Uruguay sandwiched between Italy and France

A

Arno Tronche

Arnaud Tronche
2009 La Biancara di Angiolino Maule I Masieri Bianco
100% stainless steel, no skin contact and minimal sulfur.
Cloudy and pale color. Green apple and somehow reminded me of cider. There is a sense of "naturalness: in this wine. It's not overly complex but it is genuine, balanced with good acidity and more lemony fruits with a light smokiness.

2009 Arianna Occhipinti SP68
As always a nice, fresh and balanced wine, easy to drink. Some plum and cerises a l'eau de vie (the fruit, not the alcohol). Good acidity. Not as much depth as her Frappato or her Siccagno but boy it is a pure joy to drink.

2001 Claude Dugat Bourgogne
Very good. Nice firm and rustic nose with red fruits and stems. Austere, red fruits on the palate. Well structured. Nice grip on the finish.

2004 Domaine Michel Lafarge Clos des Chnes
Really weird with strong eggplant and ashes notes. It takes a lot of air and time for the fruit (nice cherry and raspberry) to appear. Still very backwards
There's also a steminess that I appreciate. Vin droit, Lafarge style.
Austere but there's definitely something bringing you back. The last drops were really good.

2000 Agrapart & Fils Mineral Blanc de Blancs Extra-Brut
Very good. While the oak showed a little more than last time, it completes the wine very well. Very mineral, precise and pure. Loved it.

2008 Dard et Ribo Crozes-Hermitage
Very Crozes. Lots of red fruits. Juicy with rather high acidity. This is nice but at this stage it is very primary and quite forward.
Similar in style to the 08 Graillot.

2007 Bodegas Carrau Tannat Tannat de Reserva (Uruguay)
Tasted Blind.
Aged 18 months in new French oak and one more year in bottle. Dusty and smoky nose. Nice mix of old/new world. On the palate it lacks real structure. Not so tannic except on the finish where the tannins are kicking back. Fruity with some dark cherry and red berries with a hint of licorice. The oak is integrated. Interesting wine to try even if the fruit is a little too sweet and lacks elegance but after all, I'm not looking for elegance with tannat !
 
originally posted by Arno Tronche:

2008 Dard et Ribo Crozes-Hermitage
...
Similar in style to the 08 Graillot.
Click to expand...
Huh, really? I haven't had either wine that I recall, but I'm surprised that they would seem stylistically similar. Could you tell us more?
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Arno Tronche:

2008 Dard et Ribo Crozes-Hermitage
...
Similar in style to the 08 Graillot.
Click to expand...
Huh, really? I haven't had either wine that I recall, but I'm surprised that they would seem stylistically similar. Could you tell us more?
Click to expand...

Actually the right word should have been profile and maybe not style. To me, both wines were all about juicy red fruits, a lot of acidity and on the light side. Easy and really enjoyable. Both were quite similar to my surprise.
And indeed, I think the vintage is showing in those 2 wines.
 
Uruguay has no Andes to distort everything. If it could get over the desire to mimic the commercial success of Chile & Argentina, it could develop a niche as the most European of the South American producers. It could even explore the organic niche, a sort of southern cone Baux de Provence.

The Carraus also make wine on the Brazilian side of the border. All pretty weak, in my experience. But their Uruguayan Amat (also a tannat) occasionally shows well.
 
Ian, the only other Agrapart I tried is their 7 Crus (young vines). I had it only once and I remember a pretty rich champagne, which was good with food. Quite different from their Mineral Cuvee.
Have you tried their other wines?

Oswaldo, thanks for the info. The tannat was fun to try but not a wine I would buy.
 
Certainly not, Jim hasn't posted any notes on them yet.

Seriously, I've only seen Agrapart in these parts once, and it was sold out when I went back to buy a sample. The notes I've seen on the Mineral and Terroir, though, make the producer sound promising.
 
Michel Torino's (Salta) Don David Tannat is fairly remarkable, if I remember correctly. I may pop a bottle of the '07 soon...but I tasted it at the winery in June and while being tannic and high acid, it had some definitive depth and sense of terroir in its youth. I doubt a lot of people have old, old bottles of this lying around...but I would love to see how it ages. The vineyard is at 6000 ft. and the vines are over 90-years old, truly a unique site. Their Malbec is more spoofy than I like, but I think the Tannat gets a definitively less new oak love.

Speaking of which, does anyone have old Madiran in their cellar that they've opened recently? I'm really curious about how these b-list high tannin/high acid grapes (tannat, xinomavro, baga, etc.) age when they're made by a responsible producer. Speaking of which, '04 Mastrobernadino Taurasi was excellent last night...tannins were grippy as hell still, but it had come out of its subduction zone/closed coma from the last time I had it: blackberry anisette.

As to the Agrapart, I've had the 7 Crus, and found it to be pretty svelte and sexy, a very fine mousse and a primary, green apple-driven nose. How have people found the other cuvees?
 
Ian, Premier Cru has the 7 Crus for $28 which is a very good price.

Morgan, only aged Madirans I had were the 90 Bouscasse VV and 95 Montus Prestige which I loved.
I bought the '88 Montus from CSW but still haven't opened it.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Morgan Harris:
Speaking of which, does anyone have old Madiran in their cellar that they've opened recently?
Click to expand...
Seek and ye shall find recent-ish notes.
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Nice notes Jeff.
Some decanting time really helped the 95 Montus Prestige but as you suggested, no rush to drink.
 
2007 Bodegas Carrau Tannat Tannat de Reserva (Uruguay)
Tasted Blind.
Aged 18 months in new French oak and one more year in bottle. Dusty and smoky nose. Nice mix of old/new world. On the palate it lacks real structure... Interesting wine to try even if the fruit is a little too sweet and lacks elegance but after all, I'm not looking for elegance with tannat!
Click to expand...

Maybe not elegance, but Tannat without structure is like James Brown without a bass player.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Morgan Harris:
Speaking of which, does anyone have old Madiran in their cellar that they've opened recently?
Click to expand...
Seek and ye shall find recent-ish notes.
Click to expand...

In addition to the wines mentioned in that thread, I have had several "older" Madirans in the past couple years, including:

1989 Chteau Montus Madiran Cuve Prestige - superb
1990 Domaine du Chic Madiran - lovely and softened by age; choice
1994 Chteau Montus Madiran Cuve Prestige - just starting to turn the corner
1995 Chteau Montus Madiran XL - promising, way too young, needs 10-15 years
1995 Chteau Saint-Benazit Madiran - ready, but nothing special
1997 Domaine Berthoumieu Madiran Cuve Tradition - ditto
1997 Cave de Crouseilles Madiran Comte d'Orion - ready, good
2000 Domaine Capmartin Madiran L'esprit du Couvent - oakbomb, awful
2000 Chteau de Perron Madiran - superb
2000 Chteau Peyros Madiran Greenwich 43N Cuve - nice, spicy, brighter than many
 
originally posted by Morgan Harris:

Speaking of which, does anyone have old Madiran in their cellar that they've opened recently?
Click to expand...

Madiran is one of the few existing alternative wines for fans of old-fashioned Pauillac and St. Estephe. Although who knows, maybe they will find a way to gobbify this too.

Madiran Heart of Darkness 2003, Bonny Doon - still fairly dark; moderate but steady aroma of maturing clay-earth Cabbish fruit with a whiff of tarragon (CF?); medium body yet mouthcoating, flavor reminiscent of Pauillac ironfruit, savory finish with fine-grained dry tannins, fairly long. *** (Opened last August)

From tasting notes 2007-2009:

Tannat Madiran Cuvee de Couvent 1996, Domaine de Capmartin dark purpley garnet with thinning rim; medium-strength nose with slightly burnt bay, iron-tinged mulberryish fruit, a whiff of cedar and allspice; medium-full body with fairly dense middle-aged ironfruit and tannins; long finish, well-balanced if still slightly tough. Impressive structure with good flavor. ***(*)

Madiran 1998, Ch. de Perron initially closed in, with just suggestions of chestnut, iron and cedar that are overshadowed by a charry brett note; medium body, tough dry old-fashioned tannins obscure the other flavors. The next day, the remaining half bottle showed some development, with the pleasant chestnut-cedar notes becoming stronger, supported by minerally claret-like fruit with a long dry tannic finish with a bit of cocoa powder and wood. Old-fashioned and slightly rustic, the brett sticks out mainly because Madiran doesnt have a lot of aromatic drama and the wine is still quite hard. Ill check in again after another 3-5 years. **(**?)

Madiran 1990, Ch. de Perron still dark; moderate aroma with smoky brett; deep intense grippy but maturing tannins wrapped around rustic iron and brett toned fruit, remniscent of old fashioned St. Estephe or Pauillac; long and tannic finish. A massive wine that brushes aside the duck confit and sucks up the greasy garlicky potatoes roasted in duck fat. Holds up for a day even with the bottle left uncorked. Not that likable, but impressive. **(**?)
 
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