Mourvèdre — Paroles de vignerons - Vinparleur

And what to do if you can’t decide between vineyards and sea?

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

Quite simply: Drink wine from Pierre Cros! The talented and visionary winegrower from the Minervois prevented our tormenting choice when he created his cuvée “Entre la Vigne et la Mer” (between the vineyards and the sea) years ago, inspired by the rhymes of a local young rapper named TOAN. A sleek yet efficient blend of Syrah and Mourvèdre, terroir and hip hop, a truly modern and universal wine.

After first offering an intense, down-to-earth bouquet of black currants, sour cherries and a hint of forest scent, he plunges unexpectedly into the freshness of the sea, coming up with salty, smoky and mint-like aromas on the palate. Tannins are still young and grippy, but they are well accompanied by an energyzing acidity and smoothness. A wine that opens your appetite and quenches your thirst!

Several years of cellaring will make this somewhat boisterous Languedoc surfer a wise, Jack London-worthy sea-wolf. So whether you enjoy it young or after a few years of ageing is ultimately more a matter of taste and style. However, you should definitely enjoy it, because this wine is really good!

FOOD MATCHES FOR HERBIVORES: definitely root vegetables for this “Roots wine”: roasted in a pan, grilled or baked in the oven ... with Parmesan cheese, goat cheese and roasted onions. And you really need a sauce that you can dunk with a toasted slice of fresh bread!

FOOD MATCHES FOR CARNIVORES: A lamb shoulder in the oven, with herbs, garlic, black olives and fried potatoes.
“La vie en rosé...” With Pierre Cros

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

Rosé wine now is considered a full-fledged wine, embellishing fresh salads, fish, cheese, exotic dishes, as well as hilarious moments amongst friends all around the year. However, some “typical” rosé wines can still be described as exemplary summer wines, which only intensify our desire for sunshine, swimmingpools and farniente.

The Cuvée “Tradition” by Pierre Cros is one of them. With ease, it seduces with a very bright and shining color and a scent of red fruits, candies, peaches and a touch of tonka beans. Soft and fresh on the palate, with a bit of roundness and a slight bitterness in the finish, its a perfect accompaniment for the aperitif by the pool, together with a few olives and a piece of Cantal Entre-Deux, a full flavoured and spicy cheese from the French Massif Central. Lay back and relaxe, summer is here!

The Cuvée “Partouze”, a successful blend of old Mediterranean vine varieties (Picpoul, Rivairenc, Aramon, Morastel), shows more acidity and citric flavours. A lively rosé, which craves for grilled fish and mussels.
Between the vines and the sea, between Pierre and Toan

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

You don’t need to travel to New York to meet good wine and rappers. Both can actually be found in the Minervois. It didn’t take more than an encounter between the winemaker Pierre and the rapper Toan to find the name and the history for the new Cuvee Domaine Pierre Cros.

The wine is an equal blend of Syrah and Mourvèdre, fermented and aged in large wooden tanks, with an intense and full bouquet: wild berries, raspberries, blueberries, mixed with cinnamon and black pepper. An unusually fresh and cheerful fragrance for this otherwise more serious grape varieties. Crispy and fresh in the mouth, round like ripe fruit and with subtle, pleasant sweet tannins.

We recently drank the wine well cooled to round off a warm late summer evening. Delicious! But the wine will feel especially comfortable at your table or in the cellar to age a couple of years.

FOOD MATCHES FOR HERBIVORES
An eggplant casserole will remind him of his home, a vegetarian lasagna will bring him to advantage, a risotto with caramelized carrots, fresh boletus mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan will honour him.

FOOD MATCHES FOR CARNIVORES & PESCETARIANS
As a young wine, he loves grilled meats and roasts. In autumn and winter would love to warm himself up on a fresh mushroom pan with bacon or on a hearty stew. Fish lovers should try fried pike perch with bacon and capers.

SOUND MATCH
A good glass of... Habemus Papam 2012 - fine stuff from Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

When a winegrower from Gigondas infers his expertise to the stony and sandy soils of La Crau and the Saintes Vièrges, a refreshing breeze seems to rise on these terroirs of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Bottled since spring, the 2012 vintage is living proof!

Its color is soothing: blood red, very clear, with a slight touch of purple. The first nose is very fresh, very fruity, followed by a relatively quick opening on sweet spices, pepper and balsamic aromas. A young and tonic bouquet, that lingers for long time on the palate.
Slightly salty, the wine has a stony, chalky structure. Hard to tell if this is due to its mineral character or to its delicate, very fresh and young tannins. Hard to tell also, because this Grenache and Mourvèdre based wine, already delicious but built for the future, seems in no hurry to reveal all its secrets.

The solution? Be patient, find him a place in your cellar and make it your dinner companion for the next 10 years.

HERBIVORE SUPPORT: roast vegetables, fried mushrooms or a smooth curry made of seasonal vegetables ...

CARNIVORE SUPPORT: Veal cutlet with red wine sauce, filet mignon with mustard and guinea fowl with morels in its youth. Pheasant saltimbocca alla romana (wrapped in sage and prosciutto), roast pigeon with porcini mushrooms and matured cheese like « Epoisses » after a few years of aging.
Let’s look at what happens at the time of bud burst. #wine #vineyard #grapes

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

Vine leaves its winter rest according to a fairly well established « protocol » that already starts in winter. Everything begins with so called « tears », drops of water that appear on pruning wounds. They indicate that the roots of the vine have completed their winter sleep and become active again, pushing water up towards the wood. The number of weeks that may pass between appearance of the first tears and bud burst varies, because the internal clock of the plant depends on soil temperature and length of days. When all the external conditions are favorable, the vine wakes up and starts the new vintage.

All varieties are evolving at their own pace. Beyond their sensitivity to external factors, they also have a kind of internal clock, included in their genetic code. Depending on that natural “biorhythm”, we distinguish between early and and late ripening varieties. What matters to us in the end it is to pick the grapes from each vine at their optimum maturity to create our wines. That’s why it’s useful to know the ripening period of varieties we plant. Thus, based on comparison with the Chasselas variety as a standard, grapes have been classified as first-, second-, and third-phase varieties, according to whether they ripen at the same time, 12 days later or 24 to 30 days laters than Chasselas grapes if grown under the same conditions. This classification is also called Classification Pulliat, according to a French ampelographist of the XIXth century.

Short cycle varieties are traditionally established in cool wine regions and grape varieties of longer cycles in warmer regions. Of course, the short-cycle varieties show some tolerance to a warmer climate, as there is some good Chardonnay and or Cabernet to be found in warm wine regions, and Viognier, a very aromatic white grape from Condrieu in the northern Rhône Valley, since several years is extending into the Mediterranean vineyards. The installation of third-phase varieties in cold regions, however, is more difficult and sometimes impossible, because their grapes simply do not arrive at maturity.

But let’s look at what happens at the time of bud burst. The buds open in days and unfold the first leaves. But that’s not all. They also contain the tiny grapes, that will be picked five or six months later. In other words, the buds that are bursting at the moment around the vineyards of the northern hemisphere, already contain the harvest of this year. That is why winemakers are particularly concerned by frost or hail in spring. While these two phenomena rarely put the plants in danger, they may still seriously affect the harvest of the year.
Gigondas 2004 tasted by Jeb Dunnuck

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

Crème de Cassis and spring flowers!

When visiting the region earlier this year, Jeb Dunnuck from the Wine Advocate took a close look at the 2004 vintage in Gigondas. Here are his impressions on our wines:

Santa Duc Tradition 2004
Easily one of the top estates in Gigondas, Yves Gras’s Domaine Santa Duc produced one to the top wines in 2004. His straight 2004 Gigondas is a blend of 75% Grenache, 15% Syrah and the rest Cinsault that was aged in foudre and large oak tanks. Coming from a variety of terroirs, it offers a rich, meaty profile with notions of spiced meats, roasted herbs, sappy spring flower and assorted cherry and dark berry fruit all emerging from the glass. Medium-bodied, nicely textured and balanced, it’s a solid effort that should continue to drink nicely through 2019.

Santa Duc Prestige des Hautes Garrigues 2004
The top wine of the estate and a big step up, the 2004 Gigondas Hautes Garrigues comes from 50- to 80-year-old vines located around the estate and is a blend of 80% Grenache and 20% Mourvedre. Aged in a combination of new barrels and tank, it sports a still inky purple color to go with awesome aromas and flavors of creme de cassis, toasted spice, licorice and hints of charred beef. Full-bodied, vibrant and pure, with fantastic depth and concentration that hides ample underlying tannic grip, enjoy this knockout Gigondas through 2024.
A good glass full of... Power and elegance - Châteauneuf-du-Pape “Habemus Papam” 2012 by Yves Gras

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

Jeb Dunnuck’s visit to the domaine in August (he succeeds to Robert Parker in the Rhône Valley), was a perfect occasion for a tasting to review the two past vintages. Confident regarding the quality of the 2011 vintage already bottled, Jeb Dunnuck particularly liked the 2012 wines still in vats, calling them «excellent».

Amongst the wines tasted, we would like to point out the cuvée Habamus Papam 2012 (Châteauneuf du Pape). It’s our third vintage on the terroir called «Saintes Vièrges», but blended for the first time with grapes coming from the vineyards in La Crau and La Font du Pape we purchased earlier that year. Thus 2012 is the firs sizable vintage of this wine, which might enable us to satisfy increasing demands for this cuvée.

Dominated by the vivid fruitiness of the Grenache, the blend of 3 large vats surprised on the nose by its powerful and fresh bouquet. Syrah came up slowly, adding delicate smells of prunes and a large quantity of spices to the bouquet: Pepper, star anise, a hint of clove, as well as some dark olives. Subtle and elegant woody characters temporarily showed up and perfectly intermingled with the bouquet. A beautiful, harmonious nose, showing remarkable complexity. On the palate, the wine is dominated by succulent and juicy red fruits, underlined by mineral acidity and well structured tannins.
Tasting of Domaine Santa Duc Gigondas Prestige des Hautes Garrigues 2011

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

Very expressive, with a powerful, aromatic nose. Ripeness and power characterise this wine. The prevailing aroma of sour cherry perfectly harmonises with smells of exotic spices - cinnamon, vanilla, pepper – and local herbs – rosemary and wild peppermint.

A crispy acidity and pleasant mellowness, the typical character of a Grenache and Mourvèdre blend, perfectly integrate the expressive tannins. A wine made for years of cellaring, showing the great quality of the vintage.