The Vinorati Blog

For the WBW the theme was non-traditional packaging, defined as anything besides a bottle. I decided to search out some wine “en vrac” (in bulk). Ironically this might be considered traditional packaging in France.
It’s that time again. Today is Wine Blogging Wednesday #31. The theme for this month’s tasting is boxed wine and beyond - wine in non-traditional (i.e. not glass) packaging. Thanks to Roger at Box Wines for proposing the theme and rounding up all the tasting notes. For my tasting I decided to explore the world of wine “en vrac” (in bulk) here in France. You can easily find bag-in-box wines, wines in plastic bottles, wine in tetrapak’s, etc here and in the U.S. However, albeit common in Europe, I don’t think that you can buy wine in bulk anywhere in North America. (correct me if I’m wrong)

Cave Cooperative de Saint-Emilion

My first stop was at the Cave Cooperative de Saint-Emilion. They actually sell an AOC Saint-Emilion wine in bulk, which means that it did satisfy the Syndicat’s quality requirements - a good sign. Interestingly, due to sanitation problems they will soon discontinue selling wine in bulk. According to them it is most common for customers to bring in their own containers and then take the wine home and bottle it. Apparently sometimes they will come back later complaining about the quality of the wine. For example that it is fizzy. I guess it doesn’t occur to them that the source of contamination may be their container rather than the winery. For this reason, and others, the Cooperative is moving towards bag-in-box (and bottles of course) only.

Libourne Wine Shop

Our second stop was a small traditional wine store in Libourne where the garde-vin tanks are directly in the store and the wine is gravity fed into whatever container. Fortunately they had some 1.5L water bottles here so I was not obliged to buy 5L, as at the Cooperative. They had a selection of wines in bulk - red, rosé, vin de table, and AOC Bordeaux. We decided to go with the red vin de table and Bordeaux.

The following are my notes on the three wines purchased. In general two of the three wines were better than I was expecting, in fact they were very drinkable.

• Saint-Emilion Cave Cooperative - 6.25 euros/L - black jelly bean, touch bell pepper, cherry, good structure, simple but decent
• Bordeaux Superieure - 2.55 euros/L - touch oxidized, bell pepper, honest, light
• Vin de Table (Montagne Saint-Emilion) - 1.95 euros/L - pretty bad, very purple, charactural fruit, cherry cough syrup, dry tannins

I would happily purchase the Saint-Emilion again for Tuesday night dinner or for a large birthday party, but I would probably buy the bag-in-box rather than the bulk version. (I guess I won’t even have the choice in the future.

Although my choice of wine purchased in bulk does fit the theme proposed by Roger, in that it isn’t sold in a glass bottle, bulk wine could actually be considered traditional and historically common in France. As few as 20 years ago a large percentage of all wine sold in France (by volume not sales) was sold in bulk to the end consumer. Even today in a country where wine is still considered by many to be an everyday alimentary product rather than a luxury good, wine is still commonly sold in these arbitrary quantities. All co-operatives and many traditional wine caves (stores) dispense wine directly from their tank into a container supplied by the customer. When buying in large quantities (a traditional cubie is 30L) the customer will typically bottle the wine themselves at home in order to be able to store and possibly even age it.

The practice of buying wine in bulk in France is steadily decreasing for numerous reasons. Bag-in-box packaging is more and more common - technology is constantly improving, it is more convenient for medium-term storage, and it’s much cleaner (as mentioned at the Saint-Emilion Cooperative). Also, general models of wine consumption in France are shifting. Moderation is being encouraged through ubiquitous negative health advertising messages (less balanced than in the U.S.). Younger people are drinking more beer and soda than wine, in contrast to their parents and grandparents. For all these reasons fewer and fewer individuals and families are purchasing cubies of 30L of wine.

Roger of the Box Wines blog just announced the theme for the next Wine Blogging Wednesday and it’s “box wines and wines in non-traditional packaging”. At first I was thinking “Oh my God, you have got to be kidding. Who wants to taste that!”, but I’m coming around. It certainly provides a challenge. It’s relevant to a large portion of the wine drinking population, who spend less than $5 on a bottle of wine. This proportion of wine sales is particularly relevant here in France where wine has historically been considered an everyday commodity rather than a luxury item. For example Frederic’s cousin sells wine to end-consumers in “cubies”, which would satisfy Roger’s packaging criteria. I could pick up one of these cubies for WBW #31 except that they contain 30L(!) of wine.
For this WBW event I think I am at an advantage. Wine is sold in many different forms in France. I think I’m going to have fun doing my research. These WBW event sure expand my wine drinking horizons.

Thanks Roger!

Well, the theme chosen by Tim Elliot of WineCast for Wine Blogging Wednesday #30 turned out to be somewhat of a challenge/scavenger hunt for me. Tim asked us to choose a new world Syrah, i.e. not French to taste. He specifically mentioned the Rhone Valley as verboten, but I’m not sure if he intended to exclude Languedoc, Vin de Pays, or even Italian Syrahs, but I decided to obey the letter of the law - nothing European! Well in Saint-Emilion it’s difficult to find non-Libournais wines. In Bordeaux although it’s difficult to find anything from a non-Bordelais appellation. All of the wine growing regions tend to be fairly chauvinistic. Not surprisingly Paris, where they don’t grow grapes (the Sacre Coeur vines do not count!) is the best place to find international wines. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to get into Bordeaux, never mind Paris, for some wine shopping. I looked in some caves and large distribution stores in Saint-Emilion and Libourne for new world Syrahs, but was neither optimistic nor successful. (interestingly - there were more wines from North Africa than any other countries). I pretty much gave up when Frederic and I ventured up to Angers for the Salon des Vins de la Loire this week. Luckily this is where I finally found my Australian Shiraz. So, at the very last minute I am able to participate. Yeah!!

The wine that I bought in Angers was Thomas Mitchell Shiraz by Michelton Wines. At 7.50 Euros I was a little sceptical but I happily snapped up the last bottle regardless. This wine retails for $4.99 in the U.S. You can just imagine my anticipation when we had driven this bottle home over 3 hours from Angers and the stew was heating on the stove. Mmmm $5 Syrah from Australia. With no further ado…The first impression on the nose is definitely alcohol (even though it is a relatively low 13%). With determined sniffing I managed to find some fruit - blueberry jam, prune with spice, but a hint of some mustiness in the background (mushroom I think). The mouth is surprisingly not bad at all. The alcohol is still noticeably out of balance, but it has very nice fruity length, which becomes jammy after a while. The aftertaste really does go on and on. Good acidity, some tannins, enough to provide some structure but not at all dominant. Nicely in balance with the acidity. Not a “vin de garde” but more than decent for a Wednesday evening dinner wine. How they make it in Australia and get it to France for less than 8 Euros is beyond me.

As Tim anticipated the wine was not very food friendly. It did not pair well with the stew. However as I continued to finish my second glass after dinner I found that it made a perfectly good digestif. Some of the alcohol dissipated and the my tastebuds adjusted (or I just got tipsy), improving my impression of the wine.

I would like to understand Syrah better. I participated in some formal Syrah tastings at UC Davis and I often found the levels of alcohol disturbing. Often (as with the Thomas Mitchell Shiraz) the absolute percentage of alcohol was not high, but it was just very apparent and completely out of balance with the rest of the wine. What’s that about?
Thanks so much Tim for hosting and causing me to branch out beyond the usual French stuff!

Jack and Joanne at Fork & Bottle chose the theme of biodynamic wines for the 29th WBW event.

The theories of biodynamics are based on a lecture series by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner in the early 1920’s. Although it predates the organic agriculture movement by some twenty years it has only recently started gaining widespread interest in the wine industry. Back in the 1920’s Steiner worried that the introduction of chemical farming was degrading the quality of food. However he did not believe this was only due to the chemical or biological properties of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, but also due to spiritual shortcomings in the whole chemical approach to farming. A central aspect of biodynamics is that the farm as a whole is seen as an organism, and therefore should be a closed self-nourishing system. Diseases of this organisms are not to be treated in isolation but to be understood a symptom of imbalance in the whole organism. Also adherents believe that by understanding the the rythms at which light of the sun, moon, planets and stars reach the earth one can optimally time ground preparation, sowing, cultivating and harvesting. Hence biodynamic treatments (such as burying a cow horn full of manure in your vineyard) are often performed at full moon, or high tide. Believe what you will but some very reputable winemakers swear that although they can’t explain why it works, it does work.

I chose to taste two French wines - one from one of my favourite Champagne producers (Jacques Beaufort) and the other made by one of the most well-known biodynamic producers in the South of France but totally unknown to me (Domaine Gauby). Initially I was hoping to taste some biodynamic Bordeaux wines but even though I live in Bordeaux and went out armed with Jack and Joanne’s excellent list I had no success. Biodynamics and organics are still pretty rare here in Bordeaux compared to other appellations such as Burgundy, Alsace and Provence. Throughout France many biodynamic producers do not pay the fees for biodynamic certification, which makes it quite difficult to go out searching for “a” biodynamic wine.

The Champagne was an absolute requirement for this event because we were celebrating the return of my sister-in-law after a 4-month trip to the U.S. (I am so glad to have her back!) The bottle befitting the occasion was a 1989 Jacques Beaufort Polisy Demi-Sec. We enjoyed it as an aperitif before dinner. It was excellent: incredibly young and fresh both in the nose and mouth. At the same time the nutty age-related characters added beautifully to the complexity. Jacques Beaufort tends to make wines with lower levels of acidity and this one was no exception - creamy and smooth with a lovely finish. Truly an exceptional and adorable wine.

Jacques Beaufort stopped using synthetic chemicals in his vineyards in the 70’s after he had an extreme allergic reaction while spraying the vines for his father. Since then he has stopped even spraying with sulfur and uses aromatherapeutic oils and custom-designed homeopathic vineyard treatments. Although he is not fully biodynamic he shares much of the same philosophies and incorporates many of the practices. His wines are beautiful and complex but unfortunately somewhat inconsistent. 90% of the time we are delighted with the bottles we open but occasionally we run across a true dud.

The other wine that I tasted was a 2004 Domaine Gauby Les Calcinaires, a Cotes du Roussillon Village. The nose on this wine was disappointing after the vendor had so glowingly recommended the wine. It was slightly oxidized and quite rustic with aromas of toasted coffee beans, and alcohol followed up by cherry and blueberry. Despite the slight oxidation I would recommend decanting this wine as the aromas did seem to improve with time. The attack was surprisingly acidic but mellowed to finish very pleasantly. The acidity of the Gauby would make it an excellent food wine. To be honest it was probably unfair to taste these two wines together given their vast price differences (14Euros vs 45Euros).

Domaine Gauby was been extensively written about in the anglophone wine community, by the Wine Doctor and Jancis Robinson. It is managed by Gerard Gauby, a former Rugby player, and has been completely biodynamic since 2000. Since his transition to organics and biodynamics he makes wines which which just as flavourful but with more acidity and less alcohol and obvious sweetness than before. His wines are meant to be aged rather than consumed in their infancy, which is where I made my mistake. His flagship wine is the Muntada and promises to be fantastic but at 80Euros is not within my budget.

I am completely unqualified to make an overall conclusion about biodynamic wines however I can share what my impressions. In my limited experience these wines can often have an added complexity. This may come from the increased diversity of yeasts and bacteria that are left in the juice and wine. Unfortunately this may also be the source of the inconsistent quality that I have also found in organic and biodynamic wines. The decreased usage of sulfites during winemaking can also easily create an increased frequency of oxidized characteristics unless winemakers are very strict about the oxygen exposure their wines receive.
Many thanks to Jack and Joanne at Fork & Bottle for hosting this Wine Blogging Wednesday!

Thanks so much to Sam of Becks & Posh for organizing the 25th Wine Blogging Wednesday and picking Champagne! as the theme.

We were lucky in two ways for the Wine Blogging Wednesday’s Champagne theme. First: we were in Champagne a few weeks ago where we picked up some interesting wines and second: Frederic’s brother and his girlfriend, who are both winemakers in Bordeaux, were visiting us for the weekend. Hence they picked out a couple of bottles, we invited a few more friends and we made an evening of Champagne, appetizers (thanks to Picard!), oysters and goat cheese. I wonder if all this could be tax deductable?

We had the pleasure of tasting two non-vintage Champagnes one from Devaux and the other by Andre/Jacques Beaufort, a 1999 Ruinart, a 1998 Legras and a 1989 Jacques Beaufort. It turned out to be a great selection of wines. I didn’t dislike any of them, but we all had our favourites.

D de Devaux non-vintage 7.5/10; 28€
This was a clean fresh wine that would be a perfect start to a meal - palate-cleansing and refreshing.

• overall: delicious, clean, great aperitif
• appearance: pale lemon yellow
• nose: yeasty, lemon, citrus
• mouth: fine bubbles, nice acid, balanced, fresh, light
• eat with oysters, goat cheese

Andre Beaufort Brut Grand Cru Ambonnay Reserve non-vintage 8.0/10; 25€
As expected from a Jacques Beaufort wine, this Champagne had great character/personality and complexity. I loved it.

• beautiful, great character, interesting
• pale gold, straw
• green apple, nutty, celery
• citrus, lovely, delicious, medium length, light acid, creamy, smooth
• eat with ?

R&L Legras Brut Grand Cru 1998 6.5/10; 25€
This was my least favourite wine of the evening. It was a little too buttery for my tastes. On the other hand it went very well with the oysters!

• great character, interesting
• pale lemon yellow
• yeasty, bell pepper, butter
• short, light
• delicious with oysters! goat cheese

R de Ruinart Brut 1999 7.0/10; 44€
This was a nice wine, marred by slight notes of reduction on the nose. Fortunately the mouth was a very impressive improvement over the nose, and the reductive notes did diminish with time.

• crisp, bright
• pale
• yogurt, lemon, musky
• light, fresh, very nice, elegant
• delicious with chevre, oysters

Jacques Beaufort Grand Reserve Brut 1989 8.5/10; 44€
The highlight of the evening for me. Amazingly “young” wine for it’s 17(!) years. It was disgorged in May 2005 so 16 of those years were on it’s lees, which makes all the difference.

• beautiful, tasty, complex
• golden
• green apple, tropical fruit, fresh
• smooth, bite at end, great length
• delicious with aged goat cheese

Frederic’s brother brought a selection of goat cheeses, since that’s his most recent wine-food pairing revelation and I’m a complete convert. The aged chevre was a bit of a challenge but was perfect with the 1989 Beaufort. Of course the oysters were a classic but excellent accompaniment, particularly with the Legras. It’s such a treat to find new ways to enjoy les vins petillants de Champagne.