The Hedonistic Taster | № 36 | #Winophiles + Love: L’Amour Du Patrimoine

The Hedonistic Taster | № 36 | #Winophiles + Love: L’Amour du Patrimoine

by L.M. Archer, FWS | Bourgogne ML

A Tasse de dégustiation, or tastevin, is a silver tasting cup used by vignerons and negociants in Burgundy to taste wines. Most are presented as christening gifts at birth.

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“Wine should not be regarded simply as a beverage, but as an art of living, a pleasure.” – Henri Jayer

Welcome to The Hedonistic Taster, an intimate showcase of artisan winemaker trade samples. The title “Hedonistic Taster” derives from the term ‘hedonistic tasting,’ coined by legendary Burgundian vigneron Henri Jayer.

These tasting notes focus upon Burgundy, bubbles and beyond, including emerging pinot noir and bubbles producers worldwide.

Today’s Tasting: #Winophiles+Love: L’Amour du Patrimoine

Famille Bougrier Pure Loire Rosé d’Anjou 2016 paired with organic salad, marinated salmon and freshly baked, seeded boule.

What better Valentine’s Day pairing than L’Amour and French wine?

This month’s French #Winophiles, a group of wine industry influencers with a penchant for French wines, share their favorite pairings with wines generously facilitated by Jill Barth’s co-host Lynn Gowdy of Savor the Harvest.

These wines represent four exciting French wine regions currently capturing consumers’ attention: Savoie, Loire Valley, Beaujolais, and northern Rhone Valley’s Côte de Brune and Côte de Blonde.

Affordable, accessible, and food friendly, the wines vary in cultivars, approach, and style, but all hail from long-established domaines that share a common respect for terroir, and L’Amour du patrimoine, or heritage.

Savoie Wines are appreciated for their great complexity and freshness, very dry, fruity with a lot of minerality.

" data-orig-size="85,296" data-image-title="Apremont Savoie" data-orig-file="https://binnotes.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/apremont-583.jpg?w=700" class="size-full wp-image-18105" data-medium-file="https://binnotes.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/apremont-583.jpg?w=700?w=85" data-permalink="https://binnotes.com/2018/02/13/the-hedonistic-taster-%e2%84%96-36-winophiles-love-lamour-de-patrimoine/apremont-583/" alt="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-large-file="https://binnotes.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/apremont-583.jpg?w=700?w=85" />Jean Perrier et Fils Apremont, Savoie.

Wine: Domaine Perrier & Fils Apremont Gastronomie, Fleur de Jacquère

Vintage: 2017

About the Producer: A seventh-generation family owned domain founded in 1853, Jean Perrier & Fils possesses 62 hectares in the sloping mountains of Savoy and the French Alps. Learn more about Domaine Jean Pierre et Fils here.

Alcohol: 11.5%

Suggested Retail: $13

Producer Specs: 100% Jacquère – a mid-sized, thick-skinned, tightly bunched grape variety native to Savoie noted for its bitter, juicy pulp.

Fruit sourced from old domain vineyards planted to argilo-calcaire soils in Les Marches, St. Baldoph and Apremont. Manual harvest, pneumatic pressing, three-week fermentation.

TASTING NOTES

Robe: Light lemon-gold robe.

Nose: Mountain flowers, yellow and white.

Palate: Lemon, Anjou pear, fleurs blanches, mineral core. Light body, bright acids, clean finish. Fresh, complex, idiosyncratic. Excellent quality for the value.

Famille Bougrier Pure Loire Rosé d’Anjou 2016.

Wine: Famille Bougrier Pure Loire Rose d’Anjou

Vintage: 2016

About the Producer: One of the Loire Valley’s last family owned domaines, Famille Bougrier is a sixth-generation winery founded in 1885. The winery comprises 85 hectares on three domaines spanning from Nantes to Sancerre.

More about Famille Bougrier here.

Alcohol: 11%

Suggested Retail: $13.99 (Sold exclusively at Total Wines.)

Producer Specs: 50% Gamay, 50% Grolleau. Clay with silica soils. A blend of both macerated and pressed juice, matured in stainless steel tanks.

TASTING NOTES

Robe: Pale rose-petal pink robe.

Nose: Yeasty peach and apricot fuzz notes.

Palate: Ripe stone fruit bouche, lilting floral finish. Medium body, slightly sweet.

Vignerons de Bel-Air produce wines from throughout Beaujolais, including all ten crus: Brouilly,Chénas, Chiroubles,Côte de Brouilly,Fleurie,Juliénas, Morgon, Moulin à Vent, Régnié, and Saint-Amour.

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Wine: Vignerons de Bel-Air Saint-Amour Cru de Beaujolais

Vintage: 2016

About the Producer: Founded in 1929, Vignerons de Bel-Air includes 250 growers and 700 ha vineyards dotted throughout Beaujolais. Vignerons de Bel-Air lays claim as the largest producer of Crus du Beaujolais, all estate bottled.

More about Vignerons de Bel Air here.

Alcohol: 13%

Suggested Retail: $18.99

Producer Specs: 100% Gamay sourced from 60+ year-old, gobelet-trained vines planted in a soil admix of granite, clay, limestone and schists.

Hand-harvested, semi-carbonic and traditional fermentation, aged five months in stainless steel tanks.

TASTING NOTES

Robe: Clear garnet robe.

Nose: Mushroom, red currant, dusty mineral notes.

Palate: Pomegranate, dark cherry, deep mineral core. Acids, tannins and finish+.

Vidal-Fleury is one of the oldest producers of wines in the Rhone Valley, including those from from steep slopes of Côte de Brune and Côte de Blonde.

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Wine: Vidal-Fleury Côte-Rôtie Brune & Blonde de Vidal-Fleury

Vintage: 2013

About the Producer: Established in 1781, Vidal-Fleury remains the oldest continuously operating winery in the Rhone Valley. More about Vidal-Fleury here.

Alcohol: 13.5%

Suggested Retail: $72

Producer Specs: 95% Syrah, 5% Viognier.

Fruit grown on extremely steep, thinly layered granitic terraces. Southwestern Côte Blonde contains silica-rich gneiss and clayey sands; northeastern Côte Brune sports mica-schist, coupled with iron and manganese oxide, producing deeper soil with more clay.

Extended traditional maceration (three weeks), “pigeage” at initiation, then pump- over. Indigenous yeast induced fermentation. Controlled, rather warm maceration (30°C /86°F). 100% malolactic fermentation.

Aged on lees three years in barrels and wood vat “foudres”.
Natural clarification, stabilization by settling, one filtration via Cross Flow. Unfined. Bottle maturation: 6 months prior to shipment.

TASTING NOTES

Robe: Dark ruby robe.

Nose: Potpourri, pepper, dark red fruit.

Palate: Nose carries through to bouche. Surprisingly thin-bodied, acids and tannins+, quiet finish.

❧

More #Winophile L’Amour here:

Jill Barth of L’Occassion

Jeff Burrows of FoodWineClick

Lynn Gowdy of Savor the Harvest

Michelle Williams of Rockin Red Blog

Gwendolyn Lawrence Alley of Wine Predator

Susannah Gold of avvinare.com