As part of the annual evening of the Forces Vives, for the Order of Accountants – Occitanie Region, I proposed a Musical Tasting with a duo of exceptional musicians: François Pascal with the clarinet and Gregory Daltin the accordion. On the programme, a theme on sun wines (Netherlands, Portugal), and a Hispanic musical tour!
Selection of sun wines
- Field Brin – Dbulles – Natural sparkling – AOP Gaillac – 2023
- Area Arretxea – Cuvée Hegoxuri – AOP Irouléguy – 2021
- Quinta Vale de Pios – Pios – Douro – 2018
- Vial-Magneres – Gaby Vial – Banyuls 7 years old
Musical agreements by François Pascal and Grégory Daltin
In this version, the musicians offer a tailor-made repertoire: the accordion, the clarinet and the bass clarinet raise freshness, illustrate bitterness, demonstrate elegance or spread the power of the wines offered to the tasters. Thus, the transcriptions of hispanizing classical music and the original repertoire with jazz and folk sounds, shape 4 wine-music chords, for an extraordinary hearing and taste experience to which the improvisation of musicians will add a woody, silky or spicy touch, who knows...
Back in image of the evening
The tasting sheets of the Soenologist
Wine #1 : A festive and local bubble to start with
Area : Domaine de Brin (Damien Bonnet, peasant-vigneron and gifted winemaker)
Name: Gaillac (between Albi / Cordes / Gaillac)
It is one of the oldest vineyards in France that extends over about 4000 hectares.
In Gaillac, there is a word that often comes back when it comes to the vineyard: diversity. And the range of wines does not deviate from the rule by offering you an exceptional palette of richness (effervescent, dry, white, red, sailing wines, mellow).
Terror : Very stony clay-calcar soil, east exposure, altitude 260m
Grape(s): 80% Mauzac Rose and 20% Ondenc (Aboriginal)
Cuvée: Bubbles
Vintage: 2023
Service: 8-9°
Carafage: not required
Alcohol: 10%
Description : Freshness, tension and greedyness for this beautiful sparkling ancestral method!
What is the ancestral method: A wine made as in time, with the least human intervention possible. Once winter arrives, the cold ends the first alcoholic fermentation. Then the juice is bottled directly. When the sun returns to the sunny days, the fermentation resumes. That's how the bubbles will be born.
There are no chemicals and no preservatives. Natural sparkling wines are therefore simply sparkling natural wines!
Dress : Slightly cloudy, golden yellow
Nose : The pink Mauzac sings the aromatic wine around the apple and accompanies a magnificent floral flight. Appetizer notes, apple, pear and citrus.
Mouth : The fine bubble sparkles on the lemon with a lot of elegance. Only 10% alcohol for maximum pleasure and crisp. We have almost a sense of salinity, obviously a nice acidity and a lot of freshness.
Food & Wine Agreement :A pure gourmet to accompany a handful of gougères, oysters, or even a creviss timbale.
Music & Wine Agreement : Klezmer music, very dancing, glittering, lively
1 – Odessa Bulgar- traditional sharp piece / direct attack
2 – Firn di mekhutonim aheym – traditional quieter piece // ancestral side
3 – Galitsianer tentsl – traditional we take back a lively piece that evokes the terroir
Wine #2 : Tribute to the Basque Country
Area : Arretxea (the stone house in Basque) founded 1989 RIOUSPEYROUS family
The two sons, Iban and Teo, took over the family estate. They always play chistera and are often champions of the Basque Country and France!
Name: Irouleguy
Tribute to the monks of Roncevaux who had chosen this village to plant their vineyards and make wine that they brought after to the abbey of Roncevaux. The latter being on the way to St Jacques de CompostelaThey had to shelter, feed and quench the pilgrims who returned. Then the phylloxera (1863) destroyed the whole vineyard and people turned to breeding. It was the Co-operative Cave of St Etienne de Baigorry that relaunched the AOC Irouléguy in 1970.
Terror : Assembly of two terroirs, Schist and Stoneware.
Grape(s): Big Manseng 55% – Small Manseng 25%- Small Curved 20%
Initially the large manseng grape dominates the assembly, with citrus notes, then the Petit Manseng will assert over time and give more complex notes of exotic fruits, truffles...
Cuvée: Hegoxuri (literally "south white")
Vintage: 2021 – fresh vintage. We missed the sun... But, whites on fresh vintages have a much greater custody potential in time, 10/15/20 years. It's fresh, tense, mineral.
Service: 10-12°
Carafage: 2H
Alcohol: 13,5%
Description : Exceptional wine become rare! ... This iconic cuvée reflects the diversity and complexity of the micro-terroirs of the steep hills of Irouléguy. One of the greatest wines in the southwest, cut to brave time!
True wine, deep, full of the strength of the terroir and the passion of a committed family.
Dress : golden yellow and shiny dress,
Nose : citrus, white flowers. Wet rock
Mouth : fresh, mineral, acidic, with persistent tension.
Music & Wine Agreement : grilled fish, raw, white meat, smoked trout « Banka »
1 – El Vito, traditional song of sandalousia, Tomas Damascus (very playful)
2 – Nights in Spain, Jules Massenet
3 – Hegoak, traditional Basque, music by Mikel Laboa on a poem by Joxean Artze
Wine #3: A wine that reminds us of the sun
Area : Quinta Vale de Pios (Pios means bird song)
Name: Douro
Terror : Shale soil / 250m of altitude / Very steep vineyard / extreme climate but the freshness of the night balances the heat of the day / Desert climate / corner of paradise
Grape(s): Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz
Cuvée: Pius
Vintage: 2018
Service: 16°
Carafage: 2H
Alcohol: 14%
Description : The PIOS cuvée of Quinta Vale de Pios is perhaps the most emblematic of the Douro appellation. High 14 months in French oak barrels
This cuvée pays tribute to the oldest winemaking technique, the crushing at the feet and the rest of the process is done naturally from native yeasts
Dress : Dark, black
Nose : Flavors of candied black fruits, leather, cedar and tobacco.
Mouth : The structure and concentration are present but do not yield anything to the balance and freshness of the wine.
Music & Wine Agreement : Power, juicy, animal, portugal
1 – CorridorhoManuel D. Correia - Trad music. Algarve (dance)
2 – Carinhoso, Alfredo da Rocha Viana - Trad. Brazilian (melancholic, deep)
3 – Sao Paulo, Gregory Daltin – Brazilian theme that is more powerful and joyful
N°4 : A wine of meditation to finish smoothly
Area : Vial-Magneres (name legend field)
Bernard Saperas, an icon of this vineyard that has made Banyuls known worldwide. Left too early, in 2013, he left behind a masterful work!
Reprised by Laurent Dal Zovo, elected winemaker of the year 2021 by the Hachette Guide.
Name: Banyuls
Terror : Schistes. Planting in terraces, driving cup. Mediterranean climate, warm and dry summer, mild winter. Very windy, the Tramontane is almost daily.
Marine entry = natural mist
Grape(s): 70% Grenache Black / 30% Grenache Grey
Cuvée: Gaby Vial
Service: between 12-15° (not too cold)
Carafage: 2H
Alcohol: 16.45% / 80gr residual sugar
Description More commonly called 7 years of age, this Banyuls is more oxidative than traditional Banyuls.
Banyuls are so-called wines « transferred » : i.e. alcohol is added to the must to stop alcoholic fermentation, which helps to keep some of the natural sugar in the grape.
This one is aged in oak (reddening medium) to give a typical oxidative banyuls!
Description: An intense pleasure around the combo: macerated cherry, fig, cocoa
Dress : Tiled, amber red
Nose : We have the fruitiness of Grenache + fig, a little nutty. Nose of candied red fruits, mainly macerated cherry, some coffee and chocolate/cacao. Caramel.
Mouth : Unctuous, but digested at once – The mouth is tender, supple, greedy and slightly oxidative
Music & Wine Agreement : From Past to Present / Meditation Wine / Power / Sun
Improvise on a Carmen theme, evocation of Spain, wine & sensual music
1 – Nana, from the 6 Spanish Popular Songs, Manuel de Falla (meditation)
2 – El Will of Amelia, Miguel Llobet – Catalan theme: sweet and enchanting
3 – El noi de la mare, Miguel Llobet – Catalan theme : evokes freshness / breathing
4 - The filadora, Miguel Llobet – to finish with fireworks
