Fresh & Pure Faugères

Snap out of your turkey stupor and stop by this Saturday to taste some exciting wines from a leading winemaker and sustainable farming advocate in the south of France.

Rising out of the Languedoc Plain, north of Béziers and high up into the foothills of the Cévennes mountain range, is the AOC Faugères. This is an arid landscape of scrub covered ridges and windswept stone outcrops. Just outside the hamlet of Lenthéric at Domaine Léon Barral (named after his grandfather), Didier Barral is making cellar-worthy wines of power and complexity that speak of the earth.

Faugères is famous for its dry and crunchy metamorphic schist that forces the roots of the vines to penetrate deeply in search of moisture. This cherished soil for grape growing also absorbs the heat of the daytime before releasing it in the cooler evenings. The humid Marin winds off the Mediterranean and the dry, violent Tramontane winds from the northwest are a constant presence in the Faugères hills that help to ventilate the vineyards. Most of Didier’s vines are very old, some up to ninety years of age. All of these factors help for even ripening of the grapes and further increases their concentration.

Didier farms about 75 acres of vines using biodynamic practices. Cows, horses, and pigs graze the cover crops in and around the vineyards, which promotes healthy microbiotic activity in the soil. Didier believes this interdependence between the animals and the vineyards are essential to the health of the vines. Although he would consider the wine all but finished once it leaves the vineyard, the harvest is cared for with the same attention once it reaches the cellar. While these principles form an idyllic narrative of a natural product, the fact is that Didier has a profound influence on other viticulteurs who can see how his ideology translates to results.

All wines are hand-harvested, hand-sorted, fermented with indigenous yeasts and have no sulfur added. They are never racked, filtered, or fined. We are allocated a very limited amount of these prized wines. If you can’t make it by on Saturday, let us know if we can reserve few bottles or an assortment for you.

2011 Domaine Léon Barral Faugères
Price – $35/bottle – SOLD OUT
50% Carignan, 30% Grenache, 20% Cinsault, aged for 2 years in cement and stainless steel cuves.

2011 Domaine Léon Barral Faugères “Jadis”
Price – $49/bottle 
50% Carignan, 30% Syrah, 20% Grenache, aged for 24 to 26 months in barrel (10% new oak).

2011 Domaine Léon Barral Faugères “Valinières”
Price – $79/bottle 
80% Mourvèdre 20% Syrah, aged for 24 to 26 months in barrel (10% new oak).

For a pictorial view of Domaine Léon Barral check out the slideshow.

For a more literary view of the landscape and people, read Robert Louis Stevenson’s Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes. It chronicles a twelve-day, 120 mile hike he took through the south of France with his donkey Modestine, passing just a wee north of Faugères

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Posted on 2014.11.29 in France, Saturday Sips Wines, Languedoc-Roussillon  |  Read more...

A Catalunya Balancing Act

Join us this Saturday to sample:
2010 Ca n’Estruc L’Equilibrista DO Catalunya
Price: $35/bottle – SOLD OUT

Working with the variable weather patterns of a growing season, most vintners do their best to bottle a red wine that is harmonious with fruit, tannins and acid that still expresses the place where the grapes were grown. Francisco Martí has done just that with the exceptionally drinkable 2010 Ca N’Estruc L’Equilibrista.

Although Francisco Martí is co-owner of perhaps the finest wine shop in Spain, Vila Viniteca, in the El Born district of old Barcelona, and partner in a leading distributor, he has spent much of his life in the vineyards of the Ca n’Estruc estate. It’s fair to say that he knows a thing or two about wine.

The Martí family and Ca n’Estruc have origins in wine production since 1548. The estate of around 64 acres lies on the slopes of Montserrat at over 500 feet in elevation. Vineyards with some vines that are close to 80 years old are ideally orientated to optimize sunshine. Cool summers and mild winters allow for even ripening of the fruit. Cultivation is organic.

The small production and highly aromatic 2010 L’Equilibrista is a classic Mediterranean blend of 45% Syrah, 30% Garnatxa Negra, and 25% Carinyena. The grapes are hand-picked and hand-sorted. Fermentation takes place in open wood and stainless steel vats before aging in French oak barrels for 14 months. The resulting wine is brimming with red and black fruits, a hint of oak, juicy acidity, and just enough tannin to balance it all out. It drinks magnificently now but can also develop in a cellar for another few years.

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Posted on 2014.11.28 in Saturday Sips Wines, Spain DO, Catalunya  |  Read more...

Thanksgiving Wine

Stop by this Saturday to sample a few wines ideal for your Thanksgiving celebration.

Our first rule for selecting wines with a classic Thanksgiving dinner is not to wig out. The meal is far too diverse with textures, flavors and aromas to labor over perfect pairings. The wines should be light, refreshing and energetic. With moderate alcohol, lots of fruit, a lively acidity, and versatile enough to complement everything from the roast bird to Aunt Grace’s sweet potato casserole.

Perhaps even more importantly, you should have plenty of wine. Thanksgiving is time for merriment and the wine should be as bountiful as the food. We have selected three crowd-pleasing and affordable bottles, each one made all the more refreshing with some chilling. These wines will give you further cause to celebrate.

2009 Château de Raousset Morgon
~$16.99/bottle – 15% off regular price of $19.99 SOLD OUT

2009 was a special vintage for Beaujolais. Ideal weather that year produced wines full of fruit yet maintaining an exquisite balance. Château de Raousset has acreage in the Beaujolais crus of Chiroubles, Fleurie and Morgon — most of them worked by five share-cropping families some of whom have links with the Château going back over five generations. The Morgon comes from the named vineyard of Douby known for well-structured wines with both fruity and floral notes. This is an easy-drinking wine that will shine with or without food. Serve at 59-64°F

Fattoria Moretto “Monovitigno” Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro Secco
Price: $31/bottle – SOLD OUT

The Emilia Romagna region of Italy is famous for many things. Besides Lambrusco, mortadella and Parmigiano Reggiano, it also gave birth to one of the most important composers of music history, Giuseppe Verdi. Moretto’s Lambrusco in the glass is as rollicking as Verdi’s Falstaff in the opera house. The Altariva family is making this miniscule production, terroir-driven wine from a four acre single vineyard near the town of Modena that’s planted with vines over 40 years old. It’s dry, slightly fizzy, and practically sings out for food. While purple and loads of fun this is still real wine with concentration and aromatics serious enough to satisfy the most discriminating drinkers. This wine is perfection with a charcuterie, olive and cheese plate. We love it and so does the New York Times. Serve at 57-62°F

2012 Castell d’Encus Ekam Costers del Segre
Price: $39/bottle

The vineyards of Castell d’Encus lie in Costers del Segre, the far north east of Spain, between 2,400 and 3,000 feet of altitude in the sub-Pyrenees. Vines were cultivated there by monks between the 12th and 18th centuries. Raül Bobet was drawn to the site in part due to fermentation vats that were carved out stone centuries ago and that he still uses today. Every one of Raül Bobet’s wines are case studies in the marriage of technical mastery and soul. They are all sophisticated and express a purity of fruit and concentrated intensity that’s balanced by fresh acidity. The 2012 Ekam is a blend of 85% Riesling and 15% Albariño that compares favorably to the very best dry Riesling wines from Germany. Extremely versatile, Ekam will be the spark to blander dishes or harmonize with more piquant flavors. Jancis Robinson agrees. Serve at 45-50°F

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Posted on 2014.11.19 in France, Saturday Sips Wines, Beaujolais, Spain DO, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Costers del Segre  |  Read more...

The French Connection

Nov 10-16, 2014

Even a brief glance into the history of wine will reveal the French as innovators in the vineyards and cellars both. Their most recognized wine growing regions are known the world over for quality and individuality and are imitated by every region suitable for growing grapes. Here are two affordable, small production, Spanish wines highly influenced by Bordeaux yet expressing their own regional personalities.

2010 Alemany i Corrio Pas Curtei DO Penedès
Price: $29/Bottle – SOLD OUT

Back in July we featured Irene Alemany and Laurent Corrio’s white Burgundy-inspired, old-vine Xarel·lo. But their white wines are a more recent development of their winemaking passion. Their true beginning was back in 1999 with red wines like the cuvée Pas Curtei, vinified in their garage winery in the Alt Penedès — the most inland and mountainous subzone of Penedès characterised by relatively low yield and high quality.

The 2010 vintage of Pas Curtei is a blend of 60% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 20% Carinyena that’s aged for 14 months in a mixture of one, two, and three-year old French oak barrels. The resulting wine might be favorably compared with a top quality Saint-Émilion from the Right Bank of Bordeaux. There is plenty of big fruit up front with a deep structure and long finish. It’s still a relatively young wine that you can drink now or hold for several more years.

2005 García Burgos Vendimia Seleccionada DO Navarra
Price: $25/Bottle – SOLD OUT

From vineyards near Murchante, a small farming town in Navarra, comes the 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot blend of García Burgos Vendimia Seleccionada. Its richness, depth of color, and elegance is reminiscent of the Left Bank Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines of the Médoc. Even more specifically, Saint-Julien,where many of the finest wines show earthy and botanical aromas at maturity. Navarra is high elevation, dry, continental Spain, with moderating climatic influences from the Atlantic Ocean. Because the nights begin to get cooler during the month of August, the vineyards aren’t subjected to overheating during ripening, ensuring balance at harvest.

Representing the ninth generation of grape growers in his family, Javier García Burgos is spiritually connected with the vines. His Vendimia Seleccionada is aged for 15 months in 225-liter barrels from the oak forests in the Allier Department of France. With over seven years of bottle age this is a prime example of a mature wine that is at its peak drinking stage, still full of fruit and spice with a smooth finish because any of the hard tannic structure that it might have had in its youth has resolved.

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Posted on 2014.11.06 in Saturday Sips Wines, Spain DO, Penedes, Navarra  |  Read more...

David Moreau’s Santenay Premier Cru

Nov 3-9, 2014
2011 David Moreau Santenay 1er Cru Clos Rousseau
Price: $59/bottle

Santenay is the southernmost appellation in the Côte de Beaune, where the limestone ridge of the Côte d’Or begins to thin. Although wine from Santenay is sometimes considered rustic compared to more northerly appellations, earthy and brambly might be more appropriate descriptions. The best can be captivatingly aromatic, and priced far more reasonably than more recognized villages. Young winemaker David Moreau seems to be harnessing every bit of his talent there to create wines of distinction.

From the southern part of the village with its shallow, red ferrous soils, from vines planted in 1962, the 2011 Santenay 1er Cru Clos Rousseau exudes dark cherry aromatics before a sip brings a full-bodied and energetic texture. Matured in 1/3 new oak barrels this wine can be consumed early for its wild and primary fruit or developed in the cellar for over a decade.

Read more about David’s Cuvee “S” here.

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Posted on 2014.11.02 in Burgundy  |  Read more...

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