Good & obnoxious

S

Sharon Bowman

Sharon Bowman
Opened a 2005 Plageoles Duras recently. Meaty, mean, pleasant and thoughtless, it was immediately a nice pair to some meatily mean and pleasantly thoughtless lamb chops. It is wonderfully cheap, which is cool, and wonderfully complex and obnoxious, which is equally cool. (Now, by obnoxious, I mean that a first enjoyable flush of somewhat closed dark fruit and underbrush turns into a hovering, agressively dry-tannin'd bruiser.)

One of the few young wines I've had that have gotten mean with air. Fitting for the atypicity of Plageoles.
 
I don't think I've ever knowingly had a Duras. Is there one in particular you might recommend other than this one? Just curious.
 
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
I don't think I've ever knowingly had a Duras. Is there one in particular you might recommend other than this one? Just curious.
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haut lavignes from jenny and francois is cheap and great, especially the white.
 
By coincidence, I just had the white ('07) last night. It was quite pleasant, though I don't know if I'd go all the way to "great." Good value, though. That said, I know squat about the terroir or typcity of the Ctes de Duras.
 
originally posted by Thor:
By coincidence, I just had the white ('07) last night. It was quite pleasant, though I don't know if I'd go all the way to "great." Good value, though. That said, I know squat about the terroir or typcity of the Ctes de Duras.
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I believe that Plageoles is in Gaillac not Ctes de Duras. Duras is actually the grape. As far as I know he only works with the more local obscure Varieties.
 
Actually, Duras is a red wine grape and is not used in the wines from Ctes de Duras. It's found in Gaillac. (But Plageoles also grows it as a VdP, I believe.)

Levi, a reputed user of the grape is Causses Marines. I haven't had much fun with their wines, though, that said.

I'm not a huge drinker of the grape. For that style, I prefer Fer Servadou in Marcillac. Similar.

ETA: Ooh, pre-empted in the same minute by the above post!
 
I'm not a huge drinker of the grape. For that style, I prefer Fer Servadou in Marcillac. Similar.

ETA: Ooh, pre-empted in the same minute by the above post!
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Sorry Sharon. FAST FINGERS! BTW, since you mentioned Marcillac, I've recently had Marcillac from Domaine du Cros that I was quite fond of. Any other producers that you might recommend?
 
originally posted by john McCarthy:


I believe that Plageoles is in Gaillac not Ctes de Duras. Duras is actually the grape. As far as I know he only works with the more local obscure Varieties.
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d'oh!
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
Actually, Duras is a red wine grape and is not used in the wines from Ctes de Duras. It's found in Gaillac. (But Plageoles also grows it as a VdP, I believe.)
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I believe that Plageoles is in Gaillac not Ctes de Duras. Duras is actually the grape. As far as I know he only works with the more local obscure Varieties.
Click to expand...

I honored to be in the company of the geeks around here.
 
Plageoles makes some of the most satisfying and interesting wines in France, to my taste. He has revived a series of indigenous grape varieties from the Gaillac region that rarely get the AOC because they are no longer permitted in the AOC. Go figure!

The wines are hard to find in America, particularly the more expensive ones, but well worth the effort.
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
UC Press will be publishing Paul Strang's book on the wines of the South-West of France this spring: http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/11389.php . I've read the manuscript -- same format as his book on Languedoc-Rousillon. Not very exciting reading, but a good reference source.
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Thanks for this; just pre-ordered it.

As for the 2005 Plageoles "Le Duras", it's a nice, definitely different wine. I had one about a year ago and found it rather floral and marked by interesting spice notes, akin to Angostura bitters.
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
UC Press will be publishing Paul Strang's book on the wines of the South-West of France this spring...Not very exciting reading...
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I guess he didn't feel the need to try to create a market of interest.
 
It's a methodical reporting of facts, e.g., how the wines are made. He seems to have visited everyone in the region, including the vdt producers. I suppose when you've got that much to report, it gets rather tedious. He does make it clear that he is not a fan of lots of new oak and extraction, though.
 
Sounds great. It's not the most popular wine area. And nice that he doesn't have to worry too much about the market. I hope it succeeds.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
I hope it succeeds.
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I imagine it will sell a lot to British and Dutch who have second homes in the Dordogne. In making my recommendation to UC Press, I was straightforward that it might not sell a lot, but that it was important as a snapshot of what was going on at this particular moment in that region. It's nice to have a publisher where ROI is not the driving force.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
Actually, Duras is a red wine grape and is not used in the wines from Ctes de Duras. It's found in Gaillac. (But Plageoles also grows it as a VdP, I believe.)
Click to expand...
I believe that Plageoles is in Gaillac not Ctes de Duras. Duras is actually the grape. As far as I know he only works with the more local obscure Varieties.
Click to expand...

I honored to be in the company of the geeks around here.
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So, speaking of the Cotes de Duras, is anyone familiar with the sauvignon blanc of Domaine Chater? Supposedly organic farming.... I am particularly interested in experience with the 2005 vintage.
 
The book Corkscrewed by Camuto has a chapter on Plageoles and how he saved the antique varietals of the area. Also bit on another producer named Balaran. I have enjoyed both Gaillac blancs and rouge's when in the area and always find they are great value for the money.

mark meyer
 
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