I met up with a colleague from another bookshop to taste through some natural wines at the un-freaky end of the natural wine spectrum:
2010 Domaine de la Sénéchalière (Marc Pesnot) Miss Terre - France, Loire Valley
Ce vin est sec, mais pas acide - it says on the label. I guess this refers to this wine going through malo which is rare for Muscadet. But it is nonetheless a lovely wine. A fruit forward rather than a lees dominated nose: it is a wine of gentle but pure apple and citrus aromas and close enough to leesy Muscadet that I wonder why this must be labeled Vin de France instead of Muscadet? Though a bit richer than your typical non-malo Muscadet, this is well structured, refreshing and moreish. This bottle is atypical but not at all as much as I have suggested in previous notes; this one was obviously Muscadet. But more importantly, this one was - as were my less typical bottles - absolutely delicious.
2011 Domaine de Blanes Vin de Pays d'Oc Le Clot - France, Languedoc Roussillon
13,5% abv; 100% Syrah. Like Le Clot usually on release, this one is reductive and lactic. It does open up somewhat during the evening but remains tight. What is obvious is that this will turn out very nice (the previous vintages have become nice very quickly: usually by the next winter they are open). Dark fruit, plenty of crunch, true Syrah instead of Shiraz aromas once the reduction starts to blow off. Refreshing despite the Syrah from the South of France often being ponderous. If past vintages are anything to go by, this will be a cracking little Syrah from this winter on for many years.
2011 Marcel Lapierre Raisins Gaulois
Very young and fruity, seems like a fairly warm year wine except that there is good structure to this. Sweet and simple and just enormous fun. I know that the Raisins Gaulois doesn't suit the tastes of quite a few who otherwise like Lapierre and other good Beaujolais, but I have always found this to be an incredibly joyful little wine. And the new vintage is no different.
2010 Domaine des Terres Dorées (Jean-Paul Brun) Beaujolais Cuvée l'Ancien Vieilles Vignes
12% abv. Typically of Brun this isn't a sweet, sexy, abundantly fruity style, but a red-fruited, structured, restrained wine. Lovely cool, mineral, raspberry aromas. Well structured, un-plump, absolutely gorgeous and pure and perfect; dangerously moreish. A wine difficult to drink in amounts that hepatologists would approve of.