Sans Tra-La-La – a fitting name for an honest wine, made simply, without bells and whistles.
Minimal intervention in the winery sees purity of fruit that delivers flavour hard to believe at this price. The nose is high energy with some stemminess revealing the whole bunch fermentation – a sure fire way to bring a wine to life. And the palate has a surprising amount of body and tannin. But it’s the incredible length that could have you mistaking this wine for a cru Beaujolais rather than a Gamay from the Loire’s Touraine region.
And not only is this a great example of unadulterated Gamay, it’s a lesson in one of the quirks of wine drinking so often misunderstood.
Reduction.
You see to get to the beautiful bright red fruits you need to give this wine a little air.
A lack of oxygen in the winemaking process can result in some smoky, earthy aromas when a bottle is first opened. But while those who love to find fault will jump to the wrong conclusion, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a touch of reduction. In fact some wines, like this I believe, perform better when aged under a slightly reduced state – they just need a little time for those initial aromas to blow off and let the fruit shine.
When a winemaker detects reduction in the winery they can do one of three things depending on how comfortable they are to intervene:
- Those who like to keep a tight rein will add copper to the wine (but a heavy hand runs the risk of oxidising it)
- Those who don’t believe in chemicals can rack the wine (essentially decanting it en masse by transferring from one barrel to another)
- Those who tread the most natural path will leave the wine to do its thing, trusting that the end result will be better for it (once the drinker has obliged with a little oxygen on opening)
After all, why go to all that tra-la-la when the solution is so simple.
So how do you get the most from such a wine?
Ideally you’ll know to expect a little reduction before you open the bottle and can do one of the following depending on how much time you have:
- Add a copper penny, if you are so inclined
- Decant once then leave for a couple of hours before drinking
- Open 24 hours before drinking (but place the cork loosely on top of the bottle to stop flies falling in!) and decant just before drinking
As usual good things come to those who wait so the third option will yield the best results.
And the results are well worth waiting for. I love this wine, and a quick Google will show you that it is loved by many more celebrated connoisseurs than me.
So please don’t let a little reduction get between you and a great drink. Open a bottle of this very sincere Gamay, open your mind, wait a bit, then open your mouth and sing…
:::BON:::
B = Biodynamic: cynics think its voodoo but this is basically holistic farming that uses manures and composts to improve soil life and the interaction of the vines with their environment.
O = Organic: farming without the use of inputs that can have adverse effects. ‘Non-systemic’ fungicides and pesticides are used in place of ‘systemic’ chemicals said to enter the ‘blood’ of a plant (akin to antibiotics in the human world).
N = Natural: no additives or aids (eg yeast, yeast food, added acid/enzymes/tannin) bar a touch of sulphur during aging or before bottling, if any at all.