French Wine Growers in Manchester
22nd January 20092006 Cuvée Angelique, AC Corbières, Château de l'Ille
This is a blend of 60% syrah and 40% grenache. It has
deepish black fruits on the nose. On the palate it lacks the
surprise and charm of the Cuvée Julia and shows itself to be
nothing more than a nice, well-made, fairly unchallenging
Corbières. Though there's a really nice spicy feel on the
finish and after. 88/100
2006 Cuvée Andreas, AC Corbières, Château de l'Ille
This is their top wine and about twice the price of the others
(except the Angelique which falls midway). A blend of syrah,
grenache, mourvèdre and carignan (40:10:30:20), with the syrah
aged in oak, and made for up to ten years' ageing. The nose had
deep black fruits with a nice meatiness and gaminess. Very good
palate: deep and complex, with the ripe fruit balanced by very good
structure and a nice touch of bitter tannins. 90/100
Château de Saint Martin
Taradeau, Provence
Château de Saint Martin is a 100 hectare estate (50 hectares of
vines) and has been in the same family since 1740 and has almost always
been handed down the female line, with some of the ancestral portraits
appearing on the labels of today's wines: today the charming Adeline de
Barry is in charge. Winemaking on the site can be traced back to
the 10th century, and parts of the cellars date back to the 15th
century. Besides the wines I tasted below, the domaine also makes
some sparkling wines and a premium wine, the red Cuvée Comte de
Rohan Chabot, which unfortunately I didn't get to taste.
2007 Cuvée Eternelle Favorite, AC Côtes de Provence Rosé, Château de Saint Martin
"A rosé devoted to women's pleasure" they say! This
comes in a modern, stylish bottle with square shoulders, setting itself
apart from the rest of the range, which all come in Bordelais bottles.
The nose is very floral and fragrant with honeysuckle and white
flowers. Very elegant, floral and fragrant on the palate.
This is indeed a very feminine wine, though I think the pleasure
can extend to the other sex too. 87/100
2007 Comtesse de Saint Martin Cuvée Vieilles Vignes Cru Classé Blanc, AC Côtes de Provence, Château de Saint Martin
This is a blend of clairette, ugni blanc and rolle. It has
a rather lean, unpromising nose, but on the palate it's fresh and
elegant and a lovely drink. 89/100
2007 Comtesse de Saint Martin Cuvée Vieilles Vignes Cru Classé Rosé, AC Côtes de Provence, Château de Saint Martin
The rosé in the Cuvée Comtesse range is made from
a blend of syrah, tibouren, grenache and carignan with 18 hours skin
contact. It has an interesting nose with gentle red fruits and
some minerality and a hint of floral character. Very nice on the
palate, this is quite rich and red wine like. Impressive.
91/100
2007 Comtesse de Saint Martin Cuvée Vieilles Vignes Cru Classé Rouge AC Côtes de Provence, Château de Saint Martin
The red in the Cuvée Comtesse range is a blend of
grenache, syrah and carignan. Although only a portion of the
syrah is aged in oak, the oak is noticeable on the nose, which it
shares with some unusual gingerbread aromas and a touch of cinammon.
This is a very structured wine: driven and rather serious, but
with an attractive wild, gamey edge. 89/100
2008 Cuvée Grande Réserve Rosé, AC Côtes de Provence, Château de Saint Martin
The Grande Réserve rosé is a blend of
grenache, tibouren, carignan, syrah and cinsault. Unlike the
Comtesse rosé, this has just six hours skin contact, giving it a
nice bright pink colour. The nose has strawberries and orange
flower water. On the palate, it has a nice fruity character, and
being just very slightly off dry is very drinkable. Actually,
there are some quite powerful red fruit and orange flavours here.
87/100
2008 Cuvée Grande Réserve Blanc, AC Côtes de Provence, Château de Saint Martin
The white Grande Réserve is a blend of clairette, rolle
and ugni blanc. The nose has creamy, herbal pears. Fresh
and bright on the palate, this is not too crisp, but has a nice
freshness still. It's not overly complex, but is a very nicely
made wine with good, clean fruit and decent length. 87/100
2005 Cuvée Grande Réserve Rouge, AC Côtes de Provence, Château de Saint Martin
The red Grande Réserve is an unoaked blend of cabernet
sauvignon, grenache, syrah and mourvedre. The nose has bright red
fruits with a savoury edge. It's decent enough on the palate, but
not thrilling. A solid well made wine: beyond that much depends
on the price. A good food wine, though. 86/100
NV Vin Cuit, Château de Saint Martin
This is a blend of mostly grenache, cinsault and carignan which
had been cooked for ten hours in a copper cauldron before fermentation
in oak barrels. Unfortunately, this unusual wine was only being
served from miniature sample bottles, not the proper 500ml bottle in
which it is sold, so the tasting sample was tiny: I wish there'd been a
bit more as it was so unusual it would, I am sure, have repaid further
consideration - a true vin de contemplation. There are
raspberries and quince on the nose which is really quite heady (though
in a non-spirity way). In the mouth, it's sweet, but not really
that sweet: it lack the true sweetness of, say, Sauternes. It
seemed to me to be a bit like a Roussillon vin doux naturel, but
without the kick of the spirit that comes from fortification (my
understanding is that this vin cuit is not fortified), but it also feel
more rounded than some vins doux - perhaps that comes from the cooking?
It does not, however, feel at all cooked in the way that Madeira
or Marsala can. It's so completely different, that it's difficult
to put a score on it, though I suppose it would be about 90-92/100?
Château Pas du Cerf
La Londe les Maures, Provence
This is a family run business, established in 1848 with 80
hectares of vineyards on the 700 hectare estate, which is situated in a
valley stretching from La Londe to Collobrières.
2008 Château Pas du Cerf Blanc, AC Côtes de Provence
This is a blend of rolle and semillon. This was a tank
sample, with the wine expected to be bottled later in February 2009.
A very fragrant nose with leafy peach aromas. Good palate,
with nice character and length. 87/100
2007 Rocher des Croix Blanc, AC Côtes de Provence, Château Pas du Cerf
100% old vine rolle. The nose has creamy white fruits and
pawpaw. Very tropical fruit palate with a rich, floral
fruitiness. There's also a nice elegant structure behind.
Very Good Indeed. 91/100
2008 Le Merle Rosé, AC Côtes de Provence, Château Pas du Cerf
This is a very pale rosé, made without maceration from
40% grenache, 40% cinsault together with some some tibouren and
cabernet sauvignon. It has a lovely red fruit nose with a nice
minerally character. This is a very good, fruity rosé just
tending to a touch of the sweetness of ripe fruit. It would make
a very good aperitif. It's much deeper on the nose and in flavour
than the colour would lead you to expect. 89/100
2008 Diane Rosé, AC Côtes de Provence, Château Pas du Cerf
This is made from a blend dominated by grenache (60%), with
cinsault, syrah and carignan. It is incredibly pale for a
rosé - there's virtually no colour in the glass. There's
some nice light fruit on the nose. Deeper, fuller, palate with
enormous length. But it feels a bit clumsy compared to the Merle.
84/100
2008 Château Pas du Cerf Rosé, AC Côtes de Provence
This is a blend of 80% grenache and 20% cinsault, macerated for
12 hours on the skins, giving it a very pale salmon pink colour.
The nose is attractive, but I'm very distracted by a strong scent
of the old Trebor Fruit Salad sweets that you used to be able to buy 4
for 1d (an old penny). There's a touch of sweetness on the palate
that I quite like. Nicely made, but it has that Trebor Fruit
Salad character throughout. 86/100
2008 Rocher des Croix Rosé, AC Côtes de Provence, Château Pas du Cerf
80% grenache : 20% cinsault with a 24-hour maceration.
This is more obviously pink than the other Pas du Cert
rosés. Quite a slight nose with a nice minerally
character. Good palate. Better balance and more obviously
food-friendly. 88/100
2007 Passion d'été, AC Côtes de Provence, Château Pas du Cerf
A red wine, made from 30% syrah and 70% carignan. It has a
nice young syrah nose. It puts me in mind of a "syrah nouveau" if
you see what I mean. Light, fruity and easy. And it works
well as such. Simple, easy, and quaffable. 87/100
Domaine de Monteils
Preignac
The domain was established in the 1860s by the Fiton family in
Preignac, one of the five communes that make up the Sauternes
appellation (Sauternes, Bommes, Fargues Preignac and Barsac). The
domain is now in the hands of descendants of the original Fiton family
and has 11 hectares of vines planted with semillon (85%), sauvignon
blanc (8%) and muscadelle (7%) in several parcels, mainly in Monteils,
Le Violet and Pagnin. The grapes are all harvested by hand and,
depending on the year, it can take between three and six passes
("tries") through the vineyard to pick all the grapes with the desired
noble rot. Each vine produces between one and three glasses of
wine.
2003 Domaine de Monteils, AC
Sauternes
80% semillon : 20% sauvignon. This has
elegant notes of citrus, in particular orange, on the sweet nose. Decent palate, but not really very
exciting. A bit lacking in elegance on
the palate. 84/100
2005 Domaine de Monteils, AC
Sauternes
The nose is very, very dull indeed: it’s very hard to find anything; possibly a
faint hint of a sort of wet sourness. If
it weren’t the end of a bottle they’ve been pouring all afternoon, I’d think
this might be a bit corked. Take a taste,
and my suspicions are confirmed. To be
fair, the corkiness is much more pronounced on the palate than the nose, but
why on earth do producers never taste the wines they open at tastings? NR
2005 Domaine de Monteils
Sélection, AC Sauternes
The Sélection is a blend of 90% semillon and 10% muscadelle [? Check?]. It’s fine, but of no interest. A bit dull, or to be charitable, closed, on
the nose. Just a rather characterless
sweet wine on the palate. Nothing wrong
with it. But it doesn’t do it for
me. 83/100
Michel Guignier
Domaine des Améthystes
Villié Morgon
Michel
Guignier is both a producer, bottling under his own name, and a sort of mini
négociant, the wines of the latter bearing the Domaine des Améthystes
label. I found his own wines to be very
elegant, and it was certainly interesting to try three Morgons from the same
producer next to each other. The wines
come under the new-ish description of “natural wines” – wines made with minimal
intervention. Michel Guignier believes
that this not only helps protect the environment, but allows the grapes and
their terroir to shine. His own
vineyards are all in the process of conversion to organic status.
This has a fairly fresh nose with lots of character. The palate is fresh and clean, giving a good
impression and some pleasure. It’s
fairly simple, but very well made.
87/100
2007 Morgon tradition, Michel
Guignier, 13%
The grapes for the “tradition” wine come from a mixture of new and old
vines. The nose is heavy with raspberry
fruit and some bubblegum. Very good,
fresh, light palate. This has a really
nice character. 88/100
2007 Morgon vieilles vignes,
Michel Guignier,
13%
The vieilles vignes are about seventy years old. The wine is aged in oak for five months. The nose is similar to the tradition, but a
little tamer. Lovely rich, deep
palate. Nice and round and ready. 90/100
2006 Morgon bio-tradition
Bio-Vitis, Michel Guignier, 13%
Again, this is from old vines planted on the hillsides, the grapes from which
are pressed in an old wooden press, with the resulting wine being aged on its
lees in oak for thirty months. It has a
very nicely perfumed nose. On the
palate, it’s very integrated and smooth with a hint of a creamy feel. Although the oak is all old oak, it has made
in presence felt, and very nicely rounds out the wines. Very enjoyable wine. 91/100
2007 Chiroubles, Domaine des
Amethystes
This has a really unusual nose: it smells very distinctly of raspberry ripple
ice cream! The odd nose is not, however,
reflected on the palate, which is jolly good: very clean and elegant. 92/100
Michel Guignier told me that each of the Amethystes appellations is produced by
a different producer: the label on the Chiroubles bears the code of the producer,
AP 69115.
2007 Brouilly, Domaine des
Amethystes, 12.5%
This has an attractive, straightforward nose.
But overall it feels a touch simple.
87/100
For the codebreakers, the Brouilly is produced by DG 69910.
2007 Fleurie, Domaine des
Amethystes
A heavy raspberry-strawberry nose. Very
fine palate. Excellent balance. 91/100
2007 Saint Amour, Domaine des
Amethystes, 12.5%
There are floral red fruits and a bit of bubblegum on the nose, which overall
has quite a delicate character. Very
fine palate, with a bit more structure than the previous wines. 90/100
Domaine Força Réal
2007 L’Olivier (blanc), Domaine
Força Réal, Vin de Pays d’Oc
This has a rather unfocussed, spirity stone fruit nose. Full, and rather rich on the palate, this is
easy drinking, though lacking character and interest. 83/100
2007 L’Olivier (rouge), Domaine
Força Réal, Vin de Pays d’Oc
A rather simple nose with raspberry and blackberry fruits is followed up by a
simple, basic, though definitely tasty palate.
83/100
2006 Forca Premium, Domaine Força
Réal, AC Côtes du Roussillon Villages
The nose has perfumed, bubblegummy black fruit.
The palate is fairly simple and straightforward with sweet fruit and
soft tannins, which build on the finish and linger after. 84/100
2005
There are pleasant, attractive garriquey black fruits on the nose. It’s quite full on the palate, but there’s an
attractive, very fresh streak through the middle, followed by quite a
chocolatey feel on the finish. 87/100
2006 Mas de la Garrigue, Domaine
Força Réal, AC Côtes du Roussillon Villages
On the nose, there are perfumed black fruits and a hint of herbes de
Provence. Very attractive on the
palate. This has a really serious, rich
feel, but is also very elegant. Very
good finish. 89/100
2006 Les Hauts de Força Réal,
Domaine Força Réal, AC Côtes du
This has some very obvious oak on the nose, giving sweet vanilla mixed with
black fruit. The palate just shows
rather too much oak for me. This is made
in a very serious style and needs time for the oak to integrate. For now, 86/100
2006 Domaine Força Réal, AC Côtes
du Roussillon Villages
There’s very deep, serious, moody lack fruit on the nose. This has a seriously rich, deep palate with
elegant black fruit and a nice spicy feel on the finish. Excellent length. It’s made in quite an international style, I
suppose, but it’s a style that works well here.
88/100
2007 Domaine Força Réal, AC Muscat
de Rivesaltes
This has a very nice, rich Muscat nose that comes as something of a relief
after the big, heavy black fruit of the preceding wines. On the palate, it has a good, balanced
sweetness. It’s possibly not the most elegant
Muscat de Rivesaltes, but it is very pleasing, very definitely retaining a
fresh muscat character. 88/100
NV Rivesaltes Hors d’age, Domaine
Força Réal, 15%
A mid teak colour, the nose has old wood, caramel, prunes and raisins. Superb palate, with huge elegance. It has a really nice sweetness, with a dried
fruits and nuts character. It’s very
rounded with no spirity edge. 92/100
Domaine des Ondines
Sarrians
Domaine des Ondines is a relatively new company, the underground winery being
built in 2003. They produce some Côtes
du Rhône Villages, but their main production is Vacqueyras, part of which is
aged in oak, the rest in cement tanks.
2007 Plan de Dieu, AC Côtes du
Rhône Villages, Domaine des Ondines
This is 80% grenache blended with 20% syrah.
There is some lovely, crisp, fresh black fruit on the nose – a
combination of blackcurrants and blackberries.
The palate too has some really good fresh, clean black fruit characters. It’s very young still, but it has a lovely
character that’s very appealing. It has
a yummy deliciousness to it that’s very engaging. 92/100
2007 AC Vacqueyras, Domaine des
Ondines
This is a blend of 60% grenache, 35% syrah and 5% very old cinsault. The nose is quite subtly floral with black
fruits and a very nice herbal character.
Vey good palate. This is very
easy and appealing initially, then it really fills the mouthwith deep, rich,
spicy black fruit with a gentle tannic backbone. 92/100
Ferraton Père et Fils
Tain l’Hermitage
Ferraton
are growers and negociants, with their range covering most of the Rhône
appellations. Their single vineyard
wines are now biodynamic.
60% grenache blanc and 40% clairette. Very
full nose: crisp and almondy. Full,
mouthfilling palate, but ultimately, it feels rather simple. 83/100
2007 Crozes Hermitage Blanc, La
Matinière, Ferraton Père et Fils
100% marsanne aged for ten months on its lees.
This has a rather slight nose, but with an elegant creaminess. Very rich palate: very forward and full, but
ultimately a bit lacking in character and definition. 83/100
2007 Saint Joseph La Source,
Ferraton Père et Fils
100% marsanne. A small minority of the
wine is aged in oak, but the majority remains in stainless steel tanks. The nose is rather slight and just a bit
unexciting. Fine but uninteresting on
the palate. Maybe this needs a few years
of age. 84/100 for now.
2007 Condrieu Les Mandouls,
Ferraton Père et Fils
100% viognier. To maximise the aromatic character
of the grape, there is no malolactic fermentation. 80% of the wine is aged in stainless steel;
20% in 600 litre oak barrels. The nose
is very herbaceous. Nice open palate
with good depth. There’s some nice white
fruit character on the finish. An
interesting wine. 87/100
2007 Hermitage Blanc, Les Miaux,
Ferraton Père et Fils
100% marsanne aged on its lees for 10-12 months. It has a curious, extracted nose with lots of
pear and nuts. Very rich palate, feeling
heavy and a touch sweet. It’s okay I
suppose, but it lacks elegance. There
are certainly better white Hermitages out there.
85/100
2006 Côtes du Rhône Samorëns
Rouge, Ferraton Père et Fils
This is a blend of 80% grenache, 15% syrah and 5% cinsault. There’s young forward floral fruit on the
nose. This is a good, basic Côtes du
Rhône. 85/100
This is a blend of grenache, syrah, mourvedre and carignan. There are rich black fruits on the nose, but
with a nice freshness. Good, open palate
with quite a chocolatey richness with a pleasing gaminess. Very nice finish with lots of character. 89/100
2005 Châteauneuf du Pape Le
Parvis, Ferraton Père et Fils
The blend for this Châteauneuf is grenache dominated (90%), with small elements
of syrah and mourvedre. There are very
deep, if rather simple black fruits on the nose. A nice warming palate with good fruit
balance. 87/100
2006 Crozes Hermitage La
Matinière, Ferraton Père et Fils
100% syrah. A nice meaty syrah
nose. Good fresh palate, with notably
good balance. Lots of character on the
finish. 88/100
2006 Saint Joseph La Source,
Ferraton Père et Fils
100% syrah, aged partly in oak, partly in stainless steel for 12 months. A rather closed, black fruits nose. Decent palate with a nice characterful feel
in the mouth. Good spicy finish,
lingering long after. 87/100
2006 Côte Rôtie L’Eglantine,
Ferraton Père et Fils
100% syrah, matured in oak for 16-18 months.
There’s meaty, sweet black fruit on the nose. This is a nice, well-made wine, but seems to
be a bit lacking in Côte Rôtie character.
86/100
2005 Hermitage Les Miaux, Ferraton
Père et Fils
100% syrah aged in oak for 14-16 months, 10% in new barrels. On the nose, there are very deep, brooding
black fruits, just letting off a bit of violetty perfume. It’s very young of course, meaning that its
real character and finesse only really comes forward right on the finish and
after. 87/100
Vignerons Laudun Chusclan
Chusclan
2006 Chusclan Les Genets, AC Côtes
du
This is mainly grenache. It has sweet
red fruits with some garrique notes on the nose. It has a good, crisp, round palate. Nice character, with a nice spicy finish. Gentle and very drinkable. 88/100
2007 Laudun Clos de
This is 50:50 grenache:syrah, cold macerated, and kept in stainless steel
throughout. It has quite a subtle nose
with fragrant red fruits and a hint of citrus
Fresh and open on the palate, this has a nice character. There’s a nice warm, spicy feel on the
finish. It’s still very young of course,
but is already very attractive. 89/100
2007 Laudun Les Dolia, AC Côtes du
This is a grenache-dominated grenache-syrah blend. It has quite a rich nose, though without
being particularly complex. On the
palate, it’s easy and attractive with nice structure and a good savoury-sweet
fruit character. Very pleasant. 89/100
2005 Chusclan Les Monticauts, AC
Côtes du
This is 80% syrah and 20% grenache.
There’s very pleasing restraint on the nose, which has quite
concentrated black fruit and a certain fleshiness. Very good palate: theres concentrated fruit
and an excellent spicy structure to balance.
It finishes with a real roast beef character. 91/100
2005 Excellence, AC Côtes du Rhône
Villages, Vignerons Laudun Chusclan
This wine is a blend of syrah and grenache with a bit of mourvedre and blends
wines from both the Chusclan and Laudun appellations. It is unoaked. The nose is nice and gamey – there are some
black fruits, but the gaminess is dominant.
This is a very serious wine: there are very good fruit and structure and
some good tannins. It’s starting to
drink now, but has at least 5-10 years to go.
Enormous length, with a roast game/grouse feel lingering in the mouth
long after. 92/100
2006 Laudun Expressions, Élevé en
fûts de chêne, AC Côtes du Rhône Villages, Vignerons Laudun Chusclan
This is 80% syrah and 20% grenache, aged in oak for nine months, a mix of one,
two and three year old barrels. There is
oak on the nose, but it’s very restrained, and come alongside some perfumed
black fruit. Very good palate, though
there’s nothing particularly exciting or outstanding. But you wouldn’t kick it out of the rack in
the morning. 89/100
2006 Domaine Saint Nicolas, AC
Lirac, Vignerons Laudun Chusclan
80% grenache and 20% syrah. There’s very much a green herbaceousness dominating the nose. On the palate, it has a very interesting
character: it’s quite lean initially, but with a richness building towards the
finish. This is a good, characterful
Lirac offering plenty. 89/100
Terroirs et Talents
Cercie,
2008
A very attractive, fragrant nose is followed up by a crisp, fragrant
palate. Zingy and clean with pear and
peach flavours. Very nice. 89/100
2008
This is a very pale salmon pink. The
nose is very slight, with just a bit of red fruit. It’s interesting that it’s specifically
labelled as non-chaptalised, as it actually tastes a bit like a sweetened white
wine, with some sweet red fruit added. A
bit odd, but it’s better than I thought.
84/100
2007 Château de Berzé, AC
A fair nose, though there’s nothing terribly exciting about it. Good palate.
It works well enough. 85/100
2006 Château de la Terrière
Vieilles Vignes, AC Beaujolais Villages, 13%
A good strawberry nose with a hint of bubblegum. Attractive palate: nice and fresh and
clean. Very good length. 89/100
2007 Château de la Terrière, AC
Brouilly
This has a very attractive nose which is followed up by a very good
palate. There’s more to it than
Terrière’s Beaujolais Villages and it has some really good, fresh, vibrant
fruit. A lovely drink. 91/100
2007 Domaine la Chapelle des Bois,
AC Fleurie, Paul Beaudet
A rather murky, meaty nose with a bit of stink.
Good, full palate. It’s possibly
a little on the simple, straightforward side, but there’s nothing wrong with it
at all. 88/100
2007 Domaine de Boischampt, AC
Juliénas, Pierre Dupont
This has a lovely nose with a gently fragrant red fruit character. Very nice on the palate and working really
well. It has a nice depth, but without
compromising its easy drinking character.
90/100
2007 Clos de la Brosse, AC
Saint-Amour
This is a touch muddy on the nose, but it blows off to reveal an impressive
fruit character. Very nice palate: it
has more of a meatiness than the other wines from Terroirs et Talents; and an
interesting character, especially on the finish. 87/100
2007 Morgon Vieilles Vignes, Côte
de Py, Paul Beaudet
The nose has deep blackberry and raspberry fruit. Very nice palate: quite straightforward, I
suppose, but it’s a nice drop. There are
lots of bright bubblegummy red fruit on the finish. 86/100
2007 Château de la Terrière, Cuvée
de la Lure, AC Moulin à Vent
There’s some sweetish oak on the nose, dominating some red fruit. Good palate – nicely balanced. There are some firm, grippy tannins on the
finish, which linger long after. 89/100
Back to Andrew Stevenson's web page
Last updated: 30 December 2008