BUBBLE BROTHERS - CORK WINE MERCHANTS

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So here it is, just for the fun of it,: my entry to the competition, for which I am ineligible, mentioned in the previous post. We thought the rosé was terrific for the job, clean and with bright acidity; maybe not one for drinking on its own so much as an effective and refreshing food wine. Alan Davidson’s terrific book deserves rather more by way of recommendation than my homely travesty of a great recipe, by the way. I apologize for the tiresome cheesiness of the titles. Inspiration can flag when you’re obliged to use the nearest tools to hand.

What with not having much of a summer here, the recipe being Russian rather than Irish, and our not importing the rosé in question at the moment (though we have the loverly reds: here’s one) - not to mention my cooking - the whole thing’s a bit of a damp squib. Or just a bit of fun, depending on your point of view. Drink more rosé, people. Tinted specs on, please.

OK, I’m doing this, and thanks to Marc Menant at the République des Sens for giving me the idea.  There’s an unlabelled sample bottle of Wilfrid Rousse’s Chinon rosé on the Bubble Brothers sample shelves, and it’s been there a little while now, waiting for the first signs of summer.  Patiently.

At this stage, I doubt it’s going to lead to much in the way of business for M. Rousse from us in 2008, so I may as well put it to blogly use

by entering this spifftastic Chinon-rosé-promoting competition (subject to the fourteen articles governing it).  Hot damn, I think I’m going to have fourteen articles governing my competitions from now on.  Maybe even fifteen.

Of course, those of you who have French can see that I’m ineligible, just as those of you who know France, but not the language, may guess the same thing: it is because I don’t live in France:

La participation à ce jeu gratuit et sans obligation d’achat est ouverte à toute personne physique domiciliée en France métropolitaine (à l’exception des salariés et représentants de la société organisatrice, de ses partenaires, et de ses sous-traitants, ainsi que de leurs conseils et des membres de leur famille) disposant d’une connexion à Internet et d’une adresse email valide

and anyway, in all likelihood, my entry will be considered illegible because I’ll be jiggered if I’m going to write it in any other than my native barbarian English:

Tout article ou commentaire incomplet, illisible, envoyé après la date limite ou sous une autre forme que celle prévue sera considéré comme nul.

[My bold in both instances]

You do get the feeling sometimes that French law is really struggling to come to grips with the implications of widespread internet use:
Any road up, it’ll be a bit of fun to offer my burnt spudge recipe against the ortolans in aspic and what-not that are bound to come flooding in from the eligible and gastronomically correct readership for whom the competition is intended.

Perhaps the competition is being realistic, or merely adhering to legal requirements, by limiting its scope implicitly to France. Bubble Brothers haven’t exactly had to step over the river of French rosé flowing out of the door this year (pace the old ‘pink prosecco‘ from Italy, which is thundering in torrents to match the rain from our warehouses), and I imagine other importers have failed to encounter this obstacle too. (It is not for want of trying to tell people that pink wine is very nice indeed and not always frivolous).

So I’ll be slipping on my cleanest toque and getting handy with the spatule this weekend. If time runs out, look forward to a scintillating report on how Chinon rosé goes with Monday morning’s toast and marmalade. But I will try to do Wilfrid Rousse’s excellent wine justice if I can.

Over to John for some tempting recommendations from his trip to France…

Photo “La Bigoudenne” ( Douarnenez) par miko sur Vacanceo.com

The Financial Controller has taken a break from counting the beans and returns from the South Coast of Brittany with a few hints.

The artisan chocolatier Guerlais Chartier is a reason to go Vannes. Try to go on market days, which are Saturday or Wednesday.   Incidentally, they confirm our recommendation of Mas Amiel as a partner for chocolate by selling it themselves. The Fish Market in the town is also a sight in itself.

The chip expert in the family judged those of Le Mouillage restaurant in Trinité sur Mer as the best he had ever had. He even noticed that they put proper sea salt on them. The grown ups had fine monkfish and sea bass. We went to this place on our last visit and enjoyed it so much we missed the ferry. Actually, we got the date wrong, but frankly missing the boat, literally, is worth it to go to a place as good as this.

The clothes shop beside the restaurant and the view of the harbour make this a prime choice if you are in a treating mood. Do not ignore Roscoff on the way back. If you go to Le Surcouf in Rue Amiral Reveillere you will see a seafood platter of such variety that it could be a sculpture of an aquarium. Unfortunately, it was on my neighbour’s table, but I enjoyed my fish and my wife’s scallops were so numerous I had a number of those too. You can walk it off with a visit the Exotic Garden before going to the ferry.

Essential reading is “Tarragon & Truffles-A guide to French Markets” by Anne Gregg. It will list all the markets in the area where you are. My advice is to go to the smaller ones if you simply want to buy food. The larger town markets are great for street life, but you can spend the morning fighting through t-shirt and bric a brac vendors. If the younger family members suffer from market fatig you can take them to the Tuesday evening market at L’Abbé St Anne just off the D768 North of Plouharnel. It is held on the farm and the animals are amusing, particularly the old dog who is no mean footballer. There is a good pottery shop further up the road, but I suppose you’ve had enough after the clothes shop in Trinité.

We have three lucky winners of our Café Mao / iKi beer competition! I feel very bad about this. I’d like to give you all a meal at Café Mao; but that wasn’t the rules of the game. If the runners-up would like to send me a postal address (info [at] bubblebrothers.com), I’ll send them out a little pack of iKi goodies, such as postcards, chopsticks, the little black book of iKi, and so on.

The lucky winners, Elke, Mr Nut, and Ms Gough, should also send me a postal address, and as soon as I can, I’ll arrange dispatch of the meal vouchers. Meanwhile, here are the valiant attempts of my long-suffering (perhaps not much longer…) camera to record the draw:

‘Green energy’ wine arrives in Ireland on 108-year-old ship - Telegraph

We were minded to get involved in this - I thought it would be a good photo-op to bring the vessel into Cork city’s deep berth, next to Cork Bonded Warehouse, before the marvels of progress render this impossible. What’s more, Jean-Marie Rimbert, one of our very favourite winemakers, is signed up to the scheme. But it was going to be expensive, and then, during our trip to the Languedoc trade fair, Vinisud, the enthusiasm of the organizers to get us ‘on board’ was so relentlessly, not to say mercilessly, expressed, that I rather wilted towards the whole business. However, M. Rimbert remains a capital fellow, the boat idea is both romantic and timely, and I was delighted to see from this morning’s picture in the Examiner that the delicious Hegarty (here’s Jancis’, and here’s Spittoon’s say-so) wines that I tasted at Vinisud are coming in to Ireland - with which importer, I don’t know, but not this one.

I still haven’t completed my Vinisud reports, by the way, but that’s not to say interesting plans from February haven’t been simmering the while.

Here is an interview with Louis de Bélair, who has been a friend and supplier of Bubble Brothers since our early days, and whose wines you will see along with those of Cyril Marès of Mas des Bressades in our Costières de Nîmes section.  You may have recently enjoyed the chance to sample Louis’s Dauphin de Rozier at one of the URRU shops in Bandon or Mallow, and take advantage of the promotional price we offered. His wines have a medium-bodied elegance and complexity, thanks to the Châteauneuf-like roundstones of the vineyards, that has seen the top cuvée, the Mitiffiot, travel to the cellars of the presidential residence in Paris.

Pouvez-vous nous dire quelques mots sur l’historique de votre Domaine?
Can you describe the de Belair estate in a few words?
The estate is located in the village of Manduel, which lies 12 kilometres south of Nîmes, 74 metres above sea level on the Costières plateau, not far from the Nîmes-Arles road.  Since 1981 I have improved the vineyard by uprooting Carignan and Cinsault vines and replanting with Syrah. I’ve retained old stocks of Grenache, which were planted in 1964 and have been trained in the gobelet style.
Today the estate of 50 hectares has 13.5 hectares of vineyard:
9.5 ha Syrah, and
4.0 ha Grenache.
Since 1982, I have run the vineyard according to biodynamic principles.  I sought the best advice available, and welcome the contributions of experts from the Wine and Vine Institute, INRA, CNRS and the Service des Fraudes. The Château de Rozier became a pilot estate in the fight against vineyard diseases such as mildew and botrytis.  I spray less, spray better and minimize residues. I have reduced my pesticide use by 80%, and in 2007, didn’t use any pesticides at all.  I intend to produce a certified organic wine by 2011.  For 25 years, I didn’t use any fertilizer except the prunings of the vines themselves, with no harm to the plants.  The lutte raisonnée method is founded on the principle of minimal intervention.  Assessment of the likely risks is based on first-hand observation in the vines, and specific knowledge of the local climate. By choosing to use biodegradable products, and then only as and when necessary – and also by encouraging natural predators - the number of treatments and their cost are kept to a minimum. Naturally, respect for the environment… and for the consumer, are high on the agenda. When you stroll through the estate, you may well encounter partridges, pheasants, hares, rabbits or wood pigeons.

Pouvez-vous nous expliquer ce qui vous a amené à pratiquer ce merveilleux métier de viticulteur ?
Can you explain us what led you to this wonderful job of winemaker?
After ten years working in finance in Lyon, I, Louis Mitiffiot de Bélair, took over my late great-aunt’s farm. I was not born a man of the soil: I had begun a career in business when I took over the property, which was in a sorry state, without running water, electricity or heating.  I have had to learn everything for myself, and do it all on a budget because of the considerable expense of purchasing the estate to keep it in the family.  On the other hand, I have an exceptional piece of land, with beautiful terraces of pebbles and roundstones that were transported here during the quaternary era by the Rhone and Durance rivers.  This ancient mas (the name for a big mansion in the south of France) was built on the site of a Roman villa, and there is an ancient well on the property.  Its oldest part dates from 1600, and the main house from 1780-1830.  Some trees on the estate are over two hundred years old.

Quels sont pour vous les critères essentiels pour obtenir un grand vin?
Which criteria are for you the most important to obtain a great wine?
To obtain a great wine, you have to choose the right grapes according to the climate and the terroir.
Small yields are absolutely imperative: the yields here don’t exceed 30hl/ha, and for the Mitiffiot cuvee, they are closer to 20hl/ha.  You have to be in complete control of the wine from vinification to bottling.

What about the making process?
After checking for ripeness at three separate stages, I start the harvest, by hand and mechanically.
The grapes are destemmed and transferred to thermoregulated stainless steel vats for the Dauphin de Rozier, Louis de Bélair, Galets de Rozier et Château de Rozier wines.  For the cuvée Mitiffiot, the grapes are put in a vat for maceration. The two varieties, Grenache and Syrah, are vinified separately as are grapes from the different parcels of land that differentiate Mittifiot, Chateau, and the Dauphin, Louis de Bélair and Galets trio. These three wines are made with the same grapes but with different labels depending on the markets for which they are destined.
The alcoholic fermentation lasts around twelve days and the wines stay on the marc for fifteen days. Then the second fermentation occurs, the malolactic one in epoxy-lined concrete vats. The cuvée Mitiffiot is transferred after fermentation into 228 litre barrels and 500 litre Burgundy hogsheads.  It remains in barrels for twelve months on the lees even after the malolactic fermentation. This wine is not drawn off, fined nor filtered.
The wines are bottled after fifteen to eighteen months.

Pour nous mettre l’eau à la bouche, pouvez-vous nous conseiller 2 accords mets/vins?
As far as wine and food matching is concerned, can you suggest a wine and food pairing?
Pigeon stuffed with truffled foie gras accompanied with morels and their juice.
Wild boar fillet with boletus, purple artichokes and sliced vegetables.
The wine should be decanted and served at around 16°C.

Organisez-vous des dégustations? Participez-vous à des foires aux vins régionales ou nationales pour promouvoir vos vins?
Do you organize tastings, or do you take part in regional or national wine fairs to promote your wines?

Développez vous l’oenotourisme sur votre Domaine? Que pensez-vous de cette nouvelle façon de concevoir tourisme et terroir?
Do you encourage oenotourism at your estate? What do you think about the new ways of looking at tourism and terroir?
I welcome tourists all year round at the estate, and organize tastings there.  I have a cellar for sales, and just next door, a reception room with full facilities for catering.
When there is not much work to do in the vineyard, I do take part from time to time in fairs or tastings abroad, to help my importers.  I have also developed the concept of wine tours to the estate.
I have a bed and breakfast for families or couples who would like to spend some time visiting the countryside. Unfortunately, this place is not suitable for small children for security reasons, not least because of the swimming pool, but Rozier is a calm and quiet place for nature lovers.

Here are the old (left) and new (right) labels of our popular Cava from Mas Codina.

Let me know if you think this is an improvement. I’m inclined to think it is, myself. If you could suggest why it is or isn’t in your view, so much the better.

Ever since I first saw Gary Vaynerchuk’s wine tasting show, I’ve been racking my brains to think of how this might translate to Europe.  As I may have mentioned before, there are some pretenders to the throne out there: two English chaps on a sofa and a German fellow, and doubtless there are many more.  Now here’s an alcohol-free spoof from the USA, which I bring you thanks to Gary V’s Twitter feed.

As for the brain-racking, I’ve pretty much given up.  I can’t think of a European way of doing the Gary thing that would be really worth watching beyond one or two shows, though I’m admittedly pretty impatient with most moving-picture nonsense.  What would work for Ireland?  

I think the best thing is for Mr V. to come to Ireland and do a couple of shows here.  We got whiskey, we got Wordpress boffins…

Maybe, on the other hand, you think there’s just too much analysis, maybe even Mr Vaynerchuk’s breezy blue-collar bonhomie… I thought, and I’m well aware I blow my share of hot air from this very blog, that Brendan O’Connor in yesterday’s Sunday Independent had a point.

My thanks to Will Knott for this link, which varies a theme that’s been playing in the background for a while: that of reinforcing the links between Bubble Brothers’ range of interesting wines and the exuberant development of ‘food culture’ in Ireland, in the hope that the new found courage allowing lemongrass or salad potatoes or boerewors to be bought and sold might extend to, e.g., swapping the Shiraz for a Prieto Picudo, or the Veuve Cliquot for a Tsarine.

Here’s the link - drink recipe tags tied to the neck of the drink

But what about easy food recipes tied to the neck of the wine… I have a cunning plan, along the lines of: we lend a food blogger a bottle of something, and they invent or suggest (with due respect to copyright and all that) a simplish recipe for food matching with that wine, that we can cut and paste on to a tag that gets tied to the neck of the bottle, or put in a dispenser on the wine rack, or something.  I know big (Spanish) wineries sometimes add recipes to the bottle - but would the local, blogly, small-scale element increase or diminish the appeal of the end result?

Food bloggers - dear readers generally, whaddya think?   Would it be worth it for you as a customer?  Should we make a competition out of it, or is a bottle for a recipe a fair deal?    What should the tag look like?  Does anyone except me keep all these little scraps of printed information against the day when a jar of the smoked Andalucian water pumpkins, essential for the authentic taste, appears in the cupboard?

Hey wow, another one of ours on the thunder show. It would really help us to keep the Saurels at Montirius happy if you could take Gary’s advice and buy some of their exemplary, biodynamic, unoaked Gigondas from Bubble Brothers. I’m afraid we can’t offer it at twenty bucks, and I don’t really understand how Mr Vaynerchuk does either. But it’s worth every cent of €28.90 and I hope it’s all the easier to part with the dosh when you have it tasted before your very eyes, not once but twice (he tries it again at the end):