EU regulations

It only seems a moment since the EU was trying to restrict yields and improve quality.  Now we ahve this:
http://www.decanter.com/news/wine-news/529546/wine-regions-oppose-catastrophic-eu-expansion-plans?utm_source=Cheetahmail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter-281111&dec#comments

Discovery - Château Capitelles des Salles

For various reasons I've been a bit quiet in the past few weeks, but we have not stopped drinking and enjoying wine, as further posts will soon demonstrate.

For today, I just wanted to share an encounter at our local caviste, the admirable ô pecheur devin which deserves an entry to itself soon.  Often on Sundays Benoît, the proprietor, invites a vigneron to present her or his products under the arches of the Caladons, the old market place in the centre of Lunel.  This Sunday it was the turn of Estelle Salles, oenologue and viticultrice from the village of St Jean de la Blaquière near the A75 north-west of Aniane.  She and her husband Frédéric make 3 reds, the least expensive - Caminaïre - from cinsault and a closely-related old grape variety called oeillade, with a small amount of syrah.  My favourite was the next, a classic AOC Languedoc grenache/syrah mixture called Caractère.  This is a good example of passionate winemakers picking up the family reins (the domaine has been in this family since 1829) and creating excellent wine with small yields and careful techniques. http://capitelle-des-salles.com/

Guide tourisme et vignerons

This is the guide Mary and I translated - written by our friend Luc Poulain d'Andecy.  Check it out here: http://tourisme-et-vignerons.blogspot.com/

What we've been drinking 19/9/11

This being a birthday month there are some specially good bottles among this lot.  Our September tasting circle included 4 Chambolle Musignys and two village reds from the Côte de Nuits, of which only the 2007 C-M disappointed - not such a good year, perhaps too young.

Among the whites and rosés, a new discovery - the Dom. de Fadèze near Marseillan and the Etang de Thau - stands out for its refereshing rosés.  Another wonderful rosé from the Chemin des Rêves - see also below, and (from Bourgne) alongside 3 aligotés which drank well despite their age, but made excellent kirs too, there was a Ch des Hospitaliers 'Muscats' (4 different varieites of muscat grape).



In reds, apart from the tasting, we had some excellent wines.  Apart from non-French wines from Chile and Italy (the Lascar Carmenere was lovely, and the Montepluciano d'Abruzzo a good cheap standby from Lidl) you'll see Abracadra from the Chemin des Rêves again, a syrah vin de pays from the Salle de Gour domaine at St Hippolyte du Fort (which I am amazed to say is now on sale at our bakers'!!), an Enclave des Papes we found at the cave coopérative in Visan and one of the sensations of the fortnight, a 2000 Vacqueyras from the Domaine des Amouriers.  This was one of our first discoveries in the southern Rhône, and is still winning accolades after reviving after the unexpected death of its Polish owner in the late 90s.

Finally we have a variety of sweet wines, apéritis and alcohols used for kir and other mixtures and cocktails.  Highlights are the crème de cassis from Bourgogne and limoncello from Italy, both used to make kinds of kir with aligoté whites, and the sweet wines made from late-picked grapes - the '15 novembre' from Didier Cornillon in the Drôme, and the muscat vendanges tardives from the local cave coopérativeat Vérargues - simply delicious!

Another good mark for one of our favourites

Favourites - Domaine Lucien Jacob, Echevronne

The vigneron here is Jean-Michel Jacob, son of Lucien who became well-known in the Côte d’Or for developing new strains of pinot noir well suited to the higher vineyards of the Hautes Côtes.  This maker was our first contact with Burgundy in 1995 when Mary visited them to set up Jon's 50th birthday present, a 'vineyard share' through 3D Wines.

Since then we have visited the Cave almost every year, and have got to know Jean-Michel and his wife Christine quite well.  The Hautes Côtes de Beaune red was where we began with them; since then we have enjoyed more exalted wines from their expanding production including Savigny les Beaune, Beaune, Gevrey Chambertin and Chambolle Musigny as well as excellent white chardonnay and aligoté and some of the best crème de cassis and crème de framboise in the Côte d'Or.

We have bought a lot of their wines - premiers crûs from Gevrey, Savigny and Beaune itself in the 15 years and this is gradually being opened and sampled in its maturity.  For more immediate drinking we often choose village wines from Savigny lès Beaune, which often show the difficulty and interest of the pinot noir grape on first tasting; Mary once said "if you were offered this without knowing it was wine you might not guess".

Each December they hold an open weekend, with between 20 and 40 wines on offer including those from Jean-Michel’s sister and brother-in-law's property, Domaine Forey, in Vosne Romanée.  Their basic wine is an excellent red Morey-Saint-Denis but they make others including Vosne Romanée and a superb Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru which we like too much!

Christine is originally English so it's a good place to visit if your French is not so good!  They also have a gîte to let in the village. 

Domaine Lucien Jacob, Echevronne, 21420 Savigny-les-Beaune  Phone 03 80 21 52 15.

A great article

I never read the Daily Mail, but a friend drew my attention to this article on Languedoc wines.  Spot-on from beginning to end.  I'd only add that the other Picpoul de Pinet well worth buying the Domaine Félines available from Waitrose - or for much less from the Domaine near Mèze!!