By Anthony Daniel
It is that time of the week again for me to choose another wine for you to enjoy?!
This time we are heading to France, but not what you would expect! The most common thought about French wines is that if you go for a white they can be acidic and packed with stone fruits such as lemon, limes and peaches, and for the reds you have light and fruity Pinot Noir from Burgundy, heavy Syrah from the Rhone Valley with rich tannin and dark fruits such as Blackberrys, cherry and blackcurrants, or Bordeaux which are a little lighter but still have the rich tannin going though them.
But this wine I have chosen for this week pushes the boat out of the water a little, so we are going to Roussillon which is located at the south western part of France, close to the Spanish Border, and we are visiting the house of Domaine Cazes with their main vineyard just north of Rivesaltes.
The wine I have chosen from this great house is their flag ship Cazes ‘Le Canon du Maréchal Blanc’ (Blanc french for White)- Caze has a 220 hectare vine planted and they have the largest certified organic and biodynamic estate in the country. Organic and biodynamic are becoming a big deal right now, (in short organic farming is a type of agriculture which typically excludes the use of artificial chemicals and pesticides, and biodynamic takes organic framing to a more spiritual level.)
Back to the Le Canon Du Maréchal blanc… It is a blend wine made from the grapes Muscat/ Moscato which is 35%, Muscat d’Alexandria which is 35% and final Viognier which is 30%, with this being a blend of sweeter and dryer grapes give the wine a very different flavour and texture, with the mix of Muscat and Muscat d’Alexandria are from the Muscat family that has around 200 different grape varieties and always have a pronounced sweet floral aroma. Viognier, like chardonnay has the potential to produce full-bodied wines with a lush, soft character.
In contrast to Chardonnay the Viognier grape has more of a natural aroma, with notes of pear, violets and peach. Being a blend of Muscat, Muscat d’Alexandria and Viognier, the flavours of the wine are very different from what you expect coming from here- with it being in the south of France the climate is hotter and dry giving the grapes perfect health and full of ripeness due to the high temperatures. Cazes started harvesting the grapes early in the season, with the end product being a low alcohol wine still packed full of freshness.
The grapes are harvested in the cooler temperatures at night to ensure that the natural freshness is retained, then after they have been pressed they spend 24 with skin contact to draw out the aroma and flavour from the skins, then they are fermented at a fairly cool temperature of 18 degrees in stainless steel, with no oak fermentation and ageing the wine doesn’t get the heavy and butter finish it gets a very clean and mineral freshness to it.
The wine is bottled within six-month of being harvesting and stored in air condition cellars, it is best drunk young (within two years) and served at eight degrees to keep the freshness.
Finally the food I would put with this would be light vegetable dishes such as creamy mushroom risotto, shell-fish, and meaty fish such as stone bass and black bass, or would be perfect to enjoy on a hot summer afternoon in the sun, I wouldn’t add lemonade to this wine as it could make it too acidic on the palate. Why would you add lemonade to wine anyway?!
Le Canon De Marechel Blanc 2013 £9.30-£12.00
Thank you for your time and I hope you join me again next week!
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