A synchronized world-wide tasting, of wines from the south of France. What an interesting initiative of the promoting body of wines from Languedoc-Roussillon, Sud de France. I received my invitation to participate nearly two months ago, and was very honoured. My blog is read internationally! Always nice to find out.
Synchronized in this case means that 90 bloggers and journalists publish their articles about the selected wines on the same day and time: Monday June 21st, 11 am.
I tasted my wines over the course of several weeks, mostly with a meal. That way, you get a better impression of a wine’s possibilities than tasting it by itself.
Sparkling
Three weeks ago I received a big carton with five intriguing bottles of wine. Four were new to me, but the Grande Cuvée 1531, Crémant de Limoux Brut from Sieur d’Arques was not. Only a couple of weeks earlier we finished a bottle. We tried the new sample bottle for the synchronized tasting last week: fresh, lots of sweet apple scents, a hint of citrus in the nose. On the palate an easy-going, not to difficult wine, with not too aggressive bubbles, slight notes of yeast and a little bit too much residual sugar for my taste. But with only 12% alcohol a good wine to enjoy during the week, when work starts early again the next day.
Why a synchronized tasting, you may wonder? Sud de France, the umbrella brand for wine and food products from Languedoc-Roussillon, is celebrating its fourth anniversary. With the Sud de France brand, wines and food of the South of France are becoming more and more visible throughout the world. And with reason, because the quality is mostly very good.
Red
The red wine included in the carton, Dromadaire 30670 from 2006, a vin de pays, or better, IGP (Indication Géographique Protégée), went with me to a BBQ with knowledgeable wine friends. And we all agreed: this is a very good example of what a red Languedoc wine should be. A blend of syrah and grenache, with lots of forest fruit in the nose and on the palate. Someone even compared the nose to Forest Fruit Tea, which I considered a very nice description. Easy to drink, but with enough complexity to please also the more advanced wine lover. Tannins and fruit are balanced very well, and the sun is coming through with every sip, without the wine becoming too jammy or overripe. Just lovely!
White
Red wines make up 69% of the production in Languedoc-Roussillon, followed by rosé at 18% and white at 13%. Red grape varieties include local ones like syrah, grenache, carignan, mourvèdre, but also pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon. For white wines, the local grapes have stiff competition from chardonnay and sauvignon blanc. The Cigalus 2008 by Gerard Bertrand is mostly made up of chardonnay, while viognier and sauvignon blanc give very nice ‘extras’ to the wine. We tried the wine with an adapted kedgeree: rice, smoked mackerel, boiled egg and Indian spices. And the combination was extremely good! Light yellow in the glass, tropical fruit and citrus on the nose and on the palate fresh acidity mixed with tropical fruit, lemon, vanilla. Complex and exciting, with a good finish.
Rosé
Languedoc-Roussillon is a very popular holiday area. The sun, the landscape, the wines, the Mediterranean, picturesque harbours and worldly resorts all add to the attraction. Very popular on the campsites and terrasses is of course rosé. The Fruité Catalan which was included in the box was a nice, fruity and well-structured rosé, but not too memorable. Luckily there was almost no residual sugar, so it’s a good wine for parties and picknicks.
Sweet
The last bottle to taste was the sweet wine, Mas de Madame 2006, Muscat de Frontignan. Sweet wines, or vins doux naturels as this type is called in French, are not only drunk with desserts, as we do in The Netherlands, but also as an aperitif, lightly chilled of course. The wine is made from the grape variety Muscat à Petit Grains; the maximum yield per hectare is 28 hl for Muscat de Frontignan. During fermentation of the must, the winemaker adds alcohol to the grape juice, halting the transformation of sugar into alcohol and thus retaining some of the fruit’s natural sweetness.
We tasted our bottle of Mas de Madame with fresh raspberries from the garden, strawberries and ice cream. This wine disappointed us: although it smelled intriguing, with hints of basil and cloves, and not too sweet, on the palate it turned out to be uninteresting, just sugar and alcohol. The wine lacked a balancing acidity and had no after-taste whatsoever. A sad ending of the Sud de France tasting. But on the positive side: we have discovered two new wines to remember: Dromadaire 30670 and Cigalus!
