Divem - Divine

In May this year, hubby and I had a wonderful time in Montpeyroux/St Saturnin, celebrating 10 years of wedded bliss. We walked up Mount Baudile, drove around in a 60 year old Lancia and ate at David and Bridget Pugh's fabulous Mimosa restaurant (which is, sadly, just about to close).

The next morning I popped into the wine shop in Montpeyroux Les Terrasses de Mimosa, also owned by the Pughs. Very dangerous as the next half hour was spent stocking up on some familiar labels and on some that I have never heard of but was keen to discover.

Some women buy shoes, others handbags. My vice can at least be shared and on this occasion Divem was consumed with dear husband and Barrie, a wine loving friend who stayed for a few days to help us with the harvest. I am glad that I didn't open this over the summer as this is definitely an Autumnal wine. Not so much mists and mellow fruitfulness as nippy nights and curling up infront of a crackling fire.

Divem is a tiny domaine of 3.5 hectares which made its first vintage in 2000. Gil Morrot is the man behind it and he started by making the wine in Alain Chabanon's cellar before finding his own cave. He makes only 3 wines; two AOC Coteaux du Languedoc Montpeyroux and a vin de table, called Carpe Divem, based on Merlot.

Divem 2008 is a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre, aged in oak for 30 months. The oak has fleshed out the palate but it does not scream oak. There are lots of gentle meaty, gamy flavours mingling with nutmeg, pepper and plums. Very complex and very big but with smooth tannins. Although it is clearly a full-bodied wine, it holds its alcohol well, all 15,5% of it. Not surprising that the note on the website mentions that it took a while to ferment to dryness!

I haven't visited this domaine but on the strength of tasting Divem 2008 I have put it on my list. Have a look at the Divem website which contains a photographic illustration of the domaine and its approach. Lots of pretty pictures to enjoy, even if you don't understand French.

Carignan - pumpover and ferment

Some pix of the Carignan pumpover and showing off the good colour extraction on day 2 of fermentation.

I also took an extremely nerdy video of the fermentation which you can see bubbling away through the sides of the fibre glass tank.  Yes, I know it's sad.... 

There seems to be an Italian theme here. Tasting glass is from Piemonte, the tank was made in Italy and the yeast I used was developed in Sicily.

Harvesting Carignan

We picked our Carignan yesterday. Beautifully healthy, ripe grapes. I am so looking forward to seeing what the wine is like. The vines are nearly 60 years old and, to my knowledge, this is the first time that the grapes have ever been vinified on their own. They've always been lost in the blend at the local co-op.

Many thanks to our team of French, Scottish, English, Polish and New Zealand grape pickers, young and old!

Rainy days

It absolutely tipped it down last weekend which wasn't ideal. Firstly, we still have some Carignan out there which is nearly but not quite ripe. Secondly, we had some old friends from Uni staying whom I hadn't seen for a very long time. As our plans for a day hiking in the garrigue was out of the question, we took the only sensible alternative. Food and wine. I raided the wine cellar and did an impromtu tutored wine tasting. Of Languedoc wines of course.

We started with some bubbles, the 2010 vintage of Cremant de Limoux 1531 from Sieur d'Arques. Cue the story of how sparkling wine was 'invented' in Limoux. As one would expect, this was very well made. Fresh and easy with good mid-palate richness.

We happened to have a bottle of Mas de Daumas Gassac White 2010 in the fridge, so that was opened next. An eclectic, unoaked blend of Chardonnay, Viognier, Chenin Blanc and Petit Manseng which is bottled young. I found the nose a bit funky - honey, floral and exotic fruits but almost too exotic and overripe. Definite sweetness on the palate and rich, vinous, exotic mouthfeel but not quite enough acidity to balance. I loved the 2009 so was disappointed. However I have found in the past that this white goes through a dumb or discordant period and comes right again in a few months. I have five more bottles so will try again in the new year.

La Voulte Gasparets seldom disappoints. Nor did it that evening with the 2010 Cuvée Reserve Corbières.  A whiff of the garrigue and leather on the nose and decent concentration of plum and blackberrry fruit, again with a spicy/meaty edge. All nicely balanced with user friendly tannins. Well worth the 9€ I'd paid for it in Carrefour earlier that day.



However the star of the show was definitely D'Aupilhac 2005, Montpeyroux. I decanted it beforehand, anticipating that it would take time to unfurl. A glorious nose of leather, plums, smoked meat, wild herbs ...  Beautiful mid-palate richness and lovely ripe plummy fruit. Lots of complexity here - from (a somewhat hazy) memory, meaty, smoky, all framed by plump, smooth tannins. Excellent finish.

Sadly we were too  befuddled to attempt the Muscat de St Jean de Minervois from Michel Poudou at Domaine de Montahuc. But I had it the other day and it is suitably fragrant and elegant with a lovely seam of acidity running through it. Delicious.

Rain? What rain?

Lou Cayla harvest 2012

We picked our Syrah yesterday, under a bright, beautiful Languedoc sky. The grapes look fabulous - gloriously healthy and delicious.

Many thanks to our international team of pickers who not only harvested the grapes but also hand destemmed them when our destemming machine misbehaved. Now that's dedication!

Hand labelling at Lou Cayla

With a total production around 500 bottles,  labelling by hand is a breeze. Particularly with willing guests such as Mal, Ali and Ben (wielding the heat gun). However, getting the label absolutely straight is surprisingly difficult, and best attempted before lunch!

Winning Corbières in Narbonne

Last Monday I spent a very hot and sticky hour at the CIVL offices in Narbonne, tasting a selection of Corbières. All the wines had won a gold medal in the Concours interprofessonnel des Vins de Corbères.

It's always difficult tasting in the heat and while there is usually enough ice to keep whites and rosés fresh, reds suffer more unless the producers have the time to play the hokey-kokey with ice buckets for them too. My favourite reds were from two estates that I already know well. Ollieux Romanis Prestige 2009 was beautifully balanced with silky tannins and a minerally, spicy complexity. Château de Cendrillon Inèdite also had lovely elegant tannins and excellent concentration of flavour to support the oak. Lots there but not overextracted at all. The Cave co-op at Gruissan had managed to get the temperature just right for their Les Pujots 2010, an attractive spicy, tarry wine with lots of red/black fuit.

Château des Amandières Corbières was from 2011 and was inky and brimming with vibrant fruit, thanks to its youth and to carbonic maceration for Carignan and Syrah and cold soaking for Grenache. Should be delicious in 6 months. Chateau Vieux Moulin Les Ailes 2010 was very concentrated and extracted with plum/plum flavours but I found the tannins rather stewy. Similarly extracted and very powerful was En Sol Majeur from Domaine du Grand Arc in Cucugnan. 60% Grenache, 40% Syrah, aged in oak for a year. No sulphur added until the bottling. Inky, minerally and needing a knife and fork to consume it. Not my style, too OTT, but I'd like to retaste in cooler conditions.

I was pleased to taste the Rosé and red from Domaine Combe Grande in Camplong d'Aude. My local wine shop in Argeliers, Bouchon et Tradition had raved about the red and indeed it is a lovely wine, appealing red/black fruit, a touch of spice and well-managed tannins and all for under 6€. It was their Rosé that won the gold and very nice it was too - fresh, candied with a herbal nose. Château Canos is well known for their Rosé - it accounts for 85% of their production - so no surprise that it had won a gong. Rosé made from press rather than saignée (difficult to do saignée when you only make 15% red!) and from Grenache Gris and Noir. Refreshing with lots of strawberry and redcurrant flavours, and a touch of herbs.

The only whites I tasted were from Roque Sestière who are better known for their whites than their reds. Their Vieilles Vignes white, made from 55% Maccabeu, 35% Grenache, 10% Roussanne was delicious with ripe apple and peach flavours, a hint of almond and a minerally edge.

Floraison

Some arty shots of flowering in our Carignan vineyard. Taken last week.

Domaine Lou Cayla

So here it is, our first vintage. 100% Syrah, unoaked and bottled on the 3rd May. All 373 bottles of it! Plus the 153 bottles of Rosé that were bottled in March.

It has been a huge learning curve. Not just the viticulture and winemaking but also battling our way through all the paperwork that goes with it. Despite the tiny quantities, we have done it all by the book. One of the most difficult decisions was the name. We chose Lou Cayla (pronounced Kyla) because it is the name of the hill which we can see from our bedroom window and it is right beside our vines. It is a very important archaeological site and you can still see the traces of an ancient hilltop settlement dating back to 900 B. C.

So what are the wines like? The red is deep, inky purple with black cherry and olive on the nose. Rich and full bodied with deep plum and black cherry fruit and firm but not obtrusive tannins. The rosé is a very pretty medium pink with attractive red fruits on nose and palate. Rich and vinous for a rosé (it is over 14% alcohol) it is destined to be consumed pool-side by our many visitors over the summer.

Santé! 

Extraction

The red wine has finished alcoholic fermentation. In fact, it had largely finished after just 6 days, a bit quicker than expected. We have just got the analysis back from the lab and figures are 13,64% alcohol, pH 3,53 and total acidity (expressed as sulphuric) 4,87. The wine hasn't gone through MLF yet.

We did 2 pumpovers a day during fermentation and left the lid off the tank all the time to stop the must from getting too hot. Average fermentation temperature was 27°C. We also carried out délestage (rack and return) twice at the height of fermentation. This process helps extract colour and fruit although to be honest the colour was very deep anyway. It also oxygenates the must and keeps the ferment going. Another reason why we did délestage was to control the temperature. Also, it was interesting to see how much free run juice there was.



People often remove pips during délestage but as the grapes were mostly whole there weren't any pips to remove. Did put a filter (yes, it is an Ikea bin!) in the bac and had a filter on the hose going from the bac to the pump but, no, there weren't any pips. Just lovely, deep coloured, fragrant fermenting juice.


The wine is now macerating on its skins. The cap of skins is still at the top and I do a daily pumpover to keep the cap moist and aid gentle extraction. Then the lid is put back on the tank to keep those pesky fruit flies away.

The grapes have gradually broken up during vinification and more pips are in evidence. I taste the wine twice daily to check its evolution. The colour is v deep and there are nice cherry fruit flavours. Black cherry. Over the last few days the tannins have become more pronounced, the flavours have filled out mid palate and there is more length of flavour.

Not sure when we will press. With such a small volume I don't think that a really long post ferment maceration is appropriate. We'll just keep tasting and see.

Winemaking at Château IBJ

For the last 12 years the grapes have been sold to the co-op and gone into the soup to make rosé. So we have no idea of historic wine quality.

The varietal is Syrah and we want to make around 500 litres of Red and 150 litres of Rosé (because we like it).

After destemming, we put the grapes in the 1000 litre tank and lightly sulphured it, around 3g.
After about half an hour we bled off 150 litres of grape must into a 200 litre tank and chilled it as much as our technology allowed. Very sophisticated technology - frozen bottles of water and a wet cotton sheet! We added approx 4 gs of enzyme to aid settling or debourbage. We then covered it and left it overnight. After about 12 hours it looked like this. It is still grape juice at this point.



Back to the red wine. After we had bled off the rosé, we then added 250g of yeast to the red grapes. Lallemand Lalvin GRE selection ICV, which is a selection originally from Cornas and promotes fruitiness in Rhone style wines.

We mixed it into the grapes, covered the tank (but not airtight), and left it overnight.

By 7am the next morning the wine was starting to gently bubble and hum and had warmed up to 26°C. I felt like a parent with a newborn baby!

Harvest time at Château IBJ

After 20 years in the wine business (how time flies), 7 of which have been spent in the Languedoc, I couldn't resist any longer. Yes, we bought a vineyard. Since May this year we have been owners of a small but perfectly formed hectare of Syrah vines. 15 years old, and in a beautiful spot on the other side of the hill from our house in the Minervois village of Mailhac.

The vines came with a share in the local cave co-op so we sold some of the grapes there but kept back 3 rows for ourselves which we have vinified in the corner of the garage.

The bit for the co-op was harvested on the 9th September (hubby's birthday).



The grapes for us were harvested a week later on the 16th September.



Here is our neighbour and consultant winemaker, Didier.


The grapes were destemmed


And then poured from the bins into a 1000 litre tank. They just fit!


More on the vinification in the next post.

Ch Ollieux Romanis Cuvée Prestige Corbières 2009

A quick post to share thoughts on one of the best white wines I've come across recently. It is a Corbières blanc from Chateau Ollieux Romanis. I've often enjoyed their more easy drinking, 'basic' Corbières blanc but this is only the second time I've tried the top white, the cuvée Prestige. I didn't write tasting notes at the time so the impressions below are from memory.

Made from 50% Roussanne and 50% Marsanne, this had some skin contact before being fermented and aged in new oak for 12 months. The oak is evident on the nose, but there is also notes of almond blossom and peach so the oak doesn't dominate. The palate is smoothly rich and satisfying with creamy oak balancing well with the fruit. Overall impression is of an extremely well balanced wine with excellent mid palate richness, good acidity, excellent length. The palate profile is similar to that of a good white Burgundy. At 15,50€ it is expensive for a Languedoc wine but not if you consider it is better than many village level white Burgundies.

The tasting notes from the property recommend drinking it with foie gras, roasted scallops or cheese. Sounds good to me.

I am ashamed to say that I have never visited this property although I've enjoyed the wines and frequently recommended them. So a visit there is now one of the more fun things on the 'to do' list.

Early flowering means early 2011 harvest

The continuing warm spring has promoted rapid vine growth. Some vineyards in the Minervois near Argeliers were in full flower over a week ago which growers predict will mean harvesting by the end of July, some 3 weeks earlier than normal. So that could mean that the first primeur bottlings are available in September.

The above photo shows the beginning of floraison in a Syrah vineyard. The flowers themselves are not showy, but they are surprisingly fragrant. Someone asked me last week if this was so as to attract insects for pollination. The odour may attract insects but they are not necessary for pollination. Grapevines are hermaphrodite and so self pollinating.

Montmajou - cracking St Chinian Blanc

St Chinian doesn't produce very much white wine - I'm guessing less than 5% of all production. And the AOC wasn't extended to white wine until 5 years ago. So it is not a wine that one comes across very often. But, for the record, I enjoyed a rather special St Chinian blanc last weekend.

We were tasting in the best possible environment. Relaxing with friends Patricia and Luc Bettoni over a leisurely Sunday lunch while the kids ran around outside making mud pies. Luc pulls out an unlabelled bottle of his new white, first vintage 2009. First impressions - very subtle aromas. To be honest, I can't get alot from it. Take a sip and initally subtle fruit too. Peach maybe, minerally. Then just when you start to think there isn't much going on - wow - the palate opens up into beautifully textured, creamy, nutty fruit and continues into a long finish.

I didn't write any notes on the wine at the time but my memory of the wine centres not so much on what it tasted like as on what it FELT like. It is all about texture and mouthfeel and balance, which this wine had in abundance. It felt more like a white burgundy than a wine from the south of France which is what Luc was aiming for. This wine will not appeal to everyone as it is not immediately fruity but it deserves a loyal following from good restaurants, upmarket wine shops and wine nuts like me.

So, what is it? Domaine Les Eminades Montmajou St Chinian Blanc 2009. 80% Grenache, 20% Marsanne. From Montmajou, a sub-region of approx 250m altitude between Cebezan and Cruzy. Organic, handpicked, natural yeast, maturation in barrels for 11 months on fine lees, malolactic fermentation.

You can't actually buy this wine as it's sold out (I know, I tried) but the 2010 will be available later in the year and there will be more of it. Price about 11€/bottle.

Montazellis

The Côtes de Thongue is that gently rolling area between Beziers and Pezenas which covers 14 villages. It may only be classified as lowly vin de pays, but it has a good number of forward thinking, energetic producers who produce cracking wines that are great value for money. Domaines de l'Arjolle, la Colombette, Sainte Rose, La Croix Belle and St Georges d'Ibry to name but a few.

The newest kid on the block is Domaine Montazellis, since 2005 owned by a French/British couple Dhanya and Nova Collette. The domaine is between Alignan du Vent and Abeilhan and on the map it is called Montarels. They had to choose another name for their wines as Montarels was already used by the local co-op and Montazellis was the name of the property in the middle ages. There are a collection of ancient buildings and approx 11 hectares of vines here; sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, syrah, merlot, carignan and alicante bouschet with plans to plant grenache and some more white, perhaps viognier or vermentino. 70% of the production is sent to the co-op.

There first thing you notice on entering the lofty cave is a set of drums. Dhanya is a musician while Nova works in fashion, commuting to the UK every second week, and it is clear that they brought their creativity and imagination to bear on their vision for the domaine. Not only the wines but plans for renovations of house, stockage, gites and parking for camper vans etc. They have their work cut out as several of the buildings are still ruins but they intend renovating a bit at a time.

Danhya had no winemaking background but learnt quickly via a course in Pezenas, various stages at other producers and from the advice of his oenologue. Low yields, pigeage, modest use of oak result in a wines that have delicious fruit, excellent balance and are very fairly priced. They are not showy or incredibly complex but provide a lot of pleasure. My favourites were the chardonnay and their top Syrah, Etienne although their entry level syrah showed well on retasting/drinking in the evening.

Chardonnay 2008
nutty, creamy nose. Gentle toasty fruit - very discreet touch of oak which provides richness mid palate. Elegant. 7€

Merlot 2008
Easy drinking, brambly cherry fruit here. A quaffer. Only 5€ a bottle but in my view it's worth paying a euro more for...

Syrah 2008
Pure raspberry, cherry fruit. Good concentration and firm but ripe tannins. Decent length too. Good value at 6€

Syrah Cuvée Etienne, 2007
Named after their son who was born soon after their arrival in France, this is their top syrah which is aged for around a year in oak. 2000 bottles made. Deeply coloured, good concentration of spicy raspberry, blackberry fruit on nose and palate. Tannins are grippy but there is plenty of fruit to balance. Oak is evident but not dominant. Good length.

Kaiya 2008
Tiny quantity made of this late harvest sauvignon blanc, named after their daughter. Pretty, medium sweet, nutty.

Château La Grave, Badens

I visit Château La Grave maybe 3 or 4 times a year and have learnt from experience that it is better to be overdressed. I'm not talking about formal dress - this is a working wine domaine after all - but rather that it is significantly cooler than at home, a mere 30 km away, and even in summer I have felt the chill of a fresh breeze blowing across the Les Balcons de l'Aude. This cooler microclimate is the main reason why this domaine is particularly successful with white wines, although the range includes red wines, rosés and a Cartagène.

It is a sizeable property, around 100 hectares in all, spread over the hills around Badens, between Trebes and Marseillette and just a few kilometres from the famous Cité of Carcassonne. It is owned by the Orosquette family (pictured above), who run the domaine with the help of a closely knit, young team, headed by the capable and very professional Jean-Francois Orosquette. The wines are consistently good and well made. And fairly priced. They have been successful in export markets, available now in 15 countries.

Wines tasted were mostly the 2010 vintage, the whites bottled just before Christmas and the red 2010 in January. Prices are per bottle, cellar door. I sell some of these wines in the UK so there is a commercial interest here.

Vin de Pays des Hauts de Badens, 2010
An easy drinking blend of Listan (aka Palomino, the grape that makes Sherry), Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Chasan, a cross between Chardonnay and Listan.
Attractive green fruit nose, slight gooseberry, citrus flavours with fresh acidity. Good balance, medium length. Very good value. 3,90€

Expression Blanc, AOC Minervois, 2010
Their entry level Minervois white was particularly successful in 2010. Based on Maccabeo with some Vermentino and Marsanne, this has citrus, nutty aromas and a sprightly lemon, nutty palate. Quite elegant and understated. 6,20€

Privilège Blanc, AOC Minervois, 2008
This is their top white wine which they only make it the quality merits it. A blend of Maccabeo and Grenache which is fermented and aged in oak. I was told this was really too young but it seemed just right to me.
Nutty, oaky nose followed by smooth creamy palate. There is oak here but there is an elegance and delicacy to the palate which prevents it being over oaked. Very good, even at this price. 10€

Expression Rosé, AOC Minervois, 2010
Paler than in previous year, this is delicately pink and pretty. Bit closed (very cold) but some attractive red, herby fruits there and good mid palate richness. 6€

Tristan et Julien Rouge, 2010
50/50 Syrah Grenache, this is only just bottled and is brimming with youthful summer fruit flavours. Lots of lovely juicy fruit. This is delicious and easy to drink. Look forward to summer and enjoy slightly chilled with a picnic. 6€

Expression Rouge, AOC Minervois , 2008
50% Syrah with Grenache and Carignan, unoaked. This is drinking beautifully now. Mid-weight Minervois with soft, brambley, spicy fruit balanced by fine tannins. €6

natural wine

Fellow blogger Graham got me thinking about natural wine in his informative post last month. In wine terms, natural means no additives, including sulphur dioxide.

SO2 is a both a disinfectant (anti-microbial) and a preservative in that it prevents a wine from oxidation. It has been used in winemaking since Roman times - probably before - but thanks to labelling laws, consumers are now aware that wine does contain added 'sulfites'. While sulphur levels in wine are controlled and not harmful to health (except possibly severe asthmatics), there is a significant body of people who prefer their food and drink with as little additive as possible. Hence the demand for natural, no added sulphur wine.

Not just any old wine can be successfully made without sulphur. It needs to be made from healthy, rot-free grapes. Hygiene throughout the winemaking process is critical and the use of inert gas to protect the wine at all stages, including bottling is important. Sterile filtration before bottling to remove yeasts and bacteria minimises the chance of refermentation and microbial spoilage in bottle.

I tasted two 'no sulphur' wines at Millisime Bio last month. The first one from Domaine de Mayrac near Couiza and the second from Domaine Allegria, near Pezenas. Both smelt nice and had attractive fruit-forward flavours and were for early drinking. Both also had earthy/grubby flavours on the finish which detracted slightly from overall quality. But they were basically attractve, fruity wines. The people at Allegria only sell their sulphur free wine cellar door where they can explain that it should be consumed soon and not cellared. 'We would never export this wine, as we could not guarantee the stability'.

Apologies for the sideways photo. I rotated it in iPhoto but it has fallen over again in the blog. Cute label though!

Millisime Bio - organic wine

The first time I went to Millisime Bio was in 2005. I remember it clearly as I was there for only a couple of hours, not wanting to taste too much as I was pregnant. But that was fine because it was a small, cosy little salon, not quite fitting the expo hall in Narbonne. 175 tables of mainly french wines, with a few interlopers from Spain and Italy.

Fast forward to 2011, and Millisime Bio has blossomed into a lively, vibrant fair of around 500 exhibitors and now takes place in 2 of the halls in Montpellier exhibition centre. Despite its size, it still retains its friendly atmosphere and visitors are encouraged to discover wines from different countries. To this end, there is no order to the arrangement of stands with Italian wine producers next to a Burgundian who is next to the lady from Rioja etc. I can't help feeling that although the spirit of this arrangement is admirable, it must be irritating to the buyer who only wants to taste wines from the countries on his patch and has to trawl through the catalogue to find them. The lack of fancy, show-off stands is refreshing - each producer has exactly the same size of table, a white tablecloth and 2 chairs, allowing visitors to focus on the wines.

France has by far the most number of exhibitors but Chile, South Africa, Argentina and the US were also represented. The Languedoc-Roussillon had the largest representation of all regions, not surprising given that the fair originated in the Languedoc and has always been held here. Also, the region has the most organic producers (798 and 5% of the total vineyard area) and the rate of conversion to organic is impressive with a 52% rise in the acreage of vineyards certified as organic from 2008-2009.

So much for the stats - what about the wines? Well I was only there for a day and, in the spirit of the fair, tried to taste from different regions and from estates I didn't know. Highlights were some deliciously nutty, fresh whites based on Greco and Fiano from Colli Della Murgia in Puglia. And tasting at Jean-Marc Brocard where we shamelessly cherry-picked from the extensive range and tasted Village to wonderfully minerally Grand Cru Chablis.

Closer to home, notable were the latest releases from Pech-Redon in La Clape, an estate of which I am very fond. l'Epervier and Les Cades both have the most enticing, garriguey aromas. Domaine Virgil Joly offered an instructive vertical tasting of ten vintages of Virgile rouge. I also had the pleasure of retasting wines from two old friends in St Chinian, Catherine Wallace from Combebelle and Patricia Bettoni from Domaine Les Eminades.

I had never come across Domaine de Sainte Marie des Pins before, a small domaine near St Hilaire and Limoux, but was impressed with her creamy, nutty chardonnay. Allegria was another new discovery, a new venture and the result of a Franco-Argentinian collaboration. A competent range in a modern style. A table d'hote amongst the vines is planned from May and I plan to check it out.

I really enjoy this wine fair. Next year, I'll make sure to go for 2 days to do it justice.

Very cool wine bar in Beziers - Le Chameau Ivre

My favourite place in Beziers is Le Chameau Ivre, a wonderful wine shop and Tapas bar which is owned by Philippe Catusse.

The selection of local wines is good but the most striking feature here is the esoteric range of wines from outside the L-R and the traditional triumvirate of Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne. The Loire is a speciality, both white and red and, should one feel inclined, one can buy several vintages of Cotat Chavignol (a wonderfully traditional Sancerre that rewards ageing in bottle). Also on offer are magnums of Jurancon, an enticing selection of Austrian wines and a good range of sherries. And lots, lots more.

For those who don't get quite so turned on by these esoteric offerings, I can recommend it as a good stop for a light lunch. The choice of wines by the glass is significantly better than the sorry offerings one finds in most restaurants here. Definitely no paris goblets either.