Natural
wine tasting
March
2007
‘Natural
wine’ is an ill-defined, but useful term, which encompasses a range
of approaches to making wine without too much intervention. There’s
no ‘official’ movement, but there is a loose association of
growers who attend periodic natural wine conferences where they show
their wines together. At the extreme, the term ‘natural’ refers to
wines made without any additions at all, including sulfur dioxide (SO2),
which is added to almost all wines: it acts as a microbicide and
protects the wine against the deleterious effects of oxygen. Most
natural winemakers will still use a little SO2: the choice
to eliminate it is a brave one, and most people consider it to be a
risk too far.
Working
successfully without SO2 is challenging: the fruit needs to
be free from any rot, the winemaking needs to be hygeinic and perfect
storage conditions are required. A degree of luck helps. Not many
people try, so it was fun to get a chance to try a variety of wines
made this way all together in one sitting. These varied wines were
tasted blind, and notes are reproduced as written before the identity
of the wines was known. The exception here is the first two wines:
while we didn’t know the identity, we were told that these were the
same wine, one with no sulfur dioxide additions and one with a little
added at bottling. I confess that I guessed from this snippet of
information and the wax capsule that they were Beaujolais from
Lapierre.
Marcel Lapierre Morgon 2005 Beaujolais, without
added sulfur dioxide
Quite deep coloured with a pure dark cherry fruit nose. Quite soft
and lush with a spicy overlay. Reasonably elegant, but the earthy,
spicy character sticks out a bit on the finish. Sweet an open but with
some tannin. Very good+ 87/100
Marcel Lapierre Morgon 2005 Beaujolais, with sulfur
dioxide
A bit sweeter and brighter on the nose. The palate is pure and
elegant with smooth berry and dark cherry fruit, a bit of spice and
some softness. Good purity of fruit here. Very good+ 88/100
Domaine Gramenon Tout’en Bulle de Gramenon, Vin de
Table de France
This is a sparkling wine. It has a nice nose that shows vanilla,
spice and some apple, plus some sweetness. Alluring. The palate is
unusual but delicious with rich, warm, spicy, toasty flavours
complementing the fruit. Nice zippy acidity, too. Very good/excellent
90/100
Sebastien Riffault Sancerre 2005 Loire
A golden colour, this has an oxidised nose that’s honey, bready,
appley, sweet and nutty. The palate is sweet, soft, smooth and quite
flat, with a rich texture. It is distinctive, showing apple and herb
and cheese notes. Really more-ish even though it’s a bit off-beat.
Very good/excellent 90/100
Domaine de Chassorney Saint Romain ‘Combe Bazin’
2004 Burgundy
Yellow gold colour. Distinctive, intense nose is a bit lemony at
first but also has some honeyed melony richness. The palate is quite
flat: soft, concentrated, a bit tangy with flat fruit. Unusual. Very
good+ 86/100
Eric Pifferling Côtes du Rhône L’Anglore 2005 Rhône
A bit cloudy. Sweetly spiced, delicious, rather exotic nose with a
savoury edge. Lovely open elegance on the palate with a spicy finish
and some earthy, savoury notes on the finish. It has that sort of
natural wine palate that I rather like. Odd but nice. Very
good/excellent 91/100
Eric Pifferling Tavel L’Anglore 2005 Rhône
Strikingly pale, rather turbid pink colour. Lovely complex spicy
nose is a bit fruity and quite sweet. Soft, flat palate with a bit of
spiciness. Unusual with a rather earthy aftertaste. Interesting, but
let down by the palate a little. Very good+ 86/100
Jean Foillard Morgon 2005 Beaujolais
Deep coloured. Spicy edge to the full dark cherry fruit nose. The
palate is full with a smooth elegance to the rich, dark fruit. Supple
and smooth with nice richness, and more than a jot of elegance. I was
surprised by how dark and full this wine was. Very good/excellent
91/100
Marcel Lapierre Morgon 2004 Beaujolais
The fresh, bright nose has a herby edge to the bright cherry and
berry fruit. It has a smooth ultra-elegant, supple palate with real
class. Very pure. A bit of spice, too. Delicious. Very good/excellent
92/100
Yannick Pelletier St Chinian L’Oislet 2005
Languedoc
Deep coloured, this shows sweet ripe fruit on the nose with a
spicy complexity. Chocolatey, rich and bold. The palate has lovely
soft open fruit with great density. Elegant and rich without being
harsh in any way. Soft, long and moreish. Very good/excellent 92/100
Maxime Magnon Corbières Rozeta 2005
Rich, striking spicy nose with dark fruits predominant.
Interesting. The palate is soft and full with nice freshness of fruit
and good tannic structure. Appealing. Very good+ 89/100
Stellar Organics No Added Sulphur Merlot 2006
This was the surprise of the tasting. Very dark, spicy, intense,
savoury, deeply fruited nose. Rich, sweet, ripe fruit dominates the
palate, but is underpinned by a minerally earthiness to the
blackcurrant fruit. Lovely in a sort of Australian style. Very
good/excellent 90/100
Wines tasted 03/07
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