Madiran vineyards (© Jean-Marc Puech)
I’ve noticed that the wine department in Lotus South has really been improving
recently. If you make your way past the huge stacks of gleaming gold and silver
whisky boxes you’ll find that there’s a good selection of wines on offer. Best
of all, the young ladies on duty leave you to browse in peace. In my case, it’s
probably because I give them my “evil eye” as soon as I arrive. After that, they
keep their distance. I was recently browsing through the wines in a supermarket
in town, when a uniformed young lady approached me clutching a bottle of
Concha y Toro Cabernet Sauvignon. “Chilean Red,” she bleated helpfully. I
was tempted to say, “Sorry, but I’m looking for a Swedish Green.” But of course,
I didn’t.
Chโteau Piarrinne, AC Madiran 2008 (red) France (Lotus South
Bt. 449)
Madiran wine comes from the village of the same name in
Gascony, down near the Pyrenees. These wines are often quite concentrated, high
in tannin and unlike most modern wines actually improve over several years. A
good Madiran is rather similar in style to quality Bordeaux.
It’s a very dark red, almost purple wine with a rather oily
appearance. I mean that as a compliment, by the way. It makes the wine look more
inviting and helps create the little “legs” that sometimes appear inside the
glass when you swirl the wine around. And I honestly hope you do swirl it
around, for this gets the air into the wine and helps to bring out the aroma
which is rich and full, with blackcurrants, cherries and spices. You might pick
up some oak and herbs too. After a time (probably about twenty minutes) a faint
reminder of mint and chocolate emerged. It was worth waiting for.
The wine has a soft mouth-feel, very supple tannins and 13%
alcohol content. It’s full-bodied, with a good balance and a decently long, dry
and herby finish. It’s a real “food wine” and would make a good partner for game
or assertive cheeses. The Tannat grape makes up most of the blend. This grape is
normally found in the South West of France and is noted for its high tannin
levels, so it’s usually blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and its vinous cousin
Cabernet Franc. Madiran wines are often made by soaking the Tannat grapes with
their seeds. Wine made this way is very high in polyphenols, which block
the production of a protein that constricts blood vessels, thus reducing the
risk of blockages and heart attacks. It has been noted that the people of
Madiran have a very long life expectancy.
“Plaisir” Vin de Table (red)
France. (Lotus South Bt. 279)
Here’s a real cheapie and if you’re on a tight budget it’s
worth a try. It’s a typical knock-it-back wine that wouldn’t be out of place in
any French workers’ caf้. It must be the cheapest vino in town.
It comes from the South, but the bottle gives neither the
year nor the name of the grapes, Under French wine law, a wine labelled “Vin
de Table”, doesn’t have to, but I’d guess Grenache is in there somewhere.
There’s a vague hint of cherries, herbs and black fruit on the aroma and the
wine is soft on the palate with a nice little “bite” to the taste. The finish is
a bit thin but honestly; it doesn’t really matter because this wine is not for
swirling, sniffing and pontificating about. It’s the kind of thing you buy in
France in plastic bottles.
For me, this wine brings back warm memories of the South of
France in the long balmy days of many summers ago; stopping around lunchtime at
a country shop to buy a hunk of local cheese, a freshly-baked baguette and a
bottle of simple refreshing wine, just like this one.
Being a European, I tend to drink wine with every meal except
breakfast, for even the most basic fare is enhanced by a glass of decent wine. I
know my three dogs would agree. They would be extremely miffed if they didn’t
get some wine with their pork bones and Pedigree Chum every night. Honestly, I’d
never hear the end of it.
