I chose 2 modern compositions (one at the beginning, the other at the end of the report) to highlight this great sharing filled with energy, discoveries and positive encounters, but also to dress up chic the little reading below.

Madone « Rose » – 2022

 

For its 29th edition of 3 consecutive days, plus side events starting the day before the Show, whose ensemble represents wines, beers and BIO spirits on an international scale, was an intense and lively moment of refined discoveries with more than 1400 domains still in progress.

 

Installed in several halls of the Montpellier Expo Centre in Languedoc, the winemakers are randomly placed in uniform rows on their wooden table with a very tasteful rounded design, in order to present their range.

 

The friendly, relaxed and qualitative atmosphere of the reception that we have been deprived of for a long time, sharpens the desire to taste, converse and seize the opportunity to update the references of sommeliers according to the new cuvées proposed; and by word of mouth, to find new areas.

 

The rise of the organic sector in France is taking on an unavoidable dimension in the world of sommellerie, and the production of new wine lists must certainly follow the trend to satisfy the increasingly demanding clientele.

 

After having tasted hundreds of wines, I chose an eclectic series of white and red wines sufficiently complex and lively, so that the sommeliers could create high-quality food and wine pairings. Some of the fields that I am now, were mentioned in my article S.I N°170 last year for their undeniable quality.

 

Arriving on the Sunday before the opening of the Salon, I was able to appreciate the event off of excellence BioTop & Vignerons de Nature, at the Grands Chais in Mauguio where I selected some pearls with very inspiring aromas and poetic flavors to achieve starry accords, such as the rich and tense whites of Adrien Berlioz’s estate, with his 2019 cuvées «Euphrasie» and «Marcelle» in Chignin-Bergeron in Savoy.

In Piedmont in Italy, the Cascina Corte vineyard produces a single-grape series of red wines vinified in amphora, where the fruity purity is divine for the Nebbiolo and Barbera cuvées for example.

A stop at the Champagnes of the Côte des Bars of Vincent Couche precise layer, very low dosage, luxurious in Demeter biodynamic and designed with a great philosophy around the terroir of chardonnay and pinot noir.

The Chateauneuf-du-Pape red «Santo» of the Domaine des Maravilhas has marked my mind for its chiseled taste qualities combining syrah, grenache and mourvèdre combining the delightful freshness of fruit and spices with the powerful and racy structure of the wine body.

Then a Gentian liqueur at 26% of the Granier Spirits in Savoy, where the root sensation in the mouth sublimates the natural sweetness of the beverage, comes to close with fervour the first gustative getaway of the day.

By following, at the Domaine de Verchant, Le Vin de mes Amis was in full swing.
I was able to select just a successful moment at the table of the Bordeaux estate Le Puy of the Amoreau family by tasting the parcel cuvées such as La Closerie Saint Roc 2015, with deep blended and mastered flavors of merlot cabernet sauvignon, cultivated on a unique terroir of exception due to its geology deserving a appellation.

 

Another table among the hundred scattered in the middle of a dense crowd, proposed a high voltige line of Italian wines of the Dolomites including the cuvées Sgarzon and Moréi, with the indigenous red grape Teroldego vinified in amphora, directed by Elisabetta Foradori, a charismatic woman ruling her domain of the same name.

 

The next day, the inauguration of the MILLESIME BIO Show took place around 11am in the middle of the stands of Hall B2 where I was able to taste the famous wines of Condrieu and those of Côte Rôtie of the Domaine du Clos de la Bonnette. This confidential vineyard with sparkling cuvées of delightful pop art labels, offered me a complete tasting around the syrah and the viognier, the set twirls of finesse, fruit and perfectly balanced flower.

 

On the next table, Cédric Ferry recently in charge of the export distribution of the Mas des Bressades, made me taste 3 remarkable modern vintages 2020 including Les 5 Sens in cinsault old vines of very nice density and good freshness, Quintessence in Costières de Nîmes more opulent and complex sip of grenache, mourvèdre and syrah, then Mas Carlot AVREVS orange wine amphora very well made for those who discover.

 

Going up to the Rhone Valley, at the Domaine du Trapadis in Rasteau with Mr Helen Durand who offers wines with Southern grape varieties of very good value for the restaurant, with its cuvées Les Adrès, The Cras, Perrières and many other Bachique elegance from its terroir.

 

The Graveirette estate of Julien Mus in the Vaucluse has seduced me for its 4-grape blended wine, simple and fresh named «Ju de Vie» and its Chateauneuf-du-Pape red grenache syrah.

 

Then in the Côte Rôtie, the unmissable Clusel-Roch estate and its atomic cuvées Le Champon, Les Vergers and Les Schistes remain a great classic for the demanding.

 

In the Côte Roannaise, Les Pothiers and Sérol are at the top of their appellation with their qualitative series and rich experience in white as in red.

 

In Burgundy, 3 superb estates are worth a visit: Seguin-Manuel with its Vosne-Romanée, Beaune 1er Cru and Meursault princely but also its Savigny-les-Beaune nature; Clos du Moulin aux Moines and its vibrant range containing most of the appellations of the region; Jean-Michel Giboulot and his wide and delicious selection of Savigny.

In Alsace, I chose the magnificent Riesling and Gewurztraminer from Paul Ginglinger, a haute-couture winemaker; the tasteful Demeter palette from the Gustavhof estate with pure biodynamic wines and those very accessible from the Bernhard & Reibel estate; then the successful audacity of the winemaker André Vielweber for his nature Riesling.

A trip to the Atlantic coast for the tasting of the sumptuous Muscadets of the Luneau-Papin estate, each more racy than the other, raising them to the top of the appellation.

Xavier and Agnès Amirault for the Clos Quarteyron in Saint Nicolas de Bourgueil in the Loire, spoiled me with their 2 new crunchy cuvées «La Ferme des Fontaines» and «Le Clos de la Gaucherie», part of the magnificent line of the rest of the range.

A check in Bordeaux with winemaker Christophe Pont du Château Val Beylie offering very affordable wines including his cuvée Plaisir in 100% merlot.

The Bergerac appellation, rich in aromatic surprise offered me the privileged meeting of the family of Conti Pere and son for a complete tasting of the Château Tour des Gendres of the Domaine Albert de Conti, including the new well-governed artistic cuvées, both visually and in content, La Vigne de Conti and Cantalouette.

In the Cahors, the Fournié family of the Château Haut-Montplaisir produces wines of high precision, whose expression of the Malbec grape has nothing to envy of the unmissable Château du Cèdre.

 

In the Jurançon, the Clos Lapeyre and its calibrated cuvées including the complex dry whites Mantoulan and Vitatge Vielh, the aromatic Evidencia Manseng nature and the sparkling orange Amaros wine with modern labels.

Further south, Languedoc, the royal home of organic wines, winemakers from the Alain Chabanon estate and its mirific cuvées of mourvèdre, syrah, grenache blended or 100% merlot: a tasty treat.

 

Olivier Faucon for Mas Combarèla in Saint-Guilhem-du-Désert, continued his delicate work and made me taste a success in white (carignan, chenin) called «L’Eclat».

 

All the luminous wines of the Chemin des Rêves estate by winemaker Benoit Viot, oscillating between the Grès de Montpellier appellations in Pic Saint-Loup, puts «The mouth watering» with poetry.

 

The Mas de Janiny with Xavier Julien in IGP Hérault aux vieilles de carignan, created Le Temps des Gitans, a healthy festive wine whose label was signed by the «saint» Cabu!

 

In Caux in the Coteaux du Languedoc – Pézenas appellation, the Mas Gabriel belonging to the refined English Deborah and Peter Core refines on 6.5 hectares, cuvées in white, red and rosé, high definition and very generous.

 

In the Minervois region, winemakers Gilles Chabbert – Les Aires Hautes and their clever cuvées Catherines, Chrysope and Orycte in Siran, then David Ciry of the Ciry Cattaneo estate and his splendid cuvée Les Hirondelles, make this region attractive by its reliefs, a sommellerie target to rediscover.

 

In the Roussillon in Côtes Catalanes, a hallucinating discovery of happiness for the cuvée «Vivienne Catherine I» in syrah on granite soil, signed by atypical winemakers Marcel Bülher and Carrie Summer, at the Domaine des Enfants towards Saint Paul-de-fenouillet.

 

Then, sliding past the border, in Spain, the inevitable terroir of the maestro Marc Bournazeau for Terra Remota and its range of wonderfully crafted wines, fascinating of gustative richness, with a new V2, the Gg Grenache Black 2020.

 

Then in Catalonia, at the Cellar Aixala Alcait, Jordi Jansana continues the creation of small wonders in Priorat with for example his cuvée Pardelasses in grenache and samso.

 

In Italy, to follow closely in Piedmont, the cuvées of Cascina Vengore with the sublime Nebbiolo and Barbera d’Asti. Then La Dama delivers a high-flying Amarone della Valpolicella in Venetian.

Finally, the Jasci vineyard creates a delicacy called «Poema» without sulphite in Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Riserva 2016.

 

We go back to France in Cognac to discover an innovative series of all purity and great softness, without added sugar and without any ghostly adjuvant, for A. de Fussigny and their new VSOP spirits, XO or other Vodkas including a detonating with organic Espelette pepper infusion.

 

A trip of epic aesthete that is this Salon, where I still forget some references as in Italy, the wines Luna Sicana and Familia Casadei which I will deepen the experience next year.

 

To close the event in style, my friend and I were invited by the fine team of the very young estate Cassagne & Vitailles in Montpeyroux, to discover the new wineries and luxury wineries, where we were able to taste the new grinds from the winemaking cask with a rich meal while following, and delight some recent vintages including this stunning fresh «Les Chausmes» 2016.

John Carroll Kirby feat. Laraaji « Dawn of New Day » – 2022

Frederic Beneix – Wine4Melomanes

S.I N°175 (will be published in May 2022)