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Domaine Cauhape Uses Camaralet, One Of The World's Rarest Wine Grapes, To Create An Excellent (And Inexpensive) White Wine

8/31/2022

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Domaine Cauhapé is a unique wine. They use carmaralet, a nearly extinct grape to make a $15 bottle of wine.

Camaralet (aka Camaralet de Lasseube) is paired with gros manseng in this interesting wine. It uses old grapes in a fairly new style. It wasn't all that long ago that the area, Jurancon, was associated with sweet wines, desert wines. This wine, and a half dozen others from Cauhapé, are dry.  This particular wine, "Chant des Vignes", has a lot of citrus, spice (maybe a whiff of anise), pepper and a plethora of sometimes tropical fruit that rounds out the wine. You will see references to cinnamon flavors but that doesn't seem to be the case with this wine. There is good acidity here to give it some backbone too. It isn't SUPER high acid but it has enough.

Camaralet is an old varietal. This is corroborated by a number of sources but none of them get specific with dates. It seems to have moved north from it's original home in the Pyrenees (not a huge trek to Gascony). Another common theme is that this is a grape with great potential to make excellent wine.

So why is there so little of it? It is difficult to grow. It is a female vine rather than hermaphroditic. It has to be planted close to male or hermaphroditic vines in order to pollinate. Likewise it doesn't have great yields (but low yields often mean quality grapes).

But what about gros manseng? This grape is all over Gascony and Jurancon and is a component of numerous wines both dry and sweet. It is often partnered with petit manseng, colombard and even sauvignon blanc in dry blends. There is even gros manseng in places like Arizona. Gros manseng is easier to grow than camaralet. If I recall there are some plantings of gros manseng in Arizona and perhaps in Virginia too.

Some sources--

The Domaine Cauhapé website.

The always helpful Wine Searcher's 2 cents.

For more technical information head to Plant Grape--Catalog of Grapevines Cultivated in France.

A previous discussion of a gros manseng wine from Charles Hours (Cuvee Marie).  
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Are Gascon White Blends The Last Great Bargains In France? Domaine Des Cassagnoles Cote De Gascon Makes A Case

8/25/2022

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by Patrick Ogle

Are Gascon whites the last great bargain whites in France?

Yes.

Sure you can buy cheaper wines but cheap isn't always a bargain is it? Also, not every single wine from the area is guaranteed to not suck but that is true of more prominent locales as well. I can recommend some Burgundies that are horrible if you would like!

Domaine des Cassagnoles make wine and Armagnac (like many producers in the area). Their basic white,from what I've read anyway, is a blend of two grapes, ugni blanc and colombard . Click to read more about those in detail but the former is one of the grapes widely used in the production of cognacs like Armagnac. The latter is a white often used to punch up acidity on potentially flabby blends (those grown for jug wines in Central California in the 1970s for instance.

These are generally crisp light wines with solid acidity. They will have fans in lovers of New Zealand sauvignon blancs (although they do not have any of the grass or grapefruit). Likewise someone into unoaked, non-buttery chardonnays or super dry rieslings will find something to like here.

Keep in mind these are not incredibly complex wines with many nuances. Nor will they impress your snooty friends. But if you are trying to impress your friends with your wine? Well that sounds like something to talk to your therapist about in any case.

Try some of these Gascons until you find your fit.

Some sources--

For those who missed it above the Domaine des Cassagnoles website.

An interesting , and occasionally eye-roll inducing, travel piece from CNN.

And back to Wine Searcher! (as Ive noted elsewhere? They provide great information but sometimes I question the editorializing "this is a BAD, BORING grape!")

It is also worth noting the two links above in the body of this are from Plant Grape--Catalog of Grapevines Cultivated in France which is an invaluable resource.



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Fuck The Wheel, Whoever Learned To Ferment Shit Is Who We Should Laud And Littel Buffel's "Curated Mutations" Reminds Of Us Of This Truth

8/17/2022

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by Patrick Ogle

This wine is a pet nat or Pétillant naturel. This is the method of making sparking wine that predates the method used to make Champagne. I won't get into the details of the differences . You can find that out HERE.

The video tells you what I think about this wine, Curated Mutations, by Liten Buffel in New York state. It is a mix of riesling and vidal blanc. It is unfiltered, gunky even. But if you like the style? You will like the wine.


What caught my eye here, aside from the label which is fabulous, was the fact they use vidal blanc. This is a hybrid grape, a crossing between a European wine grape and an American grape. American grapes are not generally the best option, to put it mildly, for making wine. Hybrids, however, can make some pretty nice wines in the right hands. Vidal blanc is well-known for its use in ice wine and is a crossing between one of the many "Seibel grapes" and ugni blanc (itself mostly known for it's use in brandy production).

Some sources-

Find out more about Liten Buffel HERE.
You can find out more about Vidal blanc at WIne-Searcher.
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We want the gunk, gotta have that gunk....actual residue from Curated Mutations.
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Tsiakkas Xynisteri, The Pride Of Cyprus, Buy A Bottle And Build YOUR Self Esteem!

8/10/2022

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by Patrick Ogle

XInisSTERI! I left a syllable out. Sorry about that to all my Cypriot brothers and sisters out there. I also would like to apologize for Corsica for saying biancu gentile was from Sardinia. A lesser man would have just reshot the video but I own my mistakes (I am also lazy).
 
Let us get back to the wine wine--xinisTERI (not xinistri as I say in the video). It is mainly grown on Cyprus. Apparently it is the most commonly seen wine from Cyprus on our shores but somehow I managed to miss it.

Tsiakkas
, in Lemesos, started as a husband and wife team and now their progeny run things. They also started out with international varieties but in recent years have shifted to more traditional grapes. Yiannoudin, vamvakada and promara are among the obscure varietals Tsiakkas has embraced. Now the search begins to find these in the USA!

It is sometimes used in the other wine from Cyprus you see with some regularity--the sweet wine, Commandaria but that is not where it is the star. From a number of sources the best versions of this wine are alleged to come from the Troodos Mountains. Maybe look for that on the label.

Some sources-

Tsiakkas Winery website.

Check out the 12 best wines from Cyprus at the Cyprus Alive website.

Find out about the Troodos Mountains at Choose Your Cyprus website.



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Abbazia Di Novacella Stiftskellerei Neustift Kerner, A Riesling Offspring That Does Its Parents Proud

8/3/2022

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by Patrick Ogle

Abbazia Di Novacella kerner genuinely makes its parents proud. Especially since it is a relative youngster.  Kerner is a variety of grape that is less than 100 years old. It was created in 1929 in Germany and was named for a German poet. There are tons of grapes that are relatively new like this. Some have been more successful. Some make good wine and others have staying power.

Kerner has succeeded in both categories.


It isn't grown as frequently as chardonnay but it does not seem to be in imminent danger of disappearing. There are a number of good wines made with the grape in Germany or, in this case, in Italy. I even know of a vineyard in England that grows it, although I have never managed to get my hands on a bottle.

It is a crossing of the backbone of the German wine industry, riesling and trollinger (aka schiava).  Trollinger is a red grape used to make light, refreshing reds and rosés. I've often found schiava wines, although light, had decent acidity.

Kerner has a big part of the acid of riesling and is "aromatic" as well. You can find out more at the distributor, Skurnick's, website. You can also find out the fascinating story about the monastery where the wine is grown HERE.

Do NOT share the video with the monks. I swear too much and say other profane things with frequency. SHHHHH. Although, at no point, do I take the Lord's name in vain.

Some sources-

Winery/Monastary website.

WIne Searcher (good historical info, don't always buy their "this grape makes undistinguished wine" assertions).

Wien.plus.

Winestrasse.com.

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    WINE!

    There are thousands of wine grapes and many places that grow great wines. Why not find out about some surprising wines from surprising places?

    NOTE-Until recently I did not capitalize the names of varietal grapes (as a matter of style) but for a variety of reasons as of February, 2018 we will capitalize but I am not going back and altering the previous style!!!


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