Millésime Bio 2020: The beauty of natural wine

The international meeting of organic wines and spirits was once again a huge success in terms of visitors for this 27th edition. A plethora of partners (Vinventions, Decanter, Verallia, Wine 4 Trade, Vitisphere etc),SudVinBio, Sud de France and U.E. etc. strongly supports this major innovative trend. It is now a fixture on the world wine business scene.

Several high-quality satellites take advantage of this great meeting of organic wine to propose events of before and during the show located at the Exhibition Park near the airport in Pérols-Montpellier. A pleasant destination to discover one of the biggest appellations of the hexagon by the same opportunity.
The Languedoc Wine House at Mas Saporta, the Biotop association with the Grands Chais MauGuio, « Les Affranchis » at the Château de Flaugergues, « The Wine of My Friends » at the Domaine de Verchant in Castelnau-Le-Lez, the evening of Grenache/Carignan and Vinifilles, Roots 66, Wines of the Ireal etc.

On the « in » show, about 1300 winemakers exhibitors on a brand new ergonomic furniture with exclusive design Millésime Bio, identical for all, « Made in France », share the various spaces in the same brand. The vintners are installed by lottery in the 5 halls, so the visitor can prepare his visits by scouting or simply let himself be guided according to his discoveries from stand to stand, meeting in love and word of mouth.

As every year for almost 10 years, I choose inspiration and word of mouth with my fellow winemakers, to guide me with poetry through the bachic meanderings of this great event very welcoming.

A piece of jazz well soaked to brighten the reading in accord Wine4Melomanes and emphasize the fervor of the wines tasted:

Twylyte 81 – Can I Change (1981) 

Here are some photos and comments, the wines and spirits that have successfully marked my journey on 4 intense days of day and night tastings.
As soon as I arrived, I went briefly at the time of Sunday lunch, to the tastings of the « Affranchis » to discover the Spanish wines of the winemaker Goyo Garcia Viadero en Ribera del Duero giving rich and intense wines, well sewn thanks to the care of breeding and great patience.
To follow, I met a group of colleagues Bordeaux winemakers to go together to the tastings of « Wines of the Unreal » where the winemaker Vincent Augé du Mas des Mesures put me seriously in the stirrup with his very first natural vintages of fleshy syrah-grenache reds with a truffle tasting. In this association of natural wines, I also selected for the mastery and precise definition of aromas and flavors, the sparkling syrahs of the Sicilian Aldo Viola, the juicy reds of Ardèche by Meryl Croizier, the 2 interesting vintages of Domaine Houillon in old vineyards of the Rhone Valley and the neat series of domaine des Cévennes Lous Grezes.

Then I took the direction of the association « The wine of my friends » coveted where I meet the Bordeaux team of CashVins cellars shopping. I select some superb creations in this vast and well-stocked ensemble, such as the Catalan Celler Cosmic Vinyaters from the Empordà region with its line of very aromatic wines created by Salvador Barrabeig. The famous reds of Mas Haut-Buis in Terraces du Larzac, served delicately in a carafe by a charming young woman, embellish the course to ricochet off those well known of Antoine Arena in Corsica of the Patrimonio region. A Gevrey Chambertin by Jerôme Galeyrand, a red Gramenon « Handful of Grapes » (old vines) by Michèle Aubéry and the cuvée « Comet » (muscat small grains, viognier) of the Clos des Grillons by Nicolas Renaud in Côtes du Rhône, les Chablis subtils à Thomas Pico‘s wolf effigy, the modern and stylish vintages of Clos Baquey and Chante-Coucou en Marmandais by Elian Da Ros etc. continuing on the big festive evening at Domaine de Verchant, all pure and sincere wines that allowed me to appreciate the world of BIO wines for a long time by their great qualitative evolution.
On the circuit a little earlier, I made a quick stop to the « Vinifilles » at the Town Hall to taste some feminine wines that I appreciate for several vintages like the graceful red of « La Réserve d’O » in Terraces du Larzac, the rieslings very fine and magiq J-B Adam and also Domaine Achillée in Alsace etc.
Then comes the opening of the show the next day in search of new taste nuggets created by talented winemakers.
The wines of the selected world that will follow, are convincing in accuracy, purity and fidelity to their respective terroir.
Domaine Jean Astruc in Tuchan (Rebouls) in Aude has just released a confidential carignan cuvée called Herbarium perfectly successful in very affordable Fitou.
The Italians of Piemonte with Domaine Cascina Zerbatta seduced me with this bottle of Barbera del Monterato 100% nebbiolo, natural winemaking, very floral and fruity with a bitter almond finish.
The well-known Châteauneuf-du-Pape Domaine de BeauRenard with its multi-red and white varietal cuvée (13) Gran Partita 2015 is a well-illustrated and energizing symphony in the mouth.
The Françoise Bedel Champagnes are always fantastic in purity with the privilege of having tasted the Soul of the Earth 2002, chalky with the right tension in the mouth.
Château Bellegrave 2010 and 2016 in the Pomerol add to the qualitative panel of taste discoveries of freshness of the fruit with well-controld acidity.
The modern wines of Domaine Calmel – Joseph with the vintages Le Penchant (white – Roussane grenache) delicious peach pear menthol, then Les Arques (red – syrah, carignan, grenache, mourvèdre) in Minervois with a mouth full of black fruits, fig aniseed, chocolate olive with a silky finish.
The series of reds Ciry Cattanéo, governed by the young winemaker David Ciry, makes you want to discover this appellation of Minervois where one dares to experiment with vintages of Tempranillo of very good outfit.
The pure reds of Alain Chabanon‘s plots in the Languedoc where the syrah combined with mourvèdre for Saut de Côte, the merlot for Le Merle aux alouettes, have no more secrets for him. He vinifies his rare vintages for 36 months and is courted by some aesthetes of the tasting, like the great Rayas higher up in the Rhône.
The Clavel estate is a constant delight for the Copa Santa and Les Clous vintages in Pic Saint-Loup.
A large gustatory cap at the stand of the Burgundy Christian Clerget, when I tasted the entire range of the 2017 vintage, from Morey Saint-Denis to Vougeot, Echezeaux.
The tasty whites and reds of Philippe Gilbert‘s range based in Menetou-Salon (Loire) at Clos des Treilles delighted me for his precise work around chenin and cabernet franc.
Young wine-growers have just created a Cognac BIO thanks to the Distillery of Arthenac in Charente Maritime, this is the olfactory and taste success « White Foot XO« .
The beautiful whites and reds of the Sancerrois François Crochet are unmissable on the circuit of the labyrinth of halls.
Then in summary, the Avondale wineries in Paarl in South Africa with its aromatic and mineral white cuvée 5 Cyclus 2016 grape varieties, the Domaine des Enfants on the Spanish Catalan border with its very expressive white Tabula Rasa cuvée, the Domaine Alsatian l’Envol en Pinot gris Steinweig 2018 of very good quality, the Italian FiloDivino with the new red cuvée Coccio delicious, the parcel vintages Mas Cal Demoura of the Terraces du Larzac, the Saint-Emilion nature on the fruit 2018 merlot cabernet franc of Château Forge Celeste, the aromatic of Savoie cuvée Primitif 2018 from Domaine Giachino, the Mo Mo Italian olive oils from Domaine Marco Carpineti, in Cori, the unique Madre cuvée from the Italo Cescon vineyards in Treviso, the great Rieslings, Austrian swords of Peter Jakob Kohn, the « Ovoid » cuvée of La Soufrandière by the Bret Brothers in Saint-Véran, the fine sap wines of the Domaine du Pas de l’Escalette by the Zernott in Poujols in northern Languedoc, the astonishing success of the Pastis de l’Ile de Ré , Olivier Pithon‘s chiseled wines in the Roussillon in Calce, the magnificent vintage of carignan old vines Puech Auriol 2017 on the Côteaux d’Enserune (Oc) in Domaine Vila Voltaire, the fresh and pure reds of Domaine Le Sang des Cailloux in Vaqueyras, the new valiant cuvée Sauta Roc in Vailhan (Pézénas – Oc) by the Quesne couple, Sylvain Loichet’s fine Burgundies, the subtle Catalans of Terra Remota, Yves Amirault‘s fleshy Bourgueils with a micro cuvée of cabernet franc rosé « toppissime », Yves Leccia‘s fiery red wines in Corsica are all as much happiness in a bottle as an emotion to meet these local enthusiasts with a well-founded talent.

Finally, the official Gold Vintage evening cocktail was also a real moment of sharing and pleasure in the Opera Place de la Comédie in Montpellier centre, with a full tasting of wines, dishes and various happenings.
There were also two festive evenings of with the Beaujolais winemakers and those of the association « Carignan Grenache Battle » in establishments in the city center where I was able to meet other successful wine faces.
We’ll be back next year for new and in-depth adventures.