Visite Domaine
Wine tasting with Nicolas Mestre
Tuesday 8th of March, Nicolas Mestre from Williams Corner Wine’s company, http://williamscorner.com/, was in Alsace where a wine tasting marathon was expecting us :
–> We started in the morning by stopping at the estate Klein Aux Vieux Remparts and tasting the whole wines collection of Françoise and Jean Marie ! Thanks a lot Françoise for the organisation … Because it was her birthday, she couldn’t stay with us the whole time so she prepared everthing to let us taste verticals of each categories of wines …. which means 36 wines … we were really busy.
This is always great to taste old vintages, and really see how the wines will evolve in some years, it is a little like learning to know them well ! The Riesling Schlossreben 1985 was so fresh, incredible ! We also discovered the Muscat 1983 not typical from Muscat anymore … with hints of mint, still very well balanced and so elegant. The red from St hippolyte 1988 was wonderful, lots of precisions and a length … so long !
–> We continued then to the estate Rolet, where the different appellations from Arbois, Côtes du Jura and Etoile were fllowing to each others, in all colours. I like so much wines from Jura, each wine having its own specificity and history. In Rolet’s estate, we were just lucky tasting these high quality for each cuvée, the whites staying young and fresh even with some years of bottle now (2003, 2004, 2005), the reds so pleasant, easy to drink on an entire dish, but we cannot forgive the great VIN JAUNE with its powerfull, and unbelievable length, this wine has a complexity, starting with flavors fo nuts, chestnuts, curry, following with humus, cumin, dry fruits … Also the Vin de Paille definitly well balanced, a sweetness for desert, such as Chocolate cake !
We visited the estate and several cellars, even the hidden one were old vintages in magnum are asleep …
Harvest at La Stoppa
The harvests are slowly ending, a large part of grapes are now in the cellar. The Malvasia di Candia Aromatica is drying under the sun in order to produce Vigna Del Volta, the passito wine.
Some Bonarda grapes are on the vines left, anyway, vintage 2009 will be a really good one !
Wine tasting in St Hippolyte
Friday 7th of August was the perfect day for a wine tasting in domaine Klein with Lutz Hellweg and his wife from Perigord Import, wine import company, now importing wines from Klein Aux Vieux Remparts’ estate and located in Lüdenscheid in Germany.
Françoise Klein’s welcome was just wonderful, because she made a visit of HER garden … we followed the arrow signs …
We went up the stairs, we opened a door, we went through a hallway, we opened a second door, then … what a wonderful discovery of this hidden garden, where all aromatic plants, wilde or not, grow : mint, purslane, wilde rocket, tarragon, sage, basil, and of course, vegetables : red, yellow, purple tomatoes, tetragone … It is no use trying to name all of them, I would forget many.
“It is really simple, I never take off one plant or one variety which is growing somewhere, if it is growing, it means that it feels well there” explains us Françoise Klein. We took advantage of this visit to refresh our olfactive memory thanks to all these flavours, just before the wine tasting.
Thank you for this visit, it was really great !!
We tasted then some white wines from Albert Sounit’s estate, we started with the Côte Chalonnaise Blanc 2007, very pleasant, well balanced, a long finish, then the Montagny 1er cru les Coères 2007, very rich, well matured grapes. A wine which only 20% have been aged in barrels, in order to keep fruits and elegance. A well-made wine !
The other bottles went directly to Germany in order to be tasted and we hope … would be enjoyed by our german friends.