Wine Wednesday - South of France

Join us for another 4 evenings of informal wine tasting from the comfort of your own home, delivered via "Zoom" as usual.

For this event, we explore some of the less well-known wines from across the South of France, with 16 different grape varieties within 8 wines.  An ecletic mix including a sparkling wine, a rosé, 2 whites and 4 reds.

Wednesday 27th September - Rhône

The Rhône valley is known primarily for its full-bodied red wines, but tonight we have two wines and neither of them are red.  

Our first wine is a sparkling wine, a Cremant de Die AOC.  This appellation is located to the East of the Rhône Valley, slightly south of Cornas and is often overlooked,  A traditional method sparkling wine made from Aligoté, Clairette and Muscat a Petit Grains.

Our second wine is from the Southern Rhône and is the answer to a pub quiz question.  Which wine appellation in the South of France only makes rosé.  It is of course Tavel AOC.  This is a far cry from the very pale rosé we associate with Provence, being much more pigmented through a (relatively) long maceration on the skins.  The wine is a blend of Grenache Noir, Cinsault, Grenache blanc, Mourvèdre and Syrah.

• Crémant de Die AOC: Domaine Achard-Vincent Brut NV Retail Price £20.75
• Tavel AOC: Domaine Maby 'La Forcadière' 2022 Retail Price £16.75

Wednesday 4th October: Provence

Provence is of course associated with rosé, but because this is a slightly unconventional tasting we are ignoring that style here!  We start with a wine from a small appellation which surrounds the city of Nice - Bellet.  Here the white Vermintino grape (locally called Rolle) produces a fresh aromatic wine with pronounced citrus and apricot aromas.

Staying with the theme of small appellations beiginning with "B" we move West to Bandol.  This is one of the warmest wine areas of France, making it one of the best places to ripen the thick-skinned Mourvèdre grape.  Our red wine is predominantly Mourvèdre with some Grenache and Syrah in support.  Not for the faint-hearted this is a full bodied wine with 15% ABV.

• Bellet AOC: Domaine de la Source Blanc 2019 Retail Price £28.25
• Bandol AOC: Mas de la Rouvière Rouge 2019 Retail Price £25.00

Wednesday 18th October: Corsica & Languedoc

Corsica is often overlooked when thinking about the wines of France.  It is physically seperate and culturally quite different too with strong Italian influences.  Allegedly, one of the Italian imports is the local Mafia, but they also donated their famous Sangiovese grape variety, known here as Nielluccio, which is the most planted grape on the island.  We have a a lovely briary red wine from Corsica blended from 80% Sciacarello and 20% Nielluccio.

When people think of the Languedoc, they have in mind the big Grenache & Carignan dominated blends of places like Corbieres and Minervois.  However the Languedoc wine region extends to the North and West as far as the city of Carcasonne.  This area lies in a gap in the mountains that allows the Atlantic as well as the Mediterranean to influence the climate.  Along with the Atlantic influence comes the grape varieties as in Malepère the varietes grown are Cabernet Franc and Merlot.  Our wine is a blend of these two matured in stainless steel to produce an easy-drinking style.

• Vin de Corse Sartène AOC: Domaine Saparale Rouge 2022 Retail Price £20.00
• Malepère AOC: Domaine Girard 'Cuvée Tradition' 2020 Retail Price £15.00

Wednesday 25th October: South-West France

Finally, we visit the eclectic mix of vineyards that collectively are referred to as South-West France.  Stretching from Bergerac in the North, which is effectively Bordeaux but outside the official Bordeaux area to the foothills of the Pyrenees in the South.  There are many grape varieties and styles produced here which makes a two-wine sample a pin prick in terms of understading the areas wines but we've picked two very different wines to reflect the diversity on offer.

The first of our two wines is a dessert wine from Jurançon, made mainly from Petit Manseng with its close relative Gross Manseng in support.  These wines are lighter and fresher in style compared to those made using "Noble Rot" further north.

Our last wine is from another fairly obscure appellation: Irouléguy which is right on the Spanish border in the foothills of the Pyrenees and is the only AOC in the French Basque region.  The wine is a blend of Cabernet Franc and the notoriously tannic Tannat.  It has a rich bouquet of black cherries and spices with vigorous youthful tannins (reminiscent of young Cornas) and underlying dark fruit flavours and spice.

• Jurançon Moelleux AOC: Domaine Bellegarde 'Historique' 2019 Retail Price £20.45
• Irouléguy AOC: Domaine Ilarria Rouge 2018 Retail Price £23.00

As usual, we have paired with a wine merchant to supply the wines to you (we do not sell wine).  This time we are pleased to partner with Yapp Brothers who specialise in fine wine from some of the less well-known French wine regions.

To order your wine please email: Sales@Yapp.co.uk or call 01747 860423 and ask for the "Shropshire Wine School Case" which costs £169.20 including delivery.