Tag: Bourgogne

Nouveau day again

Published 22. November 2024 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

It’s beaujolais nouveau day again. The best producers have made light and delicate wines, while those from the more commercial wine houses are generally more thin.

Foillard and Brun are among those all time favourites who excel in this context. Dupond, that I discovered A couple of years ago, is delivering again. Last year’s find was Perrachon.

As I wrote then, Laurent Perrachon is based outside Juliénas and harvests six appellations. Martine and Laurent are fifth generation, and the sixth is also involved in the family business.

This nouveau is made exclusively from grapes grown in the Chânes municipality on granite and blue stone soil. The wine underwent 5 days carbonic maceration.

Beaujolais Nouveau 2024 (Perrachon)

Dark cherry. Red fruits, predominantly raspberry and strawberry, with some dark berries and flowers. Fresh in the mouth, soft tannins, good acidity, and a very generous fruit.

Price: Low

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Wine of the Week

Beautiful Brouilly

Published 18. October 2024 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Château Thivin dates back to 1877. Today the 6th generation of the Geoffray family runs the estate.

The name of the wine comes from seven plots at Mont Brouilly in Côte de Brouilly, each contributing to the complexity with their various orientations and characteristics.

The soils are dominated by the blue stones of the region, stonier for the highest plots and more clayey for those closer to the foot of the hill.

The wine is made partly with whole bunches and matured in oak tuns for 7 months. Blending is done in the spring.

Côte de Brouilly Les Sept Vignes 2023 (Château Thivin)

Garnet red with bluish hint. Aroma of cherry, blueberry and flowers, with a mineral touch. Round in the mouth with fine tannins, good acidity and a spicy finish.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Nouveau novelty

Published 17. November 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Yesterday was that day again. The third Thursday of November I always await with excitement. I feel that nowadays the craze is gone, the hype is silenced, it’s not that many people who talk about it as before. But the wines are better than ever. Well, the best wines might not be equally “sensational” as in the past few years (that means, the ones I have tasted, a few favourite producers and some wines I think I ought to try), but the overall quality is superb. Even if the wines are lovely now, there are a few that will drink well throughout the whole of next year.

A novelty for me is the no sulfur added nouveau from Laurent Perrachon. I read that the producer is based outside Juliénas and harvests six appellations, among them Chénas, Fleurie and Saint Amour. Martine and Laurent are fifth generation, and the sixth is also involved in the family business. They claim to be the independant winemaker in Beaujolais with the most comprehensive list of crus.

This nouveau originates from 3 hectares with gamay with an average age of 45 years, pruned in Gobelet (bush vines) in crystalline soils. The grapes were picked manually, before a semi-carbonic maceration for 4 days. Always in stainless steel vats. Total production is 8.000 bottles.

Beaujolais Nouveau Sans Sufre 2023 (Laurent Perrachon)

Dark red colour. The aromatics consist mainly of dark and wild fruits like blackberry, but also has some cherry and a component of strawberries, sweet flowers, and a balsamic note behind. It’s moderate on acidity, but compensates with a dense and generous fruit quality. It’s lightly structured with fine tannins, quite full on the palate, and good length with a fruity finish. A possible crowdpleaser.

Price: Medium

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Wine bars and restaurants and Wine of the Week

Classic classico

Published 4. August 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

I have been a couple of days in Grimstad, Norway, the beautiful seaside town of my childhood. The most inspiring restaurant these days is Smag & Behag. They have also opened another restaurant in neighbouring Kristiansand. But this is the original. The wine list is not very extensive, but they have a magnificent underground cellar, high ambitions – and the selection is well-crafted and consists of organic and natural wines of good quality.

Hans Petter Klemmetsen, founder and chef
(Credit: Smag & Behag)

For a four course meal I selected four wines together with the waiters. The three first wines -young and beautiful- were Brocard‘s saline Chablis Sainte Marie 2022, Domaine de Nozay‘s flinty Sancerre 2022 and Olivier Merlin‘s raspberry-scented Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2021. Instead of going for a dessert with a sweet wine I chose a selection of cheeses and this week’s wine, a classic style Chianti

Castell’in Villa is located in the south of Chianti Classico, just outside the village of Castelnuovo Berardenga east of Siena in Tuscany. The farm is run by the Greek-born Princess Coralia Pignatelli della Leonessa, who lives in a medieval tower on the property. Out of a total of 300 hectares, 54 ha are vineyards that are all grown organically.

The sangiovese grapes are grown in old river deposits with pebbles and sand, in a vineyard planted in the 1960’s. The grapes were picked by hand and spontaneously fermented, before 3 weeks’ skin maceration. The wine is aged in large oak barrels. Unclarified and unfiltered, and low sulfur (<40 mg/l).

Chianti Classico 2018 (Castell’in Villa)

Dark cherry red, with a beginning hint of brown. Aroma of red berries, herbs, leather, mushrooms. Firm and fine-grained tannins, good acidity, notes of tea and plums, with a decent concentration and length.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Guillot’s natural Mâconnais

Published 9. June 2023 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Clos des Vignes du Mayne in the Mâconnais (southern Bourgogne) has been owned by the Guillot family since 1952. The land has been used for farming for more thousand years, and no chemical products have ever been used. Now Julien Guillot makes the wines in the most natural way possible, and according to a biodynamic philosophy.

The Bourgogne Rouge Les Crays comes from a small plot of vines aged around 40 years old in calcareous soil. Certified by Demeter, Guillot uses natural treatments and preparations. The harvest is manual and the grapes are selected in the vineyard itself.

The pinot noir grapes are macerated in whole bunches for about 8 days. Following spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts, the wine ages in wooden barrels for 12 months. It is finally bottled without being filtered, clarified or any sulphur added.

Bourgogne Rouge Les Crays 2020 (Julien Guillot/ Clos des Vignes du Maynes)

Cherry red. Dark and red fruits (dark cherry, raspberry), tart plum and tea against a mineral background, and a hint of acetone. Good volume, meaty, lovely texture and good length.

Price: Medium

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Wine of the Week

Fanny Sabre in Pommard

Published 17. June 2022 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Fanny Sabre has in short time, and at a young age, become a respected producer in Bourgogne. After her father passed away in 2000, she and her mother have run the family domain in a magnificent way. (Read about another wine here, also with an introduction.)

Today she manages the 5-hectare domain from her cellar in the heart of Pommard. And the grapes for this week’s wine are sourced from plots in that commune. We enjoyed the wine at “the wine office”, Vinkontoret, in Stavanger, Norway.

Like for all her reds she has here used 100% whole clusters and matured the wine in mainly 400 liters and mostly used and partly some new barrels.

Pommard 2016 (Fanny Sabre)

Light cherry red. Aroma of red (cherry) and dark berries, touch underwood. Juicy in the mouth with fine-grained tannins, concentration in flavours, good acidity and length. Very delicate. Will keep.

Price: Medium/high

Food: Game, fowl, other light meat

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Wine of the Week

Beaujolais is back

Published 19. November 2021 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Beaujolais is back. The local people brings it back on the squares of central Beaujolais after two pandemic years. And as usual, from the third Thursday of November it’s arrivé here for us to enjoy.

One of the best I have tasted this year is a Beaujolais-Villages from Château du Chatelard. The château was first owned by the Tournus abbey of south Burgundy in the 12th century. Today the labels carry emblems of the families that have developed it further.

The actual 28 hectares were mainly established before 1955. They believe in integrated farming and grass cover of the parcels to preserve the soils and the biodiversity.

Aurélie de Vermont is now manager, and as winemaker she sticks to local traditions. She selects micro-cuvées from the many terroirs of both their Beaujolais and Mâconnais vineyards.

Typical for the area, low temperature semi-carbonic maceration is used for the nouveau. This means that whole and partial bunches of grapes are vatted and the alcoholic fermentation starts inside each grape. The low temperature allows a longer winemaking process (more than 10 days).

Baronne du Chatelard Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau 2021 (Château du Chatelard)

Deep purple, young. Aroma of sweet cherries, raspberries. Nice acidity, clean fruit, elegant and careful tannin

Price: Medium-low

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Wine of the Week

Pacalet’s Nuits-Saint-Georges

Published 1. March 2019 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Philippe Pacalet is one of the most talented négociants. Operating from Beaune since 2001, he works with growers from many parts of Bourgogne. He is not the type that buys in wines, but he works closely with the farmers, giving them his advice, buys the juice and follows and elevates the wines, so that he can put his stamp on them with his greatest confidence.

He tries to minimize the use of sulphur (and only before bottling), but his wines are still ageworthy. He never uses new oak, so there is never any disturbing oakiness.

During the latest years he has been looking outside Côte d’Or, such as Cornas, and he has even bought his own vineyards in Chénas and Moulin-à-Vent, Beaujolais.

He was the one who helped Fanny Sabre out in the beginning (read more here).

Nuits-Saint-Georges 2016 (Philippe Pacalet)

Cherry red. Mature red and dark fruits (blackberry), mineral and tobacco. Some tannin, fresh, concentrated and long.

Price: High

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Wine of the Week

Chablis, naturally

Published 18. January 2019 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Château de Béru is located in the small village Béru, to the east of Chablis town. It has been a property of the family of the same name since the 15th century. Athénaïs de Béru has been in charge since 2004, and now cultivates 15 hectares according to biodynamic principles.

Montserre is made from a single vineyard on the flatlands of the valley, where the soils contain mainly limestone with fragments of rock.

This wine was spontaneously fermented, then spent 3 months in steel and 3 months in old oak vats. There was no fining nor filtering, and no sulphur was added.

Montserre 2015 (Château de Béru)

Dark yellow, orange tones. Developed aromas of mature yellow fruits (mandarins, yellow tomatoes, mango), and a slightly bitter peel tone. Round and tasteful, quite powerful, and with a balancing acidity. A cool wine from a warm Chablis vintage.

Price: Medium

Food: A variety of fish (both red and white) and seafood, salads, tasteful cheeses, try with lightly spiced food too

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Wine of the Week

Sabre’s Burgundy

Published 11. January 2019 by Vidar Kenneth Johansen

Fanny Sabre was thrown into the vineyard, so to speak. Studying law at the university, her father suddenly died, and she took over the estate. Soon she discovered she actually liked the work. In the beginning she got help from Philippe Pacalet, natural wine guru in the area. It was adieu to conventional farming for good, and soon Fanny was ready to walk the path alone, carrying out most of the tasks herself.

Once here stood a local fort, and you see that here is too much history to dive into in a short note like this. So we come back to it in a later post.

Manual ploughing is employed, and no herbicides are used. Red wines, like this one, undergo whole-bunch maceration in concrete vats. Indigenous yeasts work, before the wines are aged for at least a year, without racking or fining and with only one very light stirring. Then they are transferred to stainless steel vats for three to four months, and lightly filtrated.

Monthélie 2016 (Fanny Sabre)

Light, brilliant red. Floral nose, with red berries (raspberry, strawberry), dark cherry and a dark minerality. Quite juicy in the mouth, yet concentrated, with supple berry notes, young and firm tannins, and a fresh acidity.

Price: Medium

Food: Light and read meat, game, tasty salads

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