Champagne Tasting at Alimentum

Last week, I found myself at a Champagne tasting at Alimentum with Nick Adams MW after winning a place for knowing the number of bubbles in a bottle of Champagne (49 million, apparently).

The format of the evening was three flights of fizz with a talk from Nick, followed by dinner - and more fizz.

We started on arrival with not a Champagne but a Spumante Perle D'Oro NV from Portinari in Soave. Crisp and toasty, it showed sweet apple and pear fruit, a fine mousse and a yeasty, leesy finish - a good start.

The tasting itself was divided into three flights which Nick Adams talked through. Aimed at a general audience with no background knowledge, he talked through the basics of how Champagne is made from the chalky soils to the grape varieties and the method, peppering his talk with wry observations and anecdotes.

Flight 1 - Quality

The theme of the first flight was increasing quality: the first wine was a light, uncomplicated, primary Prosecco. A Prosecco Superiore di Conegliano Valdobbiadene Brut, Rocco NV it showed hints of pear fruit and pear skin on the nose, with pear fruit and sherbert on the palate and a touch of persistence on the finish.

Next was a pair of wines from Roederer - a Quartet Brut NV from Anderson Valley in California and a Louis Roederer Brut Premier Champagne.

The New World wine was well-made but for me had rather too much yee-ha - an expressive nose of sour hay or sharp cider, brioche and Pinot-esque fruitiness. On the palate, there is crisp apple fruit, a leesy, fruity funkiness with a fine mousse and a persistent finish.

By contrast, the French wine, which showed much of the same House Style, was far more elegant and restrained, with greater subtlety and balance and a longer finish and for me was much the better wine.

It was like comparing a fake chateau in Beverly Hills with the real thing in Reims - or Pamela Anderson with Catherine Deneuve.

Flight 2 - Grape Variety

The second flight show-cased the different grape varieties used in Champagne: a 100% Chardonnay from Pierre Gimmonet Cuis 1er Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut NV had a light, slightly musky nose with notes of orchard fruits. On the palate, there is fresh, crisp Granny Smith apple, sweet pear and yeasty brioche with a creamy texture. Linear and slightly mono-dimensional, it was nonetheless extremely elegant.

A Drappier Carte Blanche Brut NV from 90% Pinot Noir had a funkier, fruiter nose with pear skin aromas. With more body on the palate, it felt rounded and mouthfilling with sweet pear fruit and a persistent, slightly grippy finish.

Finally in this flight, a Laurent-Perrier Cuvee Rose Brut NV from 100% Pinot Noir with colour from skin contact only had lots of red fruit on the nose and a funky farmyardiness. 
With ripe, rounded fruit on the palate, more funky aromas and a food-friendly weightiness, it has a persistent finish.

Flight 3 - NV and Vintage

The final flight was just two wines from Bollinger - non-vintage and vintage. The first, a Special Cuvee Brut NV, was 60% Pinot Noir with a funky, fruity Pinot-esque nose, aromas of pear skins and sharp, cidery notes.

On the palate, it was rounded and mouthfilling with yeasty brioche, green apples and soft red fruit. Great complexity and depth and a long, persistent finish.

The best wine of the evening so far.

However, the real show-stopper was the final wine, La Grande Annee 2002; aged 100% in oak for the first fermentation, it spends 6 years on the lees and comes from 71% Grand Cru vineyards and 29% Premier Cru.

Concentrated, intense and powerful, it was really quite amazing, utterly superb and despite its decade's age, still quite youthful.

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Over dinner, chatting with fellow guests, I came to several conclusions about the event:

- the presentation had been very traditional and structured; Nick had stood up and given a (very informative and entertaining) talk, taking few questions

- the wines had been not just of very good quality but were very well-served, at just the right temperature

- more than this, they were extremely well-chosen, both as examples of a particular style, but also within the overall structure of the talk; the New World wine tasted exactly like the more fruit-forward, less elegant, less expensive wine that it was and the contrast between the two was excellently made. The Grande Annee not only was superb, but even more clearly so in the way we had built up to it via lesser wines.

So, for me, the quality of Nick's talk, informative and entertaining as it was, was the least of what made it a great evening - the wines ranged from the very good to the totally superb, but this was still not the clincher. It was the structure of the tasting and the quality of thought that went into the selection that I will remember; and I am minded to think that that is what a presentation by an MW brings.

After the tasting, we enjoyed a dinner by Alimentum chef patron Mark Poynton matched to various fizzes.

Other related articles
Champagne Dinner at Alimentum
Gosset Champagne Dinner at Hotel du Vin

Links
Alimentum - http://restaurantalimentum.co.uk/
Nick Adams - http://www.firstglasswineservices.co.uk/

Tour de Belfort: The Challenge‏ (and an offer)

The other week, I met Muriel Lismonde who, with her family, runs Tour de Belfort, a start-up winery in Cahors.

The Background

The project started when Muriel's father sold the Paris-based family business and used the proceeds to buy a ruin and some land in the village of Quercy in South West France.

I get the sense this must have felt like "another of Dad's projects" for the family, but with the funds from the sale of a successful business, it turned out to be on a much grander scale than the usual tinkering in his garden shed.

And with the family roped in to help with everything from the restoration of the buildings and the creation of a brand new vineyard and winery, to the selling of the wine directly, there is something of the cult of the amateur about it all.

Part Grand Designs, part The Good Life, the project seems to have gained a life of its own, moved along by the force of Dad's vision and drive.

Someone I met at a networking lunch the other week told me that he and his wife approached decision-making according to Harry Secombe's philosophy - I decide all the important stuff like should be in Europe, what our exchange rate policy should be or should we go to war with Russia, whilst she sorts out the minor details like what shirt I'll wear and what to have for dinner.

I rather fancy that Lismonde Père is a little like this - deciding on what vines to plant, designing the labels and determining whether the wine should be bio-dynamic, organic or natural and leaving minor matters, such as the actual selling of the finished product, to family members.

The Challenge

As a result of all this, Muriel spends much of her time travelling around trying to sell the wine directly at shows and exhibitions, such as the Three Wine Men, as they have found it so far impossible to break into the UK market.

Selling an unknown wine from a brand-new vineyard from a backwater region of France is no easy task under any circumstances.

However, wines from Cahors and the French south west in general have a reputation for being spicy, a bit rustic and mostly red, so to sell a mixture of reds, whites and rosés that are organic, well-made and balanced is all the more challenging.

Add in a price tag in double figures, a screw-cap closure and a distinctive but rather cheap-looking label and it is almost as if they are making life deliberately difficult for themselves.

And yet, having tried the wines, I have been very impressed; the result of completely organic approach and a strict attention to detail is an extremely well-made and balanced output with great depth of flavour. Not only is the vineyard free of pesticides and herbicides, the winery is almost clinically clean reducing the need for any additives in the wine - just some neutral, organic cultured yeasts and very limited quantities of sulphites to preserve the wine in bottle.

The wines are also low in alcohol, making them very food friendly, but have enough southern warmth to be welcoming and approachable.

As Muriel explained to me the problems in getting UK distribution, it struck me that there is something of a Catch-22 at play here; what would secure distribution is a definite interest, but there cannot be any interest if the wine is not widely available.

The family decided to sell directly via their website, but desperately need to raise their profile generally - and there are only so many hours in the day for everything.

The Offer

After meeting Muriel and hearing her story, I felt that I wanted to do more than just try the wines and write-up the usual tasting note and resolved to get involved in helping bring this wine to the broader audience I think it deserves.

Having agreed a deal with Muriel to cover my time, I negotiated a discount for readers of this blog: look on the Tour de Belfort website and you'll see the following prices:

- Red (09), White and Rosé: £60 for 6 (delivery extra) / £120 for 12 (delivery included)
- Red 2010: £63 for 6 (delivery extra) / £126 for 12 (delivery included)

However, Muriel is prepared to sell her wines at £60 for a case of 6 (delivery included) or £110 for a case of 12 (delivery included), to anyone who contacts her directly and mentions this blog.

Now, I realise I have staked my reputation with two sets of people - firstly with Muriel, since no-one may actually take up this offer and secondly with anyone who does buy the wine, and could potentially be disappointed at my recommendation.

If I'm honest, my greatest fear is that no-one will take up the offer - I'm sufficiently confident in the quality of these wines to believe that people are unlikely to be disappointed by them.

I also think that they are priced more than fairly and that it would easily be possible to spend more money on something less good. (For more detailed reviews of the wines, see here for the red, white and rosé).

So the real issue then is will the thousands of people who visit this blog every week - those in the UK at least - actually do more than just read my wafflings and actually take my advice to buy this well-made, organic, almost natural wine at a tenner a bottle.

I can't give any satisfaction guarantees or money-back promises like the big internet players do; I won't be adding in a free bottle of something "sumptuous" that "should sell for twice the price", or even one of those rabbit corkscrews if you order right now.

However, I am staking my reputation on this. And remember this wine is made by a family outfit with low overheads and no marketing budget, so you are essentially buying it at the producer's direct cost plus with no middle man - and then with a discount.
And if you need more than just my recommendation, then here's what a few other wine people have to say:

Isabelle Legeron MW - @MurielLismonde is one of the loveliest people I know

Three Wine Men - We're real fans of @MurielLismonde's wines

So, all that remains then is for you to try the wine and let me know what you think of it. And tell all your friends about it, too. And your family, long-lost relatives, dinner party guests, people on the bus, random strangers ... what are you waiting for ?

To contact Muriel, call her on 01625 449 031 or 07881 453 100 or email her on muriel@tour-de-belfort.com - just mention this blog to get the discount.

Joseph Barnes Wines at Cambridge Food and Wine Society

The Languedoc, according Charles Hardcastle of Joseph Barnes Wines, is a rustic, peasanty land with an ancient and bloody history - a land of impenetrable dialects, heresy and repression.

The strange, earthy character of the region is also reflected in the wines, which tend towards an expressively rustic, spicy charm.

Add to this Charles' natural showmanship and charisma, a touch of biodynamic mysticism, some meteors and space dust and it was a highly entertaining evening at the Cambridge Food and Wine Society.

The Languedoc was historically the source of Europe's wine lake - gallons of cheap, unpleasant plonk dumped on the market. But quality has been improving for as long as I can remember and it is now a source characterful, well-made rough-and-tumble wines that can be rather serious indeed.

Chateau Le Roc Fronton, NV £30 magnum

This natural wine is in simple terms a pink fizz; more precisely, it is a petillant blend of Negrette and Mauzac made by a single fermentation in bottle according the euphemistically-named Methode Rurale, with no added sulphur and fined only by racking.

A cloudy pink in the glass, there are pear drops and red berries on the nose. The palate shows good acidity and primary fruit aromas of apple and galia melon. Good depth of flavour, but not especially complex and just 9% alcohol.

A very popular seller at Charles' shop, it was well-received on the evening.

Domaine des Foulards Rouges, La Soif du Mal Blanc 2011, £14

This white blend is a mix of Grenache Blanc, Muscat and Macabeu; a pale yellow in the glass, there are Muscaty aromas of honeysuckled and blossom on the nose.

The palate shows a good leesy depth, with sweet acacia blossom, rounded, lemon-and-lime acidity, more Muscaty florality and a mineral edge.

Suggested food matches were sea bass with fennel or chili and ginger.

Domaine de l'Hortus, Bergerie de l'Hortus Blanc 2011, £12.95

This white is a blend of Chardonnay, Grenache Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier and Roussane.

The nose shows pear and orchard fruit, spice, stone fruit, lemon and pineapple and a leesiness. Long on the palate, there is more orchard and tropical fruits, a soft peachy texture, good leesy depth and a persistent finish.

Chateaux Ollieux Romanis, Corbieres Rose 2011, £9.25

Mainly Carignan, but with some Syrah and Grenache, and a pale salmon pink colour, this is made by carbonic maceration which gives something of a bubblegum aroma.

With a savoury, spicy nose, there is watermelon on the palate, prominent rounded acidity, a touch of mint and pepper, minerality and a toasty-yeastiness with a good, leesy finish.

Domaine du Meteore, Faugeres, Les Leonides, 2008, £9.20

A GSM + Carignan blend, this has a rustic charm, with an earthy, funky nose of barnyardy wet hay, plus some spice, coffee and a mix of red, black and sour cherries.

On the palate, there is sour cherry fruit, garrigue herbs and tarriness.

The finish is savoury and this would match well with robust meat dishes.

The name of the domaine is a reference to a crater in the vineyard caused by a meteorite, so there may just be traces of cosmic space dust in the wine.

Ch Ollieux Romanis, Alicante-Bouschet, VdP Aude, 2011, £15.99

This is made from 100 year-old vines from the obscure Alicante-Bouschet grape - the last 2 hectares in France, apparently.

In the glass, it is dark and impenetrably inky - which apparently made it popular in prohibition-era America as it could be significantly watered down and still retain some colour.

With dark berry fruit and mocha on the nose, the palate shows elderberry fruit, peppy spice and mintiness.

It is concentrated and long, with a custardy texture and a lively, juicy acidity.

The finish is grippy, savoury and meaty and it would match well with spicy meat dishes such as tagine.

Chateau de Jau, Banyuls Rimage, Les Clos de Paulilles, 2008, £11.99 (50cl)

The final wine of the night was a Banyuls - Languedoc's answer to tawny port.

Made from 100% Grenache, but naturally sweet due to fortification up to 16.5% alcohol with grape spirit, it had aromas of raisins and garrigue herbs and a sweetness cut through with good acidity.

Utterly delicious on its own, it was a perfect match with good quality dark, bitter chocolate, and proved very popular on the evening.

Recommended Wine

If you are looking for a reason to visit an independent wine merchant, Joseph Barnes Wines is it; characterful, rounded and quirky - and that's just Charles Hardcastle.

What struck me was the quality of all the wines - mostly organic, often biodynamic and / or natural, they feel incredibly well-made, both technically and stylistically.

They are also unashamedly crowd-pleasing with lots of personality.

Given all this, it's hard to pick a best overall wine of the evening but the Domaine du Meteore was especially notable for being both excellent and under a tenner.

Links

Cambridge Food and Wine Society - http://www.cambridgefoodandwinesociety.org.uk/
Joseph Barnes Wines - http://josephbarnes.webdev.perceptive-office.com/home.aspx

Tour de Belfort: The Wines - 2011 Rosé

This Tour de Belfort rosé from 2001 is a blend of Merlot and Syrah from a new, family-run vineyard in the Regional Park of Causses de Quercy near Cahors in south west France.

It also features the domaine's new-style label, which is rather classier than the previous one.

Made completely organically without any herbicides or pesticides, it is the colour of Guadeloupe melon flesh in the glass.

On the nose, there is watermelon and a touch of bubblegum, underpinned by leesiness; the palate is long with mouthwateringly juicy red berries, watermelon, a mouthfilling, rounded fruit acidity and a toasty, leesy savouriness.

Overall, it feels balanced with a good depth of flavour, whilst the finish is savoury and persistent with just a hint of grip and some warming spice.

Food-friendly and sealed under screwcap, it would make a very classy picnic wine - now we just need the weather to go with it.

£10 from www.tour-de-belfort.com; provided for review.

Links

Tour de Belfort - www.tour-de-belfort.com

Chateau La Rose Saint Bonnet, Medoc, 2009 - Laithwaites‏

"This means nothing to me" - Vienna, Ultravox, 1981

This Laithwaites red Bordeaux has been chosen by the Association of Wine Educators for the Good Food Would Choose Bordeaux campaign.

I've had a number of these GFWCB campaign wines before and although I love Bordeaux, when I saw it was a Laithwaite's wine and 14% alcohol, my heart sank a little.

At just three years old, it already shows signs of age in the glass - with some brick-red hints and paleness around the rim.

There is a ripe, expressive nose of sweet dark fruits, spice, liquorice and leather with some hints of coffee.

On the palate, there are lots more aromas and rounded, juicy acidity with cooked - somewhat stewed, in fact - dark cherries and elderberries, but for me it is lacking in textural interest.

With air, a pleasant mintiness develops and it has a reasonably good, persistent finish albeit with some rather drying grip. It's also a little hot and alcoholic - a common issue with Laithwaites wines, I find.

Overall, then quite pleasant, even with some hints of greatness, but not especially classy and a little rough around the edges.

Sort of what one expects generally of a Laithwaites wine; crowd-pleasing but not technically very well-made and somewhat overpriced.

I opened this at work and it proved popular with colleagues, but that's a bit like a song getting to #1 vs one that stands the test of time.

So, if you are the kind of person that prefers Joe Dolce's chart-topping chirpy ditty "Shaddap You Face" to the arty synthpop classic "Vienna" by Ultravox (kept off the top spot by said Mr Dolce), then this could be your type of wine.

£9.99 from Laithwaites; provided for review.

Links

Laithwaites - http://www.laithwaites.co.uk/
Good Food Would Choose Bordeaux - http://www.goodfoodwouldchoosebordeaux.com/
Association of Wine Educators - http://www.wineeducators.com/

Tour de Belfort: The Wines - 2009 and 2010 Red

A while ago, I met Muriel Lismonde who told me the story behind her family winery Tour de Belfort in the Regional Park of Causses de Quercy in the Lot Valley, near Cahors and also gave me some of her wines to review.

They are currently all made as blends - the reds being a mixture of Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Syrah - since, as Muriel explained, being a new and family-run winery, they simply do yet have the resources to vinify each variety separately.

If for the moment, blended wines are the only practical option for them, it is one of the few concessions to pragmatism that they seem to have made - everything else is completely organic, both in the vineyard and the winery - and, according to Isabelle Legeron, they are just a short step away from being fully natural.

Tour de Belfort 2009, VdP Lot (£10)

This wine, only the second vintage, has won a stack of awards - Gold at the Concours Général Agricole de Paris 2010, Prix des Vinalies from Oenologues de France 2010 in Bordeaux and IWC Commendation in 2011.

Bright purple in the glass, there is smokey plum and prune fruit on the nose with dark berries.

There is more ripe, dark berry and black cherry fruit on the palate with a pleasant touch of Malbec spice and leatheriness. The acidity is bright, fresh and juicy; the tannins are ripe, rounded and soft.

Good depth of flavour, length on the palate and balanced finish.

Tour de Belfort 2010 VdP Lot (£10.50)

This wine, from a year of perfect conditions according to Muriel, has more spice and leathery liquorice on the nose, as well as more prominent elderberry fruit.

The palate is again soft and full, with ripe tannins, juicy acidity, dark fruit and leathery, liquorice spice.

Both wines feels technically very well-made indeed, very balanced with no rough edges; there is pure fruit expression and just enough ripe, southern warmness to be very drinkable.

They also both have a certain something else - a clean, vibrant feel, that comes from the organic production and attention to detail.

In a sign of increasing ambition and confidence, in the near future there will be a varietal Malbec, aged in oak and the supermarket-style label has had a much-needed makeover into something more classy and appropriate.

Provided for review; the 2009 is £10 whilst the 2010 is £10.50 - both from http://www.tour-de-belfort.com/.

There is also an opportunity to sample the wines and meet Muriel at any of the current Three Wine Men events around the country.

Links

Tour de Belfort - http://www.tour-de-belfort.com/
Three Wine Men - http://threewinemen.co.uk/

Tour de Belfort: The Wines - 2010 White Blend

This 2010 Tour de Belfort white blend from the Lot Valley is a blend of the Bordelais Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Sauvignon Gris with some Burgundian Chardonnay thrown in.

The story behind how Tour de Belfort came into existence is complicated and fascinating and was told to me by Muriel Lismonde who runs the winery with her parents and family, dividing her time between Cheshire and south west France (see here for Tour de Belfort - The History).

Bordeaux is the nearest classic area to the Lot, not far to the west, so the choice of Semillon and the two Sauvignons makes sense. The reason for the Chardonnay, according to Muriel, is simply that a neighbour was growing it and so it seemed like a good idea.

However, it turned out that the Chardonnay proved to be the most difficult grape to grow successfully and is always the last to ripen.

And with eight different grape varieties grown, that means eight different harvest dates making the logistics of getting down to Quercy for picking challenging to say the least.

This white blend is labelled without reference to the Sauvignon Gris as French wine law allows the disclosure of only three grape varieties.

Pale and limpid in the glass with a touch of golden straw, there are restrained herbaceous aromas on the nose with a touch of ripe stone fruit.

It is made organically both in the vineyard and the winery and, as such, is sealed hermetically under screwcap rather than with cork.

As a result of this, I find it benefits from a bit of aeration and would certainly not be harmed by an hour or so in the decanter which brings out more of the aromas on the palate.

It feels surprisingly harmonious for a blend, even if the main components still make their presence felt - the precise, mineral acidity of the Sauvignon, rounded out by the greater warmth of the south, and the ripe citrus and tropical pineapple of the Chardonnay. There's also a dash of lime zest and the toasty-yeastiness of thick skins.

Long, rounded and mouthwatering on the palate it has a Burgundian creamy texture and good depth of flavour; the finish is mineral and persistent, with the herbaceous notes returning.

Neither a full-on crowd-pleaser nor a critic's extreme and challenging supermodel, it is perhaps the thinking drinker's wine: extremely well-made, well-balanced, with good length and depth it has enough southern warmth to be an easy-drinker, but is restrained and kept in check by a linear acidity that makes it very food friendly.

Match with herby roast chicken, pasta with pesto and prawns or asparagus drizzled with home-made hollandaise.

It has a Silver Medal from the Concours Général Agricole


£10.50 from Tour de Belfort; provided for review.

Links

Tour de Belfort - http://www.tour-de-belfort.com/