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Waitrose (online and in its stores) launches its French Wine Showcase on 26 March 08 - running through to 27 April 2008 this will feature a total of 48 wines.
As well as our usual French favourites, the showcase will also see the launch of four new wines to the range, including the delightful Taittinger Rose NV and the excellent value Domaine des Eyssards Bergerac Rouge.
Unusually for a major supermarket (and greatly to be welcomed) Waitrose will be featuring 13 specially sourced small parcel wines from a wide range of less well-known appellations such as:
Quincy (crisp Sauvignon Blancs from the Loire), Provence and Lirac (Southern Rhone) and the wonderfully unusual Pierre Boniface Domaine des Rocailles Apremont de Savoie 2007 and La Bastide Blanche Bandol (rich Mourvedre red from east of Marseille).
A highlight of the wine year has to be Yapp’s pre-Christmas sale which runs on 23 and 24 November 2007 (9am-5pm) at their delightful premises in Mere, Wiltshire. The setting is the Old Brewery and the range of wines on their list is an impressive choice of some of the best and most interesting growers in the Loire and Rhone, Provence, Alsace, Champagne, the Savoie, Roussillon, the Midi and Corsica.
To add to the offerings there is also an exhibition of contemporary still life paintings running from 9th-29th November 2007.
Amongst my selections from their list (not necessarily in the sale) I would highlight:-
- the Pic St Loup wines of Mas Bruguière (Languedoc)“.. rich, compelling wines with vivid garrigue fruit aromas, an earthy palate and good firm tannins.”;
- Menetou-Salon AC Domaine Jean Teiller (Loire) - “An atypically fruity wine with a scent of newly mown grass. The ripe, juicy palate yields a fresh, dry finish.”;
- the biodynamic Savennieres AC Coulée de Serrant (Loire) ;
- the red, white and rosé Lirac ACs from la Fermade (Rhone) “Sweet black cherry, touch of roasted sage, good brisk tannins - this is a Rhône red of finesse “;
- Bunan’s intense Bandol AC Mas de la Rouvière (Provence)“A deep ruby colour with intense aromas of truffles and peppers. The palate displays liquorice and tobacco with plenty of firm tannins.”
And let us not ignore some of the lesser-known offerings of Jasnières AC and Thouarsais (Loire); and the selection of wines from Savoie and Corsica.
Yapp Brothers Ltd, The Old Brewery, Mere, Wiltshire BA12 6DY
Jonathan Ray in The Telegraph selects his top 10 sweet wines, which includes the little-known and hard-to-pronounce appellation of Pacherenc du Vic Bilh from South West France. Reserved solely for white wines, it is the white sister to the red Madiran AC, covering virtually the same area in deepest Gascony.
It is most often seen as a late harvest dessert wine, but you can also find dry versions. Permitted grapes include Gros Manseng, Petit Manseng, Arrufiac and Petit Courbu grapes, similar to nearby Jurancon AC, but tending to have a touch more mineral edge.
2005 Rive Haute Reserve Pacherenc 13.5%vol, France (£8.99 per 50cl; Playford Ros 01845 526777, Coe Vintners 020 8551 4966, Wheeler Cellars 01206 713560).Pacherenc du Vic-Bihl is the white wine AOC from Madiran in south-west France. Made from Gros and Petit Manseng, Petit Courbu and Arrufiac picked between St Martin’s Day (Nov 4) and St Albert’s Day (Nov 15), this has hints of lemon and apricot. Great with fruit tart.
This comes from the Plaimont Co-operative, who also produce another superb Pacherenc - Cuvée St Albert.- for more see www.plaimont.com
Other French wines on the list included a Jurancon from the Southwest, a Barsac from Bordeaux and a demi-sec Champagne from Pol Roger!
Johnathan Ray makes the point that we too often pigeonhole such wines as “dessert” or “pudding” wines, when there are ocassions when they can be a perfect compliment to other foods.
“Pan-fried foie gras, simple pâté de foie or even smoked fish at the start of a meal can work beautifully with a sticky. I once enjoyed a fine German Beerenauslese with a main course of roast wild boar.”
The artist Margaret Loxton is very English, and very Yorkshire – as is her style, but she has neverthess produced some very atmospheric images of France, and particularly French rural life. With her buxom men and women it may be a style you love or hate, but these pictures are so French they could not be anywhere else.
She has a whole series of scenes, including wine-related ones such as the Pavement Café in Riquewihr (68 Haut-Rhin, Alsace) shown above, but also Nuits St Georges (Burgundy) and the Luberon (Provence).
Limited edition prints are available online from La Provence Collections (along with a host of other gift items and fabrics on a Provencal theme) – thet also have a shop on the Square at Stow-in-the-Wold, near Cheltenham, Glos.
If you don’t want a print, you can see some of pictures in her book
It appears that Champagne is being “reinvented” by the marketing people as offering a way to lose weight – by choosing the sugar-free version of the famous fizz!
Although it has been around for many years, health fanatics only now seem to have discovered the “Brut Zero” or “Brut Nature” or “Non-Dosé” versions of Champagne, as opposed to the more familar Brut or Demi-Sec.
Technically “Brut” in French means raw or crude, but in Champagne terms it is taken to refer to Champagnes with only a little added sugar. In its natural state Champagne is a dry acidic wine which can mask an otherwise highish level of residual sweetness – as much as 3 teaspoons of added sugar making a glass of Champagne come in at up to 89 calories per glass. Part of the process after fermentation both to top up the bottle and to determine the final level of sweetness is the addition of a sweet syrup (the “dosage” or “Liqueur d’expedition”) which can transform the wine into something more medium or sweet.
The terms can be a little confusing, as in ascending order of sweetness the classification is as follows: Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Dry,Sec, Demi-Sec, Rich or Doux. Non-Dosé hence refers to a wine where no sugar is added.
Apparently demand for this “diet champagne” is booming
- as if any one needs an excuse to drink Champagne!
Champagne Tarlant produces a “Zéro” made from the 3 classic Champagne grapes of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay, but with part of the blend being fermented in new oak to add richness and harmony.
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