WINO 101

Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome again and again to the Ever-Present, Informative and Entertaining and Often Linguistically Superfluous Carpe Vinum Newsletter and Tasting Announcement of This Week, the Week Culminating with the Friday the 10th of October. We’ve survived a massive precipitative drowning of several months’ worth of rain in a 2-day period, and at the same time somehow survived another election season and all the depressing campaigning that goes with it. Whew. Kinda puts you in the mood for some good wine, eh? Well, here’s the thing! It’s wines of the South of France! Most specifically, it’s wines of the French Languedoc and Provence. After all, these times deserve some serious wines at some seriously decent prices. This is one of my favorite wine regions of France and the world. The region produces such a vast amount of wine down there that the French often refer to it as the “Wine Lake”. Want to go swimming in the “Wine Lake”? Yeah . . . me too.

The region borders the Mediterranean Sea and has a warm climate that is well-suited to grape growing. Also, the wine laws governing the region are less restrictive, so it gives the local winemakers more play with different grape varieties and blends. That doesn’t mean that the wines down there are all over the place with no semblance of order. There are a number of regions producing high-class wines, but there is an expansive “Vin de Pays” designation that has been terribly successful in the Languedoc. Directly translated it means “Country Wine” and allows, as far as I can tell, just about anything. For example I have the Chateau Fontanes 2004 Vin de Pays d’Oc featured in the tasting. Technically it’s a wine from the Pic Saint Loup region of the Languedoc, but it’s made from Cabernet Sauvignon, which isn’t allowed in a wine labeled with the Pic Saint Loup designation. So that makes it a “Vin de Pays d’Oc” or a “country wine of Languedoc”. That doesn’t make it any less of a wine and certainly not a lesser Cabernet.

Now while featuring the Languedoc wines, I thought I might feature wines of Provence. They’re not widely available, and it would be a bit difficult to piece together a full tasting of Provencal wines. One specific wine of note is the wine of Bandol. The region is small, and is located about at the southern tip of Provence as it dips into the Mediterranean. The wines are made predominantly of Mourvedre, which I mentioned last week was my new favorite grape to chase around. Mourvedre (also known as Monastrell in Spain and Mataro in Australia and a few other places) makes an inky-dark, spicy and powerful wine, and is commonly seen blended with Grenache and Syrah in Rhone-style blends. Bandol wines are certainly some of the best examples of Mourvedre in the world, and they tend to fetch pretty high prices.

So assembled here is a wonderful selection of wines of the Languedoc and Provence. Considering that there are so many wines hailing form the area, this is just the figurative “drop in the wine lake”. But on the good side, the wines of the region seldom disappoint and are just good all-around wines costing less than, say, their Californian counterparts.

So Friday, November 10th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Languedoc and Provence!!!
Chateau de Lascaux 2004 Coteaux du Languedoc Rouge
Chateau Fontanes 2004 Vin de Pays d’Oc
Mas de Aveylans 2004 Cuvee Prestige, Vin de Pays du Gard Syrah
Mas Carlot 2004 Les Enfants Terribles, Costieres de Nimes
Chateau Maupague 2004 Cotes de Provence

More Languedoc and Bandol!!!
Chateau de Lancyre 2002 Pic Saint Loup “Grand Cuvee”, Coteaux du Languedoc
La Badiane 2003 Bandol “Les Terres Noires”

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours.
Hope to see you here!

Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is Thanksgiving Tasting: What Goes With Turkey?!

M