Benjamin Roffet at Château Pichon-Longueville Baron, Pauillac

Pichon-Longueville Baron vineyards

Champs de la Truffière

One more star joined our collection yesterday... Champs de la Truffière 2008 from Domaine du Deffends in Provence. Blend of 55% cabernet sauvignon and 45% syrah gives a wine with character. After an hour in decanter the wine had blackcurrant, tobacco and black truffles aromas on the nose suggesting a certain evolution  and complexity of flavours. In the mouth black fruits and  licorice were perfectly married by the tannins. Vintage 2008 is ready to be drunk now but will still be great in 4 or 5 years time.
The wine has spent 2 years of ageing in a tank and 400 and 600 liter barrels plus one year in a bottle.



One

Renaissance des Appellations 2013

Renaissance des Appellations 2013 at Grenier St Jean, Angers, Loire Valley was a great place today to taste organic and biodynamic wines. I had a pleasure to taste wines with Catherine and Phillipe Delesvaux from Domaine Phillipe Delesvaux in Loire Valley and with Jacky Barthelmé from Domaine Albert Mann in Alsace. 

Salon des vins de Loire tomorrow will be a chance to taste more wines and maybe find some new producers to add to Vinovino's portfolio.

Benjamin Roffet

Millésime Bio 2013 - organic wines show's 20th anniversary

Millésime Bio 2013 is taking place for the 20th time in Montpellier. Almost 700 wine producers from around the world are presenting their organic wines. There are many exhibitors from France where organic winegrowing has never before been so popular. France is today second after Spain biggest producer of vin bio from organically grown grapes. There are three French regions holding  two-thirds of the surface
area in certified vineyards: Languedoc-Roussillon, followed by the Provence-Côte d’Azur region and Aquitaine. The organic sector is expanding because there is more and more demand for it.

Champagne Agrapart&Fils

Domaine Agrapart in Avize, Champagne is run by Pascal Agrapart who joined his father at the beginning of the 1980s. He decided to vinify different parcels of his 10 hectares vineyard separately to produce wines reflecting the terroirs. Recently Pascal coplanted one parcel with all 6 permitted grapes varieties: chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot meunier, pinot meslier, pinot blanc and arbane to see if terroir can dominate a grape variety. Coplanting is a new concept that Pascal wants to develop.

Frantz Chagnoleau: Rising star of the Mâconnais

A perfect wine for X'mas

My perfect wine for Christmas? Coteaux du Layon, Cuvée Les Clos 2010, from Domaine Philippe Delesvaux made from botritised and late harvest (50:50) chenin blanc grapes. It is luscious and deliciously sweet, but not clogging. Works well with marzipan, foie gras and all the festive cakes, from fruit cake, cheesecake to poppyseed cake.
The sweetness that comes from late harvest dehydration is perfectly balanced by the acidity. On the nose quince, pink grapefruit and apricot flavours are combined with honey. In the mouth the wine is round and rich, well balanced with long-lasting finish.
Can't wait till Christmas...