Open Mike: Vins de Pays d`Oc.

This months Wine Focus is Coteaux de Languedoc/Pic St. Loup. It would appear that this appellation (VdP d`Oc) is not to be included so I am ready to go with this new Open Mike!! Otto, for one, is keen to post some notes from this wide-ranging appellation.

WTN: `05 Syrah Domaine Cazal-Viel.

I have for some time promoted this estate run by Henri Miquel, an estate with historic connections. The Syrah is always consistent, as is the house Viognier.

Winery is based in St. Chinian, 13% alc, synthetic cork, opened one hour.

Colour. Thin purple rim, rubyish centre. Does not appear to have a lot of depth.

Nose. Violet, floral, some spice. Red berries as it airs. Fragrant, fruity Syrah here.

Palate. Initial mouthfeel entry is medium bodied, low tannins, soft black fruits. Blackberry and blueberry, medium finish w. brambleberry as it airs. Never has been a wine for cellaring, very drinkable on release in my mind. Wonder if there is some viognier here(?), rounded texture. After 2 hrs, hint of tobacco and more blackberry. Good QPR in my book, $18 Cdn.

I took a bottle of Les Vignerons de la Méditerranée Vin de Pays d'Oc La Cuvée Mythique 2002 for dinner at my brother's house. It was ok, with a rather expressive nose, typical of Syrah dominated S. France in my limited experience with them. I think there was also a touch of oak - but the horrible goblets that pass for glasses at my brother's didn't really allow intense scrutiny over the wine. I guess this might mean that if there is oak, it isn't overdone? The palate was a touch dilute (rainy year here also?), but with surprisingly nice acidity and tannins. I also thought the red toned fruit was rather sweet, but that's ok - the whole was in balance. A nice little wine: nothing grand, but perfectly enjoyable.

10€/0,75; I didn't note down the alcohol, but it didn't stick out.

-O-

I took a bottle of Les Vignerons de la Méditerranée Vin de Pays d'Oc La Cuvée Mythique 2002 for dinner at my brother's house. It was ok, with a rather expressive nose, typical of Syrah dominated S. France in my limited experience with them. I think there was also a touch of oak - but the horrible goblets that pass for glasses at my brother's didn't really allow intense scrutiny over the wine. I guess this might mean that if there is oak, it isn't overdone? The palate was a touch dilute (rainy year here also?), but with surprisingly nice acidity and tannins. I also thought the red toned fruit was rather sweet, but that's ok - the whole was in balance. A nice little wine: nothing grand, but perfectly enjoyable.

10€/0,75; I didn't note down the alcohol, but it didn't stick out.

-O-

Otto (or anyone else), is Les Vignerons de la Mediteraneé the same coop that used to be called Val D'Orbieu? If so, I'll be opening their '98 Cuveé Mythique next weekend with cassoulet.

Mark Lipton

Mark, Jamie Goode has a neat little story and a tasting note on the '98 on his website:

The wines of Val d’Orbieu/La Cuvée Mythique

Domaines Listel, Rt. Nat. 112, BP126, 34202 Sète Cedex, France
Ph: +33 (0)4 68 42 75 45
UK representative: Val d’Orbieu-Cordier (Tel: 020 7736 3350, e-mail: anyone@vvo-uk.com)

Val d’Orbieu is an interesting company. It’s not a co-op, but a growers’ association, with 180 growers and 15 co-ops from the South of France. How does it work? Each domaine makes wines as it wishes, calling on help from the association staff if it is needed, and makes use of the pooled marketing resources (this is especially important; it allows small domains to have a presence in the marketplace that they’d otherwise lack). The nice thing about this arrangement is that unlike the co-op system it tends to reward people who do good work. Altogether sales top 20 million cases. La Cuvée Mythique is an interesting wine. As a flagship of Val d’Orbieu, it is made centrally: vignerons who supply grapes for this selected cuvee will typically be visited four times by viticulturalists from the association, and the result is quite impressive. The selection of wines listed here are all listed in UK supermarkets (availability details in brackets).

La Cuvée Mythique 1998
Bit of sweetness to the fruit on the nose, together with a touch of caramel and spice. Rich spicy palate shows chunky, savoury fruit and some complexity. Very good+ (Safeway, Waitrose, Coop £6.49; most will now be on the 1999 vintage, below)

Link here.

[James Roscoe]

Mark, Jamie Goode has a neat little story and a tasting note on the '98 on his website:

The wines of Val d’Orbieu/La Cuvée Mythique

Domaines Listel, Rt. Nat. 112, BP126, 34202 Sète Cedex, France
Ph: +33 (0)4 68 42 75 45
UK representative: Val d’Orbieu-Cordier (Tel: 020 7736 3350, e-mail: anyone@vvo-uk.com)

Val d’Orbieu is an interesting company. It’s not a co-op, but a growers’ association, with 180 growers and 15 co-ops from the South of France. How does it work? Each domaine makes wines as it wishes, calling on help from the association staff if it is needed, and makes use of the pooled marketing resources (this is especially important; it allows small domains to have a presence in the marketplace that they’d otherwise lack). The nice thing about this arrangement is that unlike the co-op system it tends to reward people who do good work. Altogether sales top 20 million cases. La Cuvée Mythique is an interesting wine. As a flagship of Val d’Orbieu, it is made centrally: vignerons who supply grapes for this selected cuvee will typically be visited four times by viticulturalists from the association, and the result is quite impressive. The selection of wines listed here are all listed in UK supermarkets (availability details in brackets).

La Cuvée Mythique 1998
Bit of sweetness to the fruit on the nose, together with a touch of caramel and spice. Rich spicy palate shows chunky, savoury fruit and some complexity. Very good+ (Safeway, Waitrose, Coop £6.49; most will now be on the 1999 vintage, below)

Link here.

I had the 2000 vintage last night. After several hours it opened up to great cocoa notes with some plum and red rasberry. I paid $12. it's a great qpr, but remember to decant or eat with a nice marbled piece of meat!

There was a lot of hoopla when this wine first showed up, I remember. Nice to hear it is still around!!

Mark, Jamie Goode has a neat little story and a tasting note on the '98 on his website:

Thanks, Bob. I've done a little searching, BTW, and it seems that Val D'Orbieu is a group within the organization of Les Vignerons de la Méditerranée. Wine-searcher still shows La Cuvée Mythique bearing the Val D'Orbieu label in the US, so perhaps it gets different labeling in Finland?

Mark Lipton

WTN: `04 Carignan Reserve Black Lagoon, VdP de l`Herault.

Yeah, I know not Pays d`Oc but in same area and trying to get something going here. However do not think this wine will do it!!

14% alc, opened an hour and not decanted. Same wine makers as at FoxWood I think, flying guys from land of Oz.

Colour. Medium brick-red, average depth in the centre. Pale reddish tinges on the rim, big clinging legs.

Nose. Blackberry and brambleberry, no sense of terroir here at all, spice garrigue all missing.

Palate. Very ripe blackcurrant, red berry fruits and a hint of oak. Very low in acidity and tannin (80 yr old vines). Finishes with some raspberry but huge fruit concentration. Jammy is not the right word here!!! Be warned forumites.

Cost was $18 Cdn.

**** after 24 hrs, more compote tones and going downhill fast. If it ever got going?

DOMAINE LES ROQUES 2003 – Vin de Pays d’Oc – Jean-Marc Boillot
(40% Syrah and 20% each of Grenache, Carignan and Cabernet Sauvignon)


Of course this is quite a disparate appellation encompassing wines of sharply different styles, varietal origin and quality and it was quite a search to find a decent example. First, I tried my local supermarket, which is not bad for wine, but found no reds and only one white, a Sauvignon blanc, whose label was so unappealing that I passed it over in spite of a very low price (less that EUR 3). I then looked for ideas in that standby reference book for French wine, Le Classement 2007, and found a recommendation for an estate, Domaine Les Truffières, owned by the respected Burgundian grower, Jean-Marc Boiilot. Now, Jean-Marc Boillot’s burgundies are imported by an excellent merchant quite close to my home so I quickly consulted his web-site, found that he was offering the above for EUR 9,50 and went over there. (Having done a quick Google search, it appears that Boillot has these two different labels in VdP d’Oc; I think that les Truffières are the more “prestige” as le Classement quotes a price around EUR 13 and refers to an oaky “élevage” which I did not detect here.)


Now for the tasting note-

C: Ruby of medium intensity. N: Initially subdued aromas of dark woodland fruit but developing in volume with exposure. P: Initially short and narrow but quite intense sweet dark fruit with blackberry notes encased in slightly bitter but appealing anis and liquorice structure. With airing aided by some swirling the wine expanded on the palate but did not acquire great complexity or length.

A very pleasant wine but I doubt whether I will buy any more because there is better QPR around for wines of a similar quality and style.

I think that it is fair to say that most growers of the more quality ambitious wines, which do not meet the AOC criteria, prefer to use the departmental VdP, e.g. VdP de l'Hérault for Mas de Daumas Gassac, or the even more localised VdPs, e.g. VdP du Mont Baudile for some of Domaine d'Aupilhac's range.

OK, so I finally opened that '98 Cuvée Mythique this weekend with our annual cassoulet extravaganza (complete with freezing cold weather to add to the ambiance).

1998 Val D'Orbieu La Cuvée Mythique
nose: briery, tar, blueberries and meat
palate: medium-full, smooth tannins, earthy and meaty with plenty of fruit and a great finish
comments: This was another Hugh Johnson cassoulet pairing recommendation, but probably a younger Languedoc wine may have been better suited. Still, there was nothing wrong with this match, either, although there was no synergism with the food. All in all, a very nice wine.

Mark Lipton

Thanks Mark, good to see that this wine is still top notch!!