The Mediterranean coast of Provence has become synonymous with rosé, but not all Provençal rosés are created equal. Château La Suffrène is situated in the Bandol appellation, one of the region’s most distinctive wine areas. Sheltered by hills and cooled by sea breezes from the Mediterranean, Bandol is best known for mourvèdre, a grape that brings structure, character and longevity even to rosé wines.
The estate has been in the same family for generations and today farms around 50 hectares of vineyards surrounding the château. The vineyards are cultivated with respect for the local environment, and the focus is firmly on expressing the character of Bandol’s limestone-rich soils and sunny maritime climate.
Domaine La Suffrène Rosé 2024 is made primarily from mourvèdre, supported by grenache and cinsault. The grapes are harvested at night or during the cool hours of the morning to preserve freshness. After gentle pressing, fermentation takes place at controlled temperatures in stainless steel tanks. The wine is then matured on its fine lees for a short period to enhance texture while retaining its bright fruit profile.
Domaine La Suffrène 2024 (Ch. La Suffrène)
In the glass, the wine displays a pale salmon-pink colour with delicate copper highlights. The nose offers aromas of wild strawberry, white peach, pink grapefruit and Mediterranean herbs, accompanied by a subtle saline note. On the palate, it is dry, fresh and beautifully balanced, combining ripe red berry fruit with citrus-driven acidity and a gentle mineral undertone. The finish is long, clean and refreshing, leaving a lingering impression of sea breeze and Provençal sunshine.
The name Mon Coeur – “my heart” – is not chosen lightly. This cuvée is Jean-Louis Chave’s personal tribute to the southern Rhône.
The blend is dominated by grenache with syrah and mourvèdre, sourced from vineyards around Vinsobres, Visan and neighbouring villages. Fermentation is followed by ageing in a combination of concrete and large oak casks.
The wine was enjoyed in Madrid, at La Caníbal of Lavapiés, and fitted perfectly with their take on the Beef Wellington.
Mon Coeur 2023(Jean-Louis Chave)
Deep ruby with a youthful purple rim. Generous aromas of dark cherries, blackberries and crushed herbs, with a touch of pepper and garrigue. The palate is supple yet structured, with ripe fruit, fresh acidity and finely grained tannins that give the wine both charm and depth.
This is a wine with warmth and a sense of terroir, a southern Rhône seen through the lens of one of the valley’s most thoughtful producers. A bottle that proves how much character can live within the humble designation Côtes du Rhône.
Here is a Tuscan red with a Mediterranean soul, a litre of pure joy.
Ampeleia, based in the coastal hills of Maremma, is the project of Francesco Pascucci, who works according to biodynamic principles with a strong focus on biodiversity and landscape. The vineyards lie between 200 and 600 metres above sea level, influenced by Mediterranean vegetation and cooling sea breezes.
The wine is based on alicante (grenache), complemented by carignan and mourvèdre. Grown organically on sandy soils, the grapes are fermented with native yeasts, given a gentle maceration, and aged for a short time in concrete – a style that emphasises freshness and drinkability.
Unlitro 2023(Ampeleia)
Pale in colour, it opens with juicy red berries, a touch of wild herbs and a gentle earthy note. Light-bodied, soft and slightly salty – a wine made for long lunches and warm evenings.
Chance had it that the same vintage of Tempier that I tasted when visiting the domaine in 2013, appeared at a dinner last week. Tempier may be most famous for their stylish rosés. I am a huge fan of their reds (not to say: whites).
From my visit to Tempier
A little piece of history. When Lucie “Lulu” Tempier married Lucien Peyraud in 1936, her father gave them Domaine Tempier, a farm that had been in the family since 1834, just outside the Mediterranean village of Bandol. Tasting a pre-phylloxera bottle of Domaine Tempier Bandol (a wedding gift from his father-in-law) inspired Lucien to research the terroir of Bandol extensively. Up until that point, old vineyards planted with mourvèdre had been systematically replanted to higher-yielding varietals. However, more research not only showed its historical roots to the area, but the grape proved to be more resistant to oxidation, producing wines with great aging potential. By 1941, with the assistance of neighboring vignerons, Lucien worked with the I.N.A.O. (Institut National des Appellations d’Origines) to establish Bandol as its own A.O.C.
This story is told by Anthony Lynch, American importer, whose family are close friends with the people behind Tempier. Lynch calls Lucien the godfather of Bandol and the man who revived mourvèdre to its former glory. And he continues, “if any wine can be said to have soul, it’s Tempier”.
From my visit to Tempier
The wine comes from various sites with clay and calcareous soils. The varieties ate predominantly mourvèdre with small quantities of grapes such as grenache, cinsault and carignan. It was aged in large oak casks some 18 months before bottling.
Bandol 2011 (Domaine Tempier)
Cherry red with brick nuances. Rich nose of mature fruits (cherry, plums), herbs (cinnamon, thyme), mushroom, a touch of barnyard (maybe game). Good volume in the mouth, still plenty of fruit and some fine tannins, hints of earth and toast. Subtle and balanced, maybe at its peak now.
Raw Wine brings a lot of activity also outside the fair itself. The day before Raw Wine I had the pleasure to attend a tasting at Café Josephine in the Amager neighborhood of København. It was organized by importer Christopher Melin of Melin Vin, who has an impressive portfolio. Here follow just a few highlights among the many magnificent wines and makers.
What could be more appropriate than to start, like I did last Saturday, at the table of two Danish brothers. Poppelvej is Uffe (winemaker) and Jens Deichman who run their estate in McLaren Vale, South Australia. From organically and biodynamically tended vineyards there and in the neighbouring Adelaide Hills, they produce wines in a natural way, with little or no use of sulphur. Poppelvej is the name of the street in Denmark where the brothers grew up. SommerNat Pét Nat from mourvèdre came in two vintages; the 2022 had a light peach colour and was very fresh, berry fruity and with herbs, while the 2021, with longer time in concrete eggs resulted a bit creamier and fatter in texture. Irresistible Impulse 2022 is a sauvignon blanc fermented in barrel and aged on lees for 10 months. It’s light and turbid in appearance, with notes of apples, passionfruit and herbs, good volume, textured, with crisp acidity, and with a slight bitterness in the finish. Lastly, Lille 2022 is based on the northern Italian grape teroldego. It’s quite dark with a blueish hint, dark and wild fruits, some spice and earth, with a light sparkle.
There were three Italian producers in the “garden party” of Café Josephine organised by Melin Vin (see previous post). Ampeleia is located in the Maremma region of Toscana, specifically in the medieval town Roccatederighi. Under manager Marco Tait they converted to organic and then biodynamic. Francesco Pascucci brought to this tasting a personal trebbiano-dominated blend (with ansonica and malvasia) simply called Bianco di Ampelaia 2022. It’s a light orange wine with a nice dried fruit character that adds complexity to the fresh fruits and orange peel aromas, and with a light structure in the mouth. He also presented a delicious blend in one litre bottle aptly called Unlitro 2022, easy to drink with fresh fruits, herbs and some balsamic. Alicante Nero 2017 is a wine with personality and depth; light and fresh red fruits, but underneath a layer of herbs and earth, and with a delicate structure. Their emblematic cabernet franc wines were offered at the fair itself, if I got it right.
There were two producers from Veneto. Alex Della Vecchia is winemaker for Costadilà in prosecco-land north of Venezia, but he also has his own project called Ombretta. Simone Ambrosini’s Indomiti is found in Colli Berici, Vicenza.
Alex Della Vecchia sources grapes from the family’s vineyards in two municipalities. For his Grinton label he also uses organic grapes from friends elsewhere in Italy. Here in the current vintage Alex showed an easy-drinking, delicate pinot bianco and a more structured, reddish skin-contact pinot grigio. A wine with a tremendous personality was a cabernet franc pét nat. (I must ask Alex about the name, so stay tuned!). The colour was light red with fine bubbles, an aroma of flowers, peel and a sweetish hint, and in the mouth it was tasty, concentrated with a raisiny touch. The wine had been made from passito (dried) grape juice, Alex informs.
Simone Ambrosini tells a story about him as a young man travelling to Australia, in search for harmony and the good things in life, more or less at random. Among other things he learns to love wine. Back in Italy he embarks on studies in enology and viticulture. After working with several wineries he decided to set up his own, with “a wallet full of ambition”, as he puts it. This was as recently as 2018. Now he rents old vineyards that he has restored in Colli Berici, his homeland. These vines, now brought back to life, are the “indomiti”, the indomitable ones that gave name to his project. Mistica was a lovely garganega 9 month skin-contact wine with good structure to the primary fruit. I tasted two wines with tai rosso. The varietal Osai2021 rosé shows delicate raspberry aromas, and in the mouth there is a cool acidity running through an otherwise round and fleshy body. Opplà 2021 is an uplifting pét nat rosé, where the tai rosso is accompanied by garganega, pinot bianco and sauvignon blanc. It’s light orange, aromas of white flowers, peach and a touch of orange peel, and in its lightness it’s full of flavours and with a refreshing integrated acidity.
Two German producers were present. It’s always a pleasure to taste the outstanding wines of Brand Bros of Bockenheim, Pfalz. These are made in full respect of the terroir, without additives, unfiltered, and always full of freshness and energy. This is the first time that I have met one of the brothers, Jonas Brand, who guided the guests through part of their portfolio.
I have had their charming Wilder Satz in many wine bars throughout Europe. The 2022 is different though, as 18 hours of skin-contact gives it more colour and structure than before. It also has good volume and appears quite grapey, and with lovely scents of citrus (clementine), flowers and some balsamic. Jonas brought two magnificent magnums, a non vintage Riesling (with that name) and Monastery 2016. The latter was light yellow in colour, with concentrated aromas of yellow fruits, some balsamic, and on the palate good acidity and wonderful balance. Add to this super pét nats, reds, among them a brilliant Cabernet Franc 2015, and you get the picture of a great producer.
Unknown to me was Glow Glow of Nahe. Pauline Baumberger runs it with her brother. Pauline showed various fresh, lovely uncomplicated whites from riesling and gelber muskateller, a relatively dark dorenfelder/regent, and more. Here we focus on the Spätburgunder 2022, that has all the young virtues of the white wines under a coloured cover. Made partly with carbonic maceration and short skin-contact it appears as a light rosé-ish wine with red fruits on the nose, and with a delicious natural acidity wrapped in a rounded body.
It seems to be no end to the list of interesting producers coming out of the ancient and historic wine country of Georgia. Andria’s Gvino I had never heard of, but now it’s not easy to forget. The winery is located in the Kakheti region, not far from the capital Tbilisi. They make their wines in the traditional and natural way, in qvevri, without additives and without filtration.
Winemaker George Wolski and his wife Tako showed me their main line and also the wines that come with the Château Khashmi label. There was a number of beautiful amber and red wines, of which I will only mention two. Their Mtsvane had lots of character. The colour was light amber, with aromas of mature citrus, orange peel and a touch of marzipan, and in the mouth it was rich and structured with a touch of raisins. George tells that the must spent five days with full skin-contact in qvevris. The Saperavi Khashmi 2020 comes from a 40 years old pre-phylloxera vineyard. Saperavi is fascinating grape that often has an impressively dark colour, but is still highly drinkable. This one is not among the darkest and has a blueish hue. I find it quite flowery with dark fruits (boysenberries), plums, some earthiness, and in the mouth it’s fresh and juicy, with some tannin, and overall it’s very appealing.
This was my first opportunity to visit restaurant Angr of Stavanger, Norway. It’s a restaurant that serves natural wines with nicely elaborated food with interesting tastes. Their by-the-glass list is not very extensive, but they will open bottles outside the menu too.
Credit: Angr
We had whites from Swartland (Mother Rock) and Beaujolais (J.P. Brun) and reds from Crozes-Hérmitage (Les 4 Vents), and for the second time Swartland (Badenhorst).
Then we had this fabulous, energetic wine also from Swartland, South Africa. Jurgen Gouws of Intellego tells that after a great surfing experience in Bali he ended up naming the wine after a special spot, and thus transferring the surfing energy to the wine.
It was whole bunch fermented under semi-carbonic conditions for 8 days in stainless steel tanks and aged in old barrels of different sizes.
It’s made from Rhône grapes syrah 50%, cinsaut (he spells it without an -l-) 20% and mourvèdre 30%, dry farmed bush wines.
Kedungu 2019(Intellego)
Ruby red. Scented, aroma of wild fruits (cranberry) and plums, with a hint of black olives. Juicy in the mouth, light tannin, fruity, and finishes off dry.
Price: Medium
Food: We had it with smoked salmon and tortillas, but should go well with a variety of salads, white fish and light meat.
A short note this time. Domaine Henri Milan was created in 1956. When Henri took over in 1984 there had been used excessive chemical treatments for many years, and he saw on other solution than to change into organic farming. In recent years the domaine has released one magnificent wine after another.
This wine is a typical fresh, young one, can we say somewhat Beaujolais inspired. 100% mourvèdre grapes were fermented in two separate tanks. One underwent carbonic maceration, while the other had a more traditional treatment. Then the two were blended before bottling. Mourvèdre typically accounts for heavyweight, robust wines. In this case it’s 12% alcohol (the previous vintage was 11), fresh and easy.
Nouveau Mourvèdre 2021(H. Milan)
Cherry red, blueish hue. Smells of red berries (raspberry), herbs and black pepper. Simple and juicy, yet with a soft touch of tannin, a touch of “carbonic”, and an energetic acidity.
Jurgen Gouws makes cool, fresh and focused wines in Swartland, South Africa. An earlier assistant winemaker under Craig Hawkins at Lammershoek, he soon established his own label Intellego.
The rented vineyards and the wines are managed with least possible interference. He was one of the first in Swartland to experiment with skin-contact for Chenin Blanc, very lightly in the fabulous (almost) orange wine Elementis.
The vines used for the Pink Moustache were planted in 1988 and 2001. The grapes are syrah 59%, cinsault 33% and mourvedre 8%. Whole clusters are pressed before spontaneous fermentation four days in used barrels. The wine matures 5 months, also in used barrels.
ThePink Moustache 2020(Intellego)
Light ruby red. Aroma of dark and red berries (raspberries), flowers, herbs and pepper. Luscious, juicy, with a light tannin touch, and just enough acidity. Lovely glou-glou, best lightly chilled.
Price: Medium
Food: Light meats, pizza, pasta, salads and cured meats.
Plateau has been Brighton’s palace of natural wines for many years now. Since my last visit Jake, from the bar 1909 (see here), has taken over as a manager. His partner Jon has taken over as bar manager after Johan (see another report from Plateau here), who is now at Cincin Hove (more about that later). The kitchen team is led by James Mcilveen, and takes great pride in serving good, organic food from local farms. To jump to the conclusion: Plateau still delivers!
Our waiter Alex led us safely through the menu with its bites and plates. If my memory doesn’t fail me we ended up with cured trout, lobster bisque, beef tartar, bavette steak, everything with a creative twist, and concluded with a board of five English cheeses.
Here are the wines that we enjoyed this dark October evening in Brighton, everything chosen from their by-the-glass offer.
Pétillant Naturel 2017 (Famille de Conti)
A charming, straightforward pet nat from the de Conti family’s château in Bergerac, in the French Sud-Oest. It’s made from varieties sauvignon blanc (90%) and chenin blanc, according to biodynamic principles, unfiltered and with no added sulphur. The colour is light yellow. Smells of red apples and some light tropic fruit (litchis). Appley fruit, and quite high acidity to balance some residual sugar.
Impera 2015(Dva Duby)
This is a wine grown in stony soil in southern Moravia (Czech Republic), close to the Austrian border. The grapes are well-known in their neighbouring country too: 70% St. Laurent (here called svatovavrinecke) and blaufränkish (here: frankovka). It’s a cherry red (light, I think – it was difficult to see the colour in the room), delicate and fruity (raspberry), and luscious, smooth and fruity in the mouth, with just a slight touch of oak (almost too little to mention).
Continuing with two wines from La Clarine Farm, Sierra Foothills (California), both called jambalaia (sic!), blanc and rouge respectively.
In the sparse light of the bar the picture became as unclear as the wine itself…
La Clarine Farm Jambalaia Blanc 2015(LaClarine Farm)
The ‘blanc’ was not exactly white, but sorted under orange, as the skin-contact had been quite prolonged. Dominated by Rhône grapes, mostly viognier, but also marsanne, and with small percentages of petit manseng and albariño.
Smells of white flowers, citrus, peach, pineapple. Juicy in the mouth, but also with a high acidity, and a slight bitterness in the finish.
La Clarine Farm Jambalaia Rouge 2015(LaClarine Farm)
Here all grapes are known as Rhône grapes, although the main grape mourvèdre is of Spanish origin (and known as monastrell).
Cherry red, cloudy. Good fruit, raspberry, cherry, somewhat earthy. A bit tannic, quite high acidity.
A wine from Valle de Uco inside the bigger region of Mendoza (Argentina). The winemaker is Pol Andsnes. Being Norwegian, for me this name can evoke distinctive classical piano chords, but this Andsnes is a wine punk born in San Francisco, who wants to challenge established ways to make wine, according to his own website. ‘Polos opuestos’ is Spanish for ‘poles apart’, and as I read him, Pol is satisfied if the ideas from the opposition once can be the norm. Something like that. Anyway, this wine is made from three barrels of Chardonnay vinified in three different ways. You can read from the drawing on the label that they are one barrel of direct pressing and reductive ageing on lees, one barrel of one year skin contact, and one barrel of direct pressing aged under flor. They were blended after two years.
The colour is obviously quite dark (a better description is difficult in this -lack of- light). It’s fresh, with flowers, orange peel and yellow apples; quite full-bodied, with a solid backbone, and an oxidative character from the flor. It’s an interesting experiment and a wine with lots of vitality, and the winemaker’s energy shines through.
Plateau has many natural wine classics and many of my personal favourites on their current list. Some are Foillard, Ganevat, Landron, Matassa, Frick, Maule, COS, Alfredo Maestro, Barranco Oscuro, Testalonga, to name only a few. Sniff around these pages, and you will meet all of them. And you have understood by now that this natural wine bar is highly recommended, it never disappoints – and if you get the chance: Go there!
Before going for a stroll on the black Brighton november beach, we rounded it all off with a well-known champagne. It was the Cuvée Réserve Brut, from Pierre Gerbais, whose son Aurélien I met at a London wine fair a couple of years ago (see here). This red and white grape champagne is a lightly coloured, apple and citrus scented wine with a contribution of red fruits (strawberry, raspberry), and bisque, that ends off with an inspiring acidity.
Domaine de la Graveirette is located in the Southern Rhône valley, to the east of Châteauneuf du Pape, where they also make wine of that appellation. Julien Mus started the project in 2005, after finishing his studies in Burgundy. The 25 hectares of vineyards are farmed organic, and the wines now certified biodynamic. They have a freshness well above average in this part of France, and they are lovely drinking, though not at all simple.
The Ju de Vie is a favourite, with all its character and lusciousness. The 2016 is made from grenache 35%, merlot 30%, marselan 25% and mourvèdre 10%, grown in sandy soils with the typical round pebbles. It was aged for 8 months in concrete tanks, and only given a tiny amount of sulphur.
