thesprezzaturist

~ "studied carelessness"

thesprezzaturist

Tag Archives: French wine

Llum’s Yum

01 Wednesday May 2019

Posted by juleslewis in Wine

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

France, French wine, Grenache Gris, Le Roc des Anges, Llum, Maccabeu, Marjorie Gallet, Montner, Pyrenees-Orientales, Roussillon, Wine, Wine tasting

Don’t you just love it when you come across a wine that not only exceeds expectations, but positively confounds them.

Just as I was prepping my palate for a full body massage, and more fat than lean, it rocks up linear, with vibrant, yet delicate, fruit, tons of creamy complexity, an intense, and totally unexpected minerality, cut through with a rapier-like grapefruit acidity.. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of pep and brio, with more than a whiff of the Southern Rhone, but hardly the norm for a white made in the brutal summer heat of the Roussillon.

Le Roc des Anges – I’ll let you work that one out – sits in the village of Montner in the Agly valley, Pyrénées-Orientales, on the northern, exposed, side – and this is the key – of Força Réal mountain. This is tough country, dry and windy with notoriously poor soil, composed of old rotten schists – we all know a few of those!

All vineyard practices are traditional – other than some leaf thinning and essential pruning the ethos is strictly non-interventionist. Majorie (Gallet) describes the wine as a work in progress – but I think she’s being modest.

Simplicity and authenticity are her watchwords. A traditional press is used, vinification is in concrete – with the shape of the tanks, and the level of the fill, determining the gentle extraction – with maturation in concrete – which enhances the aromatic purity and freshness of the wine – and wood (for about 10% of the elevage) in the form of one-to-three year old barrels.

‘Llum’ (meaning light in Catalan) is a blend of Grenache Gris 90% and Maccabeu 10% from 70 to 100 year old vines and is slow to release the full extent of its beauty, only doing so as it warms and broadens in the glass.

Far and away my white wine of the summer – Llum’s Yum!

Advertisement

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • More
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

‘A Walk On The Wild Side’

26 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by juleslewis in Wine

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Aveyron, Clairvaux, Fer Servadou, France, French wine, Jean Luc Matha, Lou Reed, Mansois, Marcillac, Peirafi, red wine, Rodez, Wine, Wine tasting

793cd080-0322-45a4-9889-66579f1f4ec5

 

The wine market is a dangerous place to be right now, especially when 99% of products are imported and reliant on the relative strengths and weaknesses of the currencies from whence they come. If you lob a grenade on the value of those key currencies, you have to adapt quickly.

Do you offset the collapse of sterling, continuous inflationary rises and duty, by buying cheaper plonk, or do you accept that you have to drink less but better.

Personally, I don’t think that good wine is expensive, not because I’m rich, but when a couple of cappuccinos cost six quid and a pint of craft ale almost the same, expecting a naturally made, labour intensive, product like wine to cost just a few pence more is living in ‘La La Land’ – to quote a popular movie.

If I’m being forced to pay more for my wine, I don’t want that extra money to go on a factory made brand, I want to drink something distinctly different and jolly hard to get.

Let’s – in the words of the late, great Lou Reed – take a walk on the wild side.

Marcillac is a tiny, obscure, appellation near Clairvaux in Aveyron, north of Rodez,comprising some eight growers making wines exclusively from the Mansois grape, otherwise known as Fer Servadou.

For almost a thousand years vineyards were the base of the regions economy until they were devastated by phylloxera in the 1860’s. 

The style and, more importantly, the philosophy of the wines are closely connected with the area. Violet tinted, brilliantly fresh reds packed with redcurrant fruit, and an underlying, almost medicinal quality. The medieval citizens of Rodez used to drink Marcillac for their health because it was preferable to the local water.

Peirafi is Jean Luc Matha’s special cuvee based on rigorous selection of old vines fermented in open tanks then aged in well seasoned foudres for 20 months. It’s a big mouthful of forest fruits, spices and an almost mineral acidity, angular and refreshing with a sort of haunting earthiness.

Jean Luc says ‘I love working with the vine up on the hill. And just before I come down, I like to watch the sunset and see how the colours change….I breath and listen to the sounds around me…I am in the midst of nature and feel completely content. The earth, the vine, the frost, the rain and the sun. That, for me, is the beauty of winemaking.’
 

Now, that’s got to be worth more than a couple of coffees!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • More
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Recent Posts

  • Stakes & Stones
  • My Mate Marmite
  • The Joint is Jumpin!
  • Whimsicality killed the Cat
  • ‘Do The Macchiona’

Recent Comments

the #1 Itinerary on Stakes & Stones
juleslewis on The Joint is Jumpin!
the #1 Itinerary on The Joint is Jumpin!
Charlotte Whitta on The Joint is Jumpin!
the #1 Itinerary on Eau Naturel

Archives

  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • August 2018
  • December 2016
  • July 2016
  • May 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • August 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • December 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013

Categories

  • Art
  • Books
  • Food
  • Musings
  • Skate
  • Surf
  • Travel
  • Wine

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • thesprezzaturist
    • Join 91 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • thesprezzaturist
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: