WTN/Wine Advisor: Who knows Counoise? (2005 Monpertuis)

[Robin Garr]

Who knows Counoise?

It's Friday before Christmas, and nobody's in a mood to work. Let's wrap up the week with a quick look at Counoise.

This offbeat Southern Rhone grape variety (pronounced "Coon-wahz") is usually an anonymous player in blends; but - even as an assiduous seeker of unusual varieties and member in good standing of the Wine Century Club, I had never tasted it in solo varietal status except in components tastings from barrels in Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

Thanks to this affordable offering from Domaine Monpertuis, a Vin de Pays du Gard made across the Rhône from Avignon, I've now added Counoise to my "life list."

One of the 13 grapes permitted in Chateauneuf-du-Pape (but not one of the more important of that squadron), Counoise is also found in the Languedoc and, as here, at least occasionally throughout the Southern Rhone. Jancis Robinson, in her handy pocket-size <I>Guide to Wine Grapes</i>, calls it "one of the more rarefied ingredients in red Chateauneuf-du-Pape," its contributions to the blend being a peppery flavor and high acidity.

She couldn't have done a better job of describing this simple wine from Domaine Monpertuis: It's rustic and earthy, a jumble of dark plum, fragrant pepper, "green" herbaceousness and tart, mouth-watering acidity, it's a real wine-geek's wine, good for studying a range of Old World descriptors. Or building up your life list of grapes tasted.

<table border="0" align="right" width="170"><tr><td><img src="http://www.wineloverspage.com/graphics1/monp1215.jpg" border="1" align="right"></td></tr></table>Domaine Monpertuis 2004 "Vignoble de la Ramière" Vin de Pays du Gard "Cuvée Counoise" ($10.99)

Garnet, clear but dark. An earthy mix of herbaceous and fruit aromas: Black plums and prunes jostle for position with black and white pepper and a "sappy" note as distinct as biting into a fresh stalk of alfalfa hay. Plums and fragrant pepper on the palate, mouth-filling and tart, with substantial but smooth tannins helping to build a sturdy structure. U.S. importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, NYC. (Dec. 15, 2007)

<B>FOOD MATCH:</b> Its acidic structure and peppery, earthy character make it a natural with grilled steak; it worked just about as well with leftover dry-aged rare filet mignon shredded and served in a tongue-in-cheek rendition of "scattered, smothered and covered" hash browns.

<B>VALUE:</B> Whether it's to add an offbeat grape to your life list or simply to enjoy a rustic, earthy, Old World red with your steak dinner, it's hard to beat this price.

<B>PRONUNCIATION:</B>
<b>Counoise</b> = "<i>Coon-wahz</i>"
<b>Monpertuis</b> = "<i>MawN-pehr-twee</i>"

<B>WEB LINK:</B>
Here's the importer's short fact sheet on the wines of Paul Jeune, proprietor of Domaine Monpertuis:
http://www.madrose.com/jeuneprint.html

<B>FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:</B>
To purchase this wine from Chambers Street Wines in NYC, locate Monpertuis La Rami&egrave;re Counoise, then click the "Add to Cart" button to place it in your shopping basket.
http://www.chambersstwines.com/Search.asp?search=go&kw=counoise

Compare prices and locate vendors for Monpertuis Counoise on Wine-Searcher.com:
[url=http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/Monpertuis%2bCounoise/-/-/USD/A?referring_site=WLP]http://www.wine-searcher.com/
find/Monpertuis%2bCounoise/-/-/USD/A?referring_site=WLP[/url]

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Believe it or not, I've run into this grape variety twice this year in domestic wines made in Washington.

The first was the Tagaris Arete Vineyard Counoise from Richland, WA. It was definitely an Americanized version of the wine, not nearly as rustic as the bottle you described. However, the glass I purchased at Taverna Tagaris restaurant was quite pleasant with the appetizers we ordered that night.

My second encounter came in a bottle of Isenhower Horse Heaven Hills Rosé. This was the first time Brett Isenhower (a Walla Walla winemaker) decided to make a Rosé, and he used grapes from vineyards in the Horse Heaven Hills area. Yes, it was a blend, but at 42%, Counoise was one of the two major grapes, along with Mourvedre (41%) and Grenache (17%). This was a private bottling as an experiment, and the wine was not released through distribution. However, he left a few bottles with the wines shop, and I managed to purchase one of them.

-- Clark

I had a bottle of 2003? Montpertuis Counoise about a year ago. I thought it was pretty good, interesting and certainly worth the money. I think it would be a good wine for a CDP blending seminar.

I posted on a 100% 2000 vintage Counoise from Sablet on the old board on first tasting and enjoyed it despite it's rather harsh tannins. I managed to keep it's sibling for about another four years and the tannins had softened considerably and I found it quite enjoyable and thought it could go quite longer. That said, I pretty much like everything in their later stages.

Kevin

I worked with Counoise from 2000 to 2005, and really enjoyed it. The fruit was from Paso, grown in limestone, and the wine was, typically quite bright and high-toned. Very pretty fruit expression, very good acidity, and low tannin profile. The rose I made in '04 (Pinc Froid) was about 80% Counoise (the rest was Grenache, from Eaglepoint, a small saignee), dedicated as pink wine. The bunches had subtantial numbers of raisins, and I didn't want to ferment those, so reasoned that if I pressed it off after 12 hours of skin contact, and fermented as pink wine, the raisiny character wouldn't show up. Worked like a charm. One reason to like Counoise in California is that it typically ripens late enough that it's somewhat less likely to get big and clunky.

[Robin Garr]

I managed to keep it's sibling for about another four years and the tannins had softened considerably and I found it quite enjoyable and thought it could go quite longer. That said, I pretty much like everything in their later stages.

Oops ... for the record, my note on aging potential in the original article was an error. I used last Friday's Wine Advisor as a template for today, and carelessly left in that paragraph from my report on (gulp) Domaine de Pouy.

If I had distributed what I meant to say, I would have said that I don't have enough experience with Counoise to give good aging advice on the Monpertuis, but based on its structure and fruit, I couldn't imagine that it wouldn't keep for a few years but wouldn't be overly optimistic about any real potential for evolution.