Sancerre and Marlborough minerality... Yes, minerality!

I work for a winery in Marlborough - New Zealand called Clos Henri Vineyard, that's owned by a French producer from Sancerre called Domaine Henri Bourgeois. Few days ago, was organised a wine diner in a restaurant of Christchurch (South Island of NZ) of the name of St Germain - www.st-germain.co.nz . The menu was matched to our wines, and each dish was paired with a sauvignon blanc from Sancerre and one from Marlborough, from both wineries indeed. And i was talking to the restaurant customers about the wine, explaining the story of the wineries as well as each wine specificities. And i have been so enthused all along the way, both by the wine and food match and by the wines. It is the kind of event that i do on a regular basis, and it is always such a pleasure and surprise to have your own wine specifically matched by great chefs.

It actually started with a veloute of asparagus with a basil and parsley oil matched with the Petit Clos sauvignon (which are the young vines of the estate, aged on fine lees for 10 months). The textures of the veloute, quite smooth and creamy and the soft and rounded sauvignon were really matching well, added to the fact that the asparagus (which isn't an aromas found in this wine) was balancing the Petit Clos to make it somehow a bit more spicy and kind of 'meaty' (actual word in fact of my neighbour table, that i thought very appropriate) - a delight!

The most incredible was actually served on a monkfish on a bed of lentils. The match was undoubtedly good. The wines were however just showing wonderfully. On the nose, i would never have been able to tell which sauvignon was from Sancerre, and in the mouth it wasn't that obvious either, as the Monts Damnes from Sancerre was very masculin and somehow tight but still showing fruit ripness and expression from good sun exposure slopes, whereas the Clos Henri was very feminin and floral and nicely fresh. The expression of minerality in both wines was outstanding, and something i wish everyone could experience.

Malrborough has such a beautiful potential, such a terroir.... i hope from the bottom of my heart that the viticulturists and winemakers of Marlborough will one day Love their sauvignon blanc! As when it happens - and Clos Henri isn't the only winery in this case - the results are truly meant to be shared, meant to be shown with pride.
www.closhenri.com
www.henribourgeois.com

8 wired, a pale ale with sauvignon blanc flavours...

I've recently tried a craft beer called 8 Wired, the Indian Pale Ale from Marlborough, 100% hops grown in Nelson. Really hopy on the nose, and then came the surprise of a beer that actually had all the aromas of a typical Marlborough Sauvignon blanc!
That sort of gooseberry, and green leaf tomatoes and sweat, all with a kind of tropical fruit flavour. The whole of typical sauvignon blanc from the region, and all the characteristics of each valley from the Wairau to the Awatere. It was actually very appealing and fresh, i'm not sure I would drink more than 330ml, for it might become a bit sickly because very rich in flavour, but it was very enjoyable. That's a serious and complexe beer.
Interesting to find these similarities...

Defining a style, a question of patience, commitment and passion

The winery i work for has produced its first vintage in 2003, and i arrived in NZ with the 2004 vintage being bottled. Although my role is in sales and marketing, I worked with the winemaker in 2005 and was bottling the wine, which got me to understand about the bottling process, without touching the wine in the cellar though. In 2006 we changed winemaker, and from there i stopped bottlings, and have been part of the blend tastings, and diverse experimentation tastings with the winemaker, his assistant and the viticulturist. I have been lucky enough to have tasted quite a bit before i started working with this winery, and that the winemaking team welcomed me in their tastings and blending decisions. I am sure it is something not so obvious in lots of wineries, but here my opinion was taken into account for both what it was in terms of pure tasting and what it needed to be from a commercial point of view as well.

Therefore, it's been now 5 vintages that we work on understanding the characteristics given to both our sauvignon blanc and our pinot noir by first the different soil types of the estate, and then different other components such as different coopers (which we now have defined which ones suit better our wines and styles), different finings, different closures (cork, screwcap, which degree of sealing etc.) etc.
The second important point for us was to determine 3 styles, corresponding to our 3 labels, which also correspond to 3 price points, and in the end 3 different terroirs (or almost). Starting from scratch, to succeed in determining these 3 labels is a fantastic story we write vintage after vintage, for we have to understand what we get from nature first, and then try to integrate the different components listed above (and more indeed), and finally define 3 different profiles. We wanted 3 wines showing one identity but with 3 syles that we defined through natural differences. To be more precise, the clays would give a sort of richer wine, while the gravels would be generally finer. That was the base of our styles.

It is now very exciting to see that after trying different blends from different soil types, or at different proportions, we finally defined our 3 styles. Today we were tasting the final blends of pinot noir 2009, the objective of the tasting was to see the wines before and after fining.
But finally it is rewarding to realise that we have defined these 3 styles, and that they show the identity, the philosophy of that one winery and its terroir. It is obvious on the nose and in the mouth that each wine corresponds to its label, and that it is in the continuity of last vintage. Blind, you can classify them per label. The identity is generally elegance, subtle fruit rather explosive fruit bombs, rounded mouth, femininity rather than big extracted wines - and it is true for our both varieties. But we managed to decline this identity in 3 styles, 3 labels, 3 different price points - and this with the same work in the vineyard (same yielding, same ripeness). It is a question of precision on the tastings, and blending propositions back and forth, and it is above all a question of time... patience has a good reward though. I have of course to add that this was possible because the vineyard is worked to show natural characteristics (or terroir), and that the style of wine we wanted to produce was first defined in the vineyard.

This winery brings its new lots of joy to me, everyday, not one excepted - since 6 years. It is for me such a beautiful story to be part of, this story is being written right now and i love being part of drawing these lines one by one.

Raw Nature savours

I have experienced a savour i never particularly paid attention to today - rosemary sap. I add some simple pasta with herbs, and just went in the garden to pick up some fresh rosemary and cut it as is on the pasta, without any cooking of the herbs.
The flavour of the rosemary is well-known to everyone, but thist ime as the herb was really fresh and raw-uncooked, the flavour of the sap was present. It is a lovely feeling to taste nature, to taste these raw flavours that are not specifically savours of traditional cooking but precisely of raw nature.
One of these i would love to experience is earthiness. Not as you find it in a wine, which shows earthy savoury characters, not raw forest floor, this lovely aromas you smell when you walk in a forest after the rain. Not mushroom, no, that complexe forest floor after the rain full aroma.
I hear your sarcastic thoughts: the best way is maybe to put my nose in the forest floor and eat whatever dirt comes to hand. Wouldn't that be too simple and actually not enjoyable? Not what i'm after.
But i'm sure they would be a way to produce these kind of 'raw nature' savours in an real food experience (or experimentation). Let me know if you come close to something like that...

Bordeaux primeur 2009 and NZ wines prices - thoughts...

I've received today some information about Bordeaux primeur 2009. Apparently, Robert Parker comments:
"I have bever tasted such powerful and concentrated Medocs. First and most importantly, for soe Medocs and Graves, 2009 may turn out to be the finest vinatge i have tasted in 32 years of covering Bordeaux. From top to bottom, 2009 is not as consistent as 2005, but the peaks pf quality in 2009 may turn out to be historic. The vintage displays many of the characteristics of such creamy-textured, opulent, fat, succulent years as 1959, 1982, 1990 and some of the northern Medocs of 2003. Yet, the 2009s also have structure, freshness, acid levels as well as vibrancy and precision of such cooler years as 1986, 1996 and 2000. In that sense, this is the glory of the 2009s. For as big and rich as well as high in alcohol as they are, they are also remarkably delicate, fresh and pure. This paradox, albeit a wonderful one, is unprecedented in the three plus decades i have been tasting Bordeaux barrel samples. This is a magical vintage!"

Doesn't this sound promising! I checked the 2009 En Primeur prices we can get in NZ. Well, this is real food for thoughts. Imagine that in NZ to drink something of reasonnable quality and specifically reasonnable complexity, you have to buy at NZ$30 (approx. 15euros) and when you want something nice you spend between NZ$40 and $50 (20-25 euros) - without being crazy. Prices for NZ wines are just high, and not less high on the own NZ market. With the global financial crisis prices have dropped, and you can now find simple wines (never any default but never any complexity)under NZ$10 (5 euros), which was not really the case few years ago - but this is derived from and entails another subject.
So i just looked at what i could buy for the same average amount spent on NZ wines. And this is quite amazing to see that even En Primeur from overseas, with taxes, extra packaging, freight etc., i could buy some cru classe (Chateau Carbonnieux in Pessac Leognan), some cru bourgeois (Sociando Mallet in Haut Medoc, Chateau Carbonnieux in Moulis, Chateau Potensac in Medoc), some 2nd wine (Carmes de Rieussec in Sauternes, Demoiselle de Sociando Mallet), some Grand cru classe (Chateau de Camensac in Haut Medoc) etc etc. the list is really long. i agree, it's not because the wines are classified that they are good, but i happened to have tasted the above, and i like them and find good qualities to them - Bordeaux that are not hugely expensive but deliver special and specific qualities.
Maybe that's the thing, the list is really long and you're spoilt for choice, and the wineries have to compete without being cheap. And in NZ at NZ$40-50, you are not spoilt for choice and although you sometimes find this complex and surprising wine, it is not that commun. Do you always find complexity and surprising wines in Bordeaux (for example) for that price? Well no, but it does happen quite a bit, and consumers are ready to pay that much but they expect complexity. The wines have to deliver for the price - fair enough, isn't it?
So i'm not saying NZ wines are not complex, i'm saying the price is high for the complexity you get compared to wines from elsewhere - here the example was Bordeaux (En primeur - yes), but it is full of wines from other regions/countries that deliver better quality-complexity- surprise effect for money than NZ wines.
And if we think of low prices, the difference is even bigger. You can actually find little beauties under 7 euros (NZ$14) in european wines. The great thing with NZ wines is that even cheap (and some producers from Europe would even think that i'm talking nonsense as they consider 7 euros isn't cheap at all), there are really rarely winemaking defaults. The wines are always clean. So that's nice for cheap and cheerful; but for cheap and valuable, a bit of complexity or at least of character is essential... much more difficult in NZ Wines, if not impossible!

Fish and wine trial matches...

I've 'cooked' some hapuku fish yesterday with the idea of trying it in its raw flavour and try to find wine matches with different varieties. So I simply steamed the hapuku.

Well after trying the oaked chardonnay, which was too rich and round and with too loud aromas not matching the freshness of the fish, i tried some unoaked chardonnay. Rather more interesting of course, nice acidity and citrus aromas were this time accompanying the fish. Sauvignon blanc was a nice match too, but i must say it was a quite restrained style, not the fruit focused NZ sauvignon type, so the minerality was going pretty well with the fish. Little trial this time, i had only these 3 bottles under my hands.

Well, after finishing my little experience, i just stopped and decided to have a simple beer, just a classic lager (i know!...). ... Best match!... I was just finishing my last bite of hapuku, and I started my beer. Freshness of the beer, fresh aromas, something quite nice actually revealed the iodine of the fish and combined to enhance a nice sort of smokey flavour. But no more fish to try that again... Damn!

Another great surprise! But now i can't wait to try again, and this time i'll add spices to the fish - still steamed but with the objective to check on spices as well. And beer will be in the game! Step by step in the experiences, I add flavours and then textures, and then both. It is a game of patience indeed, but every step teaches something new. More results to come...

Isn't this complete nonsense?

Imagine you are given the choice to have for diner a home dish of fresh tuna balls cooked in a fresh tomato sauce, the whole lot cooked with pinenuts, lemon zest, flat parsley etc. or a visit to Mc Donald (no need or me to describe the menu there). What do you choose?

My flatmates went for Mc Donald. Nowhere does this make sense to me. The mell was lovely, the dish fresh and healthy but not a boring salad, no something a little bit elaborated althoug classic... And they are not in their 20's (whih is not particularly an excuse, but which would be a little more understandable), no they are rather is their 50's, quite foodie and love a nice beer or a nice wine.

You could say, sometimes you can't be bothered cooking... well in that case they only had to put their feet under the table. No i suppose they wanted to eat something unhealthy, fat and to feel lazy. Total nonsense to me!

To prove the dish was not at all repulsive, check these... So would you have gone for Mc Donald too?

Wine ... Food, a love I nurture

Haven't been writing for a while on this blog... Thinking about it, i believe that i haven't had much fantastic wine experience this year in fact. Sad, indeed! Again, if i look deep in my memory, only food memories come up...

I actually had my best food experience so far in a restaurant in San Francisco US. it was fantastic from the beginning to the end, i promised myself i would write an email to the chef, but didn't... Anyway, fresh seafood, like you dream of! first experience of sea urchin, simply cooked, with few alguas, a drop of mayonnaise (sounds very basic, but no it was not!) - yes, mayonnaise sounds weird, but it was quite amazing. First, the urchin was extra fresh, the iodine of the urchin was very present, the mayonnaise was just bringing that touch of sweetness and great balance to the whole. then i had a bouillabaisse, when i saw it coming, came also disappointment because it was not at all the traditional french dish i was expecting. But finally, absolutely no regret - i must also say that the waiter told me in advance it wouldn't be the french thing - again the fish and seafood were so perfectly cooked and the flavours simple ans sophisticated at the same time. The clams were not quite crunchy, not quite too cooked, they were tender and had kept all their flavours, and so were the schrimps, and the fish. the whole secret of that whole meal was in the freshness of the seafood, and the respect of the original flavours of each of the seafood/fish and this by cooking every piece in perfect timing. It was also fantastic because all the dishes were outstanding, not only one thing, but the whole food experience! Gosh, i wish this restaurant was down my road! www.swellsf.com

What else, great herring in Belgium... it doesn't sound very appealing, but the flavours were this time around very strong and delicate at the same time. fresh herring with white wine, fresh onions and herbs, lemon. The herring was actually raw or more precisely soaked in a brine, nice balance between the strength of the flavours, the acidity of the wine and lemon - the onions were nicely bringing zing and opposite crunchy texture to the quite fat herring. Quite a delicate fish in fact - but still, it was lucky i didn't have anyone to kiss afterwards!

Aah, and there was also the bugtail in Brisbane Australia, to die for. Bugtail is apparently the speciality of Queensland, it is a kind of freshwater lobster or crayfish. So the bugtail was cooked in a pan with garlic, and it came on a freshly made ravioli of spinach and ricotta, on a creamy broth with peas. Amazing combination of delicate flavours, none overwhelming the other, and the combination of textures...! The soft of the ravioli pasta, the tender although firm of the bugtail really did work well together. The filling of the ravioli was quite small actually, and that was good because it delievered the texture of the pasta perfectly and just added few more flavours to enjoy, but the soft thin pasta was the centre point gathering all the other elements.

I have a good memory of Wine & Food match... In Sancerre France, i tried for the first time a Reuilly AOC, which is made out of sauvignon blanc. i thought, all right, nice savvy, i had a good goat cheese salad, and was forced to have dessert (work lunch, i had to be polite and nicely accompany my guests). I first ordered an apple tart, but there was none left, so my choice went to creme brulee, but there was only liquorice creme brulee. So there it was, i had a liquorice creme brulee with a glass of Reuilly sauvignon blanc. Amazing! Once again, on its own, both the creme and the wine were good, but you wouldn't lose your sleep on it. But together, a complete harmony! The minerality of the sauvignon and the citrus flavours were totally completing the liquorice flavours, and the difference between the onctuous creme brulee and the zingy sauvignon was just not clashing at all! The liquorice was actually lifting the creme brulee to the freshness of the wine. I should try this with NZ sauvignon and see if it works... good thing with the Reuilly was that it doesn't have too much fruit, but more minerality and floral aromas, so it's more on the gentle side of sauvignon, compared to a Sancerre on flint that would be more strict, or an NZ that would be more explosive. Anyway, it's worth trying!

There are other moments i enjoyed wine or food this year, but specifically for the moments or company, not particularly the wine in itself or the food for itself. More about why i didn't write at all about wine this year later on...

Anobli 2008 from Alluviale, finally!

If you haven't yet tried this and manage to get hold of a bottle, don't hesitate. It's a NZ$41 / 375ml bottle, but certainly worth it especially compared to what's available on the NZ market (no offense, I surely haven't tried them all yet).

I'm quite a fan of dessert wine, at least i use to, as i haven't been drinking much of it for a while. Just always disappointed by the quality, I ended up abandonning dessert wine by frustration. Sad I know.

But my hope is back! I recently tried Anobli 2008 from Alluviale, a winery from Hawke's Bay. It is sauvignon blanc from gravels soils, fermented and aged in new french oak. 7 long months of fermentation, quite a long time to stress while something can go wrong, but hey it certainly didn't.

Everything I look for in a dessert wine is present: complex nose, great balance between the sugar and the acidity, and a fantastic length. I'm not even talking about the aromas, they are complex and layered whether on the nose, in the mouth of end of mouth. The wine opens up in the glass, changing slowly. I specifically love the balance, the complexity and the long finish.

There's a bit of experience there; the winemaker being producer in Jurancon, he might have few tricks to pull out. But good on him, it's great to see a beautiful NZ dessert wine!

Personnally i'll get few bottles and want to see this ageing... Great potential! Definitely the kind of wine i'd like to shout outloud to whoever wants to hear it: I love it, try it and tell me what you think! Or maybe: It's bloody good mate, try it!

http://www.alluviale.com/

W&F match - Spices experimentations, new track

I try here and there different W&F matches. One of the last ones that got my attention:
A dish with cumin (lamb) with a glass of 2006 sauvignon blanc from Marlborough. Obviously one of the sauvignon from that region that can gracefully age, nice minerality, but good round and weighty mid palate, with a slight sweetness most certainly enhanced by the roundness. Going quite well with the cumin, more than the lamb in itself actually. The sweetness was almost not perceptible when drunk on its own, but once matched, that's where it was revealed. Interesting. In terms of minerality, it was matchiong quite well, as it was not the fresh flinty minerality but more the warmer type (like chalk), therefore accompanying the cumin flavour rather than making a sharp distinction.

Maybe that is one of the new tracks i have to follow - matching spices with wines. Maybe they would somehow play the role of aromas in a wine, when the tannic structure, the acidity and the alcohol would have to be paired with textures, acidity of your dish.
Just random thinking, but i'll pay a specific attention to 'studying' that.

If you have some special experimentation on the way, or interesting W&F match experience, post them so we can share! We never learn better than when we can compare and talk.

The magic of wine & food matching

Have you ever experienced that perfect wine & food match? You've most certainly heard about it, and might even have doubt about the magic of it. Well, I was thinking exactly the same - right, red goes with meat, white with fish, light red on a salmon, tannic red on a game, try white wine with cheese, but red with a camembert, dessert wine on a blue etc. commun statements of wine & food matching (let's agree on the short W&F M). Never really convinced about the caracteres that could make it such a special thing. I also had in mind the fact that i needed great food and great wine, to achieve a perfect W&F M.

All wrong! I understood it that day, a day like any other day, when i had that wonderful surprise. The perfect W&F M. I was in a little cafe, nothing fancy about it, and i ordered a mud cake. As good as a mud cake can be, this chocolate cake from that little place had absolutely nothing special about it. To accompany it, i had a syrah, syrah from NZ not even from the region where i was or from a region known for its syrah - a simple syrah from Nelson, good, well made but nothing fancy about it, not the kind you would remember. However, i had a piece of that cake, and then a sip of that syrah... simply magic.
The length of flavours of the cake was melting with the mid palate of the syrah, and then the length of the syrah or end of mouth, melting with the mid palate of the cake, and one was calling for the other. And i could just not stop going from the cake to the wine to the cake to the wine, until both my plate and my glass were empty.
Flavours and aromas was just perfectly matching, the slight spices in the cake (cinnamon) and the spice of the syrah (pepper) were completing each other, the flavours were completing each other, chocolate on one side and cherries on the other side were meeting and joigning forces, the texture of the cake was helped by the sligt acidity and the soft although present tannic structure of the syrah, and finally the length of both were playing with each other calling for an 'encore'. Nothing was too much, nothing not enough. And the most surprising: the perfect match came from two absolutely commun products. Nothing wonderful about them when tasted on their own, but together it was a the perfect combination - a new ONE coming from two ones.

It is that experience that i want to live again and profoundly want to understand. In cooking, the idea is the same: take 2 products, as not noble as they can be, and combine them. If they flavour wise go together, if they are cooked to match their texture and their length in mouth... you obtain this magic combination. Molecular gastronomy explains you that in cooking. There is a way to explain it in wine and food matching, more cartesian that a simple description as done above. I'm not looking for a table of unbreakable rules, i'm looking for basic principles that will make people live that moment I've lived. The kind of moment that makes you forget time and space, and makes you feel excited and peaceful at the same time. Sounds crazy i know.

The Taste, definition in few words

The taste is the result of stimulations, starting from the visual to the final sensation in mouth:

1) Visual : a dish that looks nice already tastes nicer than the same dish that doesn't look as nice
2) Tactile: and maybe nowadays we forget about this perception a lot. Think about eating something with your fingers or with a fork. It doesn't taste the same because you in fact have that tactile sensation that gives you a complementary information
3) Olfactive: before you have it in mouth, the aromas gives you other information about what it's going to taste like
4) Taste in mouth, and after taste. In mouth, you have the flavours, the texture, the temperature...

The taste is therefore the combination of all these sensations, which once perceived physiologically is translated by the brain which then gives qualities to the taste, depending on your personal and social experiences. It is therefore not only defined by what you perceive when you eat, as each step before the food or wine etc comes in mouth has given an infomation about the flavours and have already been interpreted by the brain.

This interpretation depends on your individual or personal story: some aromas have strong emotions related to them (perfume of your mum, a cake you use to eat every sunday with your grand father, leaves you use to smell in your garden, smell of sweat when you were in the subway, smell of dust and humidity of your underground cellar...). There are also simply aromas you are more familiar with than others: if you were raised in a tropical country, you'll know about the natural taste of mango, palm tree oil, sweet potatoe etc., and maybe you will have a bit more difficulties with red berries, chesnut, camomilla etc.
Now the social interpretation: your social environment, the society you were raised in and live in formats your taste. A cricket is a delicacy in some places of Asia when it appears impossible to serve it in a restaurant of Europe. A thick crust pizza is generally not appreciated in Italy, when a thin crust doesn't appeal much to an American. Cheddar is commonly appreciated by an English when a French likes a stinky runny cheese. However, you will sometimes find a european liking insects, an American eating thin crust pizza and an English loving a reblochon.

We are therefore not equal in front of the taste, and the fantastic thing is that there is no box the taste closes you in.

Dusty box...

A summer later, a harvest in NZ later, few months older... well back to the keyboard. For no other reason that I have opened this box over which i had put tons of work, tons of excuses and finally far too much dust... what's in the box? Molecular gastronomy.

What's the relation, why coming from a simple love of wine to such a blurry concept of food?
Well, i believe that if on one side, chef and scientists can work together and find out about food chimical essence and reactions in cooking, then there is a concept to push with wine and food matches.

First understanding what's the taste/aromas, length in mouth, contrasts. The vocabulary in food and wine has lots of similarities, in the end we are talking about flavours, perception of the senses and emotional or sociological, textures...

Tomorrow we'll define the TASTE

If only we could all speak the same language...

Don’t know about you, but every time I have a discussion with an American or a European or a Kiwi etc., I’m confronted to the conversions and to making sense to everyone… accent aside!

If you are like me, here are few conversions you'll be glad to have under the thumb:

Celcius to Fahrenheit
Tc=(5/9)x(Tf-32)
-17.22C = 1F

Hectares to Acres
1 hectare = 2.47 acres

Kilometres to Miles
1 kilometre = 0.62 miles

Hectolitres to Gallons
1 hectolitre = 100 litres = 26.418 US gallons = 22 Imperial gallons

Metres to Feet
1 metre = 3.28 feet

Millimetres to Inches
1 millimetre = 0.039 inches

Tonne to Tons
1 tonne = 1.10 tons

Now we could understand each other… that was if we were leaving in a perfect and easy world !
So no... some talk in hectolitres per hectare, others in tons per hectare or per acre, etc.

Yields
Europe and South America (which use the metric system), productions are usually expressed in hectolitres. As for yields, it is expressed in hectolitre per hectare.
NZ expresses the yield in tonne per hectare.
The US, which doesn’t use the metric system, expresses yields in tons per hectare.

1 hectolitre = 0.183 US tons = 0.166 tonne
100 hectolitre = 18.3 US tons = 16.64 tonne

40 hectolitres per hectare = 2. 96 tons per acre = 6.655 per hectare
2 tons per acre = 27 hectolitre per hectare = 4.49 hectolitre per hectare

Now you can happily understand the whole mathematic world of wine! Mind you, after few glasses everyone speaks the same language anyway…

Vertical Bel Echo

Here's the second part of that vertical tasting of the Clos Henri Vineyard wines.

Tasting notes of the Bel Echo wines, in two words:

Bel Echo Sauvignon Blanc

2008: Just bottled. Nice chalky minerality, white pepper on the nose. Round mouth balanced by a nice acidity and a fruit intense without being exhuberant.

2007: very similar notes of evolution than on the Clos Henri. Nice roundness, hint of chalky minerality, nice fruit.

2006: had smokey aromas, as if we ever had used oak barrels. Instead none of this wine saw ny oak. And the mouth had that slight smokiness as well, and nicely rounded.

2005: again, the smokey side shows, slightly less than 06. and the mouth was quite similar. Very subtle and elegant.

Generally, it appears that the Bel Echo which mainly is grown on clays, is rounder and has more weight and more fruit intensity. It is interesting to note these lovely smokey aromas comin after few years... to check in the next years!

Bel Echo Pinot Noir - only 2 vintages produced yet, so although they are interesting, I'd wait few more vintages to begin drawing conclusions on their evolutions.

Vertical of Clos Henri Vineyard

Two days ago we have done a vertical of the Clos Henri wines (Clos Henri and Bel Echo ranges)- first wines were made in 2003. So no crazy old bottles full of dust, but a very interesting line up of wines to enable us to learn about the evolution of our wines and understand better our terroir (yes, i work at Clos Henri Vineyard), and how to improve our work in the vineyard.
Who was part of that tasting? our winemaker, our viticulturist, the viticulturist from our french parent company (owners and winemakers in Sancerre - Domaine Henri Bourgeois), the viticulture consultant from France, and myself.

Tasting notes in two words (comments on the Clos Henri only for today):

Clos Henri Sauvignon Blanc

2008: just bottled, has a great concentration (ripe fruit harvested before the heavy rains - no dilution for us!), great texture and minerality, floral. Objectively, a great drop! But patience, the release is in January/February.

2007: very good balance, again good minerality and nice freshness that holds it all. Nice textured sauvignon.

2006: less expressive than the others, more subtle, but again very nice minerality and very elegant.

2005: our little favourite (after the 08!), wonderful expression of sauvignon, generally good balance and minerality, with still nice freshness. Slight honey suckle starting to show.

2004: it's round, round round, complexe. The less mineral of all. Bit more honeysuckle showing.

2003: to our pleasure, still fantastic, showing incredible honey and roundness. To drink in the next year.

Globally, we achieved an elegant style of sauvignon with great texture and minerality, and they evolve nicely gaining in roundness and getting honeysuckle aromas.

Clos Henri Pinot Noir

2008: not part of the tasting as it is not yet bottled indeed! [But blend tastings recently done, were actually showing a great fruit. With blocks from the hillsite on clay showing particularly good concentration and complexity. And block from the stoney soils showing nice finesse, little red fruit, natural smokiness]

2007: our favourite. Great balance, vibrant, complex, nice freshness, supple tannins still that need a bit of time to soften a bit more. Very elegant. Release only in few months as well.

2006: dark fruit, spices, round and bit more volume. Supple tannins, well integrated.

2005: again a little favourite (after 07), fantastic to drink now, but has the structure to go on ageing. Great integration of the oak and tannins. more volume again. Savoury, spices, begining of truffle notes.

2004 and 2003: although they were showing beautifully in their first year or 2 and promising great future, well it is just too bad to say that they weren't up to our expectations anymore. Not much more fruit, the wines looked a bit tired. We attribute it to maybe the young age of the vines at the time. We did 2 barrels of 03, not much more of 04.

Globally, nice fruit, and apart from the 03 and 04, great structures and nice evolution of both the structure and the aromas and volumes in mouth. The part of wine in new oak has been decreasing year after year, good choice there as well.

We generally want to improve the alcohol content in the wines (experimentations in the vineyard) and keep elegance in the styles. But we were all very satisfied with what has been done so far, and the potential we see for the future.

Objectively again, lucky me to be working there!

Wine news - Introduction to Sensewine

Hi all,

You'll find on the blog associated to my email few ideas that I regularly publish. It goes from tasting notes, to marketing thoughts, or a simple idea that came to my mind... all about wine indeed. With the idea of making sense of and when we talk about wine, giving sense to it for everyone, experiencing wine with all our senses - basically to sense wine...

I know how annoying emails with links to blogs can be, especially when they arrived too regularly on your box! So i just do a selection of my friends and people I enjoyed meeting, and will randomly change who i send the news to. So you'll know this blog exist, but it won't harrass you - i'll just remind it to you from time to time. Of course i'll be happy if you post any comment, and to hear any suggestion.

Lastly published: Wine and Architecture (the venture of Castellare and Rothschild), notes on Chateau de Pibarnon 98 ...

Sensewinely yours,

Nelly

Rocca di Frassinello - when Architecture meets Wine

When architecture meets wine, there is always the danger of having a beautiful winery that is not functionnal and makes the cellar crew growl. However, you also get wineries that are thought from an esthetic point of view, meet the landscape and that are technically coherent while bringing a pleasant flow in the rythm of work, especially appreciated during harvest. Any architect would now comment, that the purpose of architecture is certainly not just esthetic anyway.

The winery Rocca di Frassinello is a recent venture between the italian Domini Castellare and the french Barons de Rothschild. Their winery was designed by the famous italian architect Renzo Piano and built from 2005 to 2007.

Here, the reception area sits outside during harvest. The huge plateform makes it easy for trucks and fenwicks to bring the fresh fruits.

The harvest is then processed by gravity, directly into the lever under.

Located in Tuscany, in the Maremma between Bolgheri and Scansano (this would ring a bell if you know Super-Tuscans) - they grow cabernet sauvignon, merlot and sangiovese. Each of Castellare and Rothschild bringing his specific know-how to make wines of great expression.

Have a deep look at the 2005 vintage if you have the opportunity. All labels worth the try.

The heart of the winery is the impressive barrel hall - huge space, imposing volume, that transforms barrels into a crowd around a stadium. When you stand right at the centre of it, you have an amazing feeling of being watched and maybe even acclaimed by this crowd. A special energy is catalysed in that point. Rare sensation, when you think of your crowd afterwards.

Chateau de Pibarnon 1998...

It is something i didn't want on my blog, listing wines and giving my opinion on them - as if my opinion was important! But, even though my opinion doesn't matter, well I have to say I enjoyed this wine thouroughly - so i share about it.

It is a producer i've loved for a while, I discovered the Bandol appelation through Chateau de Pibarnon, and i come back to it with pleasure every time i get the opportunity. Being in New Zealand, it's not the kind of bottle you find in every wine shop, and old vintages are at a premium. So i found this wine in my cellar in France!

Here are the notes i took:
Nose: dry meat, dry figs, garrigue, dry leaves. Ripe fruit, but the main component of this wine is not its fruit.
Mouth: the aromas follow the nose. The oak is completely integrated, and there is still a nice acidity, that keeps it all alive. The tannins are integrated and still a touch dry (not green, but from the oak and structure), more precisely tight. The end of mouth is long and continues on a very ripe fruit - notes of port and maury, and notes of black truffle.
Conclusion: Very good example of Bandol with 10 years of age, voluptuous and with all the power you expect from Bandol. The structure is masculine but rounded by the time. Every element seems to have taken the time harmoniously. The tannic structure is well present, the fruit has not completely disappeared and remains with subtletly showing complexity between the garrigue / dry meat and the ripe fruit. Nice volume without too much roundness, nice presence in the mouth. Will age few years more...

Portrait of this wine: It's a rough man talking to you in the eyes with a gentle tone in his nostalgic voice.

http://www.pibarnon.com/

Visit of Poli Distillerie - Veneto

In Veneto, at Schiavon sits the Poli Distillerie - A beautiful artisan distillery, owned by the Poli family who has for generations developed its distillation systems to acquire the best as possible. Nicely guided through the whole distillery process by Alessandro Villanova, in charge of Extern Relations, I got to understand the history of the family with Grappa, and the love and passion they put into it. The concern of search for ultimate quality, from the raw materials (coming from the surroundings: by memory Bassano, Breganze, Barostica) to the improvement of the distillery system is evidence when you visit the place. Continuous improvements of the system with the use of fresh pomace and discontinuous cycle, however still in the tradition as the old steam cauldrons in copper were kept, and certainly were the secrets of distilling too. Jacopo Poli, the actual head of the family, kindly took some time to meet me and to talk without rush, at a moment that was definitely difficult as they were in the middle of harvest.

The wide tasting at the end of the distillery tour was very enjoyable as well, as you get to taste the different eaux de vie, and grappas Poli makes. What a pleasure for the senses, and that even if you were not tasting – I was though indeed! I particularly loved the Classical Grappa, I would say it is the essence of Grappa as you imagine it when you feel like a purely defined grappa both in the aromas and the mouthfeel. I also loved the special Jacopo Poli range, and particularly the Grappa aged in oak which brings that unusual structure, and luscious oak aromas melted in classical grappa aromas. Both of these grappas were showing subtlety and elegance in a pleasant voluptuous warmth without heat.

I also enjoyed seeing the good balance between tradition and modernity, in the systems again, but also in the marketing: researched packaging with sober and elegant lines – in phase with the modern customer, but still showing the historical roots of this family business; the use of the name of Jacopo Poli as a new modern value to the business; the tasting room and the new Grappa museum; the examples are numerous. The attention to detail is definitely showing at every step.

Once again, I have been touched by the generosity of italians, in the present case Jacopo and Alessandro, and from the beginning to the end of this very personal visit, I have felt I was in a family affair, led by tradition and willing to be part of its time. A thoughtful business, led by love and passion for its know-how and its region.

Only one last thing to say: Grazie mille.