From Sea to Sand to Sipping - Wine from Pessac Léognan - Chateau Pape Clement

Which wine to accompany this bounty of shellfish in Arcachon?

During our recent trip to Bordeaux, we ended up renting a car for a couple of days. I showed up at the rental desk (Hertz, pronounced 'Ertz, of course) expecting a snazzy little Citrioën with a manual transmission. The guy behind the desk took one look at me and my terrible French accent and upgraded our car to a French version of a CUV with an automatic transmission. C'est la vie!

The Opel Crossland was a pretty zippy car and was not too big. It was, however, parked on the seventh floor of a parking garage with just a chicken wire fence between the passenger door and the precipice that led to certain death. Très excitant!

The first place we went to was on the sea - Arcachon. It was a lovely place where we could walk along a boardwalk in the sunshine, explore a bustling marked where we could purchase all sorts of interesting canned fish, and then have a delicious seafood lunch at Café de la Plage where I had rather large but tasty oysters and rather small (and less tasty) sea snails, ordered by accident due to my limited French shellfish vocabulary.

After, we climbed up the giant Dune of Pyla, a short drive away. There is a lot of sand there and the only way up the hill is to take off your shoes and stagger up the hill, taking one step back for every two steps forward. But what a view!

On the way back, we decided to stop at a winery suggested to us by Bogdan. He had said that there were no reservations necessary so we just popped in. We found that there were only English tours every hour or so but one was starting in five minutes. Bonne chance!

We started out on the grounds of Chateau Pape Clement, beside the vineyard. The history of the winery is pretty amazing. It is the oldest Chateau in Bordeaux being 713 years old! It was given to an archbishop by his brother  in the 1300s - and the archbishop eventually became Pope Clement V. He's the pope that moved the papacy from Rome to Avignon. The chateau was passed from archbishop to archbishop of Bordeaux until the French Revolution.

After the revolution, the chateau was owned by a few different owners and, by the 1800s, became one of the best chateaux in Bordeaux. Unfortunately, in the 1900s, a neglectful owner as well as WWII almost brought the chateau to ruin. Happily, a new owner purchased the winery in 1939 and basically ripped up everything and started anew. The current owner has partnered with another wine magnate (Bernard Magrez) and together they own over 30 wineries.

We did the expected tour - and I have to admit that I never tire of seeing those old barrel fermenters.

Like the wineries in Haut Medoc, there were some experimental methods being tried, including this concrete fermenting egg. Incidentally, Chateau Pape Clement is biodynamic - this means that not only are they organic, but they also do some interesting farmer almanac-ky type things like using the zodiac to select harvesting times and burying a sheep's horn full of manure to promote better growth in the vineyard. It's definitely different but there are many wineries who feel this really makes a difference.

When red wine is fermenting, there is a big cap of grape skins that rises to the top. Winemakers want this in the wine as it gives flavours, colours, and tannins to the wine. One way of doing this is punching down - using a big metal thing to push the skins down to the bottom of the vat. This is what that looks like.

The bottled wines are stored in an underground cellar. We were really fortunate in that we were able to visit the cellar at Chateau Pape Clement. Unfortunately, as I later discovered, people in the 1300s were a lot shorter I am. Our Estonian guide (sorry, I forget his name), opened the door and let us in.

First stop was a small underground chapel. It was lovely to look around but not great to exit. I scraped the top of my head on the 700 year old roof and left bits of my scalp in the chapel entryway,. This caused a lot of alarm with our guide but, heck, I had a napkin in my pocket so dabbed my wound with it and encouraged him to continue the tour.

Next was the underground library. Again, we were able to schlep around the wines and take photos of these ancient bottles.

The oldest I found was from 1893.

These bottles were the owner's private stock. That's right - his private wine for when he wants to have some sort of party. How do I get an invite?

On the way back to the tasting room, we were shown a display of the different sizes of bottles that are made. We then tasted four different wine:

First up was Bernard Magrez 2017 Le Prelat Côtes du Rhône Villages Laudun. Obviously, this was one that is made in one of their wineries in the Rhône valley. Worth about 8 bucks a bottle, it was Acceptable. Made from Grenache and Syrah, and grown on limestone and clay, this wine had flavours of blackberry, plum and some pepper spiciness. There was also some oak on this. Although there were tannins on this, I didn't think there was enough in the bottle to age this one.

Next up was Bernard Magrez Le Prelat du Pape Clement which actually was made by this particular winery.  This wine was a wonderful blend of 49% Merlot, 46% Cab Sauv, 3% Cab Franc and 2% Petit Verdot and is hard to find - although wine-searcher.com found bottles between $60 and $120.  Flavours and aromas included black fruit like black currant, blueberries and plum, oak flavours like cedar and espresso coffee, and earthy flavours like leather and smoke. This could probably age for another five years but was delicious right now! It was fairly complex, mostly balanced, had a nice long finish and fairly intense flavours. A Very Good wine.

Another wine was the 2014 Bernard Magrez Chateau des Grands Chênes ($29).  This wine is from Medoc - so on the left bank but not in the named areas of Haut Medoc. It was also a Grand Vin which means it is the best wine in that chateau.  This is also a Cru Bourgeois, according to their website, which means that there is a selection  process to earn that qualification. This wine is 70% Merlot, 29% Cab Sauv, and 1% Cab Franc. There were flavours and aromas of blackberry, black currant and black berry as well as oak, coffee, and vanilla. There were also tertiary flavours of smoke and earth. It was quite tannic and a bit astringent on the palate with a fairly short finish. Overall, it was a pleasant wine that could age for a few years but was good to drink now with a big steak or maybe some spaghetti Bolognese. Good to Very Good.

The big daddy - or big 'Pape' - was left for last when we had the 2015 Bernard Magrez Chateau Pape Clement ($220). This Grand Cru Classé wine (top rating) had all of the big black fruits (blackberry, blueberry, plum, cassis) as well as oaky notes such as tobacco, cedar, and vanilla. It also had those nice tertiary flavours such as smoke, leather, mushroom and barnyard. This wine was a powerhouse Bordeaux wine and would easily age for another 10 years. The mix of 55% Cab Sauv and 45% Merlot made a concentrated wine that was balanced, intense,. complex and had a beautiful long finish. Although I don't think I could afford this one, I still give it an Outstanding Rating.

After another successful wine tour, we bought a tasty bottle of Rosé from their wine shop and left Chateau Pape Clement, walking in the sunshine to our rental car. After such a wonderful day out, we were pretty exhausted and spent the evening sipping Rosé on the balcony, enjoying our repast of baguette, cheese, and meat, and chatting about our day on the sea, the sand and the sip!

Santé!

Great wines under $20 - Italy, Spain and France

This week's painting - a vineyard - from a photo on my iPad...

Each week, my friend, Keith, and I go out somewhere into nature and we paint - it's called plein air painting.

Lately, we've been painting in Keith's basement - when it's below freezing, it's just too darned cold to paint outside!

After we paint, we taste a couple of wines while we eat lunch. Thanks to my Coravin, we only have a small sample of wine while the rest of the bottle stays fresh.

The past few weeks have been really quite good for wine tasting so I thought I'd briefly share the wines that we've tried. In most cases, the wines are under $20.

When I backpacked in Europe at the tender age of 24, I recall taking a ferry from Brindisi, Italy, to Greece. I remember it being rather chaotic getting on and off the ferry and having to share a cabin with a couple of strangers as well as my friend. Little did I know that they make a very nice wine there - the 2015  Corte Ottone Brindisi Riserva ($16.99). 

Riserva, happily, means something in Italy - it is a better wine that has to meet certain minimum requirements in ageing (unlike most countries where it has no legal definition). In this case, it means that it has been aged a minimum of two years. Brindisi is in the Puglia region of Italy so it should be no surprise that this wine is mostly Negroamaro (with some Sangiovese and Malvasia Nera). There were tastes of dark fruit like black cherry, black plum, and maybe a hint of dark fruit with vanilla and spice on the nose.Tannins were medium with medium acidity and a medium finish. I would definitely suggest this one with food - especially Italian - anything from pasta to pizza. It was also quite drinkable all by itself. Rated Very Good.  

Staying in Puglia, there is the Codici Masserie Fiano ($14.99) which was a fresh and floral wine, with aromas and tastes of peach, pear and apple. There was also a minerality - like a stone taste - that was a bit unusual. The Fiano grape is usually found a bit farther north, in Campagnia, so I'm not certain if this is the typical taste for Fiano. High in acidity, this would be a great food wine. Interestingly, when I poured this wine, I accidentally poured it again for our second wine. By this time, the wine had opened up considerably and the floral nature and complex flavours were much more apparent - we initially thought it was a different wine! Rated Very Good.

The actual second wine we tried that day was another Italian, a 2016 Bolla Soave Classico. Soave is the name of a wine made in Veneto where wine is made from mostly the Garganega grape. Classico means that this wine is made in the original area of the DOC (designated wine area - sort of like VQA) and is the better wine of the area. 

This wine was an absolute steal at $12.99. It has lots of wonderful fruity aromas and tastes including pear, apple, honey, lemon and pear. It also had medium acidity that would help it be a wonderful food pairing wine. I wouldn't count this out as a sipper, though, as it had a nice, round flavour that would be excellent for slurping on the patio - or maybe in the kitchen, considering the weather right now. I would rate this one as Good to Very Good - and suggest that it would be a good one to stock up on. 

Yesterday's tasting was one where I thought it would be interesting to try two wines that were made from the same grape but from different countries. This can be challenging as we try to limit our purchases to under $20 a.bottle and we also need a wine with a cork so we can Coravin the wine. The grape I decided on was Grenache (or Garnacha) - particularly became Keith had stated that he really didn't like Southern Rhone wines because they were a bit dull and boring. He was a bit surprised by our tasing!

From the Rioja region of Spain, we tried a2016  La Maldita Garnacha ($18.99). This wine tasted of dark cherries, black plums, and had an earthiness and spiciness that was good. It had high acidity, a medium finish, and some smokey notes as well. This wine was a food friendly wine but was bit rustic in its spiciness - almost a bit too strong - but it would go well with a strongly flavoured dish. I would rate this wine as Good. 

The second Grenache wine we tried wasn't actually just Grenache. It was a blend of Grenache and Syrah and was a 2015 Boutinot Les Coteaux Côtes du Rhône Villages ($19.99). This wine had all of the wonderful black fruiit flavours of the the Garnacha - black cherry, black plum - but also had a roundness and sophistication that the Syrah brought to it. There were medium tannins along with medium plus acidity and additional flavours like vanilla and spice - but not too much spice. The flavours were much more integrated with this wine. This wine would be an excellent food wine as it would go with a fairly wide range of food - from pork chops to lamb to steak to duck. It is also very nice to drink on its own. I reviewed the 2013 vintage of this wine a couple years ago and was a bit lukewarm on the rating - the 2015 vintage, however, is much better - even Vivino agrees with me, giving its best rating for the 2015 vintage.  A great deal for a wine that is almost as good as some more expensive Chateau Neuf des Papes wines, I would rate this wine as Very Good to Excellent. Fill your boots!

Cheers.

Rhone Wines are Da' Bomb! - WSET 3.6

As Bacchus might have said, "All Grapes Lead to Rhone".

This week's class focussed primarily on the Rhone area. But first, we had a test.

It wasn't THE test - this was a mock test. We were given one wine to taste and write notes on. Then we were given four questions to write about.

The tasting was good. I could tell it was a Chardonnay - a Freemark Abbey 2015 Chardonnay from Napa Valley - $41 at Everything Wine (although we don't actually have to identify the wine) and I could taste the fruit as well as the oak on the wine. I'm pretty sure I listed all of the different parts of the tasting note, although I won't know for sure until I get the mock test back next week. 

The four questions were good as well. I think I nailed the first three. Example - "What is a Cru Bourgeois wine?" The last one was a tricky one and I didn't get it all. It was - "Describe a wine from Bandol including the grape and region." I got the region (last minute - Provence) but not the grape. I thought it was Grenache but it was actually Mouvedre. 

After the mock test was done, we started looking at the Rhone. The Northern Rhone is just Syrah for reds. And some of the Syrahs from there are wonderful! The whites are Viognier and the happy couple of Marsanne and Rousanne.  Famous areas include Cote Rotie ('roasted slope'), Hermitage, Cornas (Syrah only), Condrieu (Viognier only) and St. Joseph. 

The Southern Rhone, on the other hand, has a bunch of grapes. The reds from this area can have up to 13 different grapes in the blend! This is where you get your famous Chateauneuf de Pape wine which is predominantly Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre with some other grapes possible such as Cinsault or Carignan.  Besides Chateauneuf de Pape, there is Gigondas, Vacqueyras (good value!), Lirac (also good value!) and Tavel (rosé only). 

We also looked at Southern France which is basically the Languedoc, Roussilon, and Provence areas. This is a huge area with grapes similar to the Southern Rhone. There are lots of crappy, bulk wines but good wines can be found in areas like Minervois, Corbieres, Picpoul de Pinet (good value!), and Bandol. 

When we finally got to the tastings, I have to say that, not only was my palate better tonight, but that I really enjoyed these wines - they were amazing! 

The first two were whites from the Rhone area - one a blend and one a single varietal. 

The single varietal was a 2016 E. Guigal Viognier from Condrieu ($92). It had a pronounced nose with stone fruits such as peach and apricot as well as vanilla from oak ageing. On the palate were the same flavours but fairly low acidity, high alcohol, an intense taste profile and a medium plus finish. It was, as our instructor, Lynn, said, "A bit fat," so would garner a Very Good rating. 

The second wine was a white 2015 Combes D'Arnevel Chateauneuf de Pape ($48). This was a really nice wine that had aromas and flavours of honeysuckle, orange blossom, lemon, apricot, vanilla and minerals. It had time on the lees and had almost high acidity (especially compared to the Viognier). It was a dry wine that was also rated as Very Good - and because of the minerality of the wine, would be suitable for ageing. I have had lots of red Chateauneuf de Pape wines, but not a white one that I can remember - I will have to  change that!

Next we had three different wines from the Rhone. 

The first was a rosé although it was fairly dark for a rosé. It was a 2015 M. Chapoutier Beaurevior Tavel ($30). This deep salmon coloured wine had smells and tastes of strawberry, cranberry, red cherry, and plum. There weren't any secondary or tertiary notes on this one which meant you should drink it now.  This was fairly high in acidity and in alcohol and had a good, strong finish. I rated this one as Very Good. 

The next wine was a lovely 2015 Chateau La Nerthe Chateauneuf de Pape ($60). This wine had both red and black fruits such as cherry and black currant on the palate and also had toast, cedar and a wonderful earthiness. The finish was long and the intensity strong in this balanced, complex wine. It was rated Outstanding and would be suitable for ageing. 

The last wine of the trio was a fabulous 2013 Jean Luc Colombo Terres Brulées from Cornas ($100). Made of 100% Syrah, this wine had a deep purple colour and aromas and flavours of black currant, black berry, black cherry, green pepper, charred wood, tobacco and earth. It had both high tannins and high acidity and tasted better than most Syrahs I have ever had! It was balanced, intense, complex and had a great, long finish. Suitable for ageing, this was definitely an outstanding wine!

The final two wines were from the big region of South France that covers Languedoc, Roussillon, and Provence.

First up was a Cotes du Roussillon Village - definitely better than just a Cotes du Roussillon and was a 2015 Les Terrasses Regis Bouchabeille from Domaine Bouchabeille ($30). This was a Grenache blend, like the Chateauneuf de Pape but was a LOT easier on the pocketbook. It had both red fruit (red cherry, red plum) and black fruit with secondary aroma and taste of cedar and the tertiary one of earth, meaning that it is still developing. The flavours were pronounced and there was a nice long finish so we gave this one a Very Good rating. 

Finally was an extremely interesting 2014 Mas de Rouviere from Bandol. The overwhelming aroma, at first, at least, was the smell of chicken gravy! It took awhile to figure this one out - what we were smelling was a gamey smell, desirable in a developing wine. There were also tastes and smells of black liquorice, black currant, and cedar. A profoundly intense wine made with 100% Mourvedre, I would have this again - it really started to appeal to me as it opened up. A Very Good wine!

And, a very good class! Loved the wines this week!