Posted On November 10, 2009 at 4:41 pm in Loire
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One of the wine blogs I regularly read is Jim’s Loire. Written by Jim Budd, a photographer and contributor to Decanter magazine. His blog is an excellent resource for Loire wine producers and for visiting the Loire valley.
He reviewed the Domaine Bouchie-Chatellier and had this to say about 2006 “Premiere Millissime”: Much the most interesting of the three wines (admittedly the richer 2006 vintage not 2007) with richer, softer fruit, spice and complexity. This is a Pouilly-Fumé to drink with food and should age well over the next four or five years.
Jim’s Loire
Posted by Greg Roberts · Tags: Bouchie Chatellier, Jim's Loire, Loire, Wines · No Comments »
Posted On November 6, 2009 at 8:50 pm in Languedoc
The hard work in the vineyards that Stephanie Chanot and her team have done over the past four years is starting to show results. When Bernard Kohler bought the estate both the winemaking facilities and the vines had been neglected for years. The vines had not been properly pruned and many were over-productive. Thankfully, rather than pulling them out as was recommended they kept many of the old vine parcels including one 60 year old parcel of Mourvedre.
The summer heat continued well into September in the Languedoc. Despite the lack of rain yields were average this year. Grapes were perfectly healthy when harvesting began on August 28th. Due to the favorable weather and excellent quality of the grapes harvesting was able to continue to October 13th.
1792: The new cuvée:
Chateau Moyau has its origins from the Middle Ages. Legend has it that the original settlers were pirates whose leader answered to the name Moyau. Another story claims that Moyau is derived from the word marais or marsh. A 1792 map documents the presence of a village called Moyau then called Mautÿa in the Occitan language. Some of the buildings at Chateau Moyau date to this time.
1792 is a Grenache based cuvée: full-bodied, soft nose with notes of woody undergrowth, truffles and black fruits. Its starts with a freshness in the front of the mouth and releases fine complex aromas and powerful tannins
Posted by Greg Roberts · Tags: Languedoc, Moyau, Wines · No Comments »
Posted On October 23, 2009 at 1:08 pm in Paris Tastings
The Salon des Professionals du Vin at Pavillion Dauphine was held this past monday in Paris. It was a manageable sized tasting of 30-40 producers from every major winemaking region. The event is held principally to attract wine shop owners and restauranteurs in Paris area but there were also others like me looking for interesting new wines to bring into the US and other export markets.
Pavillon Dauphine near the Bois de Bologne in Paris
I ran into a colleague there who has imported wines into the US for 30 years and he explained that he has recently started exporting French wines to China. He spoke about the difficulty of with getting deals done with his counterparts which would be all but impossible without the help of his Chinese girlfriend. Hong Kong is fast becoming a center of fine wine auctions since it eliminated all duties and taxes on wine. Most of what he’s selling is the very cheap stuff to mainland China.
Big wine brands far and wide salivate about establishing a foothold in the worlds largest consumer market where wine consumption have grown 61% since 2003. Tastes lean toward red wines and wine drinking is seen as a sign of wealth on prosperity. France so far has done quite well accounting for 40% wine imports. A Bordeaux producer I recently spoke with was just signing a long-term contract to supply 30% of his production to a Chinese company. A friend of mine also knows a French wine agent based in China who has sold dozens of forty foot containers of inexpensive wine in China. Besides the fine wine collectors based in Hong Kong much of the current opportunity in China seems to be for the mass produced plonk.
It will be interesting to see how the market develops over time. Will it be dominated by big brands? Will Chinese consumers’ tastes evolve away from mass produced cheap wine? Will more independent importers and distributors of small production wines find a way to become established there?
Some Highlights from the tasting:
Le Domaine des Masques, Cuvée Essentiele, 2007, VdP Bouches du Rhone
Interesting blend of Syrah/Cabernet – good new world style with lots of fruit, grapes from cooler high elevation sites in southern Rhone.
Domaine des Roches, Cremant, Blanc de blancs 2008
100% chardonnay, 6 months bottle aging, dry, very good acidity, biscuity, lemon-lime flavors
Posted by Greg Roberts · Tags: china, france, tastings, Wines · No Comments »
Posted On September 28, 2009 at 5:10 pm in Alsace, Paris Tastings
The trade group of promoting Alsace wines, CIVA, recently sponsored and excellent tasting at the Atelier Richelieu last week. Forty-five wines were blind tasted and selected in advance for presentation to trade professionals at the event. Chef David Van Laer created tasty food pairings from oysters, Alaska king crab, dried sausage and cheeses.
Overall many of the Crémants d’Alsace were a little too sweet form my taste. Although Pinot Blanc is the dominant grape in most Crémants d’Alsace, I tasted an excellent 100% Riesling crémant from Domaine André Dussourt. It’s aged 15 months ‘sur latte’ and combined tart apple with slightly, petrol-oily flavors and a dry finish.
The other standout was from Domaine Greser’s 2007 Riesling Grand Cru Kasteleberg which was dry, floral nose with tropical favors.
Observations:
Some producers are doing themselves no favors in export markets with very traditional wine labels that haven’t been updated since the 1950′s.
What’s the best technique for holding a wine glass, a small plate and using a fork while standing?
Best food pairing: Alaskan King Crab with grapefruit paired Domaine Henri Schoenheitz Riesling 2006
Fragrant (smelly) Munster was paired Gewurztraminer
Posted by Greg Roberts · Tags: Alsace, Riesling, Wines · No Comments »