I have updated the Tastings page with a number of events including Montpeyroux Portes Ouvertes, Saint Saturnin Printemps du Vin, Coteaux Du Languedoc 30th anniversary and two natural wine events in Adissan and Béziers. Lots of good wines, some great wines and some recommendations.
Interesting article in The Guardian this week about natural wine and its development. I think David Williams has it about right. There is a spirit of punk about the natural wine movement. As someone who lived through the punk music scene of 77 and saw all the top punk bands, other than the Sex Pistols sadly, I can see the parallels. The reaction against convention and the big business aspects, the desire for something more straightforward and honest, no more overblown music / wine. Maybe that is why natural wines appeal to me, that link to the music of my past and the similar philosophy. Though I can’t spike my hair anymore.
The unconventional signage of domaine names
Have a look at this poster for La Remise, a natural wine salon in Arles in March which I described on the Tastings page.
Remind you of anything? This?
David points out that many people have a real antipathy towards natural wines just as many people did towards punk. Never mind that you haven’t experienced it just criticise because it’s new and it doesn’t fit convention. Or because you missed its start so don’t want to be seen as a latecomer. Utter boll**** as the album says.
He is right too that not everything is good. I saw and heard and bought some absolute rubbish in punk music. For every New Rose there was a Generation X song. Or Plastic Bertrand! I have tasted some of the ‘bacterial murk’ in natural wines and many that I would never want to taste again. But there was New Rose and Anarchy and White Riot and Blank Generation. And there is Barral and Fahl and Pardet and Foillard and Métras and ….
However punk had a long lasting influence in the way that music was made from grunge to thrash metal to rap. And the way that music is made, the independent labels etc and the publish it yourself attitude we see online these days. It makes people think and question the way they do things. Many winemakers are rethinking their approaches to sulphur even if they don’t want to eliminate their use. So too natural producers often forego the big labels and go their own way, Vin de France rather than AOP for example. And look at some of these:
Punk was a reaction to triple albums of mind numbing drum solos performed by posing, preposterous public schoolboys. Natural wines are a reaction to overextracted, 200% oaked, jammy Parkerised gloop. Instead of twiddling the knobs on the mixing desk or reverse osmosis machine let the music or the grape speak for itself.
Perhaps too press reaction is coloured by its loss of control? No longer the arbiters of taste and what is good. Instead fanzines for punk and now blogs for music and wine are the, apologies for this, grapevine. Fewer free tours to Bordeaux, Beaune or Buenos Aires can make those journalists turn sour.
Many natural winemakers will fall away, as did punk bands. Some will shine then fade quickly. Others will live long or develop. A new wave. But natural wine is here to stay as Williams says. The movement is widespread in the heartlands of France, Italy and Spain. People do like the freshness and vibrancy. Yes there is an annoying trendiness but as that settles we are left with some great wines which will endure.
A magnum of Classe
The article recommends Classe of Jeff Coutelou and it is a great wine. This is a wine that should definitely stay and not go. This is wine made by a free thinker and a creative artist. Joe Strummer’s songs led The Clash from punk fringe to recognition as top class. Oh and notice anything?
Joe, I mean Jeff
Now then who’s the Johnny Rotten?
Some answers to the issues posed in my last article.
Firstly the vines which were not pruned (taillage). This could be because it’s a way of saving money and resources. Instead of pruning, which is very labour intensive, the vines are allowed to grow and then the growth is regulated and checked through the growing season. This approach has become more common around my part of the Languedoc, led by the domaine in question.
An alternative explanation is that the parcel will be grubbed up but the government officials have to measure the vineyard and enaure regulations are met regarding the grubbing up (arrachage).
The yellowish colour could be disease or the fact that the root stock is having difficulty in the sub soil causing some iron deficiency.
The vine. Not guyot after all but marcotté. Jonathan was right that this is form of nursery propagation. Apparently marcottage is an ancient Chinese form of propagating fruit trees and widely used in horticulture. Read more. NB, it is in French!
The vine sarment is trained underground to persuade it to grow roots. Growth on the sarment is removed so that it concentrates on growth and root growth. The new growth emerges from the ground to form a new vine. It can be separated from the parent vine or left intact which means that it does not need to be grafted on American rootstock to protect against phylloxera as it is still protected by the parent. Chris Kissick on his wine doctor website described the process at Chateau Boyd Cantenac in Margaux. (Thanks to Chris for his permission to use his work).
I have updated other pages on the site and urge you to have a look there by clicking the links at the top of the page.
On the Out and About page there are lots of photos of Spring here in the Languedoc and on a stay in Provence.
The moon over the arenas of Arles
On the Tasting page I have 3 updates of exciting wines tasted in Pézenas, Arles and Bédarieux. Some of my favourite ever wines and some wonderful people too.
I wrote in my last post how, whilst some vineyards in the area were showing plenty of leaves and buds were opening, those of Mas Coutelou were more reticent. Well a visit to Peilhan and La Garrigue vineyards today showed that spring has arrived. Buds are opening, leaves are forming. Even the snails were heading for the foliage, this one had its photo taken and then was removed.
What struck me though was the variation in development of the vines. Some were still dormant, others were showing leaves, most were in between with buds just opening.
This is partly due to the cépage as some are more precocious than others, often white varieties.
The photo above shows a Sauvignon Blanc vine and as you can see it has leaves which are well developed but also flowers already out. Yet vines in the next row were still hardly budding. This was a clear example of how the position of the vine makes a difference, the vine above was on the side of the vineyard (La Garrigue) facing south west, therefore in full sunshine more than other vines. Indeed I was taken aback to see this.
In the centre of the leaf you will see the formation of a grappe, the future bunch of grapes. Whilst other vines are still asleep!
In the new plantation at Peilhan the wax protection on some of the vines is giving way as these babies begin to grow. Though of course they are many years from providing grapes for wine, it was quite something to see them begin their life. This was a Ribeyrenc Gris vine.
The region has had a relatively cool Spring by all accounts (though those of us used to NE England might be surprised to hear it). It has been dry and sunny but strong winds for many weeks have kept down temperatures and dried the soil quickly. This helps to explain why the vines have been slow to start their growth this year.
Moreover, the local newspaper, Midi Libre, today carried a warning story. In the Aude, western Languedoc, Monday and Tuesday brought frosts at night which have damaged many vines which had begun their growth. This is the risk which vignerons face and why they remain nervous about the weather. Traditionally mid May is the time when the risk of frost is past, the saints de glace as those days are known. So fingers crossed, some warm nights and a bit of rain would be very welcome.
After all the diversions around Languedoc Roussillon with my 7Cs it’s time to refocus on the vineyards of Mas Coutelou. March was a warm month and other than a couple of rainy days it was fairly dry which together with regular strong winds meant that the soils themselves became quite dry. Certainly Jeff reported that his olive trees, of which there are many (see vineyard portrait), were showing some signs of stress. They too were pruned this month.
New olive plantation in Rec d’ Oulette
La Prairie olive plantation
After more than two months of back breaking work Carole completed la taille. It says so much for her skills and hard work that her meticulous pruning was finished early. She chose to leave the lovely gobelet vines of Rome vineyard until last as, like me, it is her favourite parcel. See her at work here.
I have already written about some of the other March tasks in planting old varieties of grapes in Peilhan vineyard and in bottling some of the lighter cuvées such as PM rosé and 5SO. Note that light is a general comparative term, both wines are on top form. A number of wine salons were attended, eg in the Loire and recently in Arles, a tasting I shall be writing about soon. A second ploughing has been taking place the last few days as the drier weather allowed easier churning and less risk of compacting the soil. 
In many parts of the Languedoc the vines are starting to debud, the leaves are showing through. It is a beautiful sight to see them shooting away like this, life returning to the vineyards and the promise of a great vintage ahead. Fingers crossed.
Some buds on a guyot trained vine are just about to burst out.
First leaves on this old vine
Margon vineyard with leaves emerging
In Puimisson however, the vines are just being a little more timid, apparently unconvinced that winter is not still holding a surprise in store.
Shy Syrah vine in La Garrigue
Syrah parcel of La Garrigue
The other major task for March has been the preparation of the palissage, the wires which are used to support the vines as they grow later in the year. Gobelet vines are usually self supporting but many of the Syrah vines you see in the photographs above are cordon trained and will grow up the wires. The weight of last year’s vines and the passage of winter means that the wires are sagging a little and need to be tightened for 2015. Michel and Renaud have been tackling this using a specialist tool but, believe me, this was hard work and happily I left them to it.
Instead I enjoyed the wine tasting. Well it was March!
Domaines mentioned in the blog posts of the last week:
Day 1 – Caux
Use wine searcher to help you to find where you can find these wines and how much they might cost.
Speaking personally 2014 has been an amazing year.
It started with me in the depths of ME, at times unable to remember my name and physically unable to walk more than 200m or so. Whilst ME is a condition which will remain with me for some time it has released its grip to a large extent.
Summer brought early retirement and the end of 33 years of teaching, a job I loved but retirement has been a revelation. Most importantly it brought me the opportunity to live in France, my childhood dream, plus the chance to spend time with Jeff Coutelou, my friend and star winemaker. The ensuing 4 months brought many laughs, much enlightenment and learning about a subject I love. I have enjoyed observing and participating in the wine harvest of September, the process of winemaking and, above all, spending time in the vineyards learning about soils, vines and nature.
So for my New Year resolutions.
2015 will bring me the opportunity to find out about how the vineyard changes through a calendar year from pruning, grapes developing and ripening through to harvest. In the cellar I hope to learn about assembling the finished 2014 wines, bottling them and preparing for harvest 2015.
I shall be attending a number of wine tastings starting with Millésime Bio in Montpellier at the end of January. I hope to visit lots of new and favourite domaines and report back about the best of them.
Meanwhile I hope to travel round more areas of France and continue to enjoy the Languedoc Roussillon.
And, of course, to continue to write my blog. Than you so much for reading it and I hope that the New Year brings you health and happiness. And lots of good wines, most notably Mas Coutelou.
May I wish everyone who reads my blog a very happy Christmas. Almost 3,000 readers in the 4 months only which the blog has existed is way beyond what I expected. That those readers come from 62 different countries is even more so. That half my readers have been in France is another boost, perhaps they are all laughing at my translations!
Most of all thank you to Jeff for inspiring and educating me and for your patience. And,of course, for the wonderful wines.
Just as these tanks and cuves contain so much to look forward to I hope that you will look forward to reading about the events and happenings at Mas Coutelou as vintage 2015 unfolds.
So, cheers and Merry Christmas.
amarchinthevines 