry white wine. Nothing wrong with that, but as a lover of reds these can be tough times. While white and rosé make fine aperos, not moving on is like a cricket match with the second innings rained off.


This season I've been much bolder at putting a bottle of red into the fridge for an good hour or so followed by a move to a wine cooler and all seems to work just fine. The wine quickly warms up when poured and the evolution in the glass takes on a few more stages that warmer wine ever can. It's also more refreshing. I'd hesitate to try this on a fully mature bottle, wines proffering a good dose of primary fruit do best as do those where the oak is low key. A hit so far.

Intercep Protection

These young Vermentino vines at Mas Gabriel enjoy a home built solution to weeding and lunching rabbits, hares and the like. Hundreds of metal bars have been bent into a hoop and supported by a central bar attached to the trellis. The blue net is a common solution to deterring the hungry while the metal enables the use of an intercep for weed control - a special plough that uproots weeds growing between the vines. An intercep happily bounces off and around a grown stump, but these vines are barely thicker than pencils.


While this construction requires considerable work, the prospect of weeding young vines by hand is equally daunting.


Growing at the base of the vine on the right is perslane (pourpier in French) - one of the finest wild salads there is. Being biodynamic perslane it was manually weeded for lunch.

Outsiders Revisited

Outsiders are a group of some of Languedoc-Roussillon's best and most creative producers who have relocated to the region. The tasting last November in London was a wine highlight of the year. A few members were at the London International Wine Fair to support their importers and wrapped up one of the long days with a get together, along with their founder Louise Hurren, to say a few words, chat and share a few bottles.

This was a chance to drink rather than taste. The newest Outsiders member is Domaine Sainte Rose - with the exception of La Grange de Quatre Sous the one I've known the longest, starting with Charles and Ruth Simpson's first harvest back in 2002. Les Derniers Cépages 2009 is from late ripening Mourvèdre and Petit Verdot and has heaps of velvety ripe black fruit with just the necessary tannic grip. La Garrigue is a classic Languedoc blend - Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre, and a favourite red. I have bottles going back to 2002 but the 2007 has refined elegance with a wonderful fresh finish. Domaine Sainte Rose is north of the axis between Pezenas and Béziers in the Côtes du Thongue. This is also one of the region's most suitable white wine areas - their whites are just as good. Easily the best value Languedoc available, and as it happens widely available, in the UK and elsewhere.

Domaine Jones can only be described as a micro domaine at barely over 3 hectares in some of the wildest terrain imaginable. The product is simple, a Grenache rouge and a Grenache Gris blanc. The Jones Blanc 2009 was the most enjoyable wine I'd tasted all day. Since last November it seems to have relaxed a bit while retaining its extraordinary mineral structure and discreet savoury interest. Do read Katie's blog.

I rarely come across wines from La Clape, a rugged coastal ridge near Narbonne. Along with Banyuls, it's the only Languedoc-Roussillon red wine area near the cooling sea. The reds have an almost haunting perfume about them - lavender is the best association I've read. I need to get used to their character and the Château d'Anglès Rouge (2009 I recall, mainly Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre) is something I appreciate the more I try it. It combines softness with structure perfectly.

Sud de France Prestige UK wines

At the London International Wine Fair Sud de France were showing their prestige selection of 42 Languedoc-Roussillon wines that are available in the UK. A varied panel of 11 influential names from the UK wine scene made the selection by blind tasting 200 wines presumably submitted by participating distributors. Now 200 different wines sounds and is a lot, but for a start this is a region with over 20 recognised areas plus near infinite Vin de Pays tucked in and between. Multiply this by factors such as red, white, sweet, rosé, aromatic, mineral, oaked, full bodied, fresh, mature - let alone grape varieties - and you get the picture.

The 158 wines that didn't make the selection aren't disclosed but knowing the lists of some of the importers all could equally have made the selection. Either by chance or some judging fine tuning, the 42 do project a diverse but balanced range of styles and a good spread on the map.

I came across the stand late and wished I'd discovered it earlier, so didn't taste them all. Still, my personal highlights and observations were: -

• Plenty of boutique growers were represented alongside some of the big name producer/negociants.
• Four terrific Rivesaltes Ambrés - natural sweet wines usually from Grenache Blanc and/or Macabeu from around Perpignan. Totally underrated wines that are clearly easier to find in UK than much of the Languedoc. Good move to show four to make a point. Surprisingly there was no sweet muscat in the line up.
• Nice to find a couple of cool Orb valley (Bedarieux) masterpieces from Domaine de Clovallon, including the Les Pomarèdes 2008 Pinot Noir.
• Virgile Blanc 2005, Domaine Virgile Joly I'd tasted at Dudley & de Fleury Wines and again showed how brilliantly complex a Languedoc white can be.
• The fresh and vibrant white Mas Bruguière Les Mûriers 2010 has scored twice by also showing at the overlapping London Natural Wine Fair
• I was disappointed with Château de la Negly "La Falaise" 2008, a wine I'd enjoyed in the past but this was too much of an inky blockbuster. Maybe the wine has changed, but more likely my taste has moved on.
• Others I'd put in this category include a 100% Syrah (not sure the excellent spiral bound booklet is accurate on this) 2007 Domus Maximus, Massamier la Mignarde from reputed Minervois la Livinière. Hot, heady and spicy - perhaps aimed at those prepared to lay it down.

A thoroughly professionally presented line-up that seems to have been kept a bit of a secret. Fingers crossed I'll get another chance and taste a few more of them.