Not a pleasant image. I did taste a very nice Prosecco at Vinisud this year so I am sure there are some very pleasing wines. However, since returning to the UK last month everywhere I turn I see Prosecco taking over. It is apparently the chosen tipple of women, young women in particular. In supermarkets trolleys seem to be incomplete without a bottle, in bars people ask for it. Not any particular Prosecco, no thought towards vineyard and production methods let alone quality. Just Prosecco.

Azienda Corvezzo, really good prosecco

I hear people asking for a Chardonnay or Merlot in bars too and it made me realise just how rarified is the world of wine in which I am now happily rooted. For the general wine drinker terroir means nothing, SO2 even less. This blog and the many other forms of writing about wine are a minority interest as we sail the good ship ‘Quality’ against the tide of commercial prosecco.

Nevertheless quality does matter and little things mean a lot to those of us who are fascinated by wine. I am currently re-reading American wine importer and writer Kermit Lynch’s 1990 book ‘Adventures On The Wine Route’ and was highly amused by a decription of his early work. He was bowled over by the Burgundy wines of Hubert de Montille in the 1970s but, sadly,  when they arrived in the USA he was devastated because the wines were dumb. He contacted de Montille to complain they weren’t the same wines, which of course was not true. The wines had simply cooked on board the ship as they travelled through Panama. De Montille explained that his were ‘natural wines’.

He meant, of course, that his wines were living and are altered by conditions around them and by time etc. Nobody would question de Montille’s statement. Wine is a living thing. Yet just yesterday at a wine conference in Verona an audience member at a session about natural wine made the statement that ‘natural wine does not travel’. Presumably s/he believes that SO2 is travel insurance for wine!

Coutelou heading to New York

As de Montille said back in the 70s all wine will suffer if not transported correctly. The answer lay in Lynch usung refrigerated containers to take wine to California. Jeff Coutelou’s wine travels to the USA, Japan, Australia and all over Europe without problem. Kermit Lynch himself imports plenty of natural wine (the modern version) such as Barral and Ganévat. In the same conference Alice Feiring reported that in 2015 there were no natural wine fairs in the USA, this year there were six and demand is growing. Natural wine doesn’t travel?? Nonsense.

Does this matter? In the wider world these are academic concerns, of little matter to most wine drinkers. Yet amongst those of us to whom wine really matters the argument rages on, full of hot air cooking rational debate as surely as those wines in the 70s. Carried along on the waves of Prosecco rather than the Panama Canal.

hospitalitybusiness.co.nz

I have been in the UK for the last two weeks and thought I would look around to see whether I could find natural, biodynamic or organic wines. If I lived in London then the experience would have been very different as there are a number of wine merchants who sell natural wines, even specialise in them. This website has a map showing such oases. Around the country there are merchants who also specialise in these wines, the excellent Vins Naturels website links to some.

However, I live in the North East and it is a desert for the sort of wines which I love. I walked around a number of supermarkets and it was a depressing experience. Rows of shelves loaded with branded wines from the usual suspects, Yellow Tail, Gallo etc. Hardly any artisanal wines and, in my regular supermarket, I could not find one organic wine let alone natural wine. On the websites of the big supermarkets, Tesco lists 5 organic wines from almost 600 wines, Morrisons just two from over 500. Other big chains don’t even show organic wines.

A supermarket near me

The moral is, if you want to drink organic, biodynamic or natural wines, then search online for specialist merchants. The message is not getting out there to a wider wine drinking public. Just this week I read a thread on a well known wine forum which included comments about not buying natural wine in France as it doesn’t travel back to the UK. Complete nonsense of course. Many natural producers sell their wines in the USA, Australia and Japan in large quantities. I transport such wines regularly back to the north of England with no problem whatsoever. That people still go along with such nonsense shows that prejudice and clichés carry more weight than reality. But then after recent weeks why does that still surprise me?

The Real Wine Fair, RAW and other events show that there is a market in the UK but it is very London centric. We need change.

from Britpoll.co.uk

I was truly saddened to hear from Jeff this morning that his father, Jean – Claude, passed away through the night.

Jean-Claude was a Physical Education teacher, running the family wine domaine at the same time. It was he who gained organic status for the domaine back in 1987, one of the first two hundred French wine domaines to be certified organic those 30 years ago.It was he who began the process which Jeff has taken on to make Mas Coutelou an oasis of biodiversity in a sea of conventional vineyards. I know from talking to him that Jean-Claude was very proud and very happy about the way the wines and the vineyards had developed under his son.

I enjoyed his company, his love of sport and poetry and his gentle teasing of we English. Indeed our last chat, just a couple of weeks ago, included some laughter at the current state of my home country. He was kind and generous with Pat and myself and we shall miss him.

So, thank you Jean-Claude for all you achieved, not least in your lovely family to whom I send my heartfelt sympathies. It was an honour to have got to know you. Every time I am in Rome vineyard, your vineyard, I shall think of you.

Around 4pm this afternoon I received a text from Jeff to say that Rec D’Oulette, the vineyard of the Carignan of Flambadou had been vandalised. I had been in the nearby Flower Power parcel this morning but passed that parcel noticing nothing amiss.

I was horrified to hear and then see the photos which Jeff published on Facebook. Someone has passed through the middle of the vineyard with a machine to cut the flowers and plants which Jeff had planted amongst the olive trees. These are designed to attract insects, bees and other biodiversity to the area. Surely a benefit for all vignerons and people?

It is unbelievable that some pathetic individual or individuals see some twisted reason to destroy what is beneficial for the area and for vineyards. Jealousy? Who knows but they are wrong headed. And just wrong. Because Jeff will plant more. When someone cut down ten trees he had planted, he replanted ten. With another thousand for good measure. Flowers, plants will bloom again in Rec D’Oulette.

These photos were taken a few weeks ago in the vineyard, wild and planted flowers will return. And though one, or even a few, may not like his work for some reason, the support shown to Jeff comes from thousands of people. Let one hundred flowers blossom.

En francais

Winter has been relatively mild here in the Languedoc, as elsewhere. However, the last 2 weeks have seen definite signs of the first days of Spring. The blossom, insects and flowers have appeared, and, as I write the temperature is a very pleasant 23C on the terrace. All the flowers below were photographed in the vineyards of Mas Coutelou.

As the weather warms the vineyard beckons. Pruning is complete at Mas Coutelou, bravo Julien. But other tasks await. The dry winter lasted until a couple of weeks ago when 55mm fell at Puimisson in one day. Until then Jeff was reluctant to plough, the dry soils would be easily scattered by wind and the ground cover helps to retain what little moisture there was. With the rain it was time to lightly plough. Not deep, 15cm or so as the soil was still dry and compact beneath and Jeff doesn’t want to disturb the vine roots or the wildlife which lives in the soils.

La Garrigue

Ste Suzanne

Rec D’Oulette

As I wrote in the last article it was time to plant new vegetation. Trees and bushes to protect the vineyards from careless neighbours and to provide biodiversity in an area of monoculture. Biodiversity which in itself will repay the vines by attracting birds, bats and insects which will feed on potential vine pests. So, olive, apple, hazelnut and cherry trees, rose bushes and many other varieties were planted on a lovely Spring day.

After

Pommier

In Rome vineyard (where else?) I found the first buds of 2016 at Mas Coutelou on some muscat vines. Lichen on some vines also showed the good quality of air in that special place.

Muscat bud covered with a fine layer of ‘coton’

And then came Thursday March 17th. Where had Spring gone? We worked in Font D’Oulette through a day of firstly drizzle, then steadily increasing amounts of rain. Replanting vines which had not grown and also grafting new vines onto root stock already in place. Traditional Languedoc varieties such as Aramon Noir and Cinsault but also something rare, indeed unique. For more on that you will have to wait until next time however.

Michel, Julien et Thomas

Sémoir par mésure

Vincent insert la plante

Greffage

Vigne greffée

By the end of the day, as the pioche (hoe) was so heavy with mud as to be unusable and the soil turned to mud, we were cold, soaked to the skin and muddy from head to foot. And yet, inspired by a lunchtime magnum of Flower Power, the wine made from this very vineyard, we worked happily in the knowledge that our labours will bear fruit. And what lovely fruit!

Spring is here, the vineyards are coming to life again, a joyful time of year.

Another hero

All good vignerons strive to produce the most healthy grapes from healthy vines living in healthy soils. The best wines are made from healthy grapes, in the cellar the winemaker can make good wine out of ordinary grapes but can only make great wine from great grapes. The soil matters. It feeds the vine, it provides water, minerals and nutrients. A good vigneron will take the best possible care of those soils because they are the basis of their wines.

Rec D’Oulette (foreground) and its Carignan vines

On March 10th I went out to visit the vineyards, a morning when Spring was showing itself. Jeff was working with Vincent and Julien to plant trees at Rec D’Oulette and Rome vineyards. These add biodiversity to an area which is largely given to monoculture but they also help to break down the soils whilst adding air, bacteria and wildlife which will make the soils healthier.

Julien pruning the olives

Vincent staking the olives

The trees play another role too. Many of the neighbours to Mas Coutelou vineyards are not organic, indeed some are prolific users of chemicals on their soils and vines. Trees, bushes, plants and ditches act as a barrier to those contaminated soils, protecting soils which have been certified organic since 1987 under the management of Jean-Claude, Jeff’s father. The 30 years and more of organic practice have undoubtedly improved the soils and there was a clear demonstration today.

The brown areas are planted with trees, bushes etc as a barrier around the vines in green

The blue/grey tinge on the grass at the edge of the parcel is from the neighbour’s weedkiller

Jeff was justifiably annoyed by one of his neighbours who had been spraying weedkiller and had encroached onto Jeff’s land to turn his tractor and sprayer.  Some of the chemical had spilled onto Coutelou land, admittedly only on to the edge of the buffer zone between the vines but unacceptable nonetheless.

Before

After

He then showed me two of the holes dug to plant the trees. One was at the side of the Carignan vines well away from the neighbours. The soil inside was fine, friable and a rich brown. The other hole, 50m further from the vines, next to a slope running from the neighbours, had greyer soils with big clods of earth.

The lesson was obvious. The neighbouring vineyard is eroded with every rainfall, the clays are carried down and they clump together. Erosion is the result of the weedkiller, the soils are bare and unprotected. The work done by the Coutelous in the vine planted area has enriched the soils, there is more organic matter in them, flowers, grasses, herbs as well as animal life. As you walk on the vineyard soils there is a sponginess, a spring in them, they are open because of the air within.

Chemical land versus organic land

That is why Jeff has grubbed up vines close to his neighbours and planted olives, apples, cherries and dozens of other varieties of tree. The improvement in soil quality has helped to improve the wines. Don’t take my word for it, ask La Revue Du Vin De France, Jancis Robinson, Jamie Goode et al who have praised them. The wine is the product of healthy grapes from healthy vines in healthy soils.

Pommier

Does it all make a difference? Well, yes. Aesthetically, morally, even spiritually. And in the wine? Well, open a bottle of Flambadou 13 or 14, the wine made from these Carignan vines. Taste that wine. Does it make a difference? The answer is in your glass.

The world’s biggest organic wine fair took place in Montpellier last week and I attended all three days of the main salon as well as a number of the offline events around the main event.

Last year I reported on the 2015 event in two posts about the salon and the offs and I shall do the same over the course of the next week. However, a brief introduction with an overview of thoughts and preferences.

1 salon attended

6 offline events attended

7 countries’ wines tasted

84 domaines’ wines tasted

373 wines tasted

Although my main interest is the wines of Languedoc – Roussillon I deliberately chose not to concentrate on them as I get to taste them throughout the year at other events. In addition I think I ought to taste wines from other regions and countries to broaden my experience and place the Languedoc – Roussillon in better context. That said I did taste some very good local wines at the offline events from the likes of Joe Jefferies, Mas Sibert, Escarpolette and Fontude.

Wines from Joe Jefferies

However one country’s wines stood out, Austria. I tasted with a number of Austrian producers and they were consistently good, some outstanding, for example Sepp Muster, Ewald Tscheppe, Preisinger and Pittnauer above all. I have always enjoyed the white wines of Austria but the reds were a revelation, local grapes with character, distinction and drinkability.

The Rhone Valley was another source of top wines, so many elegant, fine wines such as those of Domaine des Aphillantes, Domaine du Coulet (Matthieu Barret) and Domaine Lombard in Brézème, an area I didn’t really know before. Interestingly Brise Cailloux from Barret was one of my choices of outstanding wines of 2015.

There were outstanding wines from Marc Kreydenweiss in the Rhone (as well as from his son in Alsace).

Marc Kreydenweiss Rhone

Marc Kreydenweiss Alsace

Just to the north of the Rhone I also enjoyed a number of Beaujolais wines (Lapierre, Séléné for example). The other outstanding wines were those of Aimé Stentz from Alsace, wines of great finesse, flavour and sheer drinkability.

There were many more interesting features and wines which I shall report on this week, the presence of an English vineyard certainly created a stir for example.  Most surprising wine of the week was a delicious Viognier from Greece, Domaine Giannikos. I expected a flabby or blousy wine and instead the Neo∑ Anemo∑ was dry, clean, citrussy and truly elegant.

All in all it was a very good week.

Whether the weather be fine
Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold
Or whether the weather be hot,
We’ll weather the weather
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not.

(Unknown poet)

I read an interesting article this morning, from the iDealwine website, about the weather. Yes a British preoccupation but one shared by vignerons around the world. It was ironic timing as, returning to Margon yesterday (January 17th), I awoke this morning to flakes of snow falling!

Snow flakes on the car

Hardly the snowfalls I saw in December in the UK but surprising. Not enough of a cold snap however for the good of the vines. They need a period of cold to go to sleep. The sap needs to fall and concentrate at the heart of the vine, pruning (taille) can then remove the surplus wood from last year and prepare the vines for this year.

Instead, as the article points out, the winter here has been unusually warm, possibly the warmest since 1900. Temperatures in Montpellier were more than 3° above average in December and some vignerons have reported that as they have pruned they have seen sap running out of the vine, which means the vines are not resting. Indeed, even worse, the vines could be damaged by a sudden cold snap as the wood could break if the sap has not fallen.

As I drove south through France it was noticeable at the sides of the autoroutes that blossom was out on some trees, and if the vines follow suit and start to grow early then that could also bring problems. Finally, the lack of a cold spell does not help to fight diseases or the conditions in which diseases such as mildew can thrive.

The article supports what Jeff has told me about the situation in the Languedoc. There was also very little rainfall after September, next to none in fact. A few showers in January so far but that will not replenish the reserves in the soil. Some cracks in the soil are actually bigger than they were at the end of summer.

The vines have been too active and a lack of water is the last thing they will need. The 2016 vintage already faces significant problems, three weeks into the year!

Therefore, although today’s snow is welcome a sustained cold snap and steady rain would have been much more so. We may weather the weather, whether the vines will is another matter.

I have already chosen my favourite wines of the year, both red and white. However 2015 has been probably the best year of my life offering me opportunities to fulfill lots of ambitions such as travelling and living in France, a full vendanges and lots of wine tasting. These have been 15 highlights.

• Wine of the year – Casa Pardet Cabernet Sauvignon 2011. One of those great, rare moments when a wine stops you in your tracks and wraps up all your attention in the wine as it unveils its aromas and flavours. Simply great wine.

The Cabernet on the right, Chardonnay on the left (see below)

• Tasting of the year – Lots of competition such as Biodyvin with wines from the likes of Zind Humbrecht and Huet, La Bande De Latour and the excellent series of tastings organised by Le Wine Shop in Pézenas (see Wine Tastings page). However, one salon stood out.

La Remise in Arles was a two day joy. In its own grounds, with excellent food and a range of excellent producers, including the Casa Pardet above and Jeff Coutelou, La Remise had a lively, friendly atmosphere. The inclusion of producers from Spain and Italy as well as various parts of France and the welcome addition of new, young producers provided a rich, enjoyable and rewarding experience.

• Visit of the year – I was tempted to choose my visit to Jurancon’s Domaine Montesquiou, the family produce a supreme range of wines with a great philosophy behind them. However, the visit which highlighted my interest in the different cépages and sheer variety of vines was to Domaine Vassal in Marseillan Plage. Here, for the time being, is maintained France’s repository of vines. The work and effort to acquire, conserve, classify and valorise vines was fascinating and inspirational. Being there with some of my favourite vignerons was an added bonus on a memorable day.

• Book of the year – Pierre Galet’s ‘Dictionnaire Encyclopédique des Cépages’ was a gift from Jeff and is, like Domaine Vassal, a treasure trove of information about every wine and grape variety. Almost a thousand pages of facts, photos and drawings, it will be a book which will accompany me forever.

• Blog of the year – I have enjoyed reading about wine from so many sources, however, it seems to me that blogs provide me best these days with opinion, entertainment and information. Michel Smith, David Farge, Rosemary George, Steve Slatcher, Jamie Goode and others would be worthy of your time. However, the one which has opened my eyes to wines from Australia, Austria, the Jura and many other areas of wine is the blog of my friend David Crossley and I strongly recommend it. Written with authority, wit and style, David has a broad tasting experience and an open mind, a rare combination in wine writing.
• Wine region of the year – Faugères, simple. So many excellent wines this year have come from Faugères, Clos Fantine, Domaine Cébène, Haut Lignières, Mas Sibert, Causse Noir, Mas d’Alézon amongst others. If you don’t know Faugères wines, then please seek some out.

Clos Fantine vineyards

• Dud of the year – corked wines. It’s an ongoing debate about which closures are best and I know that corks are of better quality than ever. Memories may fade of pouring a whole case of top Chablis down the sink but they are still there. And this year an expensive bottle of Beaujolais was just one disappointment amongst far too many. It really is the most frustrating aspect of wine when you pour a wine you have anticipated keenly only to find it spoiled.

• Restaurant of the year – Bouchon Bistrot in Hexham is always a treat and my favourites this year included; Le Terminus at Cruzy, La Very’Table in Neffiès, Cave St. Martin in Roquebrun and L’Amphitryon in Pézenas. Best though was Octopus in Béziers. Excellent cooking and service, imaginative food and a lunch menu at 32€ for 3 courses including wine and coffee. A close second was Les Papilles Insolites in Pau, a wine shop with a Michelin listed restaurant offering fantastic fresh, tasty food and no corkage fee at lunchtime for wines bought in the shop.

• Meal of the year –  not a restaurant in fact. During the vendanges we were joined by a number of friends of Jeff and one, Karim, brought some fresh lobsters and scallops. Fresh, cooked simply with great skill and timing, they were simply delicious. Matched with a magnum of Casa Pardet (again!) Chardonnay, with Jeff, Cameron, Karim and Pat it was a superb evening, all the better for following a good day of vendange and the conviviality of friends.

• Location of the year – the Languedoc Roussillon. Varied, exciting, beautiful, friendly, fascinating.

Clos Fantine vineyards

UK readers will know that the BBC runs a Sports Personality Of The Year competition and my next five highlights follow their categories.

• Team of the year – Team Coutelou during the vendanges. Jeff, Michel, Cameron, myself, Carole plus a host of special guest appearances from lots of friends. The camaraderie, hard work and spirit was something special and it was almost a let down when harvest finished and that tight team stopped working together every day.

• Young producer of the year – I met Joe Jefferies first at the Pub Quiz in Pézenas and it was a surprise when I met him at La Remise (see above) in Arles in his role as a vigneron. To be honest the wines were still very raw and unformed when I first tasted them but at subsequent tastings they developed into excellent wines, with Pierre De Sisyphe Blanc a particular favourite. It was a blow when Joe told me there were none left to buy! I look forward to watching him develop his talents with time.

Special mention also to Simon Bertschinger and Sara Frémine at Mas Sibert in Fos, their Fosénot is a wine which has become a real favourite.

• Overseas producer of the year – in other words not French. Clear winner, Casa Pardet for the most memorable bottles of the year the Cabernet and the Chardonnay we shared at Jeff’s with the lobsters. Outstanding producers.

• Personality of the year – well no shock here, it has to be Jeff Coutelou. Yes he’s a great winemaker and a passionate advocate for, and defender of, nature. However, he’s also a teacher, coach and friend. So many of the opportunities and so much of the learning I have enjoyed have been due to Jeff. His wines are a constant delight and a reflection of his personality.

• Joy of the year – This blog. I started it as a hobby to occupy myself. Amazingly it has opened doors for me, taught me a lot and been a great way to meet people. I never imagined 11,000 people would read it within a year and that people in 106 countries would do so. So my final post of 2015 is written to thank you all for reading and sharing my experiences and enjoyment of wine, vines and the people who care for them. May 2016 bring you good wine, health and happiness.