Our rosé on Garagiste and photos / Quelques photos et beaucoup d'anglais

Here is the Garagiste schpeal:
Et voilà la présentation de Garagiste (excusez ma manque de courage pour la traduire )

Weekend: 2013 Rosé

Dear Friends,

After tasting 300-400 examples of 2013 rosé over the last two months (from far and wide in France), there is no way to sugar-coat the obvious: this is a tough year.

The very best examples are excellent but there is an enormous gap between the merely palatable and the enjoyable. In most years, we find a wide ocean in the middle – in 2013, that ocean is reduced to a trickle from a leaky pipe in your backyard. While most of the top names have confirmed their standing (even in a tough year, they produced exemplary wine), a good number of famous properties have bottled ho-hum offerings that should be reduced in $. We will see if that happens.

Far from a 2002 Rhone or 1997 Bordeaux type of campaign, it is not a complete wash-out but the Grenache did have difficulties. Wine after wine (based on Grenache) had piquant/unripened acidity and a nondescript persona. They were not necessarily “bad” but they had nothing to get excited about. After searching far and wide for Grenache, it was evident that I had to look elsewhere.

So, why not look for examples that rely on Cinsault, Syrah and others (that were more sound and more successful in the vintage)?

That's exactly what I did and there are nuggets of 2013 raspberry gold to be had.

Such as...

OURS!
LE NOTRE!

In the Chenançon vineyard (where the rosé is grown):The schpeal continues:
Dans la vigne de Chenançon (les raisins qui deviennent le rosé):

The schpeal continues:
La présentation continue:

2013 Colline de l’hirondelle Ventilo Rosé 750ml
From the rarely tasted Chenancon varietal (grown near Carcassonne), the Ventilo rosé gives the taster a fun and deeply colored summer bottle bursting with energy and sunshine. Like the Margui above, it has snap, crackle and pop aligned to riper and more unctuous wild raspberry fruit. The soil tone comes through as well with a long finish (especially for the vintage). Nothing profound, but who cares when its delivered in a package that is hardly attempting to redefine world politics. Of all the 2013 rosé I’ve tasted, the Ventilo hit the sweetest spots without being sweet at all (it is quite dry). What rosé is all about. BIO/organic.

For more info on this cute as a button entity: http://collinedelhirondelle.com/

And other photos for those of you not on Instagram !
Et quelques photos pour ceux qui ne sont pas sur Instagram!

The Belgian plumber / Le Plombier Masqué

August 30 / 30 août

(version française plus bas)

At the beginning of the summer I delivered some wine to La Marée Gourmande, a little restaurant in Toulouse.  It was mostly an excuse to go shopping and out to lunch with my girlfriends.

When the little restaurant ordered two cases of wine we were faced with the same delivery problem we had had before (Toulouse is an hour and a half drive from here).

This time a different solution fell into our laps in the form of a Belgian couple who showed up at the winery.  They were REALLY fun and when we discovered they were going to the Toulouse train station - not far from La Marée Gourmande - we asked them to deliver the two cases.  We had known them about hour when they left with the two cases of rosé in their trunk and the promise that they would take a photo when they delivered the wine.

Antoine and Béa (our Belgian friends) with the daring couple in Toulouse
Antoine et Béa (nos copains belges) avec le couple osé à Toulouse

Au début de l'été, j'ai livré des échantillons à La Marée Gourmande, un petit resto à Toulouse.  C'était plutôt une bonne excuse pour aller faire les magasins et manger au resto avec des copines.
 
Quand le petit resto a commandé deux caisses de vin on s'est retrouvés face au même problème qu'avant (Toulouse est à une heure et demi de route d'ici).

Cette fois-ci, une autre solution est tombée du ciel sous la forme d'un couple belge qui avait débarqué un peu par hasard à la cave. Les belges étaient TRÈS marrants et quand on a découvert qu'ils se rendaient à la gare de Toulouse - pas loin de la Marée Gourmande - on leur a demandé de livrer nos deux caisses. On les connaissait depuis 1 heure quand ils sont partis avec deux caisses de rosé dans leur coffre. Ils nous ont assuré qu'ils prendraient une photo lors de la livraison.

Not only did they deliver the wine and take a picture, but Antoine came back to the winery a few days later to help us bottle our late harvest sweet wine.  You might recognize him in the group photo from the Lunch with the Arty crowd (it should have read the arty crowd + hilarious Belgian plumber).   He left his card.  If anyone in the greater Brussels area needs a plumber, don't hesitate.

Ils ont non seulement livré le vin et pris la photo mais Antoine est revenu à la cave quelques jours plus tard pour nous aider à embouteiller notre vendange tardive.  Vous le reconnaissez peut-être sur la photo de groupe "Les Artistes à Table" (qui aurait dû s'appeler les artistes + plombier belge super drôle). Il nous a laissé sa carte.  Si quelqu'un autour de Bruxelles à besoin d'un plombier, n'hésitez pas.