Planquette: Real Wine from the Medoc! Affordable 2010 Burgundies!? Guion, Baudry, Rousset and More!
5/30/13 -
(The tiny cellar at Chateau Planquette)
Early in last winter's trip to France, Eben and I left our lovely biodynamic friends the Huberts in Bourg and Blaye and ventured across the Gironde to the grand chateaux of the Haut-Médoc and their neatly herbicided vineyards. Pressing north through the rain and sleet past Saint-Éstephe, the castles and vineyards gave way to farms and fields, interspersed with vines around the towns of Saint-Christoly and Saint-Yzans. Here, on high ground of gravel and clay over the limestone plateau, we found two long-time organic estates doing great work in the vineyard, producing elegant wines from Cabernet and Merlot that we are proud to offer at Chambers Street. The first to arrive is Didier Michaud's Chateau Planquette. M. Michaud farms 1.7 hectares in Saint Yzans and Couqueques, equal parts Cab and Merlot with a small percentage of an old strain of Petit Verdot, organic since 1978. The grapes are hand-harvested in small baskets and undergo a long fermentation with wild yeasts, with no attempt to extract - "more of an infusion" says M. Michaud, followed by two years in old barriques. There are no additives or corrections except for a small addition of sulfur - the finished wine is analyzed at 3 mg/liter total SO2. Certified organic by Ecocert and labeled simply "Planquette" Vin de France - we hope you try it! -DL
Other recent arrivals include the return of Stephan Guion's lovely Bourgueils. These are the last 30 cases of his wonderful 2010 Prestige - if you'd like a wine that will cellar brilliantly for 20 to 30 years at $12.99, pick-up a case before it's gone. Also featured this week: the last remaining 2010 Burgundies from Lafouge, Billard, Bouvier and Magnien; the last inventory of the lovely 2010 Chinon Cuvée Domaine from Baudry; the return of Domaine Rousset in Crozes-Hermitage, and two lovely lush reds from the south of France, perfect for barbeques...
