Tags
Like it or not, natural wine is well established in Quebec wine culture and it looks that it will not go away for a while. You can find the style from the trendiest to some of the humblest Montreal restaurants. For some wine drinkers, it might be intimidating to venture into the style given the buzz given by some somms in the city. No need to worry, after all it is just natural fermented grape juice.
I put out a basic three wine selection all in reds for you to discover. In Quebec, these wines are available in the private import market through the year. Most of them are under $40 and you can get them by the case. Get yourself some friends and you are ready for business.
Marcobarbarossa 2018. ( Available via Raissonance)
A perfect introduction to the natural style of Venetian reds. Barbarossa is mainly Merlot with other varieties such as Cabernet and Raboso. Fermented wine with indigenous yeasts, in cement tanks. It is aged for 12 months in steel tanks and bottled unfiltered with a small addition of sulfur.
Fantastic aromas of red plums, black cherries and fieldberries. Medium to full body with a fresh and lingering aftertaste.
Meigamma
Meigamma are Barbara and Giuseppe Pusceddu, winemakers in Villasimius (CA) whose passion for the vineyard was born in 2006 when, carrying out their natural passion for natural wine and the land from which they come, they decided to plant a traditional cannonau vineyard. From the beginning, they opted for organic cultivation, without adding chemicals and herbicides in order to let the real territory shine in the glass. Same idea then kept in the cellar: respect for the grapes, harvested entirely by hand, transforming them without the aid of selected yeasts, corrective or conservative, nor any clarifying so as to have maximum expression of the terroir.
Meigamma in Sardinian means “rest after lunch”. This word contains a “slow” life philosophy in which they get inspired to produce wine, oil, honey and vegetables. The extension of their vineyard is 1.1 hectares, cultivated with Cannonau, Cabernet, Carignano and Muristellu, the soil is sandy type 700 meters from the sea, in the heart of the Sardinian hills. Available for $42 via Glou by allocation ony.
Le Bout du Monde by Edouard Lafitte
Edouard Lafitte is one of the most talented winemakers that I know from the Rousillon. He works in an organic way on a 6,7 hectares land over three villages: 3 hectares at Lansac on Granitic Sands 2 hectares at Rasiguères on Schists 1,7 hectares at Cassagnes on Gneiss Harvest is handmade and the winemaking process is natural with carbonic maceration at low temperature. I just adore L’Echappée Belle which is an assembly of Syrah and Carignan made using the carbonic maceration technique. It is a beautiful highly drinkable red that is highly dangerous to drink. Available via Glou for the amazing price of $28.90