Tractors in the rearview mirror may be closer than they appear
Year 14, No. 03
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When I was driving last week, things took an “interesting” turn wherein I lost nearly four hours covering about 2km of highway just north of the provincial capital of Girona, Catalunya. To my readers in Los Angeles, you’re probably saying, “And…?” but the fact is, this is not normal for a highway just north of Girona as there is little there to cause traffic.
At stake however are the farming protests which have been widespread across France and have now found their way to Spain. As we all know, farmers have pretty large machinery at their disposal, so they went and tore up a chunk of the highway in this spot, reducing it from four lanes to one. Epic.
The issues for them are much the same as for the French: too much bureaucracy from the EU (pertaining to cutting pesticide usage and carbon emissions which of course tractor protests don’t help), too little bureaucracy for imports (this is true), and then water, which, yeah… we’re all just kinda screwed on that one and, might I refer people to Point A?
With nothing to do but sit in the madness and get high off the carbon monoxide from hundreds of long-haul trucks (yay carbon emissions), it gave me a chance to reflect upon where I’d been which was just across the border, in Roussillon or, Catalunya Nord as it’s known south of the border.
I’ve long-had a passion for the region and have made regular visits for the last 15 years or so. What’s great about it is that it’s so Mediterranean and then, so wonky and very much not Languedoc to which it is so often attached. You’ll see the proof of this below in a wine review as well as the Featured Wine of this newsletter. It’s like you can do basically whatever you want in Roussillon and if you don’t force the wine into something it doesn’t want to be, it will turn out quite well. More to come on this shortly when the full report arrives towards the end of the month.
I was also in a reflective mood when writing up the notes from last fall’s visit with Peter Sisseck, founder of Pingus in Ribera del Duero—thankfully done without the truck fumes. That was a truly great conversation as Sisseck shed light on many things I’ve long-thought sounded wrong, but he knew for a fact they were wrong as he’s done the research to back them up. All hail The Sisseck!
Drink well, be well.
-Miquel
(*) Free to read
And now this
There’s Merlot in the Roussillon? You bet your ten-gallon hat there is and the story of how Res Fortes’ Merlot Madness came to be is well, a bit mad.
Have you been wondering, “Hey I’d like a Gamay, but from Burgundy proper, and I’d really like if it tasted a great deal like Pinot Noir. Oh and it needs to be way under 15€!” No? Yes? No matter what your answer, this wine from Domaine Manciat-Poncet is very much your bicycle.
What an age we live in with three excellent books on the practice of tasting wines blind. Here I’ve reviewed the latest by Tim Gaiser called, ‘Message in the Bottle’ (*) which is a fine addition to any wine tasting library.
Is Prosecco beneath you? It’s not being snooty to think so as there are a lot of naff bottles out there destined straight for the Happy Hour Bucket. But, if you want some bubbly from Veneto that’s actually quite good, have a look at these five options.
And lastly, if you’re not subscribed to Cul de Cuvée, then you missed out on the mission-critical article that was The Definitive Wine Guide to Valentine’s Day. Better luck next year, pardner.
The Featured Wine
Domaine Treloar - One Block Muscat 2021
A result of tasting the newest offer from winemaker, Jonathan Hesford in the village of Trouillas, Roussillon was discovering this off-dry Muscat wine. While it wasn’t the original intention and I’m not often a huge fan of varietal Muscat, I gotta say that the light bit of sweetness makes for a great wine to take on any savory item you might want to pair with it. 12€ 92pts