Wines I'm Drinking: 2009 Les Coteaux des Berlou Saint Chinian "Schisteil Blanc"

Tonight I tasted the 2009 Schisteil Blanc Saint Chinian from Les Coteaux des Berlou, a tiny cooperative in the tiny town of Berlou, about 35 minutes north of Pouzolles, where I've been living for the summer. Berlou is one of the villages in the Saint Chinian appellation. This cooperative also makes a wonderful rosé and (in my view) a less interesting red wine. Notes follow.

A pale straw color. Smells like a vegetable stew in a rich tomato sauce, laced with creme--perhaps with a squeeze of lime in it--which is perhaps an odd thing for a white wine to smell like, but it works. Perhaps it would be better to say "stewed tomatoes and lime," but this immediately reminded me of a wonderful rabbit stew recipe from Paul Bocuse that comes in a vegetable-rich tomato-based sauce and is meant to be served with a dollop of cream in it. Later it began to smell of honey with a hint of roasted meat.

At first, the wine seems delicate on the palate--mostly just clean and crisp--but the initial acidity falls away quickly to reveal  a solid core of fruit, tending toward pears and citrus, and there's even a hint of tannin. Good length. A white wine with grip. A wave of subtler acidity comes back on the extended finish, with little bursts of grapefruit-like flavors on the very end. This is a delicious blend of Grenache Blanc, Rousanne, and Marsanne. Delightful. A bargain at about €5 a bottle (less than $6 a bottle). Why can't California wineries produce delicious wines like this at prices like this? A wine of this caliber in California would typically sell in the $17-$24 range--three to four times as much.

Wines I'm Drinking: Four Saint Chinian Rosés

Last night I tasted four Saint Chinian rosés. I enjoyed all four. Having now tasted about 15 rosés from the area where I'm staying for the summer (Pouzolles, France), I've come to the conclusion that the best rosés in the area come from this appellation. These dry wines are generally marked by a good balance between raspberry-like fruitiness and crisp acidity, often with toasted, brandy-like undertones and scents and flavors suggestive of pastry or crème brulée. Focusing on rosé has been the natural result of the extremely hot weather here, although that has moderated in the past week or so. I tasted the four wines blind. Notes follow.

2009 Château St. Martin des Champs Saint Chinian Rosé
A pale to medium-deep, orange-tinged pink. Attractive nose suggestive of hawthorne blossoms, crème brulée, and (distantly) plums. Having said that, none of the scents jump out at you. Still, the overall impression is fresh and inviting. Initially seems rather tart on the palate, but has presence. Good, plummy fruit sweetness offsets the acidity. Good length, and the lingering fruit ultimately makes the wine seem harmonious. Very tasty. Clean, fresh, delicious wine. Priced at €5.30 a bottle.

2008 Cave de Roquebrun Saint Chinian Rosé "Col de Lairole"

Comparatively deep in color--the second-deepest of these four wines. A medium-deep orange-pink. Very pretty to look at in a chilled glass. Complex nose. Something floral, but something that reminded me of vegetables as well--in a good way. Fresh, raw beans. Pie crust scents as well. Somewhat softer than the first wine (that is, less acidic), but with a nice "bite" suggestive of a little tannin. Refreshing strawberry fruitiness and a tasty hint of bitterness on the finish. Seems a bit rustic compared with the wine above, but another delicious summer wine, and attractively priced at only €4.16 a bottle.  

2009 Domaine La Maurine Rouge Saint Chinian Rosé

The palest in color of these four wines, tending more toward pink than orange. Interesting petroleum-like scent, reminiscent of certain Riesling wines. Rose water. A hint of gooseberries and passion fruit. Rather interesting nose. Quite rich with intense, fruity sweetness on the palate (although the wine is quite dry). Suggests red raspberries and roses. Passion fruit again on the palate as well. A hint of tannin. Moderately long, prickly, fruity finish. Enough acidity to balance the fruit, but softer than many of the rosés I've been tasting. Overall, very refreshing and enjoyable, if not profound. €5.30 a bottle.      

2008 Cave de Roquebrun Saint Chinian Rosé "Terrasses de Cabrio"
Deepest in color of the four wines--looking almost like brandy--but with pink undertones. A very pretty wine to look at. Surprisingly distant on the nose. Something doughy at first. Later developed toasted, roasted scents. Pastry. Sweet potato pie. Drier, less fruity, and softer than some of the other wines, and shorter as well, despite the deep color, but with a little time, this opens up to seem richer and fuller--and these are all relative terms. Another tasty Saint Chinian rosé. Priced at €6.04 a bottle, perhaps not the best value of the bunch, but even that is cheap by US standards. You'd be hard-pressed to find a California rosé as good at this price point (about $7.00).

On the road (Europe 2010): Roquebrun

Yesterday, after a morning of work, took a short drive north, to the town of Roquebrun. Perched on a hillside overlooking the River Orb and the vineyards of the Saint Chinian appellation, it's a pretty town topped by the ruins of a 10th century tower. An attractive old bridge takes the road over the river and into the town, which has some interesting stone buildings surviving in the back streets. Many of these use the local schist and slate as building materials.

Took a walk up the steep hill toward the tower to the Jardin Méditerranéen, a small botanical garden on the terraced slopes below (and above) the tower that features plants from the Mediterranean region and places with similar climates around the world. The €5 entrance fee seemed a bit steep, but was probably worth it--more for the view than for the plants, most of which will be quite familiar to anyone who has ever visited a good nursery on the US West Coast. There's an excellent view of the old tower (which is actually in the gardens) and the whole surrounding valley of the Orb.

Wines I'm Drinking: Two Languedoc Rosés

After tasting four ultra-cheap local Cinsault rosés earlier in the week, I decided to move upmarket a bit. Last night I tried a rosé from St. Chinian and another from a maker in the nearby town of Pezenas. Both were excellent but still inexpensive at under €8 (less than $10). Tasting notes follow. The review of the four Cinsault wines is here.

2009 Domaine Monplezy Plaisirs Languedoc Rosé
Made from a blend of Cinsault, Grenache, and Syrah down the road from where I'm staying--just outside of Pezenas on the road to Roujan. The label is decorated with a hoopoe.

The wine was very pale in color--delicate and barely pink, a flesh pink, but I could tell this wine had more character than the four very pale rosés I tasted earlier this week just by smelling it. It had the very fresh scent of new wine not long after fermentation has finished. There were distant strawberry scents, and something sappy and fresh as well, suggestive of raw zucchini. I was also put in mind of fine soap--although there was nothing soapy about the taste of the wine. It had considerably more presence on the palate than the pale color suggested it would. Delicate, but with a distinctive sappiness again suggestive of fresh vegetables--but in a good way. Fruitier and somewhat sweeter on the finish. Nicely balanced, with none of the sharp acidity of the less expensive wines mentioned above. Significantly more alcohol than any of those wines as well, which gave it a little fire on the finish as well. Very tasty.

2007 Schisteil Saint-Chinian Rosé
The label on this one is a bit confusing--due more to my relative ignorance of the wines of this area than to any fault of the label probably. The appellation is clearly Saint-Chinian, but the wine is also labeled Coteaux de Berlou (which makes some sense, as Berlou is one of the villages of the Saint Chinian appellation). However, I can't find the name of a producer on the bottle. "Schisteil" is a brand name the producer uses, referring to the local schist soils and the sun (soleil in French). The wine is a blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre.

Whoever the maker is, I loved the wine. This is the most distinctive rosé I've had in a very long time. It was deeply colored, in sharp contrast with the majority of the rosé wines I've seen in the local stores. I'd say this spends at least a day on the skins, whereas the paler wines look like they are pressed immediately. It was a beautiful deep pink tending toward orange. It reminded me of some of the darkest varieties of salmon. It had wonderful roasted, toasted scents but also jammy fruit scents--fig jam just cooked down and still hot. Hints of butterscotch or caramel. Crème brûéee may be closer. On the palate, there was again something about it that put me in mind of caramel and toast, and it was comparatively alcoholic, suggesting Calvados, but the wine was not at all sweet or as strong as brandy (naturally). It had a sappy freshness and decent acid. It could perhaps have used a trifle more acid, but, all in all, this was a very interesting, unusual, delicious wine. I drank too much of it, but it was very hard to put down.