Last month Bancroft's Jason Busby headed down to the South of France for vinous explorations and all manner of interesting food. A foodie as much as a wino, here he reports on his findings, provides an insight into how we source our wine and what we look for as well as visiting a few of our current suppliers...
"This was a well organised trip by the Sud de France team where approximately 150 wine buyers from around the world - America to China, Germany to Brazil congregated for the the Languedoc-Roussillon tasting of 1500 wines coupled with the Biologique festival both at the expo in Montpellier.
Firstly, I met the obligatory vineyard dog
and then Arnuad's father in the kitchen with an open fire. Some much needed coffee and cured meats including Papa’s home cured
duck breast before heading back into the cold to see the vineyard. You can't get better than this.
The Languedoc-Roussillon is one of the largest areas in France with so much to offer in terms of variety, value for money and heritage. Don’t be naive and miss what is only going to grow."
Jason and his beanstalk.
"the Langedoc-Rous is a hidden gem with great value wines that are
over looked by the more well-known areas of Bordeaux and The Rhone."
"This was a well organised trip by the Sud de France team where approximately 150 wine buyers from around the world - America to China, Germany to Brazil congregated for the the Languedoc-Roussillon tasting of 1500 wines coupled with the Biologique festival both at the expo in Montpellier.
As
you can see it is a large region and there was a lot to cover in a few days.
Some of Bancroft's old favourites were
represented...
 |
| La Negly: a Bancroft classic. |
I
arrived late on Sunday night, checked in and got some shut eye after several
hours travelling as I had to change planes at Paris. Monday morning begun with
a hearty breakfast then a short coach ride to the Expo for the mammoth tasting.
Starting
with whites I went through approimately 60 wines to ascertain which I might be
interested in discussing with growers face to face on Wednesday and Thursday.
This became quite testing on the teeth so lunch was a welcome relief. How well
organised was that! With several hundred hungry growers, tasters, exhibitors, etc
from both shows, the food was more than good. Cold meats to start with then
Chateaubriand sliced to order with creamy mash. Quite welcome after a morning
of teeth enamel bashing.
Followng
my short luncheon for one :-) I made for a few rosés but bigger focus on the reds
which constituted approximately 75% of the room. Some stunners, some good wines
and no real ugly bettys. Impressive value for money and some with such weight,
concentration and complexity they should have been twice the price. A
successful day followed by a quick salad in the room whilst working before
hitting the sack ready for day two – grower visits.
A
short walk to the station to collect the car to go to Chateau Viranel in Saint
Chinian, about an hour away. One of Bancroft's relatively new and rather
successful new agencies - guys with such energy and dynansim, with consistent clean wines of quality including a 100%
Viognier, light, fresh Rosé and a few reds from the classy elegant Trilogie to
the hedonistic Aromes Sauvages using 100% Alicante Bouschet. Arnaud (the one the
ladies love for some reason) was my host...
A
beautiful landscape with well looked after vines mostly dating back over 50
years. Good rich soil and lovely views too. A brief tasting in the recently
built winery store then onto a lunch in Arnaud's house: a simple salad, walnuts
and warm foie gras – delish!
Next
was a 15 minute that turned into 40 minute drive across the hills to Chateau de
Mus, an impressive Chateau who also give us our Cabrials range.
The
Chateau is impressive looking, but
barely inhabited as a decade or more's work is required to bring this glorious
Chateau back to its former self. Several turrets with numerous rooms and
shutters will one day be a party palace again. Tastings are held in the grand
hall or for smaller groups there is an Orangery across the courtyard.
A
whizz round the grounds with Catherine who has worked for Bachellery for over
15 years. She showed me the most beautifully restored chapel with hundreds of
years of stories then bumping into the patriarch Bernard Julien who was
presiding over the building of new offices. Wealth and power doesn’t mean the
hard graft stops!
We
then popped over to Bachellery which is their other Chateau and main home of
the Julien’s where the offices are at present, but the winery is now empty as
all has been moved to Chateau de Mus.
An
insightful day giving understanding or why these precious wines are so good and
how lucky we are to have their ranges.
Wednesday was a 'B2B' day where I
met several growers from the area touting their wears. All very good with some
stand out ones including one from just outside the area in Costieres de Nimes.
Maybe a future Bancroft wine! Not only were the wines great, and packaging classy but
there was also heritage and the female winemaker and her husband are the type of
growers Bancroft seems to attract. Friendly, honest, hard-working with small
domaine bottled wines of high quality at
good prices – purrrfect.
The evening brought the Gala dinner where over a hundred
attended a three course dinner and more tasting. See one of the four tables in
the photo. This was an interesting evening of tasting and socialising as I sat
with the English contingent. Hearing others views on the wines was insightful.
The overall view is that the Langedoc-Rous is a hidden gem with great value wines that are
over looked by the more well-known areas of Bordeaux and The Rhone.
A crazy menu of 4-5 different
dishes all on one plate made the food/wine matching interesting but good food
all the same, ...and no we didn’t hoodwink the waiting staff into getting a second
cheese board :-)
Thursday morning started with a foray into the three huge halls of the Bio Wine Festival where I spoke and tasted with three of Bancrofts’ favourite growers Domaine de Caillou, Domaine Grand Veneur and Jean-Louis Denois. Denois’ new sparkling wines with low dosage, no sulphur and some JL magic were sublime. After a brief lunch more B2B meetings that brought another few gems that may well crop up on the Bancroft list next year – keep your eyes open.
Thursday morning started with a foray into the three huge halls of the Bio Wine Festival where I spoke and tasted with three of Bancrofts’ favourite growers Domaine de Caillou, Domaine Grand Veneur and Jean-Louis Denois. Denois’ new sparkling wines with low dosage, no sulphur and some JL magic were sublime. After a brief lunch more B2B meetings that brought another few gems that may well crop up on the Bancroft list next year – keep your eyes open.
The Languedoc-Roussillon is one of the largest areas in France with so much to offer in terms of variety, value for money and heritage. Don’t be naive and miss what is only going to grow."
Jason and his beanstalk.
Jason Busby
Director
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