This article from National Geographic Intelligent Traveler (LINK TO ARTICLE) shows how Bordeaux is a top travel destination now. Want to go?
You can join us on an amazing small group tour, not only of Bordeaux, but Paris and Champagne, too! March 15 to 22, 2016. Go to Deluxe Wine Tours (LINK) for all the information!
Here is an excellent article from Fortune.com on issues with marketing the wines of Spain. I have always said that Spanish Wines are the best value in the world today. We recently spent six weeks in Spain and had amazing wines from a variety of regions at very reasonable prices.
Here is a quote from the article:
“The Spanish wine industry’s exporting issues, which have long been a source of concern, have come to the fore in recent years. Spanish wine exports have tripled since 1995, And last year, exports grew 22.4% to 2.3 billion liters, according to the Spanish Observatory of Wine Markets (OEMV), helping the country pass Italy as the world’s biggest wine exporter by volume.
“The problem is that exports have been dominated by low-price/low-profit bulk wine, which accounted for 55% of Spain’s export volume last year.
“Spain’s biggest market in 2014 was France, which bought 518 million liters of Spanish wine—for only €0.47 per liter (about $0.53). Much of that bulk wine shipped to France was then bottled, marked up, and resold as a French product.”
Here are a few photos I took in Spain.
I am very pleased of officially announce the launch of DELUXEWINETOURS.COM (LINK), my new venture with Journey Different, Inc. to provide unique wine tours in France. Our focus is on bringing wine lovers into contact with wine makers and others in the industry in the great wine regions of France.
Why France? Because France is the modern-day cradle of all things wine. Wine may not have originated there, but modern wine culture is centered there. And, it is a truly beautiful country, offering great cities such as Paris and Lyon that can be added to itineraries and provide a much richer experience.
You are invited to join us for this unique and exciting inaugural tour!
Our first small group tour, scheduled for March 15-22, 2016, is to include Bordeaux, Paris, and Champagne.
We will combine visits to châteaus with great meals (some of them IN the châteaus) and fine wine tastings, wine seminars, luxury accommodations, local guides and experts, time in the vineyards, opportunities to purchase fine wines to ship home, a literary walking tour, TGV train travel, and more!
Did I mention that there would be great food?
Visit our website (LINK) for all of the information and to register at a limited time discounted price.
Tell your wine-loving friends about this great opportunity to experience the best of French wine culture with me!
Last Saturday, we took a mini tour of the Cotswolds region, a beautiful rural area of southwestern England dotted with picturesque towns. We spent a week in one of those towns, Fairford, which is very friendly and beautiful.
On Saturday, our friends, Charlie and Avril, who live in Broughton Poggs, picked us up and took us out for the day. The first stop was in Lechlade, a town between Fairford and Broughton Poggs. While Dorianne and Charlie went to the store, I spied a little wine shop called Vin Est . . .; I told them to stop on their way back and pick me up.
The Vin Est . . . shop (LINK) is very small, a front room stocked with wines on shelves, in bins, on tables, and three casks for those who want to bring their own container. In the back are a couple of more rooms, one empty on this visit – about to become a beer room and to be used for tastings, and a smaller room where the premium wines are kept. They also distribute wines to a number of restaurants and pubs in the area.
I spoke with Rachel Jenkins, who owns the place with her husband Mike. They moved out from London to this idyllic spot and noticed a hole where a premium wine shop should be. The shop is inviting and intimate, and the Jenkins’ know their wine. If you are in the area sometime, this is the go-to wine shop once you get away from Oxford. I bought a nice bottle of Pouilly Gris that is sitting comfortably in the fridge now.
Back in the car to Charlie and Avril’s beautiful home in Broughton Poggs. A cup of tea or coffee and some conversation, then we are off to The Plough Inn (LINK) in Kelmscott for a hearty lunch. Sauvignon Blanc for Dorianne, grapefruit soda for Avril, and the local Buttcombe Bitters for Charlie and me. Great food in a really nice spot – and you can book a room if you like.
Then a walk down the lane to Kelmscott Manor (LINK), the former home of the great arts and crafts movement’s William Morris and his family.
After a tour of the stately home and grounds, we headed back to Broughton Poggs, where we examined a very old stone barn that Charlie and Avril are reconditioning into a home. A remarkable transformation is done with these old buildings, keeping the historic charm while remaking them with all the current conveniences.
Then to their home, which is in a converted 15th Century mill, with about an acre plus of gardens on the property – truly a remarkable place. We toured the gardens with a nice glass of Crémant (my fault in not noting the maker) from near Macon in France.
Then more tea and conversation before heading out to dinner at The Five Alls (LINK), a pub about 50 meters from Charlie and Avril’s home. The same management as The Plough Inn, it is a nicely appointed pub with a barroom and several dining rooms. We were seated in short order and I perused the menu and the wine list. The list is interesting, mostly French, of course, but with a number of New World wines from South Africa, New Zealand, Chile, and Argentina. And, the wines are sourced thought our friends at Vin Est . . ., mentioned earlier. The only U.S. wine is a (cringe) White Zinfandel. But, we’re in England after all.
Charlie asked me to select the wines, so I chose a 2014 Picpoul de Pinet from Racine (LINK) in the Languedoc, France. Charlie cringed a bit at my choice, noting that the Picpouls had been pushed in England as an alternative to Pinot Grigio and that he found most of them lacking in any complexity. So we would see. At the same time, I also ordered a 2012 Crozes-Hermitage from Domaine du Colombier (LINK), to go with the venison that we had all chosen for our main course. This rich Syrah with a peppery, dark fruit, favor and good structure proved a success with the venison. I had asked that the second wine be decanted when I ordered it, however, this did not happen, so it took some time to open up nicely.
But back to the Picpoul de Pinet. When it arrived, I was wondering if Charlie would be right, and we would be getting a vin ordinaire with little to no character. Right off the bat, it had a strong minerality on the nose, with hints of pear, citrus and lemongrass – similar, except for the heavy minerality to a New Zealand Sauvingnon Blanc. The taste was strongly earthy with hints of floral notes, pear, and a saltiness around the edges. It opened up a bit more after about ten minutes in the glass – it smoothed out and the complexity showed through. Charlie approved.
This is a beautiful region, becoming more gentrified by the minute due to its proximity to London, but retaining much of its charm – and getting some very good restaurants in the bargain. We have thus far not had an English wine – we plan to do that next week in London, but we have stuck pretty much with the French, with a couple of forays into South America and New Zealand at the supermarket. I would love to hear comments about your wine experiences in the U.K., and any recommendations for London would be appreciated as well.
How to sum up six weeks in Provence?
I can begin by saying that we only visited a portion of the region. We were based in the northern part of Provence, in the village of Villeneuve-les-Avignon on the Rhône River, where two major wine regions converge: Languedoc-Roussillon and Côte-du-Rhône. In our immediate area were over a dozen A.O.P.’s, or Appellation d’Origine Protégée, which replaced the A.O.C. or Appellation d’origine Contrôlée designation in France in 2009 (LINK). So there were plenty of wines to taste and vineyards to visit very close to us.
And, this trip was not just about wine (!) it was also a time for Dorianne and I to write, to explore the history of the region and meet people, and to see if we might want to settle here someday soon. And, as it turned out, to see if I am going to extend my new wine tour business to this area.
I have already blogged about several of our experiences during our stay (best key word to search is Provence), and Tweeted just about every wine we had on my Twitter account – @JimLockardWine.
But, some additional tidbits.
We first encountered Lauren, proprietor of the marvelous Arts, Design, and Wine Shop in Villeneuve-les-Avignon on the day we arrived. The shop is on the town square and has a nice selection of local wines plus design items from wristwatches to sunglasses to home décor items and wine glasses – all very nice stuff, by the way. Lauren spent some time living in Los Angeles, so his English is excellent. We asked him about the local wines and he gave us a lot of information and sold us our first two bottles of local wine, a 2014 Château d’Estoublon le Rosè and a 2014 Château La Verrerie Blanc, a Provençal Rosè and a white from the nearby Luberon Valley. We were off an running.
It was Lauren who told us to serve the area wines, including most of the reds, chilled – Châteauneuf-du-Pape being an exception. And, after asking if we had appropriate glassware in our apartment, Lauren loaned us two sets of very nice wine glasses for our stay, which was six weeks. He also pointed us to MistralTour.fr (LINK) and the amazing Valentina Cavagna, who took on a memorable tour of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas, and to Domaine de la Verrière in Crestet that I blogged about previously (LINK). So Lauren is the kind of key person that you want to look for on journeys such as this – the one who knows the local scene and, ideally, loves to talk about it.
Dorianne and I had most of our meals in our two bedroom apartment [AirBnB.com listing – (LINK)], so we bought wines, mostly rosès, from Lauren and other local shops until we began visiting the wineries. Local wines start at around 3€ and go up, the top end being under 30€, except in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and one or two other places. Wine here is a great value. We found a nice sweet spot for rosès at around 10€ per bottle.
If I take away two main revelations from this trip, it will be these:
I know that there is much more to the Provençal wine scene – we did not get to the south on this trip, although we have been there before. I do think that the north, with it’s proximity to the Rhône River Valley is where the bulk of the better wines are cultivated and made.
As far as places to visit in northern Provence, I strongly recommend Avignon for the history and the food and wine in some of its better restaurants; the hill towns in the Ventoux and in the Luberon Valley, where good wine is cheap and the history and the landscape are so captivating; Nimes for really spectacular Roman ruins and a great old town center; and Gigondas for great wine and a very vertical hill town overlooking the Rhône River Valley. It gets pretty cold in the winter in the region as the Mistrals, the cold north winds, blow through the valleys, but spring, summer, and fall are all beautiful in Provence. But you probably already knew that.
We will be leading tours here beginning in the second half of 2016, so stay tuned.
Copyright 2015 by Jim Lockard
Another excellent article, this one from WineFolly.com (LINK TO ARTICLE), on how long to decant various wines, plus some decanting tips. And excerpt with links:
Good information. Enjoy the article!
We can all use some additional knowledge about wine and wine enjoyment. This week, I came across three very good articles from the wine media community that help us do just that.
First, Why Does Wine Taste Different on an Airplane? (LINK TO ARTICLE) a very good article from Business Insider – Australia about the effects of cabin pressure on wine and on you, the drinker. An excerpt (in the original Australian), read the article at the link above:
“Much like having a cold, the pressurised cabin and its dry air numbs your taste buds, and compromises your sense of smell by drying out your nose. Since flavour is a combination of both (in fact, almost 80% of taste is based on smell) things taste different on a plane. Apparently, our sense of salty and sweet can drop as much as 30% on a plane.”
Something to think about before you order that expensive Burgundy in first class.
Second, from Andrew Jefford in Decanter: Tasting notes – the shame of the wine world? (LINK TO ARTICLE)
is not exactly what you might expect on this topic. Here is an excerpt, read the article at the link above:
“The issue, it seems to me, is as follows. The writing of descriptive (as opposed to academic) wine notes is a specialized form of wine entertainment, and is quickly seen as such by users. No one takes them literally; they are liberally sprinkled with salt by the experienced reader, and soon leach more water than an aubergine. The tongue is always somewhere in the writer’s cheek (or should be). They are drafted with a smile, in a spirit of levity (or should be). That’s how the genre works.”
Third, again from Decanter, How to Understand Wine (LINK TO ARTICLE) is a very good primer on the qualities that create the experiences that you have when you drink wine. Here is an excerpt, read the article at the link above:
“Try tasting one glass of plain water, then a second with some lemon juice added: you’ll notice the effect of the acidity in your mouth. Any fruit needs some acidity to be enjoyable, and wine – the juice of the grape, at heart – is no exception.
“Too little acidity, and the wine will taste flabby and over-sweet. Too much, and it will be tart, astringent and sour.”
Spending time with articles like these increases your wine knowledge and increased knowledge allows for increased wine enjoyment. The more you know, the more you can find what you like and avoid what you don’t like.
You may also want to review these sites more thoroughly and subscribe if you think it will be of value to you.
This past Saturday, Dorianne and I returned to Châteauneuf-du-Pape (LINK) for lunch and a tasting at a wine cave – a retail wine store. It was a beautiful day, and we drove through the lovely Provençal countryside, with its vineyards, orchards, scenic homes and farms, and lush vegetation. Our friendly GPS took us along about 5 kilometers of single-lane road through vineyard after vineyard before we entered the town of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the most storied Appellation (LINK) of this part of France.
Lunch was at Restaurant Le Pistou (LINK) on a little side street off of the main town square. We sat outside and expected a light lunch, but the servings were very large – gambas salad for Dorianne, and grand gambas with salad and vegetables for me. As you can see, the plates were sizeable. We washed this down with the house white – a Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Before this trip, I did not know that whites were made here – but they are, compromising about 6% of the total production. The whites of Châteauneuf-du-Pape stand alongside the storied reds as excellent wines.
Le Caves Saint Charles (LINK) was highly recommended in Tripadvisor.com (LINK), which we used as a means of sorting through the dozens and dozens of caves du vin in the town of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. We wanted to ensure that we were tasting really good wines. After deciding, we made an appointment via email to meet the owner, Guy Brèmond, for 3:30 pm. We were a bit late, having had some trouble locating the cave – our GPS being little help – and in finding a place to park. When we arrived at the cave, which is at the top of the highest hill in town, only overlooked by the nearby ruins of the original Château of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, it was locked up. We knocked on the door to no avail. We called the number, and did connect. It turned out that Guy was later than we were, having been stuck in traffic in Marseilles earlier. After a few minutes, we were in the temperature controlled cave, which is under the home of the owner.
The actual cave structure of Le Caves Saint Charles dates from the 13th Century. There is another section underneath that dates from the 12th Century that is going to be renovated in the coming year. The cave in use has four rooms carved out of the rock with stone walls and vaulted ceilings – a lobby area, the tasting area, a small storage area and an area converted into a modern kitchen. There are bottles of wine in wooden boxes from the 45 producers that Guy represents throughout the cave rooms. We started in the tasting area.
Guy Brèmond is a Master Sommelier and a very personable and outgoing man. Once we established that Dorianne and I knew something about wine, although not that much about Châteauneuf-du-Pape, we were off and tasting. He spoke in depth about the philosophy and history of the appellation, and about the way the wines are made and the misconceptions that many have about Châteauneuf-du-Pape. We tasted 8 wines, two whites and six reds. The reds were made in three different styles, or methods.
The 90 minutes or so that we were at Le Caves Saint Charles with Guy Brèmond went by quickly. I kept having the feeling that this was a really special experience, and it was. The depth of his knowledge of wine in general and Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines specifically, combined with his enthusiasm, was a bit hypnotic. I will share now that we did purchase a mixed case of wine at the end of our visit to have shipped to California; but we were intending to do that when we arrived, if the wines were good. Guy is a very good businessman, but there was no pressure to purchase beyond what may naturally arise when you are in a fabulous environment, tasting exceptional wines, with an enthusiastic and knowledgeable host.
Now to the wines – to be tasted in huge stemmed glasses, by the way:
We began with two whites. As I said, I was surprised to find whites here, as I have never seen them in the U.S., nor read about them. We had tried a Mont-Redon Châteauneuf-du-Pape white shortly after arriving here in Provence and found it delicious.
First, we tasted a 2012 Domaine de Nalys Blanc (LINK) (LINK), a blend of 40-56% Grenache blanc, 14-34% Clairette, 13-27% Bourboulenc, 3-10% Roussanne, 1-5% Picardan, 1-3% Picpoul. The white wines of Châteauneuf-du-Pape are, like the reds, complex. This wine gives you a lot to experience on the nose, in the mouth, and through the finish. There is green fruit, minerality (always), some floral notes on the nose; apple, pear, and hints of earth and anise on the tongue; with a smooth lingering finish that returns to the mineral notes from the bouquet. This wine would be exceptional with lighter cheeses and seafood – oysters and shellfish in particular. We bought 3 bottles at 31€ and change.
Next, we went to the 2013 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc (LINK) (LINK), a blend of 40% Grenache Banc, 40% Clairette, and 20% Rousanne. This is a beautiful wine from one of the most highly regarded producers in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. A wine that is very drinkable now, but should age well. The nose is peach and floral, but with that ever-present minerality; mouthfeel is rich and viscous with hints of vanilla; long, smooth finish. We bought 3 of these, too, at 34€ and change. (That’s half a case so far.) I think that we will continue to explore the whites of Châteauneuf-du-Pape; in fact, I am certain of it.
As we move to the reds, I should point out of few things (this will be a rather long post). As we taste, there is a lot of conversation going on. Dorianne is full of questions. I ask a few myself. Guy Brèmond is expounding on each wine, each producer, their philosophy, their practices, the market, his business, and more. It is quite lively and very interesting.
There are a number of misconceptions that are very common when it comes to Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines:
So on to the reds. We tasted six, from three different philosophies of making Châteauneuf-du-Pape red wines, as described by The Wine Cellar Insider website (LINK):
Our first two red wines are from the Modern Method:
First, a 2012 Clos Saint Jean “Vieilles Vignes” Châteauneuf-du-Pape (LINK), a blend of 85% Grenache with the remainder a mix of Mourvedre and Syrah (Guy says that Syrah is used only for “cosmetic purposes” – to provide a richer color). This is a big wine, full-bodied, with deep red fruit and minerality on the nose and the palate. A wine that will age well, I think. If this is typical of the Modern Method, it is very much like a California or New World wine – bold, high alcohol, fruit forward. In my research, I noticed that Robert Parker generally gave higher marks to Modern Method wines.
The next Modern Method wine is a 2012 Domaine Roger Perrin Chateauneuf-du-Pape (LINK) the website lists an average blend of 70-75% Grenache, 15-20% Syrah, 10-15% Mourvedre, 2-5% Cinsault or Clairette and 1-2% Counoise or Vaccarese. Another big, fruit-forward wine. Dark red fruit, a bit of mushroom on the nose, minerality throughout. Very similar to the Clos Saint Jean, but with a bit more finesse.
The next three wines are from the Traditional Method:
First, a 2010 Domaine du Pegau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee Reservee (LINK), a blend of 80% Grenache, 6% Syrah, 4% Mourvedre and 10% other varietals. This is an amazing wine – you can immediately see the difference between this method and the Modern Method – something that would carry through with the rest of the wines tasted. It is more mineral than fruit, more elegant than bold, with a beautifully balanced structure of tannins. This is my style of wine. But we did not buy this one.
Next, a 2010 Château Fortia Châteauneuf-du-Pape Tradition (LINK), a blend of 65% Grenache, 20% Syrah and 15% Mourvedre. Aged in foudres (concrete tanks). This wine is pretty much everything that the Domaine du Pegau is, but it takes it to a higher level, but is very much its own wine. You get some barnyard on the nose, which begins to dissipate after a few minutes, but remains. I did not find it off-putting, but some may. There is ripe fruit in there, but it is subdued in a minerality – dirt, terroir – that permeates the wine. On the palate it is very nicely structured and balanced and the fruit began to come through. This is a wine that will age well and one that would benefit from decanting. We bought 3 of this one at 35€.
Next, a 2010 Beaurenard domain Cuvee Boisrenard Chateauneuf-du-Pape (LINK), a Grenache blend but the winery does not release specifics as far as I can tell – only that up to 13 varietals may be included in the wine. Parker 91, Wine Spectator 97 points. A long, smooth finish. The initial tasting bottle had been opened too long, Guy opened a new bottle and got us clean glasses. This one, too, could benefit from decanting a while. We probably would have bought some of this wine, too, but a case was our limit, and we couldn’t pass up the next wine.
Finally, a wine in the Neoclassical Method – meaning a mixture of traditional and modern. A Château Jas de Bressy Châteauneuf-du-Pape (LINK) (LINK), a blend of 80% Grenache; 15% Syrah and 5% Mourvèdre. This wine has lots of mushroom on the nose and a nice peppery sense as well. Fruit is secondary to the minerality on the palate, plus a sense of chocolate. The tannins were there to ensure a relatively long life for this wine. A very nice wine. We added three of these at 36€ and change to round out our case purchase.
After our tasting, we had a quick tour of the rest of Les Caves Saint Charles with Guy Brèmond. There is another small storage room in the cave and a modern kitchen also where gourmet dinners are prepared to pair with these amazing wines. Guy also takes his act on the road, bringing dinners to private homes in the U.S. with a Michelin-Star chef. You can find out more about this at his website (LINK). This experience has been the wine highlight of our six weeks in France. I am very grateful to have discovered so much about the joys of Provence, and the wines of this amazing region.
I haven’t posted in a while, because Dorianne and I have been focusing on some writing projects and dining in our apartment for the most part. We are sill in Villeneuve-les-Avignon, the picturesque village across the Rhône River from Avignon in northern Provence.
This weekend, we were invited by our friend Richard Major, who lives in Mazan in the Ventoux region, to a party being hosted by an ex-pat American couple celebrating one year of living in France. There would be ex-pats from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and other nations, plus a few French neighbors. So, of course, we were interested in attending. I won’t use any names here, because I did not get permission to do so. Here is the sunset from the home.
The home was located in the hills above Bédoin, a picturesque (they are ALL picturesque) village near the base of Mont Ventoux. The couple, from California, and their two children seemed very happy with their choice to move to Provence. We also spoke with a number of other ex-pats and a couple visiting from the U.S., also from California, who own a home nearby, but still live in the States.
The dinner was pot-luck, and there was a good bit of local wine. The Ventoux Region (LINK) is known for Grenache, Syrah and Mouvèdre, with Cinsault and Carignan – the usual Rhône Valley suspects. In the Ventoux A.O.P., no varietal can be more than 30% of the blend. Here are some images of some of the wines served at the party.
Suffice to say, Dorianne and I were impressed by the lifestyle and the conviviality of the English-speaking ex-pats in this part of Provence. It gave us more food for thought about our future home base.
After an overnight at Richard’s in Mazan, we headed for a day in Tavel, the only A.O.P. in France where only rosè wines are allowed; and then over to Châteauneuf-du-Pape for lunch and a visit to Les Caves St Charles, which will be detailed in a separate post.
It was a very special day. If you stay off of the highways, this part of France is a treat for the senses – beautiful panoramas of low hills, valleys, fields of grapes and olive trees, rustic farmhouses – simply beautiful. We traveled down one-lane roads through vineyards and tiny villages, smelled the aromas in the air, and heard almost nothing – silence. It was a very peaceful way to travel.
Tavel (LINK) is located on the right bank of the Rhône River, bordering the Lirac A.O.P., and very close to Avignon. First, let’s look at A.O.C. and A.O.P.
The French government, not too long ago, officially announced that the long standing A.O.C. (Appellation d’origine contrôlée) system for wine is being replace by an new quality ladder with the top step being an A.O.P. (Appellation d’Origine Protégée) (LINK). So, since about 2009, the correct designation is A.O.P. – – That’s just F.Y.I.
We chose Château de Manissy (LINK) in the Tavel A.O.P. from a list online. We are very glad that we did. Owned by the Holy Family’s Missionaries, it has produced rosè wines since the beginning of the 20th century and acquired a famous reputation with the “Tête de Cuvée” wine, a barrel-aged rosé. The monks turned over the viticulture and wine-making to a young many from Tavel, Florian André, who was in his early 20’s at the time. Monsieur André has continued some of the traditions of the monks, and oversaw the conversion to an organic winery in 2009. He has also modernized some of the techniques, while keeping that barrel-aged rosé in production. By the way, the monks still live in the Château.
We arrived a bit early for our 2:00 pm appointment, so we wandered the grounds a bit before being met by Anaïs, the Tasting Room Manager. She took us out to the vineyards and we discussed the viticulture of the region. It turned out that her English was so good because she spent a year (2013) working at Tablas Creek Winery in Paso Robles, known for their Rhône varietals and techniques. As it happened, Dorianne and I were in the Tablas Creek wine club in 2013. Anaïs told us that her father is the winemaker at Famille Perrin/Perrin & Fils in Tavel, and they partner with Tablas Creek in a number of ventures. Small world.
It also turned out that our guide on a previous tour (LINK) of Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas, Valentina of MistralTour.fr, used to work at Château de Manissy. Smaller world.
We did a tasting and then toured the wine-making operation.
First, we tasted a white from another area of vineyards and a Côtes du Rhône – Rosé of Grenache 40% – Carignan 40% – Cinsault 10% – Syrah 10%. This wine, not from 100% Tavel fruit, was closer to the rosé wines of the larger Provencal region. It was lighter and crisper than the wines to follow. They also make some other wines from vineyards outside of Tavel, all were good and very reasonably priced, but they are not why you want to visit Château de Manissy, or the wines you want to try.
The rosé wines of Château de Manissy, and of Tavel in general, are unlike other rosé wines from Provence. They tend to have a deeper pink to red color and be bolder. This is true of the 2013 Tavel Rosé that we tasted, a blending of principally Grenache, Clairette, Cinsault and Bourboulenc, from about 40 years old vines. This is a bolder, more structured rosé with a sense of terroir, unusual in a rosé. There is also a nice balance of fruit – this wine manages to be refreshing and structured enough to pair with chicken or other fowl. This wine is a good representative of the moden Tavel A.O.P. rosés.
Then, we had the unique 2013 Tête de Cuvée, the barrel-aged rosé that is the last vestige of the monks’ style of wine making. This is a unique rosé in almost every respect. It is aged in small oak barrels, bottled in brown glass like a red wine, it pairs with beef and other meats, it is made to age for decades, and it is made to consume year-round. It is a blending of Grenache, Clairette, Cinsault, Bourboulenc and Carignan. It is mentioned but not listed for sale on their website, and there is very little information about this wine on the internet that I could find. This would be a wonderful wine for Thanksgiving Dinner, strong enough to stand up to turkey and gravy and such, but supple enough to match pretty well with all the other appetizers and side dishes that show up at that feast that is so hard to find good wine parings for. We have two bottles that will travel home with us for this purpose. Oh, and the 2013 Tête de Cuvée was priced at 11€ or about $12.00 – one of their more expensive wines!
It is also worth noting that Anaïs told us that we were the very first visitors in 2015 from the United States. I found this surprising, but then again, Tavel is not well known in the U.S. If you are looking for rosés for the remainder of the summer and into the cooler days of autumn – see if your wine retailer has wines from Tavel – you won’t be disappointed.
I will post about the other part of our day – a return to Châteauneuf-du-Pape, in the next post.
Photos and text Copyright Jim Lockard 2015.
There are any number of aspects of wine enjoyment that can get confusing. The number of varietals, the thousands of producers in hundreds of regions, the right temperature and stemware to use, just to name a few. But one area that seems to stump just about everyone at one time or another is traveling with wine, especially internationally.
The article at the link is from the Lazenne.com blog site. Lazenne is a manufacturer of wine travel gear, everything from padded sleeves to keep your wine from breaking open in your suitcase to, well, wine suitcases. Here is the link to their retail site: (LINK).
Here are a few highlights:
“You’ll be pleasantly surprised that there are no TSA-regulated quantity limits for wine or alcohol in your checked (hold) baggage as long as it contains less than 24% alcohol. Those wanting to add a little spirits to the mix need to know that alcohol that contains over 24% alcohol is limited to 170 oz or 5 litres per person. Beverages that contain more than 70% alcohol are prohibited.
Individual airline baggage weight limits still apply, but you can use up your entire weight allotment for wine or alcohol if you choose as long as the above mentioned rules are respected. One bottle of wine weighs on average 3 lbs or 1.4 kg so you can do the math. Typical international baggage weight limits are 50 lbs or 23 kg.”
And when you get to U.S. Customs:
“In the United States there are no limits to how much alcohol you can bring as long as it is intended for personal consumption and not resale. Many mistake the duty-free limit of 34 oz or 1 liter as the total limit. If you are over the duty-free limit, you simply have to declare the alcohol you are transporting on your customs form and pay the appropriate duty to the customs officer, typically around $1 to $2 for wine and beer, while the amount for spirits is slightly higher and varies by type, as of publication. From our experience however, more typically than not, you will be waived through without paying any duty due to the amount being so negligible.”
There is more there, so check it out if you are thinking about traveling with wine soon.
Jim Lockard On Wine 