Domaine de Malavieille Permian Rouge

The Terrasses du Larzac's Domaine de Malavieille is just off the western edge of Lake Salagou close to Octon, home of the well known Mas des Chimères that shares a similar terroir. The landscape is dominated by a red soil and red rippling hillsides known, at least locally, as Ruffes. This is oxidised fine grained sandstone formed some 250 million years ago at the end of what Geologists call the Permian era. Mixed in with this is basalt from volcanic activity - the picture below was taken at the base of an eroded volcanic plug. A blend of Carignan, Grenache and Cinsault the 2006 Permian Rouge is the domain's entry red. It has gentle soft red fruits with suggestions of mint and a cherry stone finish. An uncomplicated but satisfying drink and good value at €6, although younger vintages will be a bit more and sport an all red label. Definitely on my distressingly short list of red wines with some interest and character for under €6. Malavieille has also been certified bio for several years. The domaine also makes a Carignan dominated red Le Mas de Bertrand from vineyards over the hill in the Saint Saturnin - Montpeyroux axis, a wine that also offers excellent value for that terroir.

Vermentino

Several northern white grapes have been planted in the Languedoc over the past 20 plus years. Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc along with Viognier from the northern Rhone are the most obvious examples, mainly driven by fashion and are hence easier to sell. Chenin Blanc isn't fashionable, but does well because it keeps its acidity.

Vermentino has its base in southern Italy. In the Languedoc it was, until quite recently, commonly referred to as Rolle. This is Vermentino's northern outpost where it ripens late and is more likely to result in a more mineral style of wine. While usually a modest proportion in a blend, I would like to see more near 100% Vermentinos made - I know of less than half a dozen Languedoc examples.

Chateau Malautié is in Aspiran between Pézenas and Picpoul country to the south and the Terrasses du Larzac to the north. Malautié is a long established independent in what is a fading bastion of Clairette and a cooperative that only supplies wine tankers. Their Vermentino is gently floral with a lemon balm background. It has all the acidity of Picpoul with the tropical fruits toned down a notch, plus at €6 is at a similar price point. I love it as an apero. The 12% alcohol is also welcome. Malautié also make an oaked version I haven't tried, but I did have a glass in a restaurant the other day of a young oaked Vermentino  Domaine Fons Sanatis from Saint-Jean de Fos in Terrasses du Larzac country. The oak transforms it into something different and it will no doubt gain in complexity, as it should for around €20.

An alternative in the Malautié mould is Domaine Saint Hilare on the edge of the Picpoul Appelation. I find their basic inexpensive un-oaked Vermentino by far their most successful wine.

Outside the region it may be easier to buy Corsican examples and, outside of France, look to Sardinia. Even so, they seem to be few and far between - something that should change.

Vendange manuelle

It’s surprising how many friends one bumps into at the excellent Pézanas Saturday market despite the crowds who flock there in season. The Cores from Mas Gabriel in nearby Caux (my previous posts here) were taking it relatively easy for a few days having bagged the Carignan Blanc vendage and were waiting for their red varieties to ripen. Would you like to come and do some picking? was almost a passing comment. After a quick assessment of my back (now improved having quit a 30 year career sat at a keyboard or in meetings) along with a “is this a polite invitation or a time of need call” I said yes.

The day started at 7 a.m. when it’s just light enough to see a bunch of grapes. The training course at three sentences was the shortest I’ve ever experienced. 1. Cut the bunches with the secateurs next to the cane as this will free two bunches at once (at least it does with Syrah). 2. Put the bunches into your bucket that can be emptied into cagettes (basically airport x-ray machine bins) strategically placed between the vines. 3. Finally, and most importantly, no grappons – these are small unripe bunches on thin tendrils resulting from later growth and flowerings.

Day 1 young syrah. Picking is done in groups of 2 or 3 to a row so the trained vine can be tackled from both sides and to make it a social event. Young vines are green harvested to give three bunches and avoid overstressing the vines. They also have relatively few leaves so easy pickings – this is definitely low hanging fruit. Picking was faster than tractor transportation to the winery so stretch breakes seemed frequent. Cloud rolled in by lunch time and kept the heat down. Before 3.30 p.m. it was job done. 1750 litres of de-stemmed grapes and juice. At the post analysis beer consumption meeting the forecast rain for the next day was discussed. Solution was to find an internet site (meteociel.fr) that wasn’t forecasting rain.

Day 1 sunrise

Off to the winery

Day 2 adult syrah. A few more vines and a couple of less pickers. Denser foliage and more bunches made for slower picking than transport capacity so less breaks. Young girl whizzes along with Edward Scissorhands action - turns out she's done some hairdressing. Post lunch was clearly an effort with concentration needing to overtake conversation. The sun was out now. Even so, by 4 p.m. it was job done.

Day 2 and job done. Unfortunately one picker is incapable of standing.

Meanwhile, back at the cave.

For a different perspective do see Rosemary George’s account of the Mas Gabriel white harvest.

Foire aux Vins

September is the season of the French supermarket “Foire aux vins” – wine sales. It coincides with vintage time, presumably as everyone needs to move stocks on and make space in the cellars and warehouses for more wine.

Midi Libre, the department’s daily local paper, devoted a full page to the matter. I was a bit shocked to read that wine from Domaine Henry (Saint-Georges-d’Orques near Montpellier) would be appearing in the sales. This estate is long established and right up there with finest of the region, making wines that deserve some ageing – I still have some 2001. The wines are only sold to cavistes and négociants and in this case have been sold on to a supermarket as they weren’t selling or an export order fell through. The article states the wine is 18,95 € “Foire des vins” price but only 16 € from the property, which will also be the caviste price.

This isn’t an isolated example. This Midi-Vin caviste’s blog is rightly keen to point out they sell Clos Marie L'Olivette (a top Pic St Loup estate) at 13,30 € vs. 15,50 € at a supermarket, although after deliver charges there won't be much in it.

Both the intermediary and supermarket are making money out of this at the expense of the consumer who presumably thinks "foire aux vins" means a bargain. Perhaps more worrying is that these are established wines that are struggling to sell. Maybe, but I’ll be optimistic and believe that the cavistes or négociant is taking the lazy route to shift the wine in these examples.

Note that non-foire supermarket prices I’ve seem are generally identical to a caviste’s.

The Grand new order of things

Anyone who follows the Languedoc wine scene will probably have read about the new wine hierarchy of Grands Vins du Languedoc and Grands Crus du Languedoc. Commenting objectively is tough as little has been announced.

The body concerned is CIVL (Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins du Languedoc) who translate this to “the joint trade council of the wines of Languedoc”. Note CIVL doesn’t cover Roussillon who may be observing this with bated breath. CIVL receive funding from anyone who produces wine in exchange for the right to label it “AOC Minervois” or equivalent, so it's reasonable to assume they represent winemakers interests at all levels. Their President is, after all, Frédéric Jeanjean who owns that giant of a producer Jeanjean.

The problem being addressed is that the Languedoc Appellation system is too complex, the result of gradual developments as more areas and sub-areas qualified for AOC status over the years. It needs simplifying and it needs to be clear to the consumer. In fairness to CIVL it’s a case of they’re dammed if the don’t and perhaps dammed even more if they do. To their credit they've made a move with the launch of the new order of vineyard areas, although some ratification is needed by the INAO – the AOC authority for all agricultural products in France.

The terms “Grand Vin” and “Grand Cru” are going to be recognised by any consumer of Bordeaux, Burgundy and Alsace. The Rhone and Beaujolais regions were more modest with simply named “crus” for the better areas or villages such as Gigondas or Fleurie. While “Grand” is quite a brazen tag, Languedoc wine is now in a global market and bold confidence is needed.

My initial reading of the announcement was like a schoolboy eyeing sports league tables – who was placed where. The Grand Crus are Minervois La Livinière, Corbières Boutenac, Saint Chinian Roquebrun, Terrasses du Larzac, Grès de Montpellier, Pic Saint Loup, Pézenas, La Clape and Limoux (still wines). The Grands Vins du Languedoc are Minervois, Corbières, Saint Chinian, Limoux (sparkling wines), Malepère, Faugères, Cabardès, Muscat areas and part of the Terroirs des Coteaux du Languedoc including Picpoul de Pinet.

My schoolboy reaction was how come Faugères isn’t a Grand Cru (and what have they done to upset CIVL), that Grès de Montpellier covers a large diverse area with few exceptional wines, and I couldn’t think of a wine from Corbières Boutenac. On further research it turns out some AOC sub-areas were created in 2005 including Boutenac and Roquebrun in Saint Chinian. Awarding them Grand Cru status seems consistent with that initiative, although why not Saint Chinian Berlou as well? On a positive note the catch all “Coteaux du Languedoc” disappears.

For wine lovers the real Languedoc is about the vignerons; the small independents or even the more interesting of the larger enterprises such as Paul Mas. The authorities are still sticking to the principle that quality of the terroir and restrictive rules about grape varieties is what matters in a classification. This was appropriate for a time when all wine was made in pretty much the same way before the technology and knowhow revolution. I’m all for terroir, but quality grape growing and accomplished winemaking must be in place first and foremost. Only then can it be about the all important efforts to make the wines express their origins.

For more on this and a winemaker's perspective do read Ryan's O'Vinyards Winemaker Blog

AOC nonsense

The subject of AOC, wine and the Languedoc would make anyone with hair want to tear it out. I came across a particularly poignant example on a French caviste’s web site. I won’t name the site (any French one has the same issues) other than to say it fronts premises not far from Montpellier and is strong on Languedoc specimens. The ‘catalogue’ has over a score of regions listed in France and beyond. Drilling down on the Languedoc section (Roussillon has its own entry) came up with the following: -

CORBIERES COTEAUX DU LANGUEDOC COTEAUX DU LANGUEDOC MONTPEYROUX COTEAUX DU LANGUEDOC PIC ST LOUP COTEAUX DU LANGUEDOC ST GEORGES D'ORQUES COTEAUX DU LANGUEDOC TERRASSES DU LARZAC FAUGERES MINERVOIS SAINT CHINIAN MUSCAT de ST JEAN de MINERVOIS VDP des COTES de THONGUE MOUT de RAISIN VDP d'OC VDP de L'HERAULT VDP de la VALLEE du PARADIS VDP des COTEAUX DU SALAGOU VDP des MONTS DE LA GRAGE VDP du MONT BAUDILE VDP DU VAL DE CESSE VIN de TABLE DU LANGUEDOC

I changed the order from alphabetical to illustrate my points - reducing confusion is impossible. The first half down to Côtes de Thongue, except Coteaux du Languedoc, at least indicate the area concerned although only locals will know St Georges d'Orques is near Montpellier and the Thongue river is to the west of Pézenas. Overlap occurs here because Monteyroux is in the Terrasses du Larzac and Georges d'Orques in Grés de Montpellier. Bad enough, but some producers in these villages opt out of the broader appellation, apparently as politics and villageism are more important than addressing consumer confusion.

That was supposed to be the easy bit to explain. Of the rest I didn’t know where the Paradis or Cesse rivers or Monts de la Grage are. Salagou and Baudile are in the Terrasses du Larzac. One famous grower in Jonquieres has wines in at least four of these categories. VDP de l’Hérault includes some of the finest wines in the region such as Grange des Peres. And so on.

My gold award goes to the wines in the Vin de Table category for presumably waving two fingers and the whole AOC/ADP/VDT system.

Arguably none of this matters for consumers who are unfamiliar with the region except that in France the merchants (and restaurants) have to use these headings and this is doing the Languedoc wine image, in France at least, no good at all.

I’m all for the idea of AOC in food products. The upbringing of a Poulet de Bresse or production of Roquefort has been honed over centuries and needs little if any fine tuning. I have some favourite Roquefort producers, but couldn’t name a single poultry farm so the AOC label coveys a great deal about the bird and justification for the price. Languedoc wine is at the other extreme and is simply changing far too fast for the AOC/VDP/VDT framework to be applied in the current form.

My vote for a way forward would be for labelling standards and diverting effort away from AOC bureaucracy to further tackling fraud and ensuring the label tells the truth.

Wine scoring

First the up front bit. Scoring wines isn’t an option for me. I simply don’t taste enough different wines often enough to be consistent in marking. The closest I get is at tastings where I may give relative scores in little more than a ranking exercise. The challenge is if, say, 90/100 is penned one moment then would the same score for a different, but of similar style, wine on another day mean the wines are equal quality? For a relatively short period in the mid-1980s I attended several tastings a week, so I can appreciate that with a high degree of palate exposure (or is that palate assault) one has a fighting chance of the calibration necessary for noting consistent scores.

There are other factors. I taste wine to decide whether to buy for drinking at home or, generally for expensive wines, because I’m curious or simply find it interesting. Professional tasters usually have to think of customers or readers. I try to be optimistic and seek out interesting qualities I like rather than look for faults, but marking is perhaps easier based on a subtraction principle - assume a “perfect” wine and deduct for what’s missing or even faulty. Even Robert Parker in explaining his adopted 100 point system states that the approach is a "very critical look at wine". When it comes to Languedoc reds some tasters find too much volatile acidity for their taste, but that's often part of the package with a hot climate.

Another challenge with scores is that actually drinking the stuff, as opposed to tasting, is much more than the wine. Expectations, company, mood, location, event, climate and weather, food (or not), glassware and even wines that came before influence the enjoyment factor. A tasting sample can woo, but back home after the first couple of mouthfuls the wine can be anything from too overblown and heady to flat and one dimensional – fruit driven reds and viognier have track records here.

All that said, I usually enjoy reading wine scores for wines I know or writers I am familiar with, as long as a score does not replace a tasting note and an insight as to whether the taster actually likes the wine rather than just admires it.

Richard M James’s excellent site (until recently subscriber only) and accompanying blog is strong on Languedoc, as it should be given that Richard is based in the region. He also proffers scores, although does state “First and foremost, I don't really like giving a score to wine”. More than likely this reflects the reality of being a wine professional.

Past its best - remains of a wine storage pot at the excavation site of the oldest known winery in France (dating from the 10th year AD) at Aspiran in the Hérault valley