Ben Llewelyn's Blog

As many of you will have gathered I have been off the radar for a few weeks and for good reason too!

At the end of March I shipped my small but growing family off to France. We have moved to a region that, although has no discernible wine production of note, is bordered by Bergerac and Cahor to the North, Languedoc to the east, Armagnac to the south and, perhaps most fortunately, Bordeaux to the west. I am now able to settle down to my MW studies knowing that if at anytime I have a practical issue that is troubling me, I only have to point the car in the direction relevant to my quandary at in a matter of hours my problems become answers and practical examples. Unless of course it is an issue of a new world nature, in which case I am in no better place than my fellow students in England!

Since we have arrived we have been having the most hectic time. No sooner had I parked the car then a visit to one of the all time fantastic vigneron became an obvious necessity. I had picked up some wine on the way down through France from the Loire, particularly from Bernard Baudry, Jacky Blot and Phillipe Pichard, but these were for analysis (ie enjoying on my own!) and we had friends to stay. So, off to Domaine de Pech to meet Ludovic Bonneville and Magalli Tissot. This is a Biodynamic, organic estate which sits just outside the pretty village of St Colombe en Brulhois on the edge of the faded south eastern Buzet appellation and about 20 minutes from our house. Both are committed to the vineyards they own, and both are committed to producing the very best wines they can using nothing more flashy than a handful of demi-muid oak barrique, some large tonneau and some very old oak tanks of 5000 litres or more. The estate is one of the few to produce wines from the Buzet appellation outside of the Co-Operative, and there feelings about this behemoth that lies are at the other end of the AC are not hidden and well deserved.

Producing three red wines from Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc and white made from Sauvignon Blanc, Pech produce wine in the Buzet tradition, and in turn produce wines that far exceed the reputation of a region that has never quite reached the heady heights of fame their more famous neighbours in the north-west, Bordeaux, have. With this in mind it is sad to see that the AC governing body for the region, in the main made up of shareholders of the co-operative, have decided to exclude Pech from the appellation of Buzet in 2003 and 2004. The reason given that the wines are too phenolic and show little of the structure of typical Buzet.

Extraordinary; I have tasted the wines of the co-op and in the main they are pleasant, generally light to medium bodied wines of some character, but never exciting, exactly the reason Buzet is never in the heady heights of the wine list. One or two of the wines show a considerable degree of Brettonamycine, a yeast growth that gives wine a sweaty saddle, horse manure character that can be attractive in the right balance (often exhibited in the Rhone) but not when it is raging, especially as it often indicates bad practice elsewhere. And Pech are producing wines of Medium body, considerable fruit intensity, but never extracted or jammy, never aggressive and certainly ‘vin de terroirs’ if ever there was one. This would all be fine; Ludovic has created the name Domaine Pech Abusè for the 2003 for the main estate wine, which is now VdP and the top cuvee Badinerie grown on a Gravel outcrop is only a Vin de Table anyway. In Italy these wines became Sassicaia, Ornellaia and Tignanello, but in France the French don’t see this, if it is not on a wine list as Appelation Controlee, it won’t sell, and no one wants a VdP at twice the price of the others on the list.

The wines are hand harvested, sorted in the vineyard and fermented in oak tanks and stainless steel according to the selection. The white is fermented in oak demi-muid and is left to get on with this for well over 6 months. It is aged on its lees for 12 months and battonage takes place regularly producing a wine that is rich, complex, incredibly evolved and extremely enticing.

Interestingly the wine, once fermentation is underway, sees no more sulphur and levels are kept very close to the levels where it does not have to be mentioned on the albel, around 8mg/l. We are on the 2004 at the moment, and although it needs decanting for a day or two (just to get it to open up!) it is as interesting a white wine as one would hope to find anywhere in its north-eastern neighbour.

The reds are exceptional. The blend is varied vintage on vintage, but always Cebernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Domaine de Pech 2002 is fantastic; smooth lines, solid grip and harmonius black fruit, spice and a soft long finish. 2003 Abusè is more concentrated, denser with brooding tannin and line of acidity running through the mid palate lifting the spice and fruit from the tannin, one for the cellar! The Badinerie 2002 is predominantly Cabernet Franc. The skins are macerated for 5 weeks and the wine sis fermented in demi-muid and never racked fined or filtered or, perhaps most crucially sulphured. By leaving the yeasts and bacteria to work themselves to the end no sulphur is needed to stabilise the wine. It also allows for a natural clarification which means the wines is never moved from the point of fermentation to the point of bottling, remaining in the same container for 2 and a half years. Risky but worth it!

These two people are the very reason wine is so fascinating and enjoyable, so far removed are they from the homogeounous product that has become the norm in so many parts of the market. I am looking forward to purchasing more of there wines, and given the fact that I have turned up unannounced twice and been welcomed with the most extraordinary charm and good humour I am hoping that Ludovic and Magalli become firm friends of ours while we are down here. The only problem being that I will have to find somewhere else to get my wine for when they come to dinner!

Ben's Blog

Passed!

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