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MILLESIME BIO 2010 – VISITS
At the end of the press-trip organized by Marie Gaudel’s CLAIR DE LUNE, we had the opportunity to visit some wineries in the surrounding. Unfortunately I had to go home one day earlier than planned and couldn’t join the rest of the group for a visit of Domaine Costeplane (Cannes-et-Clairan), a visit and lunch at Domaine Grand-Corbière (Aigues-Mortes), followed by a guided visit of the very picturesque city of Aigues-Mortes. This very nice old city was a long time ago a very important harbor where the French kings and their crusaders left from for Palestina.
I did visit Domaine Coston in Puéchabon, on the well-known terroir of … Aniane. (Remember? Mondavi, Aimé Guibert of Mas Daumas Gassac, so-called French nationalism and protectionism but actually a rough case of selfishness and economical interests… ending with the complete disappearing of the local cooperative… the one Mondavi wanted to work with but had no chance to. A sad, very sad story, where some communists at one side and some radical opponents at the other side were fighting their own selfish war on the back of the ones who could have got a huge profit out of Robert Mondavi’s project.) Anyway, the war is over, the ones who wanted to win, lost. The Coston family won after 9 years of juridical struggle, they bought the 24 hectares of land, so much coveted by Robert Mondavi and Aimé Guibert. A great piece of land, in the forest of Arboussas, overhanging at one side Aimé Guibert’s Mas Daumas Gassac and at the other side the other great (but not so arrogant and megalomaniac) domain Grange des Pères. In the middle of the forest, at an altitude of 280 meters, 8 hectares are now cleared and planted with vines. This fantastic terroir, praised by Emile Peynaud (†) and Michel Rolland, started to give the first wines of what might soon become the third great name of Aniane… Domaine Coston. But we will have to remain patient before the baby has grown.
In the meantime, we will keep on enjoying the wines from the other part of the domain, situated in Puéchabon. The chalky, clayey hill-sides with a high density of gravel, are blessed by the omnipresence of the ‘holy’ garrigue (a typically Mediterranean type of wild vegetation, composed of low bushes and small trees, full of strong aromatic herbs like rosemary, thyme, savory…) . 50 years old carignan, grenache and syrah vines, 20-30 years old cinsault vines, low yields, traditional knowledge, great attention from the pruning to the vinification… It just can’t be bad, isn’t it? Besides those old, traditional varietals, the Coston also experiment with some Mediterranean (mourvèdre, grenache blanc, roussane) and Atlantic varietals (petit verdot, cabernet franc), just to make the wines they like, simply the best they can, with a very personal touch.
During the visit, the ambiance was friendly and pretty informal. The Coston brothers are open, direct and do have a nice sense of humour. After the visit of the cellars, we enjoyed together some typical French puff-pastry filled with sweet almond-paste, the galette des rois, usually served at epiphany, but also very tasty a few days before candle mas, and much easier to serve and eat than the pancakes the French use to serve for the ‘chandeleur‘ (candle mas). There was also a lovely Mediterranean brioche, called ‘royaume‘, also usually served for epiphany… all to match with a ‘confidential’ sweet red wine called ‘Gourmandise‘.
The ‘galette des rois’
Before the visit, we already tasted the bottled wines, during the cellar visit, we tasted some tank samples.
Philippe Coston
The tasting:
Saint-Guilhem le Désert IGP 2009 (VDP): made of carignan, grenache and cabernet. Carbonic maceration for the carignan, traditional for the grenache and cabernet. Nice, appealing ruby red color, pretty aromatic, mostly black fruit and spices (pepper!), fresh, subtle, round and generous on the palate, with a light and refreshing finish. Great wine for a land-picknick, cold meat, cuts and dry sausages and cured pélardon cheese. Sold for € 6,50 there, plenty of it, 14.000 bottles.
Languedoc blanc AOP 2008 (AOC): made from grenache and roussanne, very low yields, 20 hl/ha. Separately vinified, the roussanne is fermented in oak barrels, the grenache in tanks, both with continuous ‘bâtonnage’ (stirring) of the lees. Aged partly in tanks, partly in oak barrels. Surprisingly light straw color, delicately aromatic in the nose, mainly fruity with some subtle floral scents. Very fresh, mineral, pure, elegant and fruity, with a hint of wild fennel in the finish. Great with grilled scallops, gambas, white sea-fish, even lobster… Sold there for € 17,-. Not cheap but to my opinion really worth it. Only 2.600 bottles produced.
Languedoc rosé AOP 2009 (AOC): made from syrah & carignan, low yields, 30 hl/ha. Directly pressed, no ‘saignée‘ wine. Appealing color, light purple red, very fresh and fruity in the nose, generous and quite dry on the palate. Very nice gastronomic wine, born for the wide range of Mediterranean dishes… Lovely! Sold there for € 7,00. Only 6.000 bottles.
Languedoc Terrasses du Larzac AOP 2008 (AOC): made from grenache, syrah, carignan and mourvèdre, low yields, 30 hl/ha. Separately vinified. Aged on the fine lees in tanks before bottling. Great color, ruby red, very aromatic (currants, liquorice, ‘garrigue’ smells like laurel, savory, thyme, rosemary, wild mint…). Fresh, meaty, zingy, elegant, juicy and mineral on the palate. Very well-made indeed. Fantastic with grilled red meat, especially lamb-rack or cutlets, but also fillet with a red whine sauce. Sold there for € 9,00. Plenty of it, 14.000 bottles.
Languedoc Les Garigoles AOP 2005 (AOC): made from grenache and syrah, low yields, 25 hl/ha. Separately vinified. Aged in oak barrels on the lees until bottling. Wow, quite concentrated in color, intense aromatic (garrigue again, torrefaction, brown tobacco…), very well structured, tough but well-balanced, good concentration, freshness, alcohol, ripe fruit, spiciness, tigh but ripe tannins, long finish. Can age for a while, as you can imagine. Gastronomically speaking, this wine needs a bit more than a chat partner… Give it with some nice red meat or game stews, but a good old cassoulet de Castelnaudary or daube Languedocienne (spicy and greasy bean stew with sausages and pork meat) or even a simple ‘pouteille‘ (countryside stew) would do it too… Sold there for € 16,00. Not cheap, but worth it. Only 5.000 bottles produced.
Gourmandise: made of over ripe grenache (red), with very low yields (15 hl/ha). The fermentation is traditional, but stopped on time to keep 40 g residual sugar in the wine. Kept for 8 months in oak barrels. Not bad at all! Nice grenate red color, very aromatic, full of spices and amareno cherries, well balanced on the palate, nice chat between the tannins, the acidity and the residual sugar. Sold at the domain for € 10,- … I would buy it, surely to match with some blue cheese from the Larzac, Roquefort or Bleu des Causses, served with some spicy currant-bread… Gimme gimme… (Unfortunately, only 2.000 bottles produced…)
After the tasting, cellar visit and lovely cakes, we left with both brothers for a very hort (f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g cold!) visit of some vineyards…
Indeed, freezing cold… but the Coston Brothers kept on smiling
We spent the evening in a cozy wine bar in the small city of Pézenas. We were awaited by wine producer Daniel Le Conte des Floris, his business partner at the wine bar, sommelier Xavier Demas and some other wine producers from Pézenas. It turned to a huge ‘dégustation-dinatoire‘, or was it the opposite way, a ‘diner-dégustation‘…
Xavier Demas (left) and Daniel Le Conte des Floris (right)
Picture courtesy of Daniel Le Conte des Floris
However, we got plenty of wines to taste, and plenty of food to enjoy… It was a great evening, for me the last evening in the Languedoc, as I had to leave the next morning. I enjoyed it very much, with some great colleagues from Belgium, Germany, Japan, Sweden, etc. We started the meal with the local specialty, the ‘petit pâté de Pézenas‘ (sweetish and quite exotic pastry filled with minced lamb meat and lamb kidney fat), a very tasty, meaty terrine with a nice bite and soft heart, and some ‘mesclun‘ (mixed salad). The main course was a stew of Salers beef, served with rice. Some ‘gamy’ goat cheese and a nice dessert completed the meal.
We tasted many, many wines, from different producers. From Domaine Le Conte des Floris, we tasted some whites, the Arès, Lune Blanche and Lune Rousse, all of them slightly – positively – oxidative style, very mineral and concentrated. You like this style, or you hate it. Some of my colleagues were not really convinced, but I just happen to love this kind of wine, especially the first two, very ‘classy’, clean and tight, the third one being fatter and sensual, much more ‘Burgundy’ type . Not everyone likes the combination of stony terroir and aromatic grape varietals like carignan blanc, terret bourret or marsanne, I do. The reds got more success, for me more ‘classic’, very well-made, loads of terroir… The first one we tasted had a nice name, a word joke, based on the name of the varietal, the syrah. In French, syrah is pronounced the same way as ’six rats’, so the name was ‘Six rats noirs‘ (six black rats, or just ’syrah noire’). The Carbonifère 2006 was much too young, lots of tannin power, very promising for the next decade, thanks to its great ripe fruit, minerality and fresh acidity. Once decanted and served in big glasses, it just showed much better.
Domaine Le Comte des Floris website
We tasted quite a lot of different wines during the evening. It was impossible to remember all the wines we tasted. I do have positive memories of the wines from Domaine Lacroix-Vanel (E-Blanc!) and Domaine Stella Nova (no idea what it was, but it was good!).
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