• A good glass of… Les Costes 2016 by Pierre Cros

  Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

  

  This white wine from the Minervois made from wide range of grape varieties (Grenache blanc and gris, Vermentino, Muscat, Picpoul blanc and gris ...), has already surprised me with its fresh acidity and minerality in the past. The vines grow predominantly in a location called “Les Costes”, a gentle hill chain with loamy and stony soil. The north-facing position is certainly responsible for the unusual acidity, but one should not underestimate the influence of Picpoul, a grape variety which could be called the Chardonnay of the South, and which maintains its acidity despite the warm, Mediterranean climate.

  The crisp acidity is well integrated, giving a straight, juicy and full flavors to the wine. Citrus aromas and exotic fruits prevail in the nose and on the palate: lime, grapefruit, peach, mango... A perfect wine for Mediterranean cuisine, but it also perfectly matches to Asian dishes. Surely one of my favorites for this summer!

  FOOD MATCHES FOR HERBIVORES: Try a cauliflower curry casserole or a quinoa or quinotto with fresh summer vegetables, lemon and ginger.

  FOOD MATCHES FOR CARNIVORES AND PESCETARIANS: Roasted red mullets with peppers, black olives and fennel on basmati rice, fried noodles with prawns and chilli, lemon chicken, grilled squid, Nasi goreng…

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• A good glass of... The only Touriga nacional from France #wine

  Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

  A famous, Portuguese grape variety that originally grows in the areas of the Duoro and Porto, and of which there is only onesingle vineyard in France. A true rarity. The vineyard is located in the Minervois and was planted on some 2,4 acres of rocky and dry soils near Carcassonne by Pierre Cros in 2001. From the beginning on, the Touriga has felt very well under the warm sun of the “Midi”. The grapes were put on the ground in the first years to strengthen the young vines and to make life easier for them in the barren terroir. The dark grapes giving an intensely coloured and flavoured juice were harvested for the first time after six years.

  

  From the starting point, the wine revealed the strong character of the grape variety and continues to do so, as shown by the 2015 vintage I recently tasted. Juicy red and black fruits, elderberry, cherries, as well as a of smell natural wood, liquorice and smoke. On the palate, the wine is surprisingly soft and round, of creamy structure but with a peppery taste, fresh acidity and spicy chocolate flavours.

  A wine that makes me marvel, every vintage again. Apart from its originality, it also is an excellent table companion, as well as serious candidate for eight to ten years of cellar aging. By the way, the 2014 vintage was exclusively filled into Magnum bottles, while an elegant “Alsace-style” bottle was chosen for the 2015 vintage.

  FOOD PAIRINGS FOR HERBIVORES: Roasted vegetables for sure, whole-grain penne with cinnamon-flavoured, deglazed carrots, parsnips and shallots, but also an ash-ripened goat’s cheese.

  FOOD PAIRINGS FOR CARNIVORES AND PESCETARIANS: Veal wrapped in Parma ham with sage, smoked quail with broad beans and roast potatoes, salmon fillet with sweet peppers.one

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• Pierre Cros will be at #Vinisud - HALL A2/STAND C17

  Permalink, by Pierre Cros

  We invite you to a rendezvous with our wines at the VINISUD wine fair in Montpellier from January 29^th to January 31^st. An opportunity to discover the wines from our latest vintage, made of authentic Mediterranean grape varieties, but only from grape varieties brought to the Minervois from Piemonte, the Duoro Valley and Burgundy.

  Pierre Cros
  “Committed winemaker since the last century”

  

  „As a “spiritual leader” of the Minervois, Pierre Cros belongs to those wine grower artists, that have found the Holy Grail in their vineyards and share their life’s work with us, by honouring our tables with their Devine brewage...“

  Guide Hachette - Eight times “coup de cœur” within twelve years, the highest award of the wine guide.

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• Delicacy, smoothness and a hint of ginger on the final... Les Aspres 2013 from Pierre Cros #Syrah

  Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

  Even in a delicate vintage like 2013, the top cuvee of the winery shines bright like a star. Built in the same style as the previous vintage, it offers a rich bouquet of spices, ripe fruit and vanilla. On the palate, flavours of black currant and blackberries underline the creamy mouth feel. It has elegant tannins and a hint of ginger on the final.

  

  Pierre Cros settled on 25 ha of vineyards and as much olives, almond trees and truffle oaks. He is a great “winzer-artist”, a real benchmark in the Minervois, if you look look up how often we wrote about him and his wines in this guide during the last 10 years. He considers himself as a “peasant” and tells us that he learned to respect his clients from his father and grand-father,who both of them had been bakers in Badens. Besides classic grape varieties of the AOC, Pierre Cros keeps ancient, almost forgotten and even “non-beloved” (mal aimé) grape varieties (as for example the Aramon) and introduced new varieties from abroad.

  Guide Hachette 2017

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• 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

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• The good ones into the pot, the bad ones into the crop - Why to sort out the bad grapes?

  Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

  

It takes good grapes to make good wine. But protecting a vineyard against the invasion of fungi and insects is not always an easy affair. So, close to harvest, you will always find a few rotten berries in a vineyard. Knowing that grapes in bad shape can innoculate harmfull microorganisms and provoke dubious flavors in a wine, you should better remove them before starting. Therefore, sorting out bad grapes is an excellent way to achieve proper crop quality in the cellar.

  

  

If picking is done by hand, sorting may already start in the vineyard: Rotten berries or parts of the grapes are being cut out and the grapes can even be re-sorted again in the boxes or on the trailer. In the winery sorting tables or automatic optical sorting systems may bring the work to perfection, giving the ideal starting point for wine production without problems (and probably even without sulfur).

  

Today, modern machines are automatically equipped with a fairly efficient sorting system, removing any leaves, leaf stems and other plant parts that may have fallen off the vines with the berries. And nothing (except time and money) may withhold you from resorting the harvest again at the winery using classic handsorting or optical sorting to get a perfect crop.



  The sorting of the harvest is therefore an almost unavoidable step for flawless, high-quality wine production and may even save harvest quality (but not quantity), especially in case of difficult vintages.

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• Today we are sitting in the shade, sipping rosé #wine!

  Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

  

  Personally, I mainly drink rosé wine to relax. I rarely ask for more than to keep me happy (but maybe that’s a mistake ...). I have been drinking Pierre’s rosé for years, perhaps even for decades, because it does exactly what I’m expecting. This rosé amuses me. Sitting on a terrace under a parasol, or in the garden in the cool shade of a tree, I’m already enjoying its pale color, promising a crispy fresh taste. Peach syrup in the nose, with a zest of grapefruit and a handfull of strawberries. Pleasant and delicious! Juicy in the mouth, with exactly the freshness I was looking for, and the pleasant light aroma of fruit candy. With this, I’ll have some slices of raw ham, goat cheese with olive oil or some mussles.

  This really makes me feel good! Give it a try…

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• One swallow does not make a summer, but a bottle of Rosé may do the job...

  Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

  Days are getting longer, birds and flowers return to our gardens, the trees are getting green again, the thick winter jacket remains on the hanger and on Sunday your nose may detect some smoke from a BBQ. No doubt, spring is here! It’s time to let powerful red wines in the cellar till next autumn and search for something light.
  LET’S DRINK ROSÉ!

  

  This popular wine is just fine for an improvised aperitif on a terrace, on a balcony or even on a windowsill. Together with a few slices of raw ham, some olives and good laughter, it will perfectly do the job. Light or dark in color, we don’t care (color has no taste!), with strawberry or raspberry flavors, fennel and citrus fruit and with nice acidity and much juiciness!

  Are you not a rosé drinker? No reason to be excluded from having some good time, because there is a solution for everything.

  SOLUTION N°1: Liberate a nicely chilled white wine from its bottle and enjoy the fine fruity flavors and the fresh taste in your glass. It certainly matches perfectly to a creamy, homemade humus.

  SOLUTION N°2: At lunchtime, while the charcoal under grill does its job, pull the cork of a light red wine. But be careful, light does not mean without any interest! The red wines of which I speak, offer particularly pleasant acidity, cherries or currants, sometimes some herbal flavours, like mint or rosemary, together with crispy, fresh tannins.

  Last but not least, I’ll offer you my SOLUTION N°3: My taste for champagne and other sparkling wines is not a secret any more on this blog. And you can have them in pink too, if you want them to match with the season and this article. However, do not forget: A great advantage of Champagne & Co. is the fact that there is no real season for them. With or without a special occasion, champagne is always fine!

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