Syrah — Paroles de vignerons - Vinparleur

Pure Syrah from Pierre Cros - To age for years, certainly, but devilishly attractive now.

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

Les Aspres 2017 **
Tenacious, Pierre Cros pins two stars and one more “coup de cœur” to his list of achievements, thanks to this high-end, pure Syrah aged for long time in barrels. Smoke, spices, black olives, black fruit, truffle and cocoa, the nose fascinates. Fleshy, concentrated, with finely carved tannins and nice grip, its taste impresses by volume, structure and the body of its spicy and vanilla fruit that still bears the imprint of oak wood. To age for years, certainly, but devilishly attractive now.

Le Clos 2017 *
An almost opaque dark colour dresses this syrah with a heavily oaky nose. Cinnamon, spices and vanilla bloom in a powerful, concentrated mouth, with a precise structure, but still strongly marked by barrel ageing at this stage. To leave imperatively in cellar to ripen.

Guide Hachette 2020
“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.
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
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
The taste of the past millennium - Minervois Syrah Les Aspres 1999

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

In the nineties, the wine world was very different from now. While in 2015 the whole world runs after minerality, freshness and lean wines, you would rather have tried to transform the massive sound of NIRVANA into wine, to impress the audience and critics some 20 years ago: Overripe grapes, massive extraction, 12 to 24 months aging in new oak barrels ... Wine making according to the motto “more is ALWAYS better”!

Ironically, the last year of the millennium did not meet these expectations. People said it was a cold, rainy and rather small year and they were all glad to leave the century right after. But they were wrong, of course. Just as the world of wine is always and continously wrong, when classifying wines like cloth sizes: large, medium, small ... As if all winemakers, vineyards and bottles in the world would bend to this rough classification…

But let’s return to our Syrah from the year 1999. It is a varietal wine, fermented and aged in wood, not only showing dense flavors, but somehow also managing to unite the entire minerality of its terroir in the bottle (believe me, “minerality” already existed in 1999). What does it look like? Slightly cloudy eye, rather orange than red. Fine, perky nose of prunes, cocoa, cinnamon and cherries. Also some pipe tobacco. Velvety mouthfeel, tannins as delicate as lace, remarkable acidity, bringing in zest and strength. An endless finish, in which sweet bourbon vanilla joins the bouquet.

FOOD MATCHES FOR CARNIVORES: Roasted game birds or smoked foie gras. Nothing else!
FOOD MATCHES FOR HERBIVORES: A non-salty black olive tapenade, chocolate with an extremely high cocoa content and low sugar, a fireplace.
Let the power get into your glass! Domaine Santa Duc Roaix 2010.

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

The 2010 vintage still is a superb choice in the Rhone Valley. The long, warm indian summer fully ripened the grapes, a good basis for wines with remarkable finesse and harmony.
The Grenache and Syrah grapes for this wine come from the vineyards of Roaix, situated between Rasteau and Vaison-la-Romaine. It fills the glass with a dark, blood red colour and the strong scent of figs and dried apricots, honey cake and licorice. My nose is immediately seduced, fascinated by the intensity of the bouquet, which evolves towards the scent of cherries and more spices.

Fresh acidity, fine tannins, though still young, surrounded by a pleasant smoothness, getting more and more spicy, showing long lasting flavors. Balanced, tasty and still youthful, this wine promises a few more years of storage capacity. If you open it this winter, you should serve it in a carafe.

FOOD MATCHES FOR CARNIVORES: The intensity and the character of the wine deserve a nice piece of grilled meat - beef, lamb, ostrich - without much pose, just with a little salt and pepper. For more complex dishes with spices and sauces, you should wait a few more years, so the wine can fully develop its bouquet.

FOOD MATCHES FOR HERBIVORES: Grilled vegetables in olive oil, fried curry pumpkin with tomato rice, tofu burger with balsamic sauce or wild mushroom Cannelloni ... Go and pull the power out of your vegetables!
Pierres Syrah Star shines again in the 2016 edition of the Guide Hachette

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

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.

The wine star of the estate shines again. This Syrah pampered and raised in barrels for one year like the previous vintages, shows its typical intense and warm scents of spices and black fruits, enhanced with notes of cedar and a touch of truffles. Roasted cocoa and mocha join in on the concentrated and mellow palate, while mild and spicy tannins emphasize an intense final, a true apotheosis. A bottle that will be perfect to appreciate young (served in a carafe), or left for years of ageing. (2016 - 2025)
A GOOD GLASS OF... PIERRE´s SYRAH LES ASPRES 2004

Permalink, by Sebastian Nickel

A slightly blurred colour of garnet red with a brownish tint at the rim of the glass...It looks like a precious rarity found at antiques shop. An intense fresh nose, showing aromas of cherries, prunes and raspberries and furtheron developing fragrances of marzipan, dried blossoms and undergrowth. In addition several mushrooms, a trifle of pepper and the scent of old books, similar to vanilla. That´s a lot, II must confess, but its an impressive wine.
On the palate: Mellow and well structured thanks to pleasant silky tannins. Fresh, straight, sensual, full-bodied, again with cherries, spices and chocolate.

A wine inviting you to spend a rainy evening, comfortably in an club chair, burying oneself in the adventures by SHERLOCK HOLMES.