Tag Archives: Rose

Provence. Cassis and Bandol. Chapter 1

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You may be familiar with Bordeaux, Champagne and Burgundy but, have you heard of Cassis?  Not many people know that Cassis was the first Appellation D’Origine Contrôlée in France.  So, it is only fair that we begin our adventure in Provence, in Cassis.  We stayed in a cute farm-house surrounded by vineyands, in the valley between the Medieval towns of Le Castellet and La Cadiere d’ Azure.  Our friends, Kim and Todd found the house on VRBO.  It is in the heart of Bandol and the perfect location for our base of operation.

Le Castellet

Le Castellet

 

 

 

Cassis Harbor

Cassis Harbor

 

 

Cassis is located on the French Riviera.  It has some nice beaches and it  is  surrounded by cliffs known as the Calanques.  The Calanques provide spectacular views of private beaches only accessible by boat.

Calanques

Calanques

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wines of Cassis

The red and rosé wines are Grenache based blends, with Syrah and Cinsault.  The white wines are a blend of Ugni Blanc, Clairette, Marsanne and Rollé.

Domaine du Bagnol.  White wine: Marsanne, Clairette and Ugni Blanc, aged in stainless steel.  This one reminded me of a Sauvignon Blanc from Cuvasion, Napa Valley.  The rosé is 48% Grenache, 34% Mourvedra and 18% Cinsault.  Domaine Bangol produces 100,000 bottles per year.  Our next stop was Domaine du Paternel.

Domaine du Paternel produces approximately 450,000 bottles per year.  They produce a GSM + Cinsault and Rollé aged in stainless steel.  Their Blanc de blanc is a blend of Clairette, Marsanne, and Ugni Blanc.  Their red is a blend of Grenache and Mourvedra aged for one year in oak.  Our final stop of the day was at Le Moulin de la Roque.

Moulin de la Roque was established in 1950 and it is located in the AOC of Bandol.  They produce 1.3 million bottles per year.  They are a co-op of different vineyard owners.  They bottle under five different labels to showcase their five different terriors.   In the Bandol AOC, the red and rosé wines has to be a minimum of 50% Mourvedra.  The Blanc is made of Ugni Blanc and Clairette.  The rosé is Mourvedra, Grenache and Cinsault.  The red is 90% Mourvedra, 10% Carignan.  They have a second blend of 95% Mourvedra and 5% Carignan.  I found the Mourvedra in this region to have a lot of minerality , lite fruit hints and tannins from the mid pallet to a short finish.  Our host was Tim, was kind enough to give us a tour of their facility.

Moulin de la Roque

Moulin de la Roque

We ended the day with fine dining at a Michelin Star restaurant Todd found.  Le Goguette is located in the Medieval town of Le Castellet.  Dinner was superb.  Wine with dinner was Domaine Richaud ,Cairanne 2015.  A well balanced blend of Claret, Bourboulenc, Roussane, Vigonier and Marsanne.  The red was from La Sagesse.  A blend of 95% Grenache and 5% Syrah.  I highly recommend Le Goguette and Domaine Richaud’s Cairanne 2015.  Perfect paring.

Carrot puree with lemon vinegar. Artichoke with mushroom and carrot puree. Fras Gras with strawberries and basil. poisson of snapper. Chocolate cake with ginger ice cream.

Carrot puree with lemon vinegar. Artichoke with mushroom and carrot puree. Fras Gras with strawberries and basil. poisson of snapper. Chocolate cake with ginger ice cream.

Au Revoir for now.

And The Winner Is…..

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wpid-2013102095194341.jpgFor those of you that attended our 2013 Santa Clara County Rosѐ Challenge, or Throw Down, thank you for making this a great event. For those of you that missed it, your loss. The Hayes Mansion provided a great location and hospitality for the intimate event. We purposely invited a variety of wine palates to the event so we would have a good cross section of society to judge the wines.
Although I am not usually a big fan of Rosѐ, I do like them with a picnic style lunch or light summer dinner. They generally come in two styles, “old world” or European Rosѐ lean towards the dryer side, and “new world” Rosѐ lean towards the sweeter side. Rosѐ has recently become much more popular here in the US and a lot of wine makers are getting creative with its production. From single varietals to blends to secret fomulas, it is often the wild card in their lineup.
So who was the big winner at our event? Well congratulations to Solis Winery for getting both the highest number of first place votes and the highest number of overall votes. A nicely balanced “new world” style Rosѐ, it is not too sweet to pair well with a number of different appetizers or light meals. After Solis our crowd went back to the “old world” style giving Aver Family Vineyard the second most first place votes and Jason Stevens (my first choice) to most second place votes. Interstingly we had a tie for third place between the secret formula “old word” style Thomas Kruse Winery and the “new world” style light but flavorful Clos La Chance.
So there you have it, we tasted seven different Rosѐ from Santa Clara County, some sweet, some light, some balanced and some with a very tart, dry finish. Overall a good cross selection of what Rosѐ can be. Thanks again to all our judges and the staff at Hayes Mansion for making it a night to remember.

Santa Clara County Region Rosé Throw Down

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Wine Throw DownRosé’s here US have had a very bad reputation. While respected and popular in other parts of the world, most oenophiles here have thought of this varietal as the sticky sweet cough syrup that teenybopper would drink, until recently. Rosé has had a surge in popularity in the last several years and while still not on my favorite list it is one of Brax’s. What I do find interesting about Rosé is it has a wide variety in interpretation and thus it has essentially become the grab bag, or “box-of-chocolate” for each winery, you never know what you are going to get. Some lean towards the sweet side, some are light and crisp, some a little bitter, and some can be big and bold, yet they all look alike. So with all of this in mind Brax decided that we should hold the first Santa Clara County Rosé Throw Down and try to determine who makes the best Rosé in the SCC region. On October 20th, 2013 we are going to invite some wine enthusiast and neophytes as well as a couple of our local sommeliers and try to crown the SCC Rosé King (or queen). Interested in joining us? We may have a few tickets available for this event, just email, tweet or respond on facebook and we will let you know.