Gergovie Wines re-visited

 

 

Such freindy staff

We know it! We have never given Gergovie Wines their due. Why? Gergovie is a model wine merchant and wine bar. The staff are amazingly well informed, kind and helpful. In trendy Maltby St, Bermondsey they are not out of the way. Plus they always have bottles of interest even to the specialists of Slotovino.

Could it be that the first time we read the name Gergovie (a place Central France), the name of the controversial Russian conductor Gergiev sprung to mind? Somehow this clouded our image. What a stupid association. 

In fact Gergovie Wines are a thoroughly admirable company: no associations with dodgy musicians:

We import wines from a handful of winemakers eschewing the use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers in their vineyards in favour of letting the land and the grape speak (sing even). In the winery, fermentation is the result of wild, indigenous yeasts and heavy-handed techniques are not used at any stage of the wine-making. These are not industrial products but a direct expression of grape, place and personality. 

By way of setting the record straight we paid our second visit to Gergovie and were stimulated as before.

 

 

First of all we wanted to buy a bottle of La Zafra 'Nu' made from 100% Valenci Negre 'Variedad casi extinta' - 'muy limitada' from Alicante, Spain. 

going to extremes to help

 

Valenci Negre is a table grape we were told on our last visit and we had enjoyed the wine very much indeed. It's rare but not unknown for table grapes to be used to make wine. There are some examples in Greece for instance and you could say that Moscato is as much a table grape as a wine grape. Fortunately Gergovie still stocks this wine.

 

Next, in our efforts to find a monovarietal Croatina in the UK, we saw that Gergovie has one from a producer called Mario Siragusa from Piemonte whose Bonarda (Croatina) is a sensible 12% alcohol which promises to allow the typicity of this grape to shine through (right). We also bought Siragusa's Grignolino but at 13% this is more of a risk in our experience (left). If you want to be sure of getting the Grignolino effect, under 13% is more sure. Vediamo.

 

shelves full of interest at Gegovie Wines.

Our visit to Forest Wines

 

Retirement is a wonderful thing; we heartily recommend it. No longer do you chomp at the bit over traffic delays or any of the minor inconveniences that life was full of when deadlines had to be met etc. Not only that but retirees can roam far and wide without a care and so it was that we decided to visit Forest Wines of Walthamstow, London E17. 

Actually, Walthamstow is not such a big stretch. Time was the Town Hall used to be used for recordings and 100 piece orchestras, choruses, soloists as well as recording crews, equipment etc would make the trek - sometimes working a session during the day with a performance in the evening. Also people live there.

 

First of all, Forest wines is a thoroughgoing neighbourhood wine merchant. There is everything you could ever want from a wine shop. No need to go anywhere else really. On top of that, the service is delightful and well informed. Vaut le voyage.

 

We were happy with our purchases: interesting and modest in alcohol.

Roc'Ambulle Pet Nat, Negrette, Domaine Le Roc. A rare sparkling version of Fronton's Negrette, one of our all time favouurite grapes. We're looking forward to this one with salivating mouth if that's not too gross. 9.5%

Folle Blanche. We've had this before and can't say we were too 'folle' about it. Let's see if this one can't win us over to this variety. 10%

A South African macerated Semillon from Franchhoek. At 12% this is not something you see often from that part of the world. Again, something to anticipate.

Lapierre Raisins Gaulois vin de France Gamay (from Beaujolais). 12%

 

Found at Valencia, February '26.

 

The label reads 'Vicente Gandia Viticoltores desde 1885 Bobal Blanco Blanc de Noirs'

We went to Valencia to visit the Todoli Citrus Foundation an hour away at Palmera. Vicente ("I love all grapes") Todoli has 500 species of Citrus fruit in his collection. We will repoort on his magnificent obsession anon.

Meanwhile, the night before, we had a delicious dinner at a restaurant in town where there was a Bobal blanco by Vicente Gandia on the winelist. Bobal really is the red wine grape of Valencia and as we shall see, Merseguera is the white. 

 

We have never been excited by any Bobals we have tasted but this example vinified white was absolutely outstanding so much so that we had a 2nd bottle right there and then.

 and later bought a bottle from 'La Bodeguilla' in the Mercado Central to take home.

  

At another, even finer restaurant called 'Yarza' we went for this Merseguera 'Las Travinas' from Bodegas Entre Aldeas which was in its way just as stunning as the Bobal Blanco. This was a pleasant surprise because 'Wine Grapes' has it that this variety is 'Uninspiring...generally lackluster...' Not in this case. Nicely aromatic and food-friendly, again we asked for an encore but this was the last bottle. Instead we drank a blend of Caino Blanco and a couple of 'friends' but although pleasant enough was nothing special.

Our last taste of Merseguera had been in 2013 when we tried Bernabe Navarro's 'La Vina de Simon' 100% Merseguera. This one had a bigger impact.

 

We had been to Valencia not so long before and hadn't realized that Merseguera was their signature white grape. On that occasion we had made a pilgrimage to the most venerable wine merchant 'Baviera' where we had bought a bottle of Miguel de Arcos which turned out to be Moristel. So this time we thought we wouldn't bother but then we remembered we have been searching for a good Prieto Picudo and maybe Baviera had something of interest?

 

We called and were offered this Prieto Picudo from Peregrino. At 13.5% the alcohol was below some of the disappointing PPs we had gone through recently and at less than 7 Euros, what could we lose? In the event the wine was pleasant enough. The search continues though.

 

 

Geoffrey Estienne: from Blueberries to Hybrid grapes

 

Now that L'Etiquette is no longer, perhaps the void may be filled at least to some extent by Divvino, 19 Rue Elzivir, Paris 75003.

Last time there we discovered a real rarity, Joubertin and this time a wine called Vin Nu '1', The producer is Geoffrey Estienne at Le Trimoulet, 23600 Boussac, half way between Tours and Clermont Ferrand in the Limousin. 

Geoffrey was a top producer of Blueberries for many years before deciding to plant a vineyard. Limousin is not a big vinegrowing area so there was presumably no pressure to plant any particular variety. 

Nonetheless Geoffrey took a decision to plant unexpected hybrids. That is to say not only recent ones developed by INRA but really old and to some degree unfashionable ones such as 

Clinton

Baco Noir

Noah

Castel 1963 7

Rayon d'Or

Leon Millot

He found some of these in old vineyards in the area and in a vine nursery and has been using his knowledge from growing blueberries to prune and manage these vines differently.

Divvino had a bottle of Vin Nu '1' which is Baco Noir plus a bit of Gamay from Coigny in the Rhone, 3 hours away, not exactly next door.

We actually like Baco Noir having enjoyed bottles from Henry of Pelham (Ontario) and even planted a couple of vines ourselves. We wanted to buy 6 different bottles of Geoffrey's wines but he said the others were not ready yet.

We will be patient. 

Paprika Store Green Lanes, London

 

On a visit to The Dusty Knuckle's wonderful Green Lanes Bakery/Cafe/Pizza restaurant, we spied this shop opposite. Always a succer for Hungarian produce we took a look and found...

masses of Hungarian wine, We can't think of anywhere else you can buy such a range: Bock, Gere, Thummerer, Torley, Varga - you name it. Even better, Paprika is part of a chain with branches in Bristol, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Twickenham and even Dublin.

and wine is not the only thing

Such a large selection and so little time. Our table at The Dusty Knuckle was waiting.

So the easiest and for our taste best choice was to get Portugiesers from Bock and Gere at wonderfully affordable prices.

Some time ago we worked out that Portugieser may have been the grape of the Voslau which was where Vienna got its red wine from in his day. 

Nothing better than to think of the great man when quaffing this Portugieser even if what he really wanted to drink was Rhein Riesling from his native Bonn.

Adieu L'Etiquette

Our traditional shot of the Pont Neuf on the way to L'etiquette

Paying our required visit to Paris's best Natural Wine shop, 'L'Etiquette' we received the tragic news that Herve Lethielleux, mercurial owner and manager would be closing his doors for good in three weeks' time.

Herve

On the one hand we were happy to have caught him just in time to buy one last bottle of interest (we never left without one) we were sad we would be without him in the future.

L'Etiquette became a popular for taking a drink and a snack

He said he had decided to retire and travel the world with his wife after years and years of hard work at the coalface. Herve didn't just sell natural wine, he knew every single producer of the bottles he bought and dispensed information to customers sometimes in a trenchant mode but always backed by kindness and humour.

Slotovino hopes M. and Mme. Lethielleux will join us for a meal when they visit London on their travels. How many caveistes have had an invitation of that sort? None, which goes to show the affection and admiration we have always had for Herve and L'Etiquette.

So what did we buy as our last bottle there? This intriguing Bordeaux made from the rare Castets and 'Merlots' whatever that means. We have heard mention of Castets before in the context of possible new varieties to be allowed in the Bordeaux AOC. It is a variety with good resistance to Downy Mildew and has its origens in the Western Pyrenees. Notes attest to its deep colour, high alcohol and aging potential but only moderate acidity. In 2008 there was barely a hectare remaining in France but it has been spotted in California amazingly enough.

Seen on the Ile on the way home for us as well as the doggies.

Tariffs