WOTW: Château La Baronne Le Rosé

Wine of the week this week is our Château La Baronne Le Rosé. ROSÉ. RICH. SUPERB. Discounted from £22.50 to £20 for a month.

The label on this is everything. Who wouldn’t want a vintage truck to deliver them four barrels of delicious rosé from the south of France? We might not be able to deliver a barrel but we can send you this absolutely delicious wine from Corbiéres (a fabulous little appellation south of Toulouse near Limoux and Carcassonne).

La Baronne, meaning the baroness, is a sumptuous rosé, floral on the nose, stone fruit on the palate and a depth of flavour that is not only fitting of a baroness but more importantly means it pairs well with food. The wine is farmed biodynamically and the winemakers here prioritise the natural biodiversity of their surroundings meaning the vines show the purest expression of the terroir. If you like this as much as we do then we’ll see if a barrel can be arranged…

Corbieres is the largest appellation within the Languedoc region and is most famous for its rustic red wines. It’s terroir (see BOTTL Uncorked for more on this wonderful French word) changes dramatically due to it touching the foothills of the Pyrenees as well as having a Mediterranean climate influenced by the cooling winds coming in from the coast. It is that coastal breeze that gives this rosé a refreshing salinity and savoury quality. Keeping it refreshing whilst the blend of Grenache gris, Grenache blanc and Syrah provide the complexity that requires food to really pop.

We recommend anything from charcuterie to moules frites to accompany this wine but we have also rustled up a lovely tomato and pepper bruschetta for our recipe of the week that is utterly delicious with La Baronne!

Rosé only makes up 12% of wine production in Corbieres so here’s to finding small pockets of interesting wines from unexpected places.
We call that Drinking Differently.

Cheers,

Phil and Matt

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Tobacco Dock in London for the very first time. Descending between two ancient ships the arched entrance led into an underground stone piazza. A bustling array of barrels awaited me, each winemaker proudly presenting five of their finest wines.

I’m not sure if there is tension or rivalry between the North and South of Portugal much like the famed divide in the UK, but the distance between the southern and northern winemaker sections would suggest so… a whole 50m dividing the two areas. Perhaps this is also why the north and the south have different names for the same grapes, something that usually only happens country to country or language to language. Having said that, there was freedom of movement between the two enclaves, with most winemakers tucking in to their own wines and those of their compatriots with glee. Quite impressive given it was only 11am. Then again the Portuguese reportedly drink the majority of the wine they grow. If that isn’t a sign that their product is good, then what is?

Rather than wander and browse for a while, I dived straight in to the nearest barrel. Firstly, I had little to no knowledge of Portuguese wine before arriving except a very general sense that they do heavy reds and a light spritzy white called Vinho Verde. Secondly, I think serendipity at wine tastings and indeed when visiting wine regions is always the best approach. There is something magical about turning a corner on a dirt road in Europe and finding a vineyard. Something I did this summer with my wife and daughter in Bergerac where we met a wonderful old lady. An eco warrior winemaker who refused to give me anything to carry the wine in because of the damage it would cause to the environment. Of course she was organic and biodynamic certified and the wine was utterly delicious. An inspiration to us all! I digress but the point being that we should be open to spontaneity and more often than not it’ll deliver something wonderful, or at least interesting, so on I headed to begin my portuguese wine adventure.

Quinta do Mouro was the first barrel in my line of sight and immediately my preconceptions of Portuguese wines were firmly sunk under the dock we stood upon. João their sales manager introduced me to five of their wines explaining that their approach was focused on wines with great acidity. His range spanned from the fresh light expressions to more classic, oak aged reds but all had a zip and zing that made the flavours come alive. I’m not a huge fan of big reds unless on the right occasion (with a hearty meal or perhaps in the depths of winter) but these had subtle oak flavours and the red fruits were ripe and rewarding whilst the tannins were soft and smooth. João was the first of many winemakers I met to admit that experimentation was at the heart of their winemaking process. Having accidentally got their wine press stuck when producing a white wine the team had to think quickly and decided the prolonged skin contact meant that they would start making an orange wine (we don’t stock these at BOTTL yet but they are essentially white grapes that are left to macerate so the skins give more colour and flavour to the wine). The resulting orange wine was beautifully rich and pithy with good acidity meaning it didn’t fall flat in the mouth. In honour of the mistake that led to the wine, the team decided to give it an upside down label. A nice touch to convey the haphazard journey to the bottle.

Next up I met Pedro from Herdade do Rocim, quite a famous vineyard in Alentejo in the South. A tall skinny man with a huge passion for his wine, he has a line of his own wine called Bojador. Bojador is a cape in Africa that is historic in Portuguese myth and legend. It was said that if a sailor managed to navigate passed the Bojador they would be greeted by sea monsters and creatures of the deep. To pass the Bojador required great skill, great pain and great determination, and as Pedro explained, the same goes for winemaking. He has obviously put his heart and soul into his wine and is extremely proud of the result, made clear by the amount he imbibed during our chat. And why not? His amphorae red is an unbelievably light but expressive wine full of juicy blackcurrant flavours and as fresh as mountain stream. Amphorae are enormous clay pots that more and more winemakers are using to make wines. They lie somewhere between the more traditional stainless steel or oak barrels as a vessel for fermentation. Where stainless steel doesn’t allow any oxygen in, the slightly porous clay of amphorae lets it in gradually to give a lovely texture to the wine but unlike oak it doesn’t impart any tertiary flavours so the grape’s natural fruits are retained. Sometimes the wines from amphorae can fall a little flat and, although an ancient method, it is definitely still new in its resurgence, but Pedro knows what he’s doing. In fact the whole of Rocim are such fans they hold an amphorae festival at their vineyard in November every year with over 1500 people visiting in one day.

I could go on about all the wines I tried but this post would never end. In short, Portugal is changing its approach to wine. Their whites are still a little too reliant on oak for my tastes but their reds are calming down and with the reduction in alcohol, the use of amphorae and the more subtle influence of oak, red wines from the North and the South are really worth buying.

A final shout out to the winemakers for following a BOTTL trend…! I am claiming this because they are labelling their grapes much more clearly on their bottles in the same way we do on our handy BOTTL notes. Why? Well, one, because they insist on different names in the north and south, but, two, because they use so many varieties. Portugal is full of field blends, meaning winemakers have several different vines planted in one vineyard. Harvested all at the same time, the wine is an expression of an unknown percentage of many different grapes, sometimes up to six or seven. The result is, thankfully, delicious, a bit like a grape smoothie! But up until now it was impossible to tell what was actually in the bottle. Now lots of winemakers are writing them on and not just listing them but incorporating them into their design. We love to see it! Hopefully in time we’ll all be categorising our wine into FRESH. JUICY. RICH and GOOD. GREAT. SUPERB. and everyone will proudly proclaim to be drinking differently.

Felicidades (Cheers in Portuguese)!

Phil

As we explained in our first post on terroir… this French word is a great place to start with any wine. Quite simply it means the combined effect of the climate, soil and terrain on a wine. The variation in terroir across the world can make the same grape produce distinctly different wines. Once you know what the terroir is of a region you can begin to have a good idea of the style of wine to expect. Of course there are still an abundant amount of further contributory factors that define the wine during the winemaking process but as we said at the beginning this is a good place to start. After all, winemakers, at their core, are farmers, and any good farmer will tell you it all starts with the earth beneath your feet and the atmosphere above your head. Our second instalment explains the element beneath our feet…

Part 2: Soil

Well, not just soil, sometimes it’s rock, sometimes it’s stone, sometimes it’s gravel. Put it this way there are a huge number of soil types across the wine regions of the world and all of them have a unique way of adding flavour to the wine.

Many of you will have heard of minerality, the sense that the wine has a wet stone flavour or something akin to the freshest of mountain water. This is often associated with wine grown on limestone soils such as Chablis which is a beautifully fresh and mouth-watering wine made from the Chardonnay grape in the northern tip of Burgundy – our L’Enclos Premier Cru Chablis is a SENSATIONAL example!

It is quite often you’ll hear someone say, “Oh I don’t like chardonnay but I love a good Chablis.” Now some of you may know that Chablis is made solely from Chardonnay grapes and thus look confused at this statement but of course most of us probably don’t know that fact, so saying you like Chablis but don’t like Chardonnay is understandable. Why? Because the soil in Chablis is in great contrast to other regions where Chardonnay is grown. The soil can change over a matter of miles as further south in Burgundy the limestone and clay is subtly different and the climate gets slightly hotter, thus the Chardonnay evolves different flavours – it’s all in the terroir!

I am focusing on France just because it’s where my love of wine originated and because it holds such variety across its appellations. So my next example links to our RED. JUICY. SUPERB. wine the Le Petit Mod’Amour. This comes from the Cote Catalanes, an appellation within the region of Languedoc, which is notoriously dry, arid and has poor stony soils.

How on earth do vines grow in poor soils?

Surely this will give uninspiring, vapid wines?

NO.

Vines are Darwinian, they strive to find the nutrients they need and poor soils just make them more determined, think Wim Hof climbing Everest in just a pair of shorts, these vines are the marines of the wine world and delicious wine is literally the fruits of their labours. I don’t think I’ve had a more JUICY wine than the Mod’Amour and that is partly down to the poor soil forcing the vines to find those nutrients and deliver them to the grapes which, combined with low rainfall, leads to a concentration of flavour in the grapes. That concentration of flavour can’t help but release juice into the resulting wine. From the driest of soils to the juiciest of drinks – it’s all in the terroir!

If you’ve read both our posts on terroir you’re probably starting to understand what makes a wine that you love. Of course with BOTTL we’ve provided a shortcut by categorising our wine into FRESH. JUICY. and RICH. We’ve done the work so you don’t have to! However BOTTL Uncorked is all about digging deeper (soil pun intended) and learning as much or as little as you want about the method behind the magic.

Drink climate, drink soil, drink terroir. Drink Differently.

Cheers,

Phil.

With the summer getting into full swing it’s time to upgrade your chips and dips for more adventurous but equally easy light bites. This simple bruschetta is oily, crunchy and deliciously fresh. If you can find french or spanish heritage tomatoes this recipe will elevate itself from SUPERB to SENSATIONAL. But any chunky, beefsteak tomato will do.

INGREDIENTS – serves 2

2 french heritage beefsteak tomatoes (any chunky toms will do!)

2 red peppers

Two slices of sourdough

A jar of pitted black olives

A pack of anchovy fillets

A handful of walnuts

Olive Oil

Red wine vinegar

Fresh thyme leaves

METHOD

1.

Switch on the oven to 180C.

2.

Pop the two red peppers (whole – no need to chop) on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and put in the oven for 20-30mins or til blistering on the sides.

3.

Slice your tomatoes into centimetre thick slices, place on a plate, drizzle with olive oil, red wine vinegar and a good handful of salt. This will draw the moisture out of the tomato and make them incredibly juicy.

4.

Pop your pitted olives and anchovy fillets into a blender (use 6 – 10 depending how much of a fan you are – if not a fan don’t worry still put them in, the olives will balance the flavour). Pour some olive oil into the blender to lubricate the blend. Blitzed to a paste (slightly lumpy is ok).

5.

Grab your peppers out the oven and place in a bowl with lid or place a plate over. Leave for 10 minutes.

6.

When the peppers are almost done pop your sourdough slices in the toaster.

7.

Grab your red peppers from the bowl, chop the stalk off, scrape out the seeds.

8.

Take the sourdough toast, drizzle with olive oil, press the whole pepper flat on top, place the tomatoes on top of the pepper or to the side, dollop on the black olive and anchovy tapenade. Finish with some fresh thyme (you could use basil or parsley – it just needs some green to set it off!).

This French word is a great place to start with any wine. Quite simply it means the combined effect of the climate, soil and terrain on a wine. The variation in terroir across the world can make the same grape produce distinctly different wines. Once you know what the terroir is of a region you can begin to have a good idea of the style of wine to expect. Of course there are still an abundant amount of further contributory factors that define the wine during the winemaking process but as we said at the beginning this is a good place to start. After all, winemakers, at their core, are farmers, and any good farmer will tell you it all starts with the earth beneath your feet and the atmosphere above your head. We’ll explain the three elements of terroir in three separate posts…

Part 1: Climate

Secondary school geography will come in handy here if any of you can remember it. What’s the difference between weather and climate I hear you say? Well, weather is the state of the atmosphere over a small area on a daily basis and climate is the state of the atmosphere over a large area over a long period of time. It is the latter that has a marked effect on the taste of a wine with most wines being categorised into cool climate (for higher acidity, lower alcohol wines – for BOTTL this equals FRESH) and warm climate (higher alcohol, smoother wines – for BOTTL this equals JUICY and RICH wines). So if you like a lighter fresher wine you want to be looking to cooler wine making regions like the Loire valley, Germany and England. For the more full bodied, richer wines you want to head to southern France, Spain and Italy. However as you explore more wine you’ll see that there are areas that buck the trend! Why? Well, many countries have microclimates where the localised geography means the atmosphere is very different to the country as a whole. Also winemaking regions can occupy different altitudes and vary in their proximity to the coast, both of which can create cooler or hotter climates for the vines and grapes to grow in. This is why some alpine regions in southern France and northern Italy can produce fresh light wines as they sit at higher altitude and thus have a cooler climate even though they are on a similar latitude to places like Bordeaux and the Rhone Valley that produce heavier, richer wines as they are positioned closer to sea level and thus have higher temperatures.

As I said, this is just a starting point and as ever with BOTTL you can take as much or as little knowledge as you wish. Part 2 and 3 of our investigation into terroir will give more clarity to why this unique French word really does epitomise how our ever changing landscape delivers us such a wonderfully diverse and complex range of delicious wine! Who knew our school geography lessons could teach us so much about our drinking tastes? We would’ve listened more closely if they’d made that clear.

Here’s to knowing your terroir and being able to drink differently as a result!

Phil.

Wine of the week this week is our Vouvray Chateau Moncontour. WHITE. RICH. GREAT. Discounted from £17.50 to £15.75 for a month.

This weekend marked Drink Chenin Blanc day so it seemed apt for this wine to step up as it’s an absolutely delightful Chenin Blanc. There’s a specified day for every grape now which to be fair is probably a good thing when our supermarkets lead you to believe that only Sauvignon Blanc and Malbec exist.

We genuinely love pretty much every wine grape on the planet so we won’t be disingenuous and say Chenin is our favourite because, like with kids, its extremely hard to choose, and ultimately your favourites will change throughout the year, but Chenin does occupy a unique space in our hearts and palates, somewhere between the ubiquitous sauvignon blanc and Chardonnay, the eponymous divider of opinions. And that space is a beautiful one to be in. The grape is elegant but has real depth. We’ve never cracked a Chenin and had anyone displeased. It is a grape that provides fabulous acidity with the richness of pear, apricot and honey flavours making it a wonderful accompaniment to fresh summer salads, cheese and white meat dishes. It is the wine I flock to when it is presented on a list alongside the usual suspects because I know it will be met with oooohhhs and ahhhhhsss of ‘this is lovely’, ‘what is this?’, ‘this is different’.

For us at BOTTL it occupies the RICH category because it does have those rich flavours mentioned above. More specifically here you are getting ripe melon, yellow plum and a hint of ginger.

“Vouvray is Chenin Blanc, and to a certain extent, Chenin Blanc is Vouvray” –Jancis Robinson, The Oxford Companion to Wine

Vouvray is the name of the appellation in the Loire Valley just east of the beautiful town of Tours where this wine is made. This appellation is famed for planting 100% Chenin Blanc. Much of the Chenin produced here and shipped to the UK in the past would have been off-dry or demi-sec (French for off-dry) and so older drinkers may associate the word Vouvray with something slightly sweet, not akin to a dry white wine, but I assure you our Chateau Moncontour is as dry as they come and perfect for the patio in this fine summer weather we’re having.

I am yet to visit the Loire Valley myself with a trip thwarted by the pandemic but it is without doubt one of the most majestic wine regions in the world with glorious chateaus gracing the banks of the Loire river including Moncontour which dates back to the 15th Century. If you plan to visit, then you must head to Vouvray to sample the finest expressions of Chenin Blanc in the world but before that why not whack this bottle in your next BOTTL box and see what we mean about it being the subtle but oh so delightful alternative to your usual dry white.

Here’s to Drinking Differently.

Phil

If you’ve ever been to France you’ll have seen this salad gracing any good bistro’s menu, especially in the Alps and the Loire Valley where they make an abundance of Chevré – goats cheese to us British! This is such a simple salad but the mix of salty bacon lardons, creamy goats cheese, crunchy salad and acidic dressing make it unbelievably delicious. It’s also healthy-ish!

INGREDIENTS – serves 2

2 wheels of goats cheese

2 little gem lettuces

A pack of bacon lardons

200g tomatoes

5 spring onions

A handful of walnuts

French bread

For the dressing

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons apple cyder vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

A couple of pinches of salt

METHOD

1.

Switch on the grill to 180C.

2.

Heat a non-stick wide based pan and add the bacon lardons. Allow to slowly cook, stirring occasionally. You want these to turn nice and crispy. No need to use oil as the lardons will release their own fat.

3.

Slice your french bed into two rectangular pieces. Place the goats cheese wheels on top. Place on a baking tray and place under the grill for 10-12 minutes. Keep an eye on them – you want the cheese to melt slightly and brown on top but the toast not to burn!

4.

Chop the ends of the little gem lettuces off, break the leaves apart, give them a wash and arrange in a salad bowl.

5.

Chop your tomatoes into bite size pieces. Add to the salad.

6.

Slice the spring onions and add to the salad bowl.

7.

After the goats cheese has been in for 5minutes, add your walnuts to the baking try so they are nicely toasted when the cheese is done.

8.

Make the dressing. Use an empty jar or a mug to mix. Add the teaspoon of dijon mustard, the two tablespoons of cyder vinegar and olive oil and a couple of pinches of salt. Shake if using a jar with a lid or give a good stir if using a mug. Taste. If too acidic add a little more oil, if too flabby, add a little more cyder vinegar.

9.

The lardons should be nice and crispy now. Pour them on to the salad. Drizzle the dressing over and give everything a good mix.

10.

Take the goats cheese and walnuts out the grill. Sprinkle the walnuts on top of the salad then place the goats cheese and french bread on top. Drizzle with a little more dressing or olive oil.

11.

Serve with a nice chilled glass of our WHITE. RICH. GREAT. Vouvray Chateau Moncontour. Delicious!