Info on the 2020 releases added plus Corenthin here
What’s the fuss about clean wine?
An article published recently in the UK-based Guardian newspaper written by Felicity Carter, an Australian specialist wine writer, calls out the promotion of what are called “clean wines” following a publicity blitz surrounding a new project by Hollywood actress Cameron Diaz and a business buddy. The pair claim to have been astonished by discovering how many additives and processing aids are regularly used to make wine and have thus set out to save wine drinkers from all this poison by bringing “transparency to the wine industry”. Felicity Carter does a nice job exploring some of the many paradoxes of the wine business.
“Clean wine” seems to follow in the footsteps of clean food, clean eating, clean homes (thank you so much Marie Kondo) and quite possibly clean minds (you need an app to meditate these days). But the selling of “clean wine” is seen by some as a marketing scam. In the case of Avaline, we’re invited to make the connection between Cameron Diaz’s remarkably clean face and the wine. The marketing plays to widespread ignorance about how wine is actually made and Ms Carter points out that terms like “minimal intervention” and even “natural wine” can play to and fool the same audience. Like most things in life, it’s more complicated under the bonnet!
Fermenting grape juice will naturally turn to vinegar (vinaigre in French, or vin aigre, bitter wine) if not managed and controlled very carefully. Additives and intervention have permitted winemakers all over the world to make a product that’s stable enough to travel the world to market. It is possible to make wine without additives, you’ll just need to work even harder at good hygiene in the cellar, using tons of water to clean, in order to avoid any unwanted bacterial interference. If you want to make the most interesting wines, you’ll need to allow nature to go to work by allowing wild yeasts to carry out the fermentation, with consequent risk of various bacterial collateral as any natural wine drinker will know, unfortunately, of acetic acid bacteria attacking the wine, or volatile, or brett bacteria, or what’s known as mouse. Most winemakers use SO2 to help manage the risks, a very few have learned to carry out the process without use of SO2. There are indeed many additives that wouldn’t be necessary if the grapes were grown healthily in the first place, such as basics like sugar and acid that are regularly used. There are around 80 authorised additives (incuding in organic wine). In addition to additives, there are all sorts of interventions, such as de-stemming, or racking, or blocking malolactic fermentation, or filtration, interventions which can be brutual and quite change the natural character of the wine or virtually imperceptible.
If “clean wine” means anything, perhaps it really means sterile, meaning very carefully controlled mass-market homogeneity, where everything tastes the same, and we end up back where we started when we wanted to get away from it all. As we see it, it’s all good to bring to attention how wine is really made and tastes.
皆様
日本とは違い気温は落ち着き朝晩も涼しくなってきました。季節の訪れが早く感じます。
What does Vin de France really mean?
Up until 2014, the lovely wines of Jean-Philippe Padié from Calce in the Roussillon were designated Appellation Cotes du Roussillon in 2014. From 2015, Padié’s wines all became designated Vin de France. Naturally, a friend asked why so.
It’s a good question. And indeed, my friend could be forgiven for thinking that perhaps Padié’s wines had suffered some dip in quality resulting in their demotion in the classification system.
Yet, nothing could be further from the reality. Padié’s wines had evolved so far in quality – defined by us as transparency, purity and softness of all the elements that make wine, the fruit character, the alcohol, acids, tannins, the weight and mouthfeel – as to taste quite different from mainstream Roussillon. Thus they began to regularly fail the test to be accepted for Appellation status.
In order to “earn” the Appellation status, the test basically comprises a taste test, which is as much to promote as to protect the Appellation. And it necessarily serves as many masters as possible, in particular the most important (or biggest) producers, the Cooperative and largest estates. The taste test thus tends to adopt a lowest common denominator approach in which wines have to taste “typical” according to what most producers are making these days, which isn’t terribly different from 20 years ago.
For the average producer (most of them) the Appellation is what sells the wine whether it’s Saumur-Champigny or Beaujolais-Villages or Vacqueyras or Corbières.
But for the producer who aspires to make the most interesting, most qualitative wine, what sells is not his Appellation but his craft. In other words the discerning buyer looks at who makes the wine rather than the Appellation.
Today’s artisanal producers have pushed quality far ahead in the last ten years, particularly with the rise and rise of natural wine (not saying that natural wine itself is necessarily always the most qualitative but that the movement itself has galvanised artisan production). Many wines have evolved far beyond the mass market homogeneity of the “average” Appellation wine.
Vin de France used to be known as Vin de Table, a kind of lowest of the low, a designation for what could be anything from anywhere that didn’t make Vin de Pays or Appellation Controlée. And it usually was lowest of the low, without any indication where it came from, what it was made from, who made it, or even when (year of production or vintage wasn’t even permitted on the bottle), although the why was obvious, to make something cheap for mass market sales supermarkets, no explanation offered or required.
But as artisan producer’s wines started to taste different from the mainstream and were denied Appellation status they started to systematically apply the Vin de France status to their wines instead, knowing (or hoping) that their clients would understand. It’s frustrating for wine buyers looking to check boxes with lists based on Appellations but some of the best lists are regional and divided into Appellation, IGP (Indication Geography Protected, formerly Vin de Pays) or Vin de France (VDF).
There also happens to be less paperwork, and thus it’s cheaper, to apply for VDF status.
Today in my own database I put the region in brackets after VDF, thus VDF (Roussillon) or VDF (Rhône). This helps me and my clients understand where the wine comes from. In Spain this is even more necessary since the vast majority of wines we work with are designated Vino de España – although since many of our wines come from independent-minded regions like Catalonia and Galicia we don’t even find the words Vino de España on the label, just Vino!
Once upon a time, the Appellation system, as we mentioned a few weeks ago, was originally designed to simply designate and guarantee the provenance of wine, which came with a basic set of rules about permitted varieties, farming and winemaking methods. Little by little the rules developed to control the blend, permitted new “famous” grapes and denied obscure but indigenous grapes, and to control the method of farming and the method of winemaking. The goal was never to control the taste – after all, once upon a time, these grapes, farmed thus, and made in the traditional way, would taste a certain way, with some producers, as ever, doing a better job than others within all the parameters and others merely journeymanning. But today’s Appellation rules, particularly outside the most well-defined region in the world, Burgundy, has come to serve the taste of the mass market.
Whether in Bandol, or Corbières, or Côtes du Rhône artisan producers of superb wines of terroir are forbidden by Appellation laws from making wines from 100% the grape that defines the region, be it Mourvèdre in Bandol, or Grenache Noir in the Côtes du Rhône. Thus the wines of Philippe Badea, rich, classic Southern Rhône wines are designated Vin de France rather than Côtes du Rhône simply because they’re all 100% Grenache Noir!
We highly recommend Vin de France or just Vino (from Spain)!
アペラシオンとVin de France
“VIn de France “ラベルのワインはその品質がアペラシオンワインに比べて安くて劣るものなのか?
2015年、我々が日本に紹介をしているルーションのJean-Philippe PadiéのワインがそれまでのアペラシオンCotes du RoussillonからVin de France に変更になりました。
Vin de Franceは以前のVin de Tableに変わるものです。いわゆる階級下でテーブルワインであり産地、生産場所、品種、ヴィンテージなど基本的に何も明記をする必要はありません。(フランス産であれば)元々は明らかに一般市場のスーパーマーケット向けの安価なものがターゲットでした。
この理由からPadieが15年からこのVin de Franceに変更したことは質が落ちたように思われる一般の方もいらっしゃったはずです。
実際にPadieのワインのスタイルがこの頃より変わったのは確かです。
より透明感を増し、ピュアなフルーツと柔らかさ、低いアルコールとキリッとした酸味、軽やかでジューシーな味わい。ルーションの主流(メインストリーム)から明らかに異なった味わいになりました。
実はこれがアペラシオンのルールから外れた、すなわちルーションらしさが無くなったということでアペラシオンから不合格を言い渡された理由です。
あまり知られていないかもしれませんが、これらのアペラシオンの合否はいわゆる試飲テストによって行われます。誰が試飲をするかというと、一般的にはその土地の大手のコペラティブや土地を多く所有する大手の生産者が構成をする組織になっています。つまり、ある意味その土地の典型的な味わいを毎年同じように作る人達によって判断をされ、それにそぐわない味わいは却下する、という体勢がずっと変わっていないのです。
多くの一般的な生産者達にとっては”アペラシオン名”がワインを売ってくれているのはご存知の通りです。
ソーミュール・シャンピュニーやボジョレーヴィラージュ、コルビエールやシャトーヌフ・ド・パプ・・・などそのアペラシオン名でワインを買う消費者が多いのは一般的です。そしてそのアペラシオン名に安心をしています。
ですので多くの一般の生産者はアペラシオン名がなくなるとワインが売れなくなり、または価格が下がることに脅威を感じています。
しかし我々の興味をそそり、飲んでみたい!かつ質の高いワインを目指す生産者が売りたいのはアペラシオンではなく彼自身の作品なのです。 皆さんのようなプロフェッショナルの方々はアペラシオンやブランドではなく誰が作っているのかを注意深くみているはずですしそれを見極めるのが我々の仕事だと思っています。
アルティザンの生産者達はここ10年で躍進的にそのクオリティーを高めたように思います。特に”ナチュラルワイン”というカテゴリーが注目をされるようになりアペラシオンよりも作品にこだわるアルティザン生産者達に活気を与えたと思います。多くのワインが凡庸なアペラシオンを超えて枠に囚われない素晴らしい作品を生み出しています。
アルティザン生産者のワインがメインストリームのものとは異なりPadieのようにアペラシオンに拒否をされるなどし、(または元々アペラシオンに興味もない人もいますが)彼らは順次Vin de Franceに移行をし始めました。そしてそれを新たな市場は見逃しませんでした。もはやナチュラルワインの世界ではVin de France の表記で自由な表現をしてワインを作る方が当たり前のようになっています。 昨今は地方を超えてブレンドをしたり白ぶどう、黒ぶどうのブレンドや醸造方法など多岐に渡ります。
ラベルに何の説明もなくアペラシオンもわからない事は一般の消費者にとってこれらはワインをより難しくしていますが、多くの素晴らしいワインがこのVDFやIGPに存在します。
生産者にとってもアペラシオンを名乗るよりはVDFの方が費用もかからず簡単でもあります。
Vin de Franceを名乗る他の主な理由としてはアペラシオンに定められた品種以外の品種を使用している、アペラシオン域外の産地のものをブレンドしている、アペラシオンルールに沿った醸造方法以外の方法で作っている、などが挙げられます。
近年のナチュラルワインの生産者達はその土地により敬意を払い、そのテロワールにあった品種がアペラシオンが選んだ品種ではなく古来より本当はその土地にあったいわゆるマイナー品種であることを突き詰め、栽培しワインを作っています。
皮肉なことにこれらがその土地のアペラシオンを名乗れないことも多々あります。
ただし、注意しなければならないのはVin de Franceだからとは言え、産地や品種の個性も見失っているワインが残念ながら存在することです。
これは昨今の”ナチュラルワイン”に多くみられ、以前にも述べましたとおりマセラシオン・カルボニックなどの製法を取ることによって軽やかに低アルコールに仕上げることを優先して香りすら、風味すら低のかつ、未完成なワインが存在する事は残念な事です。
以前はアペラシオンに従い、準じた品種を用い、準じた醸造方法でワインを作るのが産地の保証でありワインの保証であるとされていました。
アペラシオン内でも少しづつルールが変更になり、ある土地ではブレンドが必須となったり、古来の品種はアペラシオンから外され、いわゆる栽培も簡単でマーケットに受け入れられやすいメジャー品種(!)が新規で入ったりなどがアペラシオンを変えて行きました。
(余談ですがボルドーの新品種にアルバリーニョ やトゥリガ・ナショナルなどの品種がアペラシオンボルドーのブレンド品種として認められています。。 病害などの問題を避けるためとは言え。。。。という感じですが。、、)
先にも述べたとおり、アペラシオンの授与は一般的にはその土地の大規模生産者や地主などによって試飲で行われています。故にある意味、頭の硬い、毎年同じ味わいを簡単に大量生産をする人達によって判断をされるのです。(ボルドーは、、、地球温暖化によるアルコール度数や酸味を補うのが目的のようにしか見えないのですが。。。スペインとポルトガル原産の品種を加えるとはちょっと驚きではないですか?):
我々はHPもそうですし、我々が使用しているデータベースでにおいてはVDF(Rousillon)やVDF(Rhone)のように産地は明記をするようにしています。
スペインもフランス同様でアペラシオンに囚われない生産者も多いのでVino de Espanaと名乗る生産者がほとんどです。さらには単なるVINO のみの表記のワインもありますが・・・
次回はここ数日アメリカを中心に何かと話題になっているナチュラルワインの”クリーン”という表現についてすぐに書きたいと思います。 キャメロン・ディアスのワインは日本にも入っているのかな・・・・
Cinsault. Carignan. Mourvèdre.






Raúl Calle Viticultor information posted!

Almost everything we know about Raúl Calle’s wines for now has been posted here!
Raúl and Laura Calle are making brilliant, individualistic wines in the Gredos in a completely different style from some perhaps better known producers like their friend and equally iconoclastic Fabio Bartolomei (see here) or larger, much more polished producers like Comando G or Marañones. Here is very small scale artisanal work, with no added sulfites, wines with some edges, pulsating energy and plenty of emotion.
Celler Tarannà Po-etic information posted!

Almost everything we know about Aitor’s wines, Celler Tarannà Po-etic, for now has been posted here!
Aitor is a new voice in Tarragona, located between leading producers Joan Ramon Escoda and Jordi Llorens, both of whom he works with and both of whom have clearly influenced Aitor. Yet his wines are as distinctively his own as his painstakingly detailed labels.
Domaine de la Tour du Bon posted!
Almost everything we know about Tour du Bon’s wines for now has been posted here!
Agnès Henry has run this lovely, small Bandol estate since 1990, adhering with great consistency to a simple philosophy of organic farming and making the wines as simply as possible for maximum pleasure and digestibility. Bandol is the great source of Mourvèdre based wines, both red and Rosé. We can’t think of more charming, versatile, drinkable Bandol than those of Tour du Bon.
Domaine Balazu des Vaussières posted!
Almost everything we know about Domaine Balazu des Vaussières’s wines for now has been posted here!
Domaine Balazu des Vaussières is a tiny Domaine based in Tavel in the Southern Rhône, making biodynamic and minimal intervention wines, without added sulfites. They’re stunning wines, very pure, totally different from anything else in the region, yet utterly of the region.
SIN Project information posted!
Almost everything we know about SIN Project’s wines for now has been posted here!
SIN Project is another project by consultant winemaker Amós Bañeres with his pal Alex Rios. The aim is to make pale, fresh, light, vegetal, un-manipulated wines from their region which is better known for rich and heavy, usually oaked wines.
Domaine Gangloff information posted!
Almost everything we know about Yves Gangloff’s wines for now has been posted here!
Yves Gangloff produces some of the world’s greatest and most sought after Syrah from Côte Rôtie and Viognier from Condrieu. Starting in the mid 1980’s he has very carefully built a reputation for impeccable quality – at the expense of volume for the quantities are very limited. Yves remains totally hands-on carrying out every aspect of the work himself – and is usually there to meet his customers, too.
Why Galicia is worth a visit
As you know we visited Galicia recently. In the Rias Baixas, we went to visit Alberto Nanclares, one of only a handful of producers farming organically in this region. His Albariño’s possessed a stunning clarity, and gentle sea-salty pure fruit, that was far from the shrill acidity and sweet fruit of the big names. Alberto, a former economist, explained his own conversion to organic farming around 10 years ago; he was concerned about spraying chemicals on his door-step so he simply stopped. His workload increased considerably but he found that the resulting wines offered more depth of flavour and complexity as well as more ripeness of acidity.
We learned that like elsewhere in Galicia there had been a hugely successful wine export industry several centuries ago. Following war, phyllorexa and much emigration from what became an isolated and very poor region, winemaking was reliant on hybrids and the maladapted Palomino grape during the twentieth century. Then Spain entered the EU and funds arrived for the re-generation of the region, including the re-planting of Albariño. This is an almost rare instance where an indigenous grape has been blessed and re-planted to great effect. The wines are atypical of Spanish wine being white and high in acidity and full of fruit. They became a smash in Madrid and on the export market, albeit, s usual, the market was dominated by big brands working industrially.
From the Rias Baixas we drove inland to visit producers in the D.O.’s of Monterrei, Ribeiro, and Valdeorras. Ribeiro has the oldest fine wine tradition in Galicia. For, before the Spanish-English War of the sixteenth century, its red wine was one of the most highly prized imported wines to England, with prices higher than those of Bordeaux. We were fortunate to taste the extraordinary wines of Bernardo Estevez, who possesses 28 native varieties planted on 70 tiny plots or terraces on just three hectares, all farmed organically. His work is truly a deep labour of love for the land. He almost forgot to show us the wines, he was so rapt to show us plot after plot of his vines. Unfortunately Bernardo only produces around 6 to 12,000 bottles of wine depending on the year. We also tasted the excellent first wines of Bernardo’s friend and colleague, Antonio Míguez Amil.
Further inland is the winegrower whose wines are starting to wow foreign markets, Nacho Gonzalez of La Perdida. Nacho cites Bernardo as his teacher. Nacho produces incredibly fine and exciting wines from Godello, Dona Branca (called Doña Blanca in the rest of Spain), Palomino (which here inland and with Nacho’s care is lovely), Garnacha Tintorera (known as Alicante Bouschet in France, and much maligned there because it’s “difficult”), Sumoll, and Mencía, mostly in blends.
The D.O. Monterrei lies in a pocket of southern Galicia surrounded on three sides by Portugal. There we met the producer Xico de Mandín another student and friend of Nacho Gonzalez and Bernardo Estevez. He showed us very fine, pure, complex, delicious wines from blends of Dona Branca and Verdelho with a touch of Treixadura in white and in red from Tinto Amarello, Mencía, Bastardo, Sarodeo, Sousán and Samarrica.
They were just what we wanted to drink with the abundant seafood of the region and the wines that we’ve brought back to France with us taste every bit as thrilling here.
Few of these producers travel beyond their region, hesitate to show their treasures to the wider world for fear we will not be interested. We’re very interested. We see a bright future for native grape varieties farmed sustainably and vinified naturally.
ガリシアのリアス・バイシャスでアルベルト・ナンクラレスというこの有名な土地に何百も存在する生産者で唯一!のオーガニック生産者を訪れました。彼のアルバリーニョは素晴らしく明快で優しい海の香り、塩っぽさも感じながらピュアなフルーツを持っていてこの土地のアルバリーニョにあるようなキンキンとした酸味はありません。この土地は雨も多くオーガニック栽培が極めて難しい土地で彼は10年前にオーガニックに変更してからの負担はかなり大きなものになりましたが、その結果他の人が作り出せないワインを作り出しています。堆肥として海藻を使用しています。
リアス・バイシャスはここ30年で改革をした土地です。スペインがEUに加盟した1980年代後半の1988年にDOとして認定されました。それまではアルバリーニョ はこの土地の地品種だったにも関わらずこの土地にはパロミノが多く植えられていました。80年代にこの土地をアルバリーニョ のDOと定めマドリードから人気がつき世界各国に知れ渡るようになりました。
ナンクラレスは現在と5へクタタールに14の畑を所有しています。仕立ては伝統的な棚仕立て。醸造においては極めてシンプルです。マロラクティック発酵を止め、ワインのクリーンさを保つために極少量の二酸化硫黄を使用するのみです。(詳しくは[Website]に)
彼が自然な方法でワインを造る事に対し未だ理解を示さない人は多く、彼の雇ったエノロジストは彼に古いフードルではなくてクリーンな最新のステンレスに変えた方がいい、と、勧めたそうです。これに対してアルベルトは”僕はそのエノロジストを変えたよ”。と。。言っていました。
リアスバイシャスから内陸へ移動し、DOモンテレイ、DOリベイロ、DOヴァルデオラスに向かいました。DOリベイロはガリシアで最も古いワインの伝統があり、16世紀の英西戦争前、この土地の赤ワインはイングランドに高い評価をされボルドーワインよりも高く取引されていたそうです。我々が訪問をしたベルナルド・エステヴェスで素晴らしいワインを試飲しそれを実感しました。彼はわずか3ヘクタールの土地に70の小さな区域の畑を持ちこの土地の28種類の地ブドウを栽培しています。栽培はもちろんオーガニックでそれは土地に対する愛がなければ出来ない過酷な労働環境にあります。彼は我々にその情熱を持ってその畑と愛するブドウたちを見せてくれました。彼はワインはブドウが作るものであって自分はブドウにそれを任せるからブドウをしっかり作るだけだと言っていました。オーガニックと過酷な労働条件の中作りだされるワインはわずか年産で6000本から12000本しかありません。 もちろん天候次第ですが・・
もっと内陸に進み、DOヴァルデオラスのラ・パディダのナチョ・ゴンザレスを訪れました。ナチョはベルナルドをブドウ栽培の師と仰いでいます。ナチョはヴァルデオラスでゴデーリョ、ドーニャ・ブランカ、パロミノ(内陸では特にナチョのパロミノは秀逸)、ガルナッチャ・ティントレラ(フランスではアリカンテ・ブーシェという名前の果肉まで赤い元々はフランスで生まれたグルナッシュの交配品種)スモイ、メンシアからほとんどはブレンドをしてワインを造っています。トータルの生産量は2017年ヴィンテージはわずか5000本しかありませんでした。2018年は初めて1000本を超える見込みです。
DOモンテレイはポルトガルの国境で南ガリシアに位置します。ここで会った生産者もまたナチョとベルナルドの友人であり同志で素晴らしくピュアで綺麗なワインを造っています。品種はドーニャブランカとヴェルデホにトレイシャドゥーラのブレンド、、そして赤はティンと・アマレーリョ、メンシア、ベスタルド、ソロデオ、スサン・・・ 品種を考え出すと馴染みがなさすぎて難しく感じてしまいますがただ単純に素晴らしく澄んだ美味しいワインでまた飲みたいと思う味わいでした。彼らのワインは今急速に注目を浴びてきています。 単なるナチュラルワインのブームに乗ったものではなく、きちんとした本物の味わいなのです。
またどの生産者の本数を見てもいかにガリシアの土地が難しいを感じます。
しかし彼らは一切妥協せず、彼らのもつ土地に適した品種を丁寧に愛情を持って自然と向き合いながら納得するワインを造っています。
ガリシア=アルバリーニョ =魚介に合うワインというフレーズだけではなく土地のワインと生産者たちの熱意をもっと紹介していきたいと考えています。
もちろん魚介も美味しいのですが・・
Nanclares y Prieto information posted!
Almost everything we know about Alberto Nanclares’s wines for now has been posted here!
Alberto Nanclares produces around just 40,000 bottles a year of sublime Albariño in the Rias Baixas D.O. He’s an economist turned farmer. And the pioneer of organic farming in this region and still one of the few. He’s adored by other natural winemakers in Galicia and little by little becoming known on a wider stage.
Bodega Frontio information posted!
Almost everything we know about Bodega Frontio’s wines for now has been posted here!
Bodega Frontio was founded in 2016 by Dane Thyge Jensen in the little known D.O. Arribes in the Duero region bordering on Portugal. He quit a good day job in Copenhagen to come here with his family to farm. Ever humorous he’s also evidently committed to making fine wine from local grapes and promoting sustainable farming while he’s about it.
Bernardo Estevez information posted!
Almost everything we know about Bernardo Estevez’s wines for now has been posted here!
Bernardo Estevez is based in the Ribeiro and is revered by the handful of Galician natural winemakers we know for his work in the vineyard while being totally modest about his wines. He makes far too few bottles but they’re as beautiful as the vines.
List of Off’s at Le Salon des Vins de Loire
Here’s a list of Off’s around the very mainstream Loire Salon.
What: Les Pénitentes
Where: Hôtel des Pénitentes, 23 bd Descazeaux, 49000 Angers
When: 2019-02-02 Saturday & 03 Sunday, 10h-18h
Dégustation professionnelle
What: Les Anonymes
Where: Abbaye du Ronceray, Passage de la Censerie, 49000 Angers
When: 2019-02-03 Sunday, 10h-19h
Dégustation professionnelle
What: Salon St Jean
Where: Greniers St Jean, 49000 Angers.
When: 2019-02-02 Saturday & 03 Sunday, 10h-18h
Dégustation professionnelle
What: La Dive
Where: Ackerman Caves, 19 Rue Léopold Palustre, 49400 Saumur
When: 2019-02-03 Sunday & 04 Monday, 10h-18h
Dégustation professionnelle
What: La Levée de la Loire
Where: Angers Parc Expo, Amphitea, Route de Paris, 49000 Angers
When: 2019-02-04 Monday & 05 Tuesday, 10h-18h
Dégustation professionnelle
There’s even less information to be found on who’s showing than for the Montpellier Off’s the weekend before but it’s likely to be similar to years’ past, in other words a treat; while sometimes a bit of a scrum.
Antonio Míguez Amil information posted!
Almost everything we know about Antonio Míguez Amil’s wines for now has been posted here!
Antonio Míguez Amil makes just one red wine, a fine, cool Ribeiro in Galicia called Boas Vides (good vines), from around six indigenous varieties, organically farmed on ancient stone terraces, on largely granite soils.
List of Off’s at Millesime Bio 2019
Here’s a list of salons around Millesime Bio 2019.
Millesime Bio itself takes place from Monday 2019-01-28, 10h-19h, to 2019-01-29 & 30, 9h-18h.
What: Vin de Mes Amis
Where: Domaine de Verchant, 34170 Castelnau le Lez
When: 2019-01-27 & 28, 10h-19h
http://www.le-vin-de-mes-amis.com/fr/
Cost: €12
Dégustation professionnelle
What: Les Affranchis
Where: Château de Flaugergues, 1744 Avenue Albert Einstein, 34000 Montpellier
When: 2019-01-27 & 28, 11h-19h & 18h
Cost: €10
Dégustation professionnelle
What: Biotop
Where: Les Grands Chais, Mauguio
When: 2019-01-27 & 28, 10h-18h
Cost: €10
Dégustation professionnelle
What: Les vignerons de l’irréel à Montpellier
Where: Le Dieze, 188 Avenue du Marché-Gare, 34070 Montpellier
When: 2019-01-27 & 28, 10h-18h
Cost: €10
Dégustation professionnelle
What: Roots 66
Where: Château de la Mogère, 2235 rte de Vauguières, 34000 Montpellier
When: 2019-01-28 & 29, 11h-18h
Cost: €5
Dégustation professionnelle
It’s surprisingly difficult to find lists of producers attending the fairs other than and even on third party platforms like Facebook (which we don’t do). But usually it’s the same or similar to previous years.
In praise of diversity
The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe.
– Albert Einstein
We thought of this wisdom when we toured Galicia recently. There we tasted wines made from two dozen grape varieties and recalled the infamous rant by Robert Parker a few years ago and detailed below.
Galicia is a region which lies in the north-west of Spain on the Atlantic Coast. In Vigo, the most populous city, in the Rias Baixas sub-region, we drank lots of wine made from the local Albariño grape, then, over a few days, we drank wines made from the following grapes, Dona Branca, Palomino, Garnacha Tintorera, Mencia, Caiño, Treixadura, Godello, Lado, Sousón, Ferran, and many others! We visited, among other producers, one Bernardo Estevez in the Ribeiro region who farms 28 varieties.
One of the most joyous aspects of the natural wine world is the discovery of native, or indigenous grape varieties, such as Poulsard and Savagnin from the Jura, Pineau d’Aunis or Menu Pineau from the Loire, Macabeu from the Roussillon and Catalonia, and those above-mentioned from Galicia. There are hundreds of others.
However, there was a moment at the start of the twenty-first century when it seemed nothing could stop the reduction of the wine world towards a handful of French grapes become known as “international varieties”. They were everywhere and, like Starbucks, seemed to offer the same experience wherever you went outside their native areas (still a few great wines from Cab’s Sav. and Franc and Merlot in Bordeaux and, from Pinot Noir in Bourgogne, or from Syrah in the Northern Rhône and Grenache in the Southern Rhône). The French wine authorities decreed that growers in many parts of southern France must plant Syrah to “improve” their wines and even in the southern Rhône a Côtes du Rhône cannot be 100% Grenache. Chardonnay and Merlot were planted all over the Languedoc. And Spain. And Italy. And Australia, New Zealand, California, Chile, etc.
As the natural wine movement gained traction, not least in response to this homogenisation of wine styles, wines from indigenous grapes were frequently belittled. Robert Parker wrote that such wines were from “godforsaken grapes that in hundreds and hundreds of years of viticulture, wine consumption, etc., have never gotten traction because they are rarely of interest …”.
Such grapes are of great interest to the people who farm them. And they’re of great interest to those who live in regions where wines are made from local grapes. For they are a celebration of local and regional culture. They usually make a fantastic marriage with the local food. For those visiting such regions, tourists, adventurers, and the curious who get to taste the wines when exported, such grapes open up new worlds.
For those really interested in wine, the best way to to learn about it is with an atlas, a reference book of grape varieties, some basic tasting skills, an open mind and some curiosity for the cultural context of the wine.
Indigenous grapes are usually those best adapted to the given terroir, the soil and climate. They will have been tried and tested over hundreds of years prior to the arrival of international varieties and modern farming methods. Chardonnay or Merlot or Syrah might well grow just about anywhere. But that isn’t necessarily a good thing. For the results are often excess fruit and alcohol, considered a good thing only by those looking for quantity not quality – or excess fruit and alcohol.
The key to the success of wines made from indigenous grapes is the intention and competence of the winemaker. To grow the grapes sustainably, caring for the soils, and making the wine as naturally as possible, eschewing chemicals, additives and processes that will manipulate and mask nature. Cooperatives and large Brands are rarely going to treat the grapes with the respect necessary to reveal the quality inherent because of the production methods they use.
This year we’ve talked a lot about Beaujolais. Gamay is the sole, native grape of this region. Every time we drink good Beaujolais, and there are many, we marvel at the combination of finesse, fruit purity, balance and pleasure. Gamay may be the ultimate indigenous variety but all indigenous grapes tell a great story.
先週我々はスペインの北東、大西洋に面するガリシアに行きました。リアス・バイシャスのサブリージョンのヴィーゴに滞在しこの地域で作られる最も有名なアルバリーニョも多く飲みましたし、ドーニャ・ブランカ、ガルナッチャ・ティントレラ、メンシア、カイーニョ、トレイシャドゥーラ、ゴデーリョ、ラード、スソン、フェラン・・・という全く初めての品種を含めこの地域の地ブドウを知る機会でもありました。リベイラのある生産者はなんと土着品種を28種類、所有していました。
”ナチュラル・ワイン”をディスカバーしていく中で最もワクワクすることの一つがその土地独自の品種を発見できることです。例えば、今は知られていますが代表的なものでいうとジュラのプルサールとかロワールのピノ・ドニス、ルーションとカタルーニャのマカブーであり、、そして今回の上記ガリシアの様々な品種です。
21世紀初めにフランス品種の一部がインターナショナル・ヴァラエティ(国際品種)のような位置付けになりそれらはどこにでも存在し、同じような味わいをもたらし、もはや元の土着がどこであるかわからなくなるほどです。(もちろんボルドーから素晴らしいカベルネソーヴィニヨンやブルゴーニュから最高のピノノーワルは今でもできていますが・・)
南フランスにおいてもコート・デュ・ローヌのリージョンにシラーを植えるように令状が出されました。グルナッシュ100%とならないように、、、また彼らのワインをより高い位置付けしたいがために。。
そしてラングドックにはシャルドネやメルローがどこかしこに植えられています。
栽培が容易で、販売も容易で、均一の味を作り個性が失われていきました。
皮肉なことですがアペラシオンのルールが土着品種でなく新しい品種を取り入れているところもあります。 土着品種により伝統的に造られたワインがこれによりアペラシオンを名乗れずにVDFやIGPなどになっていることもあります。
まだ4年前の話ですがロバート・パーカーは2014年に、土着の品種で造られるワインはブドウ栽培を考えても、消費的にも”godforsaken (滅びた)品種”からできるワインと投稿しけなしました。さらにこれらが注目を浴びることは決してないと。。トゥルソーやサヴァニャン、などを具体的に挙げていました。
シャルドネ、カベルネ・ソーヴィニヨンなど国際品種に勝るものはないと言っているかのように、、文化や伝統という観点から全く逸脱した考えでありそして変わらずそれらのワインに高得点を付け続けています。
ナチュラルワインのムーヴメントが勢いを増す中この土着品種を見直す若い生産者が増えており、我々もそれを知る機会が増えてきました。
当然ですがナチュラルワインの根本にはその土地の伝統が存在しそれがナチュラルの一端であると思います。ただ酸化防止剤云々ではなくて。
土着の品種によるワインはワインのスタイルやテーストを教えてくれるだけでなくその土地の風土を伝え、土地の料理と素晴らしくマリアージュをし、歴史や文化を一緒に教えてくれる機会でもあります。土着の品種は土地の文化なのです。ワインが旅行者や探検家など別の土地からやってくる我々に新しい世界を見せてくれているのです。
もちろん国際品種を否定しているのではなく、本来あるべき場所にあるものを見るべきではないか、、と思うのです。 我々日本人はヨーロッパの文化をあまり知りません。 (母国の文化すら危ういですが)ワインに関しても残念ながらパーカー標準以降が我々の知識の基準であると思います。 多くの日本のレストランでは未だにシャルドネ、ソーヴィニヨンブラン、カベルネ、ピノノワール、など白、赤4品種づつくらいに分けられたワインリストを多く見ます。 それ以外はその他。。として括られているイタリアとスペインのみ。。
世界をもっと見る、知ること、そして我々としてはいかに日本の方々にそれらを知ってもらうか・・・
ガリシアの詳細は数日後に・・・
Celler La Salada-Mas Candí information posted!
Almost everything we know about Celler La Salada-Mas Candí’s wines for now has been posted here!
Toni and Anna Carbó with Ramon Jane Garriga and Merce Pujol are making a large and eclectic but very fine and ever improving collection of wines, from organic wines and without any additives.
Els Vinyerons Vins Naturals information posted!
Almost everything we know about Els Vinyerons Vins Naturals wines for now has been posted here!
Els Vinyerons Vins Naturals is a brilliantly realised project to make inexpensive organic, sans soufre, terroir wines. By Alex Rios and Amós Bañeres, who each produce very successful but totally different wines in their own name.
La Perdida information posted!
Almost everything we know about La Perdida’s wines for now has been posted here!
La Perdida is run by Nacho Gonzalez who produces fewer than 15,000 bottles a year from 28 tiny parcels of vines in inland Galicia. A maverick, he’s fiercely organic, and works without any additives in the cellar. The wines are humorous and generous, and as riveting as Nacho’s work.
Amós Bañeres information posted!
Almost everything we know about Amós Bañeres’s wines for now has been posted here!
Amós makes tiny quantities of pure, complex, elegant, rich and totally gorgeous wines from a small hillside near Vilafranca in the Penedès of Macabeu on one side and Xarel-lo on the other. Without added sulfites.
Valentin Valles information posted!
Almost everything we know about Valentin Valles’s wines for now has been posted here!
Valentin makes some of the most original and natural wines in the Rhône. He worked for a several years at L’Anglore. His own wines have a wonderful lightness of touch, sense of fun and play about them, as well as great balance and harmony.
Jean-Philippe Padié information posted!
Everything we know about Jean-Philippe Padié’s wines for now has been posted here!
Jean-Philippe Padié makes some of most natural, pure, delicate and complex wines in the Roussillon from his biodynamically farmed vines sited on a mosaic of soils in Calce. Each Cuvée is a fabulous adventure.
Charvin information posted!
Everything we know about Laurent Charvin’s wines for now has been posted here!
Laurent Charvin is one of the greatest producers in all of France, crafting great Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Côtes du Rhône unlike almost any others in these Appellations, bringing incredible freshness and elegance to the rich natural taste of the terroir.
Bois de Boursan information posted!
Everything we know about Bois de Boursan’s wines for now has been posted here!
Jean-Paul Versino is one of the few remaining producers in Châteauneuf-du-Pape to work traditionally: a blend of all terroirs of the Appellation, very old vines, whole bunch fermentation with natural yeasts, minimal intervention and long ageing in foudre. He consistently produces great wine, which we’ve been drinking for 20 years. He has resisted all attempts to modernise and we’re grateful.
Thierry Alexandre information posted!
Everything we know about Thierry Alexandre’s wines for now has been posted here!
Thierry Alexandre makes tiny volumes of Syrah and Marsanne in the Northern Rhône, both St Joseph and Vin de France, and since 2017 a Crozes-Hermitage Blanc (just 300 bottles, though). The wines have a delicious purity and are old fashioned in the sense of being relatively light, gently balanced, neither too fruity, nor too earthy.
Charly Thevenet information posted!
Everything we know about Charly Thevenet’s wine for now has been posted here!
Charly Thevenet makes outstanding Cru Beaujolais. Like his Papa, Jean-Paul, he makes a very limited quantity of just one wine from one Appellation, in his case, Regnié. Fruit, finesse, freshness, complexity are all present.
Escoda-Sanahuja information posted!
Everything we know about Joan Ramon Escoda’s wines for now has been posted here!
Joan Ramon is one of the pioneers of natural wine in Catalonia, Spain, has been working sans soufre since 2007 and makes brilliantly digestible and energetic wines that carefully balance fruit and root savouriness. The whole range is a delight.
Jean-Paul Thevenet information posted!
Everything we know about Jean-Paul Thevenet’s wines for now has been posted here!
Jean-Paul Thevenet is one of the pioneers of natural wine in Beaujolais. His wines are subtle, complex, fine, sublime.
Viños Ambiz information posted!
Everything we know about Fabio’s wines for now has been posted here!
Fabio is a unique voice in the trendy but still unknown Sierra de Gredos region west of Madrid. It’s a large, dispersed mountainous area with a sea of abandoned vineyards from another age which producers like Fabio are slowly recovering. Fabio is entirely self-taught, his wines have an innocent purity, are usually cloudy and strange-looking but burst with the taste of what they are.
Jordi Llorens information posted!
Everything we know about Jordi’s wines for now has been posted here!
Jordi makes beautiful sans soufre wines in the Conca de Barberà region, near his friend Joan Ramon Escoda. An eighth generation farmer who has a deep understanding and love of his soils, he’s been making wine since 2008.