A day of exploring coastline and beaches, long dogs walks and finally a perfect sunset over the beautiful bay of Biarritz.
Friday, 16 February 2007
Onwards to Bordeaux, Biarritz & Beyond...
Wednesday, 14 February 2007
Off to Spain and back again.....
The Chateau Clerc Milon 2005 is to be bottled in May. A blend of 48% cabernet sauvignon, 40% merlot, 10% cabernet franc and 1% petit verdot, 1% carmenere. Nose still closed tobacco on the palate from the barrels. Good length chewy tanins black fruits, ruby red. Can be drunk in 7 – 8 years or kept for 25 years. Big structure, long legs and high alcohol. One to keep a while.
The Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2005 is to be bottled in June. A blend of 85% cabernet sauvignon, 14% merlot, 1% cabernet franc and produced in 94% new french oak. Open fresh nose of blackfruits and black pepper, tobacoo and licquoirce. Deep ruby red, soft tannins, powerful and spicy. Can be drunk in 15 years or kept for 40 years. 13% alcohol with great length. The yield 45 hectolitres per hectare. WOW – need I say more.
I now also know why the wine is so expensive. So much care and attention is given to the prodution. All grapes are hand picked and sorted. New French oak barrels are used from a range of tonneliers (barrel makers) each giving it’s own special characteristic to the wine which are then blended together adding complexity and depth to the wine. Each barrel is fined using 4 fresh egg whites and fining is still done by holding a sample glass of wine up to a candlelight to check for it’s clarity.
We didn’t want to leave but our travels beckoned and the pups needed a good walk.
TO BE CONTINUED........
Tuesday, 6 February 2007
Salon des Vins de Loire 2007
We also tasted wines from La Tour Grise and Domaine de la Paleine who won four medals at the show which included a gold for the 2005 Domaine Paleine Rouge. Thanks go to Francoise Gourdon who was very helpful in explaining the history of the new appellation Saumur - Le Puy Notre Dame which they have been battling for 30 years to obtain. From June 2007 they will have the right to use this AOC name against their red wines.
Lucky enough to taste the early releases from Roche Neuves too. The Marginale red and the Insolite white are the wines to look out for here.
Sunday, 4 February 2007
A Wine Renaissance in Angers
Held at the Grenier St Jean in Angers the “Renaissance des AOC” are a group of winemakers from all over France that adhere to a chart of quality that controls the method of agriculture. They don’t claim (as a group) to be organic or biodynamic but no pesticides are used, only organic composts, all products used are natural and there is no use of chemicals.
That is only stage one however. To progress to stage two you must also harvest by hand, have a natural fermentation i.e. use no chemicals in the fermentation and manually select future vines and respect the biodiversity. The results are evident in the clarity and natural nature of all the wines we tasted.
La Ferme de la Sansonniere – Marc Angeli Anjou
2005 Coteaux de Houet – Wow ! Amber in colour. Partially fermented with the grapes dried out by over maturation i.e no botrytis (raisins passerillage) . Luscious but with a good acidity.
Domaine Jo Pithon – Anjou
Tasted 4 of his 2005 Anjou whites, 2 coteaux du layon and a quart du chaume. All exceptional and definately a vineyard we’ll be spending more time at this year. Especially loved the gravelly minerality of the anjou whites and the marmalade sugar of the sweets. The 2005 Les Bonnes Blanche is to die for.
Oh goodness we’ve found a deliciously fruity chinon in the 2005 Cuvee Bonavenutre – black fuits and liquorice and not too high in alcohol at 12.5%
All the Chinon reds we tasted here were exceptional and will definitely be on en-route to Bourgueil.
Sebastien David – St Nicoals de Bourgueil
2005 Vin de Patrimoine – tons of blackcurrant fruit, high in alcohol and great length
Friday, 2 February 2007
Knock on wood...
The wood is literally dumped in the driveway, we avoided having it dropped over the caves this year because of the vibrations. Then comes the task of re-filling the empty wood store.
Some hours later a beautifully re-filled woodstore and two happy dogs that have spent the enitre day sniffing each piece of wood as it made its way onto the stack!
Sunday, 28 January 2007
The Confrerie of Chinon Winemakers
Wednesday, 24 January 2007
The World's First Vine Twig Snowman
Friday, 12 January 2007
No Time to Hibernate
This year following on from the re-roofing of The Gate House we have the guttering project in action. As always loyally assisted by Humble and Willow. 8 metres of zinc guttering and it is fiddlier than it looks - just choosing the right parts at the diy store is a challenge. Well this one is up with another 10 metres to be added to The Vine Room next.
Still with a spritely dog walk at the end of the day and an incredible sunset over the vineyard (it's 6pm in January) life is good....
Wednesday, 10 January 2007
A Trip to Angers for Haircuts!
With a feeling of Spring in the air in January the beautiful florists shops display daffodil and hyacinth bulbs already.
Monday, 8 January 2007
A Surprise Present from Fronton
in 2004 The rose and red 2005 are from their first production and the wines come from the Fronton area of France a lot further south from here near Toulouse. Salut! Sarah and Angus - we can't wait to try them.
A bottle of Chateau Yvonne
Thursday, 4 January 2007
A Little Light Pruning
After the last year's canes have been pulled out the vines now looked as if they are stripped bare. One cane and one spur is left. The cane that is left will be used to tie down on the fruiting wire and it is here that the buds with appear to produce this years harvest.
The old canes are not wasted they are put in between the rows ready for mulching. For us they also make very good firewood and are great on the BBQ for kindling.