We've got a live one here This was going to be a brief plug for last night's gig at Cyprus Avenue to raise funds for the Cork Steiner school, but I didn't get the post up in time. Sorry.

A plug too for John Gowan and his excellent coffee
and thanks for the half a croissant he gave me this morning with my cup o' joe. Thanks buddy.

Any road up, from biodynamically empowered children to biodynamically empowered grapes, we tried and are more than happy with the new inexpensive (sixteen euro-ish) Vacqueyras from Montirius. It's not shown on their renovated website, perhaps because it's new, and perhaps because the Vacqueyras we have stocked hitherto - which is now called Vacqueyras "les Garrigues"- is a bit more profitable. Most of the wines are getting a descriptive name added to their appelation on the label, so the Gigondas is to become Gigondas "Vignes 1925", &c. &c.

I'm not convinced that this gerrymandering of the range is the facelift the already moderno-traditional hybrid labels of Montirius need. Much more effective to start again from scratch, in my view. That wine label analysis blog gets closer by the day.

Live ones, and the musical ring to this post generally, lead me to a jazz birthday: Dick Pearce the trumpeter and flugel player. A bit of biog. here. And Ornette Coleman winning the music Pulitzer, how 'bout that? Mmm, ten grand. And later in the year, this should be a good one too, oud fans.

The livest one of all is one of our new suppliers in the Loire Valley, rising star (&c. &c.) Damien Delecheneau of Domaine La Grange Tiphaine. Britt and Per Karlsson, authors of the marvellous and comprehensive bkwine.com, have a very lifelike portrait of Damien over on their website, if you want to see his face. There was such a scrum round his stand at the Loire wine fair I couldn't get a picture of him that wouldn't have been mostly of eager tasters' elbows or nostrils.

We left it a bit late to get back in touch, and when we did place an order, it turned out that most of the Domaine's available wine has already been sold. So we know it's not just the Bubble Brothers tasters who think they're on to a good thing.

Look out, then, in due course, for a brilliant, luminous and fresh-as-a-daisy red blend of Côt (aka Malbec), Gamay and Cabernet Franc called Ad Libitum, which is how you might want to enjoy its juicy, leafy silkiness; and a rosé called Riage Tournant, which blends Côt, Gamay and Grolleau into a sensational summer cooler that's serious enough to make a good food wine too. Both of those should work out at about the fourteen euro mark.

Another summery delight just about to go on sale is the Vin de Sophie from Château la Villatade, which Sophie Morin introduced to us when she visited Cork for our Big Wine Event last year. You can get the general idea (youthful, vibrant, red fruits) here. Good for when the sun shines, and for while you're waiting for it to shine.

UPDATE 21.iv.07
As a result of Per and Britt's rightfully indignant comment, I have deleted their picture of Damien Delecheneau; and, I hope, made a sufficient apology.

Labels: "picture theft" "damien delecheneau", "vin de sophie", biodynamic, grange tiphaine, Loire, montirius, steiner, vacqueyras, villatade

  ¶ Thursday, April 19, 2007

  Mixed case We are, as they say, up the walls at the moment. The start of the year has been pretty busy all round and now that samples, both solicited and unsolicited, are beginning to roll up in significant quantities, there's a whole lotta tasting going on, as well as the less exciting but very time-consuming administration of thank yous, yes pleases and very sorry, buts.

I've just noticed that one of our foremost suppliers of organic-and-biodynamic wines, Montirius, has invested in a shiny new website. High time I sold them my services as a translator for the few little tweaks on the English side that would do no harm.

I've just placed an order with a new supplier in Burgundy, Louis Chenu Père et (very hands-on) Filles, giving us a fresh lease of life in the affordable French Pinot Noir department. Speaking of websites, check out this simple, clear, striking design.

I was in Lismore last week, and called to say hello to Owen Madden at the Summerhouse, who sells our wines. He's very busy re-stocking, so if Schadenfreude's your bag, go and enjoy a leisurely cup of tea and a bun while he dashes about the place hard at work.

Down the road from Summerhouse is the deli-wine shop run by George Kiely and Tom Doorley. I owned up to spying straight away, but George couldn't have been more welcoming or helpful. They've a great range of wines from a number of importers as well as fancy foods, and expert advice is free.

Labels: bourgogne, burgundy, lismore, montirius, Pinot Noir, website, wine

  ¶ Tuesday, February 27, 2007

  Fragrant, snorting cave bear WBW 29 The idea of Wine Blogging Wednesdays is that you try a bottle of whatever's nominated and blog about it, then some long-suffering person collates the entries to the common weal. This time, number 29, the wine has to be biodynamic, and Jack and Joanne of Fork and Bottle are the long-suffering, &c.

After the disappointment of yesterday's corked bottle, I'm delighted to report that a second foray into the cave yielded a perfect example of Christine and Eric Saurel's Montirius Vacqueyras 2001.

The Saurels' gaff at Sarrians is not so very far from the Chauvet Cave, which is where prehistoric man, insufficiently civilized to make wine, used to keep instead a stock of gigantic furry beasts to see him through the winter, TGIFs &c. You can see some of the graffiti here.

If you fancy the robust and warming embrace of a cave bear but don't know where to get your hands on one, you could do worse than invest in a bottle of this magnificently robust and warming blend of Grenache and Syrah. It's not the more expensive Clos Montirius Vacqueyras that Gary Vaynerchuk is tasting here; last time we sampled the two side by side we felt that the plain Vacqueyras represented better value. This vintage weighs in at fourteen and a half per cent alcohol, and although it's obviously a big wine, it's in perfect balance and has much sweeter breath (a little chocolate-y) than Ursus culpaeus can ever have had. The real pleasure for me was in the vibrant, muscular pulse of cherryish fruit that pushed through the darker flavours and dense structure of every mouthful. You won't be surprised to know that the finish is long and assertive.



On a food and wine matching note, this Vacqueyras was very nearly as satisfying with my hurried plate of egg (daughter's, discarded) and chips as a hot cup of tea would have been. More thoughtfully paired, and brought up to its optimum temperature, it could hardly fail to be sublime.

As for the biodynamics, as I've said before, the Saurels are not doing it for fun, or as a way of differentiating their wine from their neighbours', &c. One look at their website should make that fairly clear. I don't think you can taste biodynamicity, (though organic wines do generally seem to me less fuzzy-tasting, sometimes a little briefer in the finish, than their conventional counterparts) but at the same time the utter commitment of Montirius to making the very best wine possible in accordance with a set of non-commercial principles (of course they do have to run a business, too) is no bad thing in my book. Of course it wouldn't matter how organic or biodynamic they were if the wine were horrible.

Labels: biodynamic, ireland, montirius, rhone, saurel, ursus spelaeus, vacqueyras, WBW, wine, wine blogging wednesday

  ¶ Thursday, January 18, 2007

  Biodynamic Wine Blogging Wednesday no. 29 It's soon time for another Wine Blogging Wednesday. Jack and Joanne at Fork and Bottle are the hosts this time. All you have to do is buy a bottle of biodynamic wine, drink it, and put your tasting notes up on your blog or website on Wednesday the 17th of January. (And let Jack and Joanne know, of course.)

The Fork and Bottle page I've linked to has heaps of useful information and links &c., and I simply haven't time to give you my dilettanteish overview of biodynamics anyway. Please comment below, though, if you've questions you'd like me to answer.

The principal Bubble Brothers biodynamic suppliers are Montirius, Meyer, Champagne Fleury and Château Romanin. All French, you'll notice. If I've left anyone out, please remind me and I'll amend this list.

Labels: biodynamic, Champagne Fleury, Château Romanin, Meyer, montirius, WBW, wine blogging wednesday

  ¶ Monday, January 08, 2007